societal reaction to sex offenders: a review of the origins and results of the myths surrounding their crimes and treatment amenability

Examination of societal reaction to sexual offenders reveals a history of harshness exemplified by the sexual psychopath laws of the 1930s. The latest round of legal attempts to control sex offenders uses Severe sentencing laws, civil commitment procedures and community notification statutes to confine and shame sex offenders. This paper shows these laws to be based on popular beliefs about the predatory nature of these men, the probability of their re-offense and their amenability to treatment rather than the facts about the sex offenses and offenders. The severe reaction to sexual offenders is a vindictive one based on myth and misunderstanding that serves many interests. The paper exposes the contradictory myths and skewed emotions that guide our view of sex crimes and compares these with the facts about re-offense rates and the effects of treatment.     

Affective auditory stimuli: Adaptation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS-2) for European Portuguese

In this study, we present the normative values of the adaptation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS-2; Bradley & Lang, 2007a) for European Portuguese (EP). The IADS-2 is a standardized database of 167 naturally occurring sounds that is widely used in the study of emotions. The sounds were rated by 300 college students who were native speakers of EP, in the three affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance, by using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). The aims of this adaptation were threefold: (1)?to provide researchers with standardized and normatively rated affective sounds to be used with an EP population; (2)?to investigate sex and cultural differences in the ratings of affective dimensions of auditory stimuli between EP and the American (Bradley & Lang, 2007a) and Spanish (Fernández-Abascal et al., Psicothema 20:104–113 2008; Redondo, Fraga, Padrón, & Piñeiro, Behavior Research Methods 40:784–790 2008) standardizations; and (3)?to promote research on auditory affective processing in Portugal. Our results indicated that the IADS-2 is a valid and useful database of digitized sounds for the study of emotions in a Portuguese context, allowing for comparisons of its results with those of other international studies that have used the same database for stimulus selection. The normative values of the EP adaptation of the IADS-2 database can be downloaded along with the online version of this article.     

Different involvement of type 1, 2, and 3 ryanodine receptors in memory processes

The administration of the ryanodine receptor (RyR) agonist 4-Cmc (0.003-9 nmol per mouse intracerebroventricularly [i.c.v.]) ameliorated memory functions, whereas the RyR antagonist ryanodine (0.0001-1 nmol per mouse i.c.v.) induced amnesia in the mouse passive avoidance test. The role of the type 1, 2, and 3 RyR isoforms in memory processes was then evaluated by inhibiting the expression of the three RyR proteins in the mouse brain. A selective knockdown of the RyR isoforms was obtained by the i.c.v. administration of antisense oligonucleotides (aODNs) complementary to the sequence of RyR1, RyR2 and RyR3 proteins, as demonstrated by immunoblotting experiments. RyR1 (5-9 nmol per mouse i.c.v.) knockdown mice did not show any memory dysfunction. Conversely, RyR2 (1-7 nmol per mouse i.c.v.) and RyR3 (1-7 nmol per mouse i.c.v.) knockdown animals showed an impairment of memory processes. This detrimental effect was temporary and reversible, disappearing 7 d after the end of the aODN treatment. At the highest effective doses, none of the compounds used impaired motor coordination, as revealed by the rota rod test, nor modified spontaneous mobility and inspection activity, as revealed by the hole-board test. In conclusion, the lack of any involvement of cerebral RyR1 was demonstrated. These findings also showed the involvement of type 2 and type 3 RyR in the modulation of memory functions identifying these cerebral RyR isoforms as critical targets underlying memory processes.     

Assessing Language Competence: Guidelines for Assisting Persons With Limited English Proficiency in Research and Clinical Settings

Current guidelines indicate that therapeutic interactions must be in the client's primary language. This article addresses the ethical dilemmas faced by monolingual clinicians and researchers who must assess the foreign language competence of an interpreter. Guidelines are proposed for assessing language competence of staff in clinical and research settings. Las directrices actuales indican que la interacción terapéutica debe tomar lugar en el primer idioma del cliente. Este artículo trata los dilemas éticos que confrontan los clínicos e investigadores monolingües que tienen que asesorar la competencia linguística de un intérprete. Se proponen directrices para el asesoramiento linguístico de personal en escenarios clínicos y de investigación.     

False feedback and beliefs influence name recall in younger and older adults

Feedback is an important self-regulatory process that affects task effort and subsequent performance. Benefits of positive feedback for list recall have been explored in research on goals and feedback, but the effect of negative feedback on memory has rarely been studied. The current research extends knowledge of memory and feedback effects by investigating face–name association memory and by examining the potential mediation of feedback effects, in younger and older adults, through self-evaluative beliefs. Beliefs were assessed before and after name recognition and name recall testing. Repeated presentation of false positive feedback was compared to false negative feedback and a no feedback condition. Results showed that memory self-efficacy declined over time for participants in the negative and no feedback conditions but was sustained for those receiving positive feedback. Furthermore, participants who received negative feedback felt older after testing than before testing. For name recall, the positive feedback group outperformed the negative feedback and no feedback groups combined, with no age interactions. The observed feedback-related effects on memory were fully mediated by changes in memory self-efficacy. These findings advance our understanding of how beliefs are related to feedback in memory and inform future studies examining the importance of self-regulation in memory.     

The Role of Metacognitions in the Association between Children’s Perceptions of Maternal Control and Anxiety

We aimed to bring a developmental perspective to metacognitive theory. The metacognitive model (MCM) was originally developed for adults. However, an increasing number of studies demonstrate the MCM is relevant to child anxiety. Therefore, it is important to understand the origins of anxiety-specific metacognitions. Given the role experiences of controlling parenting play in maintaining and perhaps forming anxious cognitions or a cognitive vulnerability we focused on maternal behavioral and psychological control. Using a cross-sectional design, Danish school children (9–17 years old; N?=?1062) rated their levels of anxiety and anxiety-specific metacognitions, and their mothers' controlling behavior. Child-perceived maternal psychological control was positively correlated with each anxiety specific metacognition (positive and negative worry beliefs, cognitive confidence, need to control, and cognitive self-consciousness). Child-perceived autonomy-granting was negatively correlated with all metacognitions except cognitive self-consciousness. Child perceived maternal psychological control was indirectly associated with anxiety via total metacognitions. Child-perceived autonomy-granting, but not psychological control, was directly related to anxiety. Given the differential findings for psychological control and autonomy-granting, we suggest that specific types of parenting behavior may be related to specific elements of (meta-) cognitive vulnerability. Our findings are theoretically important because they propose maternal psychological control is an environmental factor that may play a role in the development of a metacognitive vulnerability related to anxiety. A potential clinical implication of our findings is that metacognitive therapy for children should include a parental component.     

Measurement Invariance of Personal Well-Being Index (PWI-8) Across 26 Countries

This report examines the measurement invariance of the Personal Well-being Index with 8 items (PWI-8). University students (N = 5731) from 26 countries completed the measure either through paper and pencil or electronic mode. We examined uni-dimensional structure of PWI and performed a Multi-group CFA to assess the measurement invariance across the 26 countries, using conventional approach and the alignment procedure. The findings provide evidence of configural and partial metric invariance, as well as partial scalar invariance across samples. The findings suggest that PWI-8 can be used to examine correlates of life satisfaction across all included countries, however it is impossible to compare raw scores across countries.