Asymmetries in the spatial localization of transformed targets

This study was designed to examine the contribution of the right cerebral hemisphere in the spatial localization of visual targets for manual aiming. Visual targets were briefly presented to the right and left fields and subjects were required to point either to the target location, or a "mirror" image of the target location with their right or left index finger. Whereas reaction times were faster for left-hand pointing than for right-hand pointing, there was no differential effect of the mirror image transformation. This suggests that left-hand reaction time advantages are more related to right hemisphere involvement in the spatial parameterization of the movement than spatial localization of the target.     

The Self-Concept of Welfare Recipients

Do persons receiving welfare feel differently about themselves and others than persons who are not welfare recipients? Does duration of time on welfare have any bearing on these feelings? To answer these questions the writer compared 2 groups of clients who were receiving services from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, using a number of scales that reflected attitudes regarding self and others. One group consisted of clients who were on welfare at the time of application for rehabilitation services and the other group consisted of those who were not. The welfare group was further broken down into 3 groups on the basis of the duration of time that they had been on welfare. No differences were found between any of the groups on self-concept, self-acceptance, ideal-self or concept of others. Some variables that might be masking the hypothesized differences, thus accounting for the present findings, are discussed.     

Improving reading and self-concept through communication and social skills training

A course of psychological education is described in which disruptive children were taught social and communication skills over two terms. The course was designed for 26 eight-year-olds in an EPA junior school. Ten of the children were from broken homes, six were itinerants, most had displayed undesirable behaviour, and their level of achievement had been below average. Tested at the end of the second term, they showed dramatic improvements in self-concept and reading ability.     

Judgmental God image,social embeddedness,and social trust among the highly religious in the United States

In this article we explore two propositions concerning the manner in which judgmental God image affects social trust among the highly religious in the United States. One proposition argues that having a judgmental God image and being highly embedded in a community of co-religionists can create low levels of social trust through social bonding and the formation of particularized trust. The other proposition maintains that embeddedness in a moral community of co-religionists helps to reinforce the idea that people are basically good and require love and forgiveness. This leads to higher levels of trust. We test an interaction between judgmental God image and social embeddedness with OLS analysis and data from the 2014 Baylor Religion Survey. We restrict the analysis to the highly religious, those who have no doubt about the existence of God and belong to a place of worship. We find that respondents with a judgmental God image who do not belong to a moral community with any or a few friends have the lowest levels of social trust. Those who have a judgmental God image but are highly embedded in a moral community with at least half of their friends have higher levels of social trust. Embeddedness negates the negative effects of judgmental God image on social trust. Implications for research are discussed in the conclusion.     

Ethical psychiatry in an uncertain world: conversations and parallel truths

Psychiatric practice is often faced with complex situations that seem to pose serious moral dilemmas for practitioners. Methods for solving these dilemmas have included the development of more objective rules to guide the practitioner such as utilitarianism and deontology. A more modern variant on this objective model has been 'Principlism' where 4 mid level rules are used to help solve these complex problems. In opposition to this, there has recently been a focus on more subjective criteria for resolving complex moral dilemmas. In particular, virtue ethics has been posited as a more sensitive method for helping doctors to reason their way through difficult ethical issues. Here the focus is on the character traits of the practitioner. Bloch and Green advocated another way whereby more objective methods such as Principlism and virtue ethics are combined to produce what they considered sound moral reasoning in psychiatrists. This paper points out some difficulties with this approach and instead suggests that a better model of ethical judgment could be developed through the use of narratives or stories. This idea puts equal prima facie value on the patient's and the psychiatrist's version of the dilemma they are faced with. It has the potential to lead to a more genuine empathy and reflective decision-making.     

Comparisons of children with delayed and normal language at 24 months of age on measures of behavioral difficulties,social and cognitive development

This investigation compared a group of expressive language-delayed children with language-normal children of the same age (M = 25.7 months; SD = 0.8 months) on various measures of development and behavioral difficulties. Data were obtained through language sampling, direct developmental assessment, and maternal reports of children's development and behavior. Scores on measures of social and cognitive development for children with language delay were found to be significantly lower than normals. Further, maternal reports indicated that these children displayed significantly more behavioral difficulties overall than did the language-normal children. Specifically, the language-delayed children exhibited more symptoms of anxiety and depression, withdrawal, sleep problems, and other behavioral disturbances. In addition, children evaluated as expressive language delayed scored significantly lower on measures of receptive language, maternal ratings of communicative competency, and other indices of language proficiency. The results point to the centrality of expressive and receptive language development in relation to early-appearing behavior problems and other developmental milestones. With these findings in mind, early language intervention may not only promote language development, but also prevent the development or exacerbation of socioemotional problems. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health