Update Semantics of Security Protocols

We present a model-theoretic approach for reasoning about security protocols, applying recent insights from dynamic epistemic logics. This enables us to describe exactly the subsequent epistemic states of the agents participating in the protocol, using Kripke models and transitions between these based on updates of the agents’ beliefs associated with steps in the protocol. As a case study we will consider the SRA Three Pass protocol and discuss the Wide-Mouthed Frog protocol.     

What's in a (neutral) face? Personality disorders, attachment styles, and the appraisal of ambiguous social cues

Attachment theory suggests that borderline, avoidant, and schizoid personality disorders are differentially associated with anxious and avoidant attachment styles. The variations of insecure attachment in these disorders, in turn, might influence how others are perceived or appraised. To test these ideas, 176 college students completed questionnaires measuring attachment styles and personality disorder features, and each rated 10 emotionally neutral faces on 18 bipolar appraisal dimensions. As expected, borderline personality was associated with anxious attachment, avoidant personality was associated with anxious and avoidant attachment, and schizoid personality was weakly associated only with avoidant attachment. Furthermore, path analyses showed that borderline and avoidant personality features were associated with anxious attachment, which in turn related to negative face appraisals (e.g., tendencies to rate faces as less friendly and more rejecting). Discussion highlights the potential of simultaneously studying biases in social information processing and attachment disturbances among individuals with personality disorders.     

Refinements in the Rorschach Ego Impairment Index incorporating the human representational variable

The Ego Impairment Index (EII; Perry & Viglione, 1991) is a composite measure of psychological impairment and thought disturbance developed from the empirical and theoretical literature on the Rorschach. In this article, we summarize reliability and validity data regarding the EII. Our major goal was to present the rationale and empirical basis for recent refinements in the EII. Among the subcomponents of the original EII was the Human Experience variable (HEV), which has recently been revised and replaced with the Human Representational variable (HRV; Viglione, Perry, Jansak, Meyer, & Exner, 2003). In this study, we replaced the HEV with the HRV to create the EII-2. This was accomplished by recalculating the factor coefficients with a sample of 363 Rorschach protocols. We present additional validity data for the new EII-2. Research recommendations and interpretive guidelines are also presented.     

Tooth color: effects on judgments of attractiveness and age

Tooth whitening has become a very popular procedure. Advertisements for whitening products imply that whiter teeth are more attractive than yellower teeth. We tested this idea empirically by manipulating the tooth color of pictures of male and female targets. Participants' ratings of attractiveness were not influenced by tooth color. Exp. 2 yielded a negative correlation between attractiveness and age ratings: targets judged to be older were rated as less attractive. Unless whiter teeth help in some other way, e.g., improved self-esteem or confidence, it seems that tooth whitening procedures or products are not associated with increased attractiveness to others.     

Cognitive and motivational processes underlying coping flexibility: a dual-process model

Discriminative facility was proposed as a cognitive process and need for closure was proposed as a motivational process underlying coping flexibility. The dual-process model posits that need for closure influences discriminative facility, which in turn modifies coping flexibility and psychological adjustment. In Study 1, results of structural equation modeling provided support for the dual-process model. This model was further examined using experimental methods (Study 2) and a prospective design (Study 3). Consistent with the dual-process model, results from all 3 studies showed that participants who were more motivated to seek alternative coping strategies tended to encode stressful situations in a more differentiated way. These individuals used a greater variety of strategies to fit different situational demands and were better adjusted.     

The Metaphysics of Velocity

Some authors have recently arguedthat an objects velocity is logicallyindependent of its locations throughout time.Their aim is to deny the Russellianview that motion is merely a change oflocation, and to promote a rival account onwhich the connection between velocities andtrajectories is provided by the laws ofnature. I defend the Russellian view of motionagainst these attacks.     

On the lateralization of emotional prosody: an event-related functional MR investigation

In order to investigate the lateralization of emotional speech we recorded the brain responses to three emotional intonations in two conditions, i.e., "normal" speech and "prosodic" speech (i.e., speech with no linguistic meaning, but retaining the 'slow prosodic modulations' of speech). Participants listened to semantically neutral sentences spoken with a positive, neutral, or negative intonation in both conditions and judged how positive, negative, or neutral the intonation was on a five-point scale. Core peri-sylvian language areas, as well as some frontal and subcortical areas were activated bilaterally in the normal speech condition. In contrast, a bilateral fronto-opercular region was active when participants listened to prosodic speech. Positive and negative intonations elicited a bilateral fronto-temporal and subcortical pattern in the normal speech condition, and more frontal activation in the prosodic speech condition. The current results call into question an exclusive right hemisphere lateralization of emotional prosody and expand patient data on the functional role of the basal ganglia during the perception of emotional prosody.     

Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) copy virtual demonstrators in a two-action test

Juvenile budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) observed thin film transistor video playback of a virtual conspecific demonstrator using its beak to remove a stopper from a food box, either by pulling the object upward or by pushing it downward. Simultaneously (Experiment 1) or subsequently (Experiment 2), the observers were offered a similar stopper box and rewarded with access to food for each removal response, regardless of its direction. Observers of upward movement made a greater proportion of up responses in total and showed a stronger tendency to increase the proportion of up responses over test trials than observers of downward movement. These findings provide the first demonstration of which the authors are aware that birds are able not only to detect and respond to a moving video image but also to copy its movements.     

The abbreviated multidimensional acculturation scale: empirical validation with two Latino/Latina samples

Two studies were conducted to develop and examine internal consistencies and validate the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale. Study 1 participants were 156 Latino/Latina college students. Findings indicated good internal reliabilities for all 3 subscales. Adequate concurrent validity was established with length of residence in the United States. The scale also showed adequate convergent and discriminant validity. Study 2 participants were 90 Latino/Latina community members. The subscales were also reliable and showed adequate concurrent validity with length of residence in the United States. Convergent and discriminant validity were also adequate. Construct validity was further demonstrated through factorial analyses of the combined samples (N = 246). Three separate factors emerged: cultural identity, language competence, and cultural competence.