The necessary impossibility: Dynamics of identity among young people of different backgrounds in Vienna

Identity, the key term during the last two decades in social sciences, is employed for different, even opposite purposes. On the one hand, there are liberal aims claiming social recognition, which usually are summarized under the term politics of identity. On the other hand, there are social movements and conceptions, the objectives of which are diametrically opposed to emancipatory ideas, and which encompass nationalisms, ethnopluralism, cultural fundamentalism, differential racism, and xenophobia. In this field of tensions this contribution is focusing on narratives and strategies of identity among young people in group discussions. Encounters among youth from different cultural, ethnic, and social contexts and with different expectations produce diasporic public spheres, which are neither predominantly emancipatory nor fully controlled, but rather emerging and therefore contested. In our theoretical reflections we challenge common dichotomies and main models of identity; in our empirical approaches we examine the topography and the dynamics of identity as well as “situated hierarchies” of different sources of identity.     

Accuracy of Social Perception: An Integration and Review of Meta‐Analyses

This review examines the overall accuracy of social perception across several research topics and identifies factors that influence the accuracy of social perception. Findings from 14 meta‐analyses examining topics such as social/personality judgments, health judgments, legal judgments, and academic/vocational judgments were obtained. Social perception accuracy was generally moderate, yielding an average effect size (r) of .32. However, individual meta‐analytic effects varied widely, with some topics yielding small effects (e.g., lie detection, eyewitness identification) and other topics yielding large effects (e.g., educational judgments, health judgments). Several moderators of social perception accuracy were identified, including the nature of the information source, familiarity of the target, type of personality trait, and severity of the outcome being judged. These findings provide a comprehensive summary and novel integration of disparate findings on the accuracy of social perception. Concluding remarks highlight avenues for future research and call for cross‐disciplinary collaborations that would enhance our understanding of social perception.     

Verbal-Motor Attention-Focusing Instructions Influence Kinematics and Performance on a Golf-Putting Task

The authors examined how varying the content of verbal-motor instructions and requesting an internal versus external focus influenced the kinematics and outcome of a golf putting task. On Day 1, 30 novices performed 120 trials with the instruction to focus attention either on performing a pendulum-like movement (internal) or on the desired ball path (external). After 20 retention trials on Day 2, they performed 20 transfer trials with the opposite instruction. Group differences for retention and a group by block interaction showed that external instruction enhanced movement outcome. Kinematic data indicated that specific instruction content influenced outcomes by eliciting changes in movement execution. Switching from the external to the internal focus instruction resulted in a more pendulum-like movement.     

The evaluation of an equine-assisted therapy programme with a group of boys in a youth care facility

The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an equine-assisted therapy programme aimed at improving the psychological well-being of boys in a custodial school of industry. Participants were 39 boys who live in a youth care facility for boys who display problem behaviour. They were from different cultural groups (Black, Coloured, and White) and aged between 14 and 18 years. Horses were utilised in the structured sessions to help the boys learn different coping skills through experiential learning. Data were collected on the boys’ level of coping and subjective well-being in order to assess the efficacy of the programme. The data were analysed using independent groups t-test comparisons. The results showed that the programme significantly improved the boys’ subjective well-being, problem focused coping, and emotion focused coping. However, their levels of dysfunctional coping were unchanged following the intervention. An equine-assisted therapy programme appears to show modest evidence of enhancing psychological well-being of adolescent boys in custodial care.     

Post-training disruption of Arc protein expression in the anterior cingulate cortex impairs long-term memory for inhibitory avoidance training

The activity-regulated-cytoskeletal-associated protein (Arc) has a well established role in memory consolidation and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and amygdala. However the role of Arc within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area of the brain involved in processing memory for pain, has yet to be examined. Here we sought to determine if Arc protein within neurons of the rat ACC is necessary for the consolidation of a single-trial, contextual inhibitory avoidance (IA) task. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting revealed an increase in Arc protein within the ACC following IA training in a shock-specific manner, suggesting that ACC Arc expression may play a critical role in the consolidation of the aversive task. To directly test this hypothesis, male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on the IA task and given post-training intra-ACC infusions of Arc antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs), designed to suppress Arc translation, or control scrambled ODNs that do not suppress Arc translation. Memory retention was tested 48h after training. Arc antisense-induced disruption of Arc protein expression in the ACC impaired long-term memory for the IA task as compared to rats given intra-ACC infusions of the scrambled control ODNS, suggesting that Arc expression in the ACC is important for the consolidation of emotional memory. Results further indicate that knock down of Arc 6h after training impairs IA memory. This is consistent with time course findings indicating elevated Arc expression at 3 and 6h after IA training but not 12 or 48h. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis that Arc expression in the ACC participates in synaptic plasticity that underlies long-term memory.     

Longitudinal relations among maternal behaviors, effortful control and young children's committed compliance

In a sample (n = 235) of 30-, 42-, and 54-month-olds, the relations among parenting, effortful control (EC), impulsivity, and children's committed compliance were examined. Parenting was assessed with mothers' observed sensitivity and warmth; EC was measured by mothers' and caregivers' reports, as well as a behavioral task; impulsivity was assessed by mothers' and caregivers' reports; and committed compliance was observed during a cleanup and prohibition task, as well as measured by adults' reports. Using path modeling, there was evidence that 30-month parenting predicted high EC and low impulsivity a year later when the stability of the outcomes was controlled, and there was evidence that 30- and 42-month EC, but not impulsivity, predicted higher committed compliance a year later, controlling for earlier levels of the outcomes. Moreover, 42-month EC predicted low impulsivity a year later. Fixed effects models, which are not biased by omitted time-invariant variables, also were conducted and showed that 30-month parenting still predicted EC a year later, and 42-month EC predicted later low impulsivity. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of differentiating between effortful control and impulsivity and the potential mediating role of EC in the relations between parenting and children's committed compliance.     

Wirksamkeit bioenergetischer Psychotherapien bei Patienten mit bekannter ICD-10-Diagnose

In this study the efficacy of Bioenergetic Analysis and Therapy (BAT) was evaluated retrospectively by means of two questionnaires. Former patients from private practice with a known ICD-10 F group diagnosis participated in the study. The SCL-90-R was modified to allow assessment of the symptoms at the beginning as well as at the end of therapy. The second questionnaire was self-constructed and contained questions about the quality of the therapeutic work, body work in general, the relationship with the therapist, and the way the therapist worked. Both questionnaires were to be answered anonymously. Eight psychotherapists (medical doctors and psychologists) served as contacts to 103 former patients; 48 patients (46.6%) returned the questionnaires. Ten patients belonged to the F3 group, 26 to the F4, and 12 to the F6 groups. All data could therefore be interpreted for each of the F groups as well as for the sum of all patients. Bioenergetic analysis and therapy reduced the symptoms according to the SCL-90-R considerably in all three F groups. Analysis of the individual symptom scales on the SCL-90-R showed high to very high symptom reduction. These were not related to the F group diagnoses. Insight gained as a result of body work produced an even greater symptom reduction independent of the ICD-10 F group diagnosis. Patients receiving BAT rated their therapy favourably and judged the relationship with the therapist as very good. The efficacy of and the satisfaction with the therapy was rated high. The formulation of a therapeutic goal at the beginning of the therapy was possibly a prerequisite for a positive outcome of the therapy. The present study confirms and complements previous efficacy studies of BAT.     

Elective mutism in a first grader: The remediation of a complex behavioral problem

Teachers frequently deal with unusual and perplexing behavioral problems in their classes. This study demonstrates how spontaneous and prompted speech were produced in a six-year-old mute by a first-grade teacher and her aide. A reinforcement system for peer-prompted speech and spontaneous speech was employed in three separate school classes in a multiple-baseline fashion. The reinforcement system produced prompted and spontaneous speech in each situation. Postchecks in the second grade indicated the child was still speaking and conversing spontaneously with his peers. This study suggests a method that teachers can use in the classroom to deal with this severely handicapping condition.