Religion,Guilt, and Mental Health

This article reviews the constructs of religion, guilt, and mental health and explores relationships between these constructs as they pertain to the counseling profession. General therapeutic approaches are identified and summarized for counseling practice.     

Four New Works on the Mahābhārata

International Journal of Hindu Studies -     

Appearance and reality

There is tension between the appealing idea that visual experience puts us in touch with objective reality and the doctrine of perceptual relativity, the claim that experience varies with such factors as distance, lighting, and angle of view. In this paper I present arguments for relativity, and then go on to propose that in view of relativity, we should believe that the properties presented to us in perception are relational and viewpoint‐dependent. I conclude by sketching a theory of how we nonetheless manage to achieve contact with objective properties. According to the theory, such contact is best explained in terms of perceptual representations acting in concert with cognitive and motoric representations, not in terms of perceptual representations alone.     

Deflationism About Logic

Journal of Philosophical Logic - Logical consequence is typically construed as a metalinguistic relation between (sets of) sentences. Deflationism is an account of logic that challenges this...     

Examining stimuli paired with alternative reinforcement to mitigate resurgence in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and pigeons

In two laboratory experiments, we examined whether stimuli paired with alternative reinforcers could mitigate resurgence of a previously reinforced target response with pigeons (Experiment 1) and children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Experiment 2). In Phase 1, we arranged food reinforcement according to a variable-ratio schedule for engaging in a target response. In Phase 2, we arranged extinction for target responding and differentially reinforced alternative responding according to a fixed-ratio schedule, with every alternative-reinforcer delivery paired with a change in keylight color (Experiment 1) or automated verbal (praise) statement (Experiment 2). In Phase 3, we assessed resurgence during extinction of target and alternative responding in the presence versus absence of continued presentation of the paired stimulus. Despite variation across sessions, resurgence on average was lower when continuing to present the paired stimuli in all pigeons and children while maintenance of alternative responding did not differ between assessments. These findings indicate that stimuli paired with alternative reinforcement can modestly decrease resurgence, but further examination of their efficacy and a better understanding of the underlying processes are necessary before they can be recommended for clinical use in reducing resurgence of clinically relevant problem behavior.     

Male HIV-1 transgenic rats show reduced cocaine-maintained lever-pressing compared to F344 wildtype rats despite similar baseline locomotion

The HIV-1 transgenic (Tg) rat model is valuable for understanding HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) and accompanying substance use and misuse. Tg and F344/NHsd wildtype (WT) rats were allowed to self-administer intrajugular cocaine. For the first 7 sessions, neither genotype self-administered cocaine (0.1 mg/kg/infusion) on a fixed ratio 1 schedule. We thus implemented a lever–cocaine “autoshaping” session followed by a series of manipulations changing dose and reinforcement schedule. Tg rats self-administered much less cocaine than WT rats throughout the study. Of 8 Tg rats, 5 modestly increased self-administration from sessions 36–50. Of those, only 3 showed a lever discrimination. Of 10 WT rats, 8 acquired robust self-administration by session 19; all WT rats self-administered cocaine by the end of the study. WT and Tg rats had similar baseline locomotor activity in the self-administration chamber suggesting that the low levels of cocaine intake in the Tg rats did not reflect a nonspecific motor impairment in this rat strain. Concomitant measurement of activity with self-administration revealed activity increases that followed increased cocaine intake. That relation held in Tg rats. Therefore, the present study provides evidence that HIV-1 Tg rats are less sensitive to the reinforcing effects of cocaine than their F344 WT counterparts.     

Revisiting predictive bias of cognitive ability tests against Hispanic American job applicants

Previous studies have concluded that cognitive ability tests are not predictively biased against Hispanic American job applicants because test scores generally overpredict, rather than underpredict, their job performance. However, we highlight two important shortcomings of these past studies and use meta-analytic and computation modeling techniques to address these two shortcomings. In Study 1, an updated meta-analysis of the Hispanic–White mean difference (d-value) on job performance was carried out. In Study 2, computation modeling was used to correct the Study 1 d-values for indirect range restriction and combine them with other meta-analytic parameters relevant to predictive bias to determine how often cognitive ability test scores underpredict Hispanic applicants’ job performance. Hispanic applicants’ job performance was underpredicted by a small to moderate amount in most conditions of the computation model. In contrast to previous studies, this suggests cognitive ability tests can be expected to exhibit predictive bias against Hispanic applicants much of the time. However, some conditions did not exhibit underprediction, highlighting that predictive bias depends on various selection system parameters, such as the criterion-related validity of cognitive ability tests and other predictors used in selection. Regardless, our results challenge “lack of predictive bias” as a rationale for supporting test use.     

Mental Health Literacy and Peer-to-Peer Counseling Referrals Among Community College Students

Mental health literacy (MHL) has utility for promoting peer-to-peer referrals to mental health support services among university students. However, there is a gap in the extant literature about the potential usefulness of MHL for supporting the mental health of community college students, a population facing a number of mental health conditions. The authors examined the construct validity and the utility of 3 dimensions of MHL as predictors of peer-to-peer referrals to the counseling center among community college students. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the dimensionality of the instrumentation and a hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that MHL was a significant positive predictor of peer-to-peer referrals to the counseling center. Implications for counseling practice and future research are discussed.     

Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies—A Framework for Studying Personality Change

The importance of personality for predicting life outcomes in the domains of love, work, and health is well established, as is evidence that personality traits, while relatively stable, can change. However, little is known about the sources and processes that drive changes in personality traits and how such changes might impact important life outcomes. In this paper, we make the case that the research paradigms and methodological approaches commonly used in personality psychology need to be revised to advance our understanding of the sources and processes of personality change. We propose Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies as a framework for studying personality change that can address the limitations of current methods, and we discuss strategies for overcoming some of the challenges associated with Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Reducing online application redundancy: Effects on applicant attrition and quality

Job applications have long been a staple of the hiring process and online applications have rapidly become the new norm. The ability to examine applicant attrition—those who start the application but do not finish—and applicant quality are the two benefits of online applications. This study evaluates the effect of reducing application redundancy (not making applicants re‐enter information contained on their resumes) on applicant attrition and quality, with hypotheses derived from signaling theory and economics (cost/benefits). Results demonstrate that reducing redundancy leads to a reduction in applicant attrition across jobs, with the largest magnitude of change found in computer‐related jobs. This reduced attrition does not reduce applicant quality and some evidence suggests that applicant quality may even increase.