Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI): Norwegian norms to identify conduct problems in children

This article presents the first Norwegian standardization of an assessment tool specifically designed to measure childhood conduct problems. Norwegian norms for the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) based on data obtained from a random population sample (N= 4063) of children in the age range of 4 to 12 years are presented. The sample was drawn from rural and urban areas within three Norwegian town districts. Clinical and research advantages of having a properly standardized assessment tool for this specific subclass of childhood psychiatric problems in Norway are discussed.     

Visual representation of eye gaze is coded by a nonopponent multichannel system

To date, there is no functional account of the visual perception of gaze in humans. Previous work has demonstrated that left gaze and right gaze are represented by separate mechanisms. However, these data are consistent with either a multichannel system comprising separate channels for distinct gaze directions (e.g., left, direct, and right) or an opponent-coding system in which all gaze directions are coded by just 2 pools of cells, one coding left gaze and the other right, with direct gaze represented as a neutral point reflecting equal activation of both left and right pools. In 2 experiments, the authors used adaptation procedures to investigate which of these models provides the optimal account. Both experiments supported multichannel coding. Previous research has shown that facial identity is coded by an opponent-coding system; hence, these results also demonstrate that gaze is coded by a different representational system to facial identity.     

Paul Tillich and Pitirim A. Sorokin on Love

An analysis of Paul Tillich's three‐volume Systematic Theology and Pitirim A. Sorokin's The Ways and Power of Love: Types, Factors, and Techniques of Moral Transformation reveals how a metaphysical dialogue on God and love contributes to scientific and theological scholarship on altruism. This article focuses on similarities and differences in Tillich and Sorokin. Similarities include a belief in the importance of the ontological/love connection and the conclusion that a special state, ecstasy, is integral to the experience of genuine love. Differences serve to complement rather than negate. For example, Tillich's recognition that ecstatic connections with the divine within finitude are fragmentary balances Sorokin's view that these ecstatic peaks are reached only by the few. The similarities give resonance and point to the overall creation, while the differences often serve as counterpoint to balance the ideas of the scientist and the theologian.     

Children's understanding of the earth in a multicultural community: mental models or fragments of knowledge?

Children's understanding of properties of the earth was investigated by interviewing Asian and white British classmates aged 4?8 years (N = 167). Two issues were explored: whether they held mental models of the earth ( Vosniadou & Brewer, 1992 ) or instead had fragmented knowledge ( di Sessa, 1988 ); and the influence of the children's different cultural backgrounds. Children selected from a set of plastic models and answered forced‐choice questions. Using this methodology, there were no significant differences in the overall performance of Asian and white children after language skills were partialled out. Even young children showed an emerging knowledge of some properties of the earth, but the distributions of their combinations of responses provided no evidence that they had mental models. Instead, these distributions closely resembled those that would be expected if children's knowledge in this domain were fragmented. Possible reasons for the differences between these findings and those of previous research are discussed.     

Enacting national concerns: Anglo‐British accounts of the 2002 Royal Golden Jubilee

Although the study of national identity in social psychology has examined the various ways in which the national group is ‘imagined’, little attention has been paid to the many collective national commemorations, celebrations and rituals of state assumed to unite the nation. This is surprising given the number of celebrations and commemorations which fill the calendars of modern nations throughout the world and which are assumed by social scientists to play some part in the reproduction of the national community. Taking the British Royal Golden Jubilee celebrations of 2002, the present study examines how understandings of Anglo‐British national identity are manifest in conversational interviews during and after these events. In line with previous examinations of Anglo‐Britishness, our respondents typically resisted imagining the national community as a homogenous whole and distanced themselves from depictions of the Jubilee as a nationalistic event. Support for the Jubilee was contingent upon the event being apolitical and inclusive. We suggest that such collective national events could potentially facilitate ways of imagining the national community in terms of diversity and inclusivity rather than homogeneity and exclusivity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning

We examined the impact of training-induced improvements in self-regulation, operationalized in terms of response inhibition, on longitudinal changes in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Data were collected from participants undergoing 3 months of intensive meditation training in an isolated retreat setting (Retreat 1) and a wait-list control group that later underwent identical training (Retreat 2). A 32-min response inhibition task (RIT) was designed to assess sustained self-regulatory control. Adaptive functioning (AF) was operationalized as a single latent factor underlying self-report measures of anxious and avoidant attachment, mindfulness, ego resilience, empathy, the five major personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience), difficulties in emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and psychological well-being. Participants in Retreat 1 improved in RIT performance and AF over time whereas the controls did not. The control participants later also improved on both dimensions during their own retreat (Retreat 2). These improved levels of RIT performance and AF were sustained in follow-up assessments conducted approximately 5 months after the training. Longitudinal dynamic models with combined data from both retreats showed that improvement in RIT performance during training influenced the change in AF over time, which is consistent with a key claim in the Buddhist literature that enhanced capacity for self-regulation is an important precursor of changes in emotional well-being.     

"We are an island": Geographical Imagery in Accounts of Citizenship, Civil Society, and National Identity in Scotland and in England

In this article we question recent psychological approaches that equate the constructs of citizenship and social identity and which overlook the capacity for units of governance to be represented in terms of place rather than in terms of people. Analysis of interviews conducted in England and Scotland explores how respondents invoked images of Britain as "an island" to avoid social identity constructions of nationality, citizenship, or civil society. Respondents in Scotland used island imagery to distinguish their political commitment to British citizenship from questions relating to their subjective identity. Respondents in England used island imagery to distinguish the United Kingdom as a distinctive political entity whilst avoiding allusions to a common or distinctive identity or character on the part of the citizenry. People who had moved from England to Scotland used island imagery to manage the delicate task of negotiating rights to social inclusion in Scottish civil society whilst displaying recognition of the indigenous population's claims to distinctive national culture and identity.     

When groups help and when groups harm: Origins,developments, and future directions of the “Social Cure” perspective of group dynamics

A substantial literature supports the important role that social group memberships play in enhancing health. While the processes through which group memberships constitute a “Social Cure” are becoming increasingly well defined, the mechanisms through which these groups contribute to vulnerability and act as a “Social Curse” are less understood. We present an overview of the Social Cure literature and then go beyond this to show how the processes underpinning the health benefits of group membership can also negatively affect individuals through their absence. First, we provide an overview of early Social Cure research. We then describe later research concerning the potential health benefits of identifying with multiple groups, before moving on to consider the “darker side” of the Social Cure by exploring how intra‐group dynamics can foster Curse processes. Finally, we synthesise evidence from both the Cure and Curse literatures to highlight the complex interplay between these phenomena and how they are influenced by both intra‐ and inter‐group processes. We conclude by considering areas we deem vital for future investigation within the discipline.     

The effects of state anxiety on the suggestibility and accuracy of child eyewitnesses

The negative effect of misleading information on memory is a well‐established fact in eyewitness testimony. However, individual differences have rarely been studied in this context, particularly in children. This paper is one of the first to explore whether objectively measured state anxiety levels have a moderating influence on suggestibility. A group of 83 9–10‐year‐old schoolchildren took part in the experiment. They were tested on their recall of details surrounding a minor car accident shown on video. No effects of state anxiety on accuracy were found. Clear misleading information effects were found, however (p < 0.001). Furthermore, both analysis of covariance and Pearson's correlation coefficients showed that higher anxiety levels were associated with a reduction in the number of misled responses given by the misinformed participants relative to low‐anxious participants (p < 0.05). The theoretical relevance of these findings are discussed in the light of processing efficiency theory and the ‘affect as information’ hypothesis. The practical implications for children as witnesses are also considered. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.