Race is gendered: how covarying phenotypes and stereotypes bias sex categorization

We argue that race and sex categories are psychologically and phenotypically confounded, affecting social categorizations and their efficiency. Sex categorization of faces was facilitated when the race category shared facial phenotypes or stereotypes with the correct sex category (e.g., Asian women and Black men) but was impaired when the race category shared incompatible phenotypes or stereotypes with the correct sex category (e.g., Asian men and Black women). These patterns were evident in the disambiguation of androgynous faces (Study 1) and the efficiency of judgments (Studies 1, 2, 4, and 5). These patterns emerged due to common facial phenotypes for the categories Black and men (Studies 3 and 5) and due to shared stereotypes among the categories Black and men and the categories Asian and women (Studies 4 and 5). These findings challenge the notion that social categories are perceived independent of one another and show, instead, that race is gendered.     

Investigating the interaction between schizotypy, divergent thinking and cannabis use

Cannabis acutely increases schizotypy and chronic use is associated with elevated rates of psychosis. Creative individuals have higher levels of schizotypy, however links between cannabis use, schizotypy and creativity have not been investigated. We investigated the effects of cannabis smoked naturalistically on schizotypy and divergent thinking, a measure of creativity. One hundred and sixty cannabis users were tested on 1 day when sober and another day when intoxicated with cannabis. State and trait measures of both schizotypy and creativity were administered. Quartile splits compared those lowest (n=47) and highest (n=43) in trait creativity. Cannabis increased verbal fluency in low creatives to the same level as that of high creatives. Cannabis increased state psychosis-like symptoms in both groups and the high creativity group were significantly higher in trait schizotypy, but this does not appear to be linked to the verbal fluency change. Acute cannabis use increases divergent thinking as indexed by verbal fluency in low creatives.     

The structure of cognitive abilities in youths with manic symptoms: a factorial invariance study

This study compared the structure of cognitive ability (specifically, verbal/crystallized [Gc] and visual-spatial ability [Gv]), as measured in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, in youth with manic symptoms with a nationally representative group of similarly aged youth. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis found the majority of the estimated parameters were invariant between the groups, although there was a difference in the intercepts for the Similarities subtest and difference in unique variances for the Picture Completion, Comprehension, and Picture Arrangement subtests. Thus, although there are many neurological changes associated with manic symptoms, the structure of verbal/crystallized and visual-spatial abilities appear relatively robust and invariant. As Gc and Gv are the primary domains on all the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children, results also indicate that clinical interpretation of the Wechsler scales may be appropriate to measure cognitive performance in youths with manic symptoms.     

The effects of age, enactment, and cue-action relatedness on memory for intentions in the Virtual Week task

ABSTRACT The current study investigated the influence of encoding modality and cue-action relatedness on prospective memory (PM) performance in young and older adults using a modified version of the Virtual Week task. Participants encoded regular and irregular intentions either verbally or by physically performing the action during encoding. For half of the intentions there was a close semantic relation between the retrieval cue and the intended action, while for the remaining intentions the cue and action were semantically unrelated. For irregular tasks, both age groups showed superior PM for related intentions compared to unrelated intentions in both encoding conditions. While older adults retrieved fewer irregular intentions than young adults after verbal encoding, there was no age difference following enactment. Possible mechanisms of enactment and relatedness effects are discussed in the context of current theories of event-based PM.     

Telemedicine-based alcohol services for rural offenders

Research has consistently shown that alcohol use is a problem in rural communities and access to substance abuse treatment, particularly evidence-based treatment is limited. Because telemedicine has been shown to be effective in delivering services, this article presents a novel and innovative way of using telemedicine technology in the form of videoconferencing to deliver an evidence-based alcohol intervention (motivational enhancement therapy) with at-risk alcohol users in real-world settings (rural probation and parole offices). This article focuses on: (a) creating a profile of an at-risk group of rural alcohol users; (b) describing the evidence-based intervention; and (c) describing the innovative telemedicine-based service delivery approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Report of the ACA Ethics Committee: 2004–2005

This report summarizes the activities of the American Counseling Association (ACA) Ethics Committee during the period of July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005. Summary data of the complaints filed and the inquiries received are presented.     

Are mothers of stutterers different? An investigation of social-communicative integration

Many speech-language pathologists assume that parent-child communicative interactions are critical precipitating or maintaining factors in the onset and development of stuttering. Although parents are frequently counseled to alter their attitudes or behaviors, no studies have pinpointed specific parental behaviors as increasing children's disfluency. The purpose of this study was to analyze differences between 12 mothers of stutterers and 12 mothers of nonstutterers in their social-communicative interactions with their own child, an unfamiliar stutterer, and an unfamiliar nonstutterer. Ten minutes of free-play interaction between each mother and child were video recorded from behind a one-way mirror. Results indicate that the two groups of mothers differed significantly only in their use of routine statements. Other findings indicate that stuttering children used significantly more positive and imperative statements than nonstuttering children. All children asked significantly more questions of their own mothers than of unfamiliar mothers.     

Hostage negotiation: Law enforcement's most effective nonlethal weapon

Hostage negotiation is perhaps the most explicitly psychological law enforcement discipline. The hostage negotiator attempts to form a trusting relationship with the hostage-taker, to foster a sense of mutual interest and concern in the surrounded group, and to act as a credible broker between the hostage-taker and the authorities. The technique has been applied to hostage situations involving trapped criminals, subjects with mental disorders, prison inmates, and terrorists. Although family members, friends, and helping professionals can provide useful information to help the negotiators, only law enforcement officers who are not in a command role should negotiate directly with the hostage-taker. Careful selection and training, including multiple role playing exercises, can prepare negotiators for the considerable stresses they must face. These include deadlines, victim precipitated deaths, and the potential involvement of the negotiator in a tactical resolution of the hostage incident. Recently, the principles of hostage negotiation have been applied in a growing range of crisis situations.