Conceptualizing and Measuring Historical Trauma Among American Indian People

This article reports on the development of two measures relating to historical trauma among American Indian people: The Historical Loss Scale and The Historical Loss Associated Symptoms Scale. Measurement characteristics including frequencies, internal reliability, and confirmatory factor analyses were calculated based on 143 American Indian adult parents of children aged 10 through 12 years who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study of American Indian families in the upper Midwest. Results indicate both scales have high internal reliability. Frequencies indicate that the current generation of American Indian adults have frequent thoughts pertaining to historical losses and that they associate these losses with negative feelings. Two factors of the Historical Loss Associated Symptoms Scale indicate one anxiety/depression component and one anger/avoidance component. The results are discussed in terms of future research and theory pertaining to historical trauma among American Indian people.     

The redux of cognitive consistency theories: evidence judgments by constraint satisfaction

The authors suggest that decisions made from multiple pieces of evidence are performed hy mechanisms of parallel constraint satisfaction, which are related to cognitive consistency theories. Such reasoning processes are bidirectional--decisions follow from evidence, and evaluations of the evidence shift toward coherence with the emerging decision. Using a factually complex legal case, the authors observed patterns of coherence shifts that persisted even when the distribution of decisions was manipulated (Study 1) and influenced by the participants' attitudes (Study 2). The evaluations of the evidence cohered with the preferred decision even when participants changed their preference (Study 3). Supporting the bidirectionality of reasoning. Study 4 showed that assigning participants to a verdict affected their evaluation of the evidence. Coherence shifts were observed also in related background knowledge. This research suggests that cognitive consistency theories should play a greater role in the understanding of human reasoning and decision making.     

Personality, psychopathology, and demographic correlates of medical vs behavioral reasons for referral in alcoholic men

The personality, psychopathological, and demographic differences between 330 alcoholic men referred for behavioral problems and 104 alcoholic men referred for medical problems were examined. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 indicated that those referred for behavioral problems showed more antisocial characteristics, while those referred for medical reasons had more subjective distress, were more highly introverted, and showed greater somatic preoccupation. Hispanic alcoholic men had a significantly higher proportion of medical referrals than Caucasian and African-American alcoholic men.     

Task-effector asymmetries in a rhythmic continuation task

Variability in rhythmic movements has been interpreted as a signature of internal or peripheral noise processes. Grounded in an oscillator interpretation, this study hypothesized that period variability and drift arises from the asymmetry between target period and the limb's intrinsic dynamics. Participants synchronized to 7 target periods, swinging 1 of 3 pendulums in a continuation paradigm; 3 periods were longer, 3 shorter, and 1 identical to the preferred period. Results supported 5 predictions: Drift toward the preferred period was observed that scaled with the asymmetry. Variability was lowest for symmetry conditions and increased with the asymmetry. Variability decreased concomitant with the approach toward the preferred period. Periods exponentially approached the preferred period with positive autocorrelations up to 10 cycles.     

When stereotypes get in the way: stereotypes obstruct stereotype-inconsistent trait inferences

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that people spontaneously make trait inferences while observing the behavior of others. The present article reports a series of 5 experiments that examined the influence of stereotypes on the spontaneous inference of traits. Results consistently showed weaker spontaneous trait inferences for stereotype-inconsistent behavioral information than for stereotype-consistent and stereotype-neutral information. Taken together, the current results suggest that specific spontaneous trait inferences become obstructed by inhibitory processes when behavior is inconsistent with an already activated stereotype. These findings are discussed in relation to stereotype maintenance processes and recent models of attribution in social judgment.     

Timed picture naming: Extended norms and validation against previous studies

Factors affecting word retrieval were compared in a timed picture-naming paradigm for 520 drawings of objects. In prior timed and untimed studies by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) and Snodgrass and Yuditsky (1996), concerns were raised that participants could not reliably name large numbers of items in a single session. We show that reliable results are obtained in a single session for 520 items and validate our method against previous findings by Snodgrass and colleagues for overlapping items. For these items, comparable levels of name agreement and latency are obtained, and we replicate effects of length, frequency, both objective and subjective age of acquisition, and visual complexity on reaction time (RT) and name agreement measures. Name agreement is unaffected by order of presentation, although there is a gradual increase in RTs across the session, requiring use of multiple random orders. Current extensions of our method include cross-linguistic, bilingual, developmental, and neuropsychological studies and comparisons of action naming and object naming.     

辩证分析兴奋性氨基酸对神经细胞的双重作用

兴奋性氨基酸（ＥＡＡｓ） 广泛分布于中枢神经系统,参与多种生理过程包括学习、记忆和伤害感受等。然而,ＥＡＡｓ 受体的过度兴奋却可引发一系列细胞事件,最终导致神经元的损伤与死亡。许多神经退行性疾病如早老性痴呆、癫痫和肌侧索硬化症等都与ＥＡＡｓ 的兴奋毒作用有关。目前的研究表明,由ＥＡＡｓ 受体过度兴奋所引发的细胞内钙超载是导致神经元死亡的最终途径     

Local Solidarity

In this article I am particularly interested in the question of solidarity within the boundaries of one's own country. I discuss a qualified beneficence requirement, which claims that we ought to prevent something very bad from happening if it is in our power and if we can do it without sacrificing anything morally significant. I also discuss a fair-share principle, according to which, in Liam B. Murphy's version, "the sacrifice each agent is required to make is limited to the level of sacrifice that would be optimal if the situation were one of full compliance". I argue that the qualified beneficence requirement is reasonable only in the proximity of the one who needs help. When there is no proximity we ought to be guided by a fair-share principle. I also argue that there is an intimate relation between the fair-share principle and the welfare-state ideology.