The Night the Raving Died: The Social Construction of a Local Drug Panic

Scholars have recently reformulated the moral panic framework (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994 Goode , Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda . 1994 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . [Google Scholar], 2009 ——— . 2009 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance , 2nd ed . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . [Google Scholar]). We employ this new framework in an evaluation of Gainesville, Florida's adoption of the anti-rave law. Our findings suggest that both individuals and groups were vital in the construction of an interest group model moral panic that led to the adoption of this law. Although researchers have utilized the moral panic framework in analyzing many social and legal changes over the past 40 years, it has also garnered much criticism. In an effort to further advance the framework, we provide several modifications to Goode and Ben-Yehuda's (2009 ——— . 2009 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance , 2nd ed . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . [Google Scholar]) most recent reconceptualization and recommendations for future moral panic research.     

The “Other Side of The Fence”: A Learning- And Control-Based Investigation Of The Relationship Between Deviance And Friendship Quality

ABSTRACT

Utilizing frameworks of social control and differential association theories, this study addresses the extent to which deviance (a predictor) is related to friendship quality (the outcome). Using dyadic data, results demonstrate that the highest estimates of friendship quality come from actors who have non-deviant friends and who also refrain from theft and violence themselves. Shared deviance within the friendship, referred to as ‘homophily,’ harms friendship quality, although it does not mediate or moderate the deviance – friendship quality link. Overall, deviance relates to friendship quality in a way that supports a bonding tradition more than a learning tradition.     

Asymmetrical hemisphere activation enhances global–local processing

Decades of research focusing on the neurophysiological underpinnings related to global–local processing of hierarchical stimuli have associated global processing with the right hemisphere and local processing with the left hemisphere. The current experiment sought to expand this research by testing the causal contributions of hemisphere activation to global–local processing. To manipulate hemisphere activation, participants engaged in contralateral hand contractions. Then, EEG activity and attentional scope were measured. Right-hand contractions caused greater relative left-cortical activity than left-hand contractions. Participants were more narrowly focused after left-hemisphere activation than after right-hemisphere activation. Moreover, N1 amplitudes to local targets in the left hemisphere were larger after left-hemisphere activation than after right-hemisphere activation. Consistent with past research investigating hemispheric asymmetry and attentional scope, the current results suggest that manipulating left (right) hemisphere activity enhanced local (global) attentional processing.     

Does Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Matter? An Evaluation of Problem-Solving Skills Training for the Treatment of Social and Behavioral Problems in Children

Problem-solving skills training (PSST) has been proposed as a potentially effective addition to behavioral parent training (PT). However, it is not clear whether PSST specifically increases the benefits provided by PT. In this study, PT + PSST was compared to PT + nondirective therapy in a sample of 26 families. All parents received PT. Following this, children received PSST or nondirective therapy. Outcomes included measures of child behavior problems, social skills, and parent stress at posttherapy and a 6-week follow-up. Children in both groups improved over time with few differences between groups.     

Two plus blue equals green: Grapheme-color synesthesia allows cognitive access to numerical information via color

In grapheme-color synesthesia, graphemes (e.g., numbers or letters) evoke color experiences. It is generally reported that the opposite is not true: colors will not generate experiences of graphemes or their associated information. However, recent research has provided evidence that colors can implicitly elicit symbolic representations of associated graphemes. Here, we examine if these representations can be cognitively accessed. Using a mathematical verification task replacing graphemes with color patches, we find that synesthetes can verify such problems with colors as accurately as with graphemes. Doing so, however, takes time: ～250 ms per color. Moreover, we find minimal reaction time switch-costs for switching between computing with graphemes and colors. This demonstrates that given specific task demands, synesthetes can cognitively access numerical information elicited by physical colors, and they do so as accurately as with graphemes. We discuss these results in the context of possible cognitive strategies used to access the information.     

Factors Associated with Non-Reimbursable Activity on an Inpatient Pediatric Consultation–Liaison Service

The aim of this study was to identify factors contributing to clinician time spent in non-reimbursable activity on an inpatient pediatric consultation–liaison (C–L) service. A retrospective study was conducted using inpatient C–L service data on 1,246 consecutive referrals. For this patient population, the strongest predictor of level of non-reimbursable clinical activity was illness chronicity and the number of contacts with C–L service clinicians during their hospital stay. Patients with acute life-threatening illnesses required the highest mean amount of non-reimbursable service activity. On average, 28 % of total clinician time in completing a hospital consultation was spent in non-reimbursable activity. Effective C–L services require a proportion of time spent in non-reimbursable clinical activity, such as liaison and coordinating care with other providers. Identifying referral and systemic factors contributing to non-reimbursable activity can provide insight into budgeting/negotiating for institutional support for essential clinical and non-clinical functions in providing competent quality patient care.     

Reviews

The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida: Religion Without Religion, John D. Caputo, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1997. The Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion, xxix + 374 pp. ISBN 0–253–21112–3 (pbk.)

Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction, Alan Aldridge, Polity Press: Cambridge, 2000. vii, 232 pp. ISBN 0–7456–2083–3

The Anthropology of Religion, Fiona Bowie, Oxford, Blackwell. 1999. 284pp, tables & bibliogr. ISBN 0–631 20848–8 (pbk)

Theorizing about Myth, Robert Segal, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. 1999. 184pp. Cloth £45, paper £15. ISBN 1–558–49194–5 (hbk), 1–558–49191–0 (pbk)     

A Function Acquisition Speed Test for Equivalence relations (Faster)

The Psychological Record - The current study employed a stimulus equivalence paradigm to assess the ability of the recently developed Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) to measure the existence...     

The composite face effect in six-year-old children: Evidence of adult-like holistic face processing

Holistic processing (i.e., gluing facial features together into a gestalt) is a hallmark of adults’ expert face recognition. Children make more errors than adults on a variety of face processing tasks even during adolescence. To determine whether this slow development can be attributed to immature holistic processing of unfamiliar faces, we tested 6-year-old children (n=24) with a classic measure of adults’ holistic processing, the composite face effect: They made same/different judgements about the top halves of face pairs when each top half was combined with a different bottom half, with which it was aligned (so that holistic processing creates the impression of a different face) or misaligned (a manipulation that disrupts holistic processing). Six-year-olds showed an adult-like composite face effect: Like adults, they made 26% more errors on aligned trials than on misaligned trials. These results suggest that the improvements after age 6 in the recognition of the facial identity are not caused by the onset or increasing strength of holistic face processing.