The Silence of Psychologists

Unlike certain Israeli historians or sociologists who have developed a critical "post-Zionist" approach, Israeli psychologists display few signs of this critical trend. This is especially disquieting in light of the latest back and forth movement between warfare to the peace process—a movement that created many new social and individual dilemmas that would benefit from an open debate within social and clinical psychology. This paper tries to account for this deficiency by looking at its possible historical, political, and cultural roots. The historical aspects relate to the influence of European and American psychological traditions. Two political aspects are presented: (1) Israeli psychologists, through their involvement in the military and their acceptance of the Zionist claim for security, tend to belong to the political mainstream (Gergen, 1973, 1989); and (2) a hyper-political atmosphere scared Israeli psychologists into neutrality and objectivism. This provided a convenient rationale for apoliticism, especially when Israeli political polarization in the 1980s and 1990s was perceived as threatening psychologists' professional authority. Culturally, the psychologists, like the European social strata from which most of them originated, tended to adopt the American tradition of individualism as a reaction to the strong collectivist trend that dominated Israeli society during its early years. This may account for their weak and delayed social response of humanism, feminism, and constructivism. Exceptions to this general trend are highlighted, and the question of how Israeli psychology might become more politically sensitive and critical is explored. This discussion may have relevance for the development of political psychology in other societies, especially those going through transition of values or suffering from long, violent conflicts.     

Imagery of errors in typing

Using a typing task we investigated whether insufficient imagination of errors and error corrections is related to duration differences between execution and imagination. In Experiment 1 spontaneous error imagination was investigated, whereas in Experiment 2 participants were specifically instructed to imagine errors. Further, in Experiment 2 we manipulated correction instructions (whether or not to correct errors) and controlled for visual feedback in executed typing (letters appearing on the screen or not). Participants executed and imagined typing proverbs of different lengths. Errors and error corrections explained a significant amount of variance of execution minus imagination differences in Experiment 1, and in Experiment 2 when participants were instructed to correct errors, but not when participants were instructed not to correct errors. In Experiment 2 participants corrected and reported more errors with than without visual feedback. However, the relation between execution − imagination duration differences and errors and error corrections was unaffected by visual feedback. The types of errors reported less often in imagination than in execution were related to processes in typing execution. We conclude that errors and error corrections are not spontaneously imagined during motor imagery, and that even when attention is drawn to their occurrence only some are imagined. This may be due to forward models not predicting all aspects of an action, imprecise forward models, or a neglect of monitoring error signals during motor imagery.     

Visual spatial skill: a consequence of learning to read?

Does learning to read influence one’s visual skill? In Study 1, kindergartners from Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, and Spain were tested on word reading and a task of visual spatial skill. Chinese and Korean kindergartners significantly outperformed Israeli and Spanish readers on the visual task. Moreover, in all cultures except Korea, good readers scored significantly higher on the visual task than did less good readers. In Study 2, we followed 215 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners across 1 year, with word reading and visual skills tested twice. In this study, word reading at Time 1 by itself predicted 13% of unique variance in visual skill at Time 2. Together, these results underscore the potential importance of the process of learning to read for shaping one’s visual spatial skill development.     

Trial-to-trial sequential dependencies in a social and non-social Simon task

Recent research has shown that joint-action effects in a social Simon task provide a good index of action co-representation. The present study aimed to specify the mechanisms underlying joint action by considering trial-to-trial transitions. Using non-social stimuli, we assigned a Simon task to two participants. Each was responsible for only one of two possible responses. This task was performed alone (Individual go/nogo task) and in cooperation with another person who was sitting alongside (Joint go/nogo task). As a further control task, we added a Standard Simon task. Replicating previous findings (Sebanz et al. in Cognition 88:B11-B21, 2003), we found no spatial compatibility effect in the Individual go/nogo task but we did find one in the Joint go/nogo task. A more detailed analysis showed that a sequential modulation of the Simon effect was present in both the Joint and the Individual go/nogo tasks. We found reliable Simon effects in trials following Simon compatible trials not only in the Joint go/nogo task but also to a somewhat smaller extent in the Individual go/nogo task. For both these go/nogo tasks, sequential modulation effects were stronger for nogo/go transitions than for go/go transitions. This suggests that low-level feature binding and repetition mechanisms contribute to the social Simon effect related to the specific requirement not to respond on nogo trials.     

Genetic Counseling and Testing for FSHD (Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy) in the Israeli Population

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), is a dominantly inherited, late onset, progressive disease. At present, no treatment or prevention of symptoms are available. There is considerable clinical variability, even within families. The gene whose defect causes FSHD has not been identified, but molecular diagnosis can be made by analyzing D4Z4 repeat length on chromosome 4q35. The results can support or rule out the clinical diagnosis of FSHD, but there are also "gray zone", non-conclusive results. During the years 2000-6, 66 individuals (including 7 asymptomatic individuals), were tested in our institute for D4Z4 repeat number. In 77% of the cases the results were conclusive: two thirds of them supported a diagnosis of FSHD while in a third this diagnosis was ruled out. In 23% the results were in the gray zone. Cognitive involvement was rare, occurring only when the D4Z4 repeat size was very small (<15 kb). Maximal utilization of the existing molecular test for FSHD demands detailed clinical and family pedigree information. We recommend that comprehensive genetic counseling always be given before and after molecular testing for FSHD, in addition to the neurological follow-up. Presymptomatic testing should only be offered when complete molecular evaluation can be offered, including 4qA and 4qB variant analysis.     

When customers exhibit verbal aggression, employees pay cognitive costs

In 4 experimental studies, we show that customer verbal aggression impaired the cognitive performance of the targets of this aggression. In Study 1, customers' verbal aggression reduced recall of customers' requests. Study 2 extended these findings by showing that customer verbal aggression impaired recognition memory and working memory among employees of a cellular communication provider. In Study 3, the ability to take another's perspective attenuated the negative effects of customer verbal aggression on participants' cognitive performance. Study 4 linked customer verbal aggression to quality of task performance, showing a particularly negative influence of aggressive requests delivered by high-status customers. Together, these studies suggest that the effects of even minor aggression from customers can strongly affect the immediate cognitive performance of customer service employees and reduce their task performance. The implications for research on aggression and for the practice of customer service are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

TOWARD A BALANCED HISTORY: “OHEL,” THE “WORKERS THEATRE OF ERETZ YISRAEL” AS A CULTURAL ALTERNATIVE TO HABIMA (1935–1946)

Ohel (Hebrew: tent) is the only theatre among the troupes established in Tel Aviv in the 1920s that survived the serious threat posed by the famous Habima when the latter settled in Tel Aviv in 1931. This article offers a history whose aim is to balance between Habima and its central position, and the marginal position of Ohel in traditional history, as well as offering an interpretation of new materials that undermine the accepted myths of the Hebrew theatre. The article examines the discourse obtaining between Ohel and Habima, and focuses on the alternative that Ohel offered the public. It thereby provides the field of Hebrew theatre with a “living historical depth” that is sorely missing in the conventional history.     

Coping strategies and leadership in the adaptation to social change: The Israeli Kibbutz

This research assessed adaptation to community change in the Israeli kibbutz. A sample of 270 kibbutz members provided self-reports on their perception of the leaders of the change, change appraisals, coping strategies, and assessment of change outcomes. The main results showed that the perception of transformational leadership was negatively related to threat/loss and positively related to challenge/controllability appraisals; challenge/controllability appraisals were related positively to problem-focused coping and positive affect, whereas threat/loss appraisals were related positively to emotion-focused coping and negative affect. The findings contribute to an understanding of the stress and coping processes during a major change in a communal way of life, and underline the importance of leadership perception as a resource that contributes to better adaptation.     

EMOTIONAL MEMORIES OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS DURING THE HOLOCAUST

This article examines psychosocial aspects of family/parent-child relationships during the Holocaust by focusing on the emotional memories of such relationships. Global and thematic analyses were undertaken on 93 life story interviews and testimonies with Holocaust survivors. Results showed that survivors who lived through most of the war with parents/family and those who had lived approximately an equal time with loved ones and without them were able to recall and narrate more emotional memories, both positive and negative, than people who had experienced the traumatic period mostly on their own. However, going through the war with family did not guarantee the narration of emotional memories; close to half of these victims could not recall/narrate such memories. In general, when the survivor recalled relative emotional security, she or he felt safe, even when physical danger was imminent. However, this feeling did not always continue when the physical situation worsened or when the survivor was separated from loved ones. It was suggested that the ability to recall and narrate emotional memories highlights the heterogeneity in family relationships that existed during the Holocaust and the kinds of family relationships that developed after the Holocaust.