The Reproduction of the Hypermasculine Male: Select Subaltern Views

Since the 1500s, masculinity and the socialization of men have been defined by colonization. This essay explores the hypermasculine male as a person unemotional yet fearful of intimacy, void of non-masculine attachments and identifications, competitive and aggressive, strong, independent, dominant, powerful, rational, sexist, homophobic, and generally disconnected from his own sense of self and the self of others. Nancy Chodorow’s challenge for the reproduction of masculinity is understood as a call to decolonialize the hypermasculine male as exposed in the political and subaltern psychologies of Frantz Fanon and Ashis Nandy. When the hypermasculine male is not rehumanized, all people are dehumanized, especially persons of color, children, women, and the elderly, and all who are perceived as not manly enough or as not following the rules and systems set by men. The image of the hypermasculine male is recognized in select computer games, where the image is actively promoted.     

Some contributions of a psychological approach to the study of the sacred

ABSTRACT

This paper examines some of the contributions psychology is making to the study of the sacred and its role in human functioning. The focus here is not on the ontological reality of the sacred, but rather perceptions of the sacred. We suggest that psychological theory and research on this topic offers: a clarification of the meaning of the sacred; new knowledge about sanctification – the process through which people come to perceive the sacred in daily life; a response to criticisms about the scientific study of the sacred; a sharper perspective on the meanings of religion and spirituality; a method for measuring sanctification; knowledge about the ways perceptions of the sacred predict important aspects of human behavior, and; an understanding of the sacred as a product of psychological, social, institutional, cultural, and situational forces. We conclude that the sacred represents a vital phenomenon of interest for religious and spiritual study.     

Dual-task interference effects on cross-modal numerical order and sound intensity judgments: the more the louder?

In the current study, cross-task interactions between number order and sound intensity judgments were assessed using a dual-task paradigm. Participants first categorized numerical sequences composed of Arabic digits as either ordered (ascending, descending) or non-ordered. Following each number sequence, participants then had to judge the intensity level of a target sound. Experiment 1 emphasized processing the two tasks independently (serial processing), while Experiments 2 and 3 emphasized processing the two tasks simultaneously (parallel processing). Cross-task interference occurred only when the task required parallel processing and was specific to ascending numerical sequences, which led to a higher proportion of louder sound intensity judgments. In Experiment 4 we examined whether this unidirectional interaction was the result of participants misattributing enhanced processing fluency experienced on ascending sequences as indicating a louder target sound. The unidirectional finding could not be entirely attributed to misattributed processing fluency, and may also be connected to experientially derived conceptual associations between ascending number sequences and greater magnitude, consistent with conceptual mapping theory.     

Auditory statistical learning: predictive frequency information affects the deployment of contextually mediated attentional resources on perceptual tasks

Statistical learning is a general phenomenon in which environmental regularities are implicitly acquired through repeated exposure to those environments. Sometimes, that information can be utilised to affect various aspects of cognitive performance (e.g. reaction time) on tasks that utilise selective attention (e.g. visual search). In the current study, we examined the effect of passively listening to predictive auditory contexts in facilitating attention to a certain frequency or frequency range. In doing so, we found that there is a general tendency for attentional resources to be negatively affected when the context sequences are made novel after context–target associations have been formed (Experiment 1), and when the context no longer reliably cues the previous target (Experiment 2). The experiments are framed to contrast Associative Learning and Memory Hypothesis perspectives.     

The universal psychology of kinship: evidence from language

Kinship is central to social organization in many societies; how people think about kinship should be relevant to social cognition generally. One window onto the mental representation of kinship is afforded by variation and universals in terms for kin. Kin terminologies are commonly organized around binary distinctive features, and terms for some types of kin are consistently linguistically marked. These observations can be formalized in the newly developed framework of linguistic Optimality Theory: permutations in the rank order of a small set of constraints generate basic types of kin terminology without over-generating rare or non-existent types. The result, I argue, is evidence for an innate faculty of social cognition (including several universal schemas of social relationships), apparently shaped by several kinds of genetic kin selection.     

Callous-unemotional traits and developmental pathways to severe conduct problems

One method for defining pathways through which children develop severe conduct problems is based on the presence or absence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. This study investigated potential differences between nonreferred children (mean age = 12.36 years; SD = 1.73) with and without CU traits (n = 98). Children with conduct problems, irrespective of the presence of CU traits, tended to have significant problems in emotional and behavioral regulation. In contrast, CU traits, irespective of the presence of conduct problems, were associated with a lack of behavioral inhibition. Hostile attributional biases were associated with conduct problems but only in boys and in the absence of CU traits. These findings suggest that the processes underlying deficits in emotional and behavioral regulation in children with conduct problems may be different for children with CU traits.     

Callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in the prediction of conduct problem severity,aggression, and self-report of delinquency

The role of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and conduct problems in predicting conduct problem severity, severity and type of aggression, and self-reported delinquency at a 1-year follow-up was investigated in a sample of 98 children (mean age 12.43; SD = 1.72) recruited from a community-wide screening. Children with both CU traits and conduct problems had a greater number and variety of conduct problems at follow-up than children who at the screening had high levels of conduct problems alone. However, this poorer outcome for children with CU traits could largely be accounted for by differences in initial level of conduct problem severity. Children with CU traits and conduct problems were also at risk for showing higher levels of aggression, especially proactive aggression, and self-reported delinquency. Importantly, these outcomes could not be solely explained by initial level of conduct problem severity. Finally, CU traits predicted self-reported delinquency in some children who did not initially show high levels of conduct problems and this predictive relationship seemed to be strongest for girls in the sample who were high on CU traits but who did not show significant conduct problems.     

A case study of community-based participatory research ethics: The healthy public housing initiative

We conducted and analyzed qualitative interviews with 12 persons working on the Healthy Public Housing Initiative in Boston, Massachusetts in 2001. Our goal was to generate ideas and themes related to the ethics of the community-based participatory research in which they were engaged. Specifically, we wanted to see if we found themes that differed from conventional research that is based on an individualistic ethics. There were clearly distinct ethical issues raised with respect to projects and individuals who engage in community-based collaborations. The differences that arose from the interviews were seeking equality between the partners, the need for the community partner to defend the community, dealing with unflattering data, meeting community expectations and producing tangible benefits to the community. Alison Kole is an MD/MPH candidate, Tufts University School of Medicine.     

When does feedback facilitate learning of words?

Some researchers have suggested that although feedback may enhance performance during associative learning, it does so at the expense of later retention. To examine this issue, subjects (N = 258) learned Luganda-English word pairs. After 2 initial exposures to the materials, subjects were tested on each item several times, with the presence and type of feedback varying between subjects. A final test followed after 1 week. Supplying the correct answer after an incorrect response not only improved performance during the initial learning session--it also increased final retention by 494%. On the other hand, feedback after correct responses made little difference either immediately or at a delay, regardless of whether the subject was confident in the response. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Examining auditory kappa effects through manipulating intensity differences between sequential tones

The auditory kappa effect is a tendency to base the perceived duration of an inter-onset interval (IOI) separating two sequentially presented sounds on the degree of relative pitch distance separating them. Previous research has found that the degree of frequency discrepancy between tones extends the subjective duration of the IOI. In Experiment 1, auditory kappa effects for sound intensity were tested using a three-tone, AXB paradigm (where the intensity of tone X was shifted to be closer to either Tone A or B). Tones closer in intensity level were perceived as occurring closer in time, evidence of an auditory-intensity kappa effect. In Experiments 2 and 3, the auditory motion hypothesis was tested by preceding AXB patterns with null intensity and coherent intensity context sequences, respectively. The auditory motion hypothesis predicts that coherent sequences should enhance the perception of motion and increase the strength of kappa effects. In this study, the presence of context sequences reduced kappa effect strength regardless of the properties of the context tones.