Psychological and Social Characteristics Associated with Religiosity in Women’s Health Initiative Participants

Measures of religiosity are linked to health outcomes, possibly indicating mediating effects of associated psychological and social factors. We examined cross-sectional data from 92,539 postmenopausal participants of the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study who responded to questions on religious service attendance, psychological characteristics, and social support domains. We present odds ratios from multiple logistic regressions controlling for covariates. Women attending services weekly during the past month, compared with those not attending at all in the past month, were less likely to be depressed [OR = 0.78; CI = 0.74–0.83] or characterized by cynical hostility [OR = 0.94; CI = 0.90–0.98], and more likely to be optimistic [OR = 1.22; CI = 1.17–1.26]. They were also more likely to report overall positive social support [OR = 1.28; CI = 1.24–1.33], as well as social support of four subtypes (emotional/informational support, affection support, tangible support, and positive social interaction), and were less likely to report social strain [OR = 0.91; CI = 0.88–0.94]. However, those attending more or less than weekly were not less likely to be characterized by cynical hostility, nor were they less likely to report social strain, compared to those not attending during the past month.     

It is irrelevant,but it matters: Using confluence theory to predict the influence of beliefs on evaluations,attitudes, and intentions

The present research is based on the notion of confluence—that associated mental elements have a tendency to become more consistent with each other over time, even if some of them are logically irrelevant to the issue at hand. This idea was applied to a voting paradigm where participants were exposed to varying numbers of valenced beliefs about a candidate. Two experiments tested the idea that although valenced beliefs influence attributions and voting intentions, there is an additional process whereby evaluations of irrelevant beliefs also are influenced. Not surprisingly, as more positive or negative beliefs were presented, voting intentions became more positive or more negative, respectively. More dramatically, however, positive or negative evaluations of irrelevant beliefs became more extreme in the direction of the presented items as more of them were presented. An additional experiment tested alternative mechanisms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Essential Elements of Genetic Cancer Risk Assessment, Counseling, and Testing: Updated Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

Updated from their original publication in 2004, these cancer genetic counseling recommendations describe the medical, psychosocial, and ethical ramifications of counseling at-risk individuals through genetic cancer risk assessment with or without genetic testing. They were developed by members of the Practice Issues Subcommittee of the National Society of Genetic Counselors Familial Cancer Risk Counseling Special Interest Group. The information contained in this document is derived from extensive review of the current literature on cancer genetic risk assessment and counseling as well as the personal expertise of genetic counselors specializing in cancer genetics. The recommendations are intended to provide information about the process of genetic counseling and risk assessment for hereditary cancer disorders rather than specific information about individual syndromes. Essential components include the intake, cancer risk assessment, genetic testing for an inherited cancer syndrome, informed consent, disclosure of genetic test results, and psychosocial assessment. These recommendations should not be construed as dictating an exclusive course of management, nor does use of such recommendations guarantee a particular outcome. These recommendations do not displace a health care provider's professional judgment based on the clinical circumstances of a client.     

Physical self-similarity enhances the gaze-cueing effect

Important social information can be gathered from the direction of another person's gaze, such as their intentions and aspects of the environment that are relevant to those intentions. Previous work has examined the effect of gaze on attention through the gaze-cueing effect: an enhancement of performance in detecting targets that appear where another person is looking. The present study investigated whether the physical self-similarity of a face could increase its impact on attention. Self-similarity was manipulated by morphing participants' faces with those of strangers. The effect of gaze direction on target detection was strongest for faces morphed with the participant's face. The results support previous work suggesting that self-similar faces are processed differently from dissimilar faces. The data also demonstrate that a face's similarity to one's own face influences the degree to which that face guides our attention in the environment.     

Hey stud: Race, sex, and sports

This article is an examination of how the intersection of sport and race plays out in the sexualization of the sporting role of African American male athletes. Further, the article is an examination of the multiple roles the media, sport, and race play as these impact the public persona of African American male athletes in high-profile sports. The article concludes with a number of recommendations for ending the negative images of African American male athletes. To the white public, we are athletes, rappers, preachers, singers—and precious little else. We are also robberts, rapists, mentally deficient and sexually well endowed. —Ellis Cose, The Envy of the World: On Being a Black Man in America (2002; New York: Washington Square Press, 3–4) First of all, let me say good after ... good late afternoon. Because of the HIV virus I have attained, I will have to announce my retirement from the Lakers today. I just want to make clear, first of all, that I do not have the AIDS disease, because I know a lot of you want to know that, but the HIV virus. My wife is fine, she’s negative, so no problem with her. I plan on going on, living for a long time, bugging you guys like I always have. So you’ll see me around. I plan on being with the Lakers and the league—hopefully [Commissioner] David [Stern] will have me for a while—and going on with my life. I guess now I get to enjoy some of the other sides of living—that [were missed] because of the season and the long practices and so on. I just want to say that I’m going to miss playing. And I will now become a spokesman for the HIV virus because I want people, young people, to realize they can practice safe sex. And, you know, sometimes you’re a little naive about it and you think it could never happen to you. You only thought it could happen to, you know, other people and so on and on. And it has happened. —Magic Johnson—Press Conference at L.A. Lakers Compound Washington Post, November 9, 1991     

Discriminant validity of the MMPI for borderline personality disorder

This study explores the discriminant validity of the MMPI in relationship to the DSM-III and the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB) constructs of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). A two-way analysis of variance model assessed differences between inpatients (n = 42) and outpatients (n = 42) and between BPD and nonBPD patients. We compare the best discriminant model for the current samples with previous BPD discriminant functions. The present study assesses a wider range of psychopathology in which the MMPI appears to be relatively insensitive to the BPD construct while retaining the high specificity reported in previous studies. Implications for the use of the MMPI as a diagnostic instrument are discussed.     

Selective attentional responses and overtraining in a discrimination shift paradigm

Peed and Forehand's conclusion that “a theory of vicarious consequences based upon an informational analysis of imitation has serious limitations” is questioned on several grounds. In addition to the fact that Peed and Forehand's research design is not sufficiently sensitive to warrant accepting the null hypothesis, a review of recent literature suggests that the effects Liebert and Fernandez originally predicted from an informational analysis have been obtained by other investigators. Finally, studies in which an informational heuristic has been employed in areas of observational learning other than vicarious consequences attest further to its usefulness in stimulating discovery.     

Identifying the Developmental Strengths of Juvenile Offenders: Assessing Four Life‐Skills Dimensions

The authors describe the development of the Life‐Skills Development Scale Juvenile Form, a brief self‐report instrument for assessing the life‐skills development of juvenile offenders. Reliability and validity findings are presented, implications for treatment planning are provided, and recommendations for further research are discussed.     

AIDS: Globalization and Its Discontents

Abstract. HIV/AIDS has changed from a disease of white gay men in the United States to a pandemic that largely involves women and dependent children in developing countries. Many theologies of disease are necessary to cope with the variety of expressions of this pandemic. Christian theoethical reflection on HIV/AIDS has been largely focused on sexual ethics, with uneven and mainly unhelpful results. Among the ethical issues that shape future useful conversations are globalized economics and resource sharing, the morality and economics of the pharmaceutical industry, and the need for sex education and access to reproductive choice. Considering such issues in international, interreligious, multiscientific contexts is a concrete next step for the religion‐and‐science dialogue. It will put the powerful tools of both fields to the service of the common good.