The face of fear: Effects of eye gaze and emotion on visual attention

We investigated whether a fearful expression enhances the effect of another's gaze in directing the attention of an observer. Participants viewed photographs of faces whose gaze was directed ahead, to the left or to the right. Target letters then appeared unpredictably to the left or right. As expected, targets in the location indicated by gaze were detected more rapidly. In nonanxious volunteers the effects of fearful gaze did not differ from neutral gaze, but fearful expression had a more powerful influence in a selected high anxious group. Attention is thus more likely to be guided by the direction of fearful than neutral gaze, but only in anxiety-prone individuals.     

Psychosocial issues among children and adolescents in an integrated paediatric HIV psychology service in Botswana

This study explored the psychosocial issues faced by children and adolescents with HIV in Botswana. Data on psychosocial issues were collected from 27 young children aged 5–9 years and 128 adolescents aged 10–19 years (n = 155). Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel 2007 and MiniTab16. The most frequently identified psychosocial issues were behaviour problems (70%), family issues (58%), and HIV medication adherence (57%). Compared to young children, adolescents were more likely to have HIV medication adherence issues. Missed appointments were most commonly attributed to patient forgetfulness (21%) and conflicting appointments (18%).     

Transference and Countertransference: New Horizons

In this exploratory study one set of patients (n – 50) was randomly assigned to either short-term group therapy or short-term individual therapy. Another set of patients was randomly assigned to either long-term group therapy or long-term individual therapy. All patients were rated prior to therapy on fifteen variables which were believed to be important for psychoanalytically oriented therapy. A comprehensive battery of outcome measures was administered both before and after therapy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted in an effort to discover differential predictors of improvement for group therapy and individual therapy. None of the variables was found to be a significant predictor of improvement in one type of therapy and of nonimprovement in the other type. However, a number of variables were found to be significant predictors of improvement for one type of therapy but not for the other. It is suggested that for a given patient, a pattern of scoring on a number of such variables might tend to favor one type of therapy over another. The authors hope that the present study will serve to encourage further research work on the issue of assisting clinicians in their decisions concerning general and differential prediction of therapy outcome.     

Rethinking the Connections between Religion and Civic Life for Immigrants: The Case of the Chinese Diaspora

Through interviews with 33 Chinese American first- and second-generation immigrants, we ask how narratives that describe the link between religion and civic life differ among Buddhists, Christians, and nonreligious Chinese. All groups stress the tight institutional connections between religion and politics in the United States. For Chinese Christians, congregations provide opportunities to serve their fellow parishioners and the wider community, as well as political rhetoric to guide practices. Buddhists actively criticize a religious organizational approach to community service and the US connection between politics and religion, emphasizing the development of inherent ethical dimensions for motivating service to others. And the non-religious stressed the role of religious organizations in facilitating volunteering. There is also a difference between the responses of first- and second-generation immigrants, with first-generation immigrants having a more difficult time understanding the meaning of American community service. Results expand scholarship on the connection between religion and civic life.     

文化差异与性的自我表露

性的自我表露(sexual self-disclosure)是自我表露中最亲密的形式。它是一个亲密的二人关系中一方把他(她)的性事表露给伴侣的程度。出乎意料的是, 和对于大量关于其他方面的自我表露相比, 学界对这方面的研究很少。在这些为数不多的研究中, 一些研究发现：性的自我表露和人们的性满意度是相关的。因此研究性的自我表露或许有助于了解或增益人们的性生活。过去的研究从未调查过文化是否影响人们对性的自我表露。在不同的文化中, 人们性的自我表露的程度和内容都应该会有所差异。现有的关于人们自我表露中的文化差异的理论研究对未来研究性的自我表露受文化差异的影响提供了方向。     

The mediating and moderating role of planning on mothers’ decisions for early childhood dietary behaviours

Objective: Examine the roles of action and coping planning on the intention–behaviour relationship for mothers’ decisions for their young children’s dietary behaviours.

Design: Prospective design with two waves of data collection, one week apart.

Main outcome measures: Mothers (N = 197, M_age = 34.39, SD = 5.65) of children aged 2–3 years completed a main questionnaire assessing planning constructs and intentions, and a one-week follow-up of the target behaviours – ‘healthy eating’ and ‘discretionary choices’.

Results: Intention was the strongest predictor of behaviour for both dietary behaviours. For healthy eating, intention moderated the indirect relationship between intention–behaviour via planning; coping planning was less important when intention was strong. Further, intention was not a direct predictor of behaviour when intention was relatively low. Action planning was not a direct predictor of either behaviour after accounting for intention and coping planning; action planning on behaviour was mediated by coping planning (only for healthy eating). Intention was not a direct predictor of coping planning; intention on coping planning was mediated by action planning. Neither type of planning predicted discretionary choices.

Conclusion: Current findings contribute novel information on the mechanisms underpinning the effect of action and coping planning on the intention–behaviour relationship.     

Atheists and Agnostics Negotiate Religion and Family

Through in‐depth interviews with scientists at elite academic institutions—those particularly likely to have no firm belief in God—we provide insight into the motives scientists who are not religious have for joining a religious group and the struggle faced by these individuals in reconciling personal beliefs with what they consider the best interests of their families. Narratives stress the use of resources from identities as scientists to provide their children with religious choices consistent with science and in negotiating spousal influence and a desire for community. Findings expand the religious socialization and identities literatures by widening the range of understanding of the strategies parents utilize to interface with religious communities as well as lead to more nuanced public understanding of how atheist and agnostic scientists relate to religious communities.     

Subjective distress associated with chronic stuttering

Stuttering is a chronic condition involving involuntary disruption to speech fluency. While elevated social anxiety has been found to be a risk factor for adults who have stuttered all their lives, it is unclear how stuttering influences other negative mood states such as interpersonal sensitivity and depressive mood. Consequently, controlled research was conducted that investigated negative affectivity across a number of domains in adults who stutter. Participants included 200 adults who have stuttered since childhood, with comparisons made to 200 non-stuttering controls of similar age and sex. The adults who stuttered were found to have significantly elevated levels of distress and negative mood states compared to the controls. As expected, significant differences were found for anxiety, however, significant and substantial differences were also found across a broad range of negative affect, including dimensions such as somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, depressive mood, hostility and paranoia. The implications of these findings for the better management of stuttering are discussed.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to describe: (a) the negative impact of a chronic disorder like stuttering on people who have stuttered all their life; (b) the factor structure of the SCL-90-R; (c) the negative affectivity construct, and (d) the difference between psychogenic theories of stuttering and neurological theories of stuttering.     

Effects of Target Person Expression on Ethnic Prejudice Toward Middle Easterners and Hispanics

Research on implicit prejudice suggests that target person judgments may be affected by unintentional, but well‐learned, cognitive associations. Ethnicity, gender, and smiling or nonsmiling expression were varied as cues in White college students' perception tasks. The results of a factorial experiment are included as well as a discussion of the implications. La investigación sobre prejuicios implícitos sugiere que los juicios del individuo en cuestión pueden ser afectados por asociaciones cognitivas involuntarias, pero bien aprendidas. Se variaron la etnicidad, el género y la expresión sonriente o carente de sonrisa como entradas para las pruebas de percepción de estudiantes universitarios Blancos. Se incluyen los resultados de un experimento factorial, además de una discusión sobre las implicaciones.