Politeness and social signals

In the literature, politeness has been researched within many disciplines. Although Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness (1978, 1987) is often cited, it is primarily a linguistic theory and has been criticized for its lack of generalizability to all cultures. Consequently, there is a need for a more comprehensive approach to understand and explain politeness. We suggest applying a social signal framework that considers politeness as a communicative state. By doing so, we aim to unify and explain politeness and its corresponding research and identify further research needed in this area.     

Interoceptive and exteroceptive attention have opposite effects on subsequent somatosensory perceptual decision making

Evidence suggests that interoceptive and exteroceptive attention might have different perceptual effects. However, the effects of these different types of body-focused attention have never been directly compared. The current research investigated how interoceptive and exteroceptive attention affect subsequent performance on the somatic signal detection task (SSDT). In Experiment 1, 37 participants completed the SSDT under usual testing conditions and after performing an interoceptive heartbeat perception task. This task led to a more liberal response criterion, leading to increased touch reports in the presence and absence of a target vibration. This finding is consistent with suggestions that attending internally contributes to physical symptom reporting in patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). In Experiment 2, 40 participants completed the SSDT before and after an exteroceptive grating orientation task. This task led to a more stringent response criterion, leading to decreased touch reports in the presence and absence of the target, possibly via a reduction in sensory noise. This work demonstrates that internal and external body-focused attention can have opposite effects on subsequent somatic perceptual decision making and suggests that attentional training could be useful for patients reporting MUS.     

Cosmic Justice and Sanctioned Violence: The Huangdi Yinfujing and the Legitimacy of War in Religious Daoism

《黄帝阴符经》或《阴符经》是道教传统中一部极为主要的文本。虽然文本作者不详,而且篇幅短小、语义晦涩,但自唐代以来一直被当作奇书,引发多种注释与解读:内丹修炼抑或兵家谋略。本文以(唐)李荃注释本为主,阐述《阴符经》有关阴阳、生杀、机时、五贼、三盗等所涵盖的道家/道教的本体-宇宙观,并以此论述就有关暴力与战争议题所展示的道教伦理观。笔者认为,《阴符经》在重玄思辨中,强调道教"治身治国"的理念,其暗含的"义战"思想亦带有一定的黄老印记。     

Are clinical diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias affected by education and self-reported race?

A randomized controlled trial examined whether the diagnostic process for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias may be influenced by knowledge of the patient's education and/or self-reported race. Four conditions were implemented: diagnostic team knows (a) race and education, (b) education only, (c) race only, or (d) neither. Diagnosis and clinical staging was established at baseline, at Wave 2, and for a random sample of Wave 3 respondents by a consensus panel. At study end, a longitudinal, "gold standard" diagnosis was made for patients with follow-up data (71%). Group differences in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnosis were estimated using logistic regression and generalized estimating equations. Sensitivity and specificity were examined for baseline diagnosis in relation to the gold standard, longitudinal diagnosis. Despite equivalent status on all measured variables across waves, members of the "knows race only" group were less likely than those of other groups to receive a diagnosis of dementia. At final diagnosis, 19% of the "knows race only" group was diagnosed with dementia versus 38% to 40% in the other 3 conditions (p = .038). Examination of sensitivities and specificities of baseline diagnosis in relation to the gold standard diagnosis showed a nonsignificant trend for lower sensitivities in the knowing race conditions (0.3846), as contrasted with knowing education only (0.480) or neither (0.600). The finding that knowledge of race may influence the diagnostic process in some unknown way is timely, given the recent State-of-the-Science conference on Alzheimer's disease prevention, the authors of which called for information about and standardization of the diagnostic process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Subtyping children and adolescents who are overweight based on eating pathology and psychopathology

Children and adolescents who are overweight can differ on dimensions measuring dietary restraint and psychopathology. Classifying clinical obese children and adolescents based on these psychological characteristics is shown to be useful in making differential prognoses. The present study aimed to research the validity of subtyping children and adolescents with overweight (N?=?138) in a non-clinical sample. Using cluster analysis, results revealed three subtypes: a dietary restraint/internalizing group (DR?+?IN; n?=?41), a pure internalizing group (IN; n?=?20) and a non-symptomatic group (NS; n?=?77). The DR?+?IN group outscored both other groups on measures of eating pathology, whereas the IN group outscored both other groups on measures of negative offect. Interestingly, the three groups did not differ on degree of overweight. The results seem to suggest that different psychological mechanisms can be observed in subgroups of young overweight adolescents. Further research should explore how individual psychological characteristics can be helpful when stipulating weight loss treatment programmes.     

The Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Suicide Ideation Among Child Survivors Following the Wenchuan Earthquake

The association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and suicide ideation was examined in a sample of 2,298 child survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake. Results indicated that intrusion, avoidance, hyperarousal symptom clusters, and PTSD total score were significantly associated with suicide ideation. Except for intrusion, other measures of PTSD remained as statistically significant correlates of suicide ideation even after controlling for age, gender, direct exposure, indirect exposure, and depression. Furthermore, results showed that PTSD symptoms had an indirect influence on suicide ideation that was mediated by depression. The findings suggest that avoidance and hyperarousal symptom clusters of PTSD may be two important indicators of suicide ideation among child survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake. Implications of the results for intervention and prevention of suicide behavior are discussed.     

Associations between violence,criminality, and cognitive control deficits among young men living in low resource communities in South Africa

Despite empirical support for “Self-control theory” in criminology, there is controversy about how self-control should be operationalized. Working within the framework of “self-control theory,” we investigated if violence and criminal behaviors are associated with nine distinct dimensions of cognitive control in a community sample of young men (n = 654) living in peri-urban townships in South Africa. Cognitive control was assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Multivariate statistical analysis was used, to identify associations between violence and criminality, and deaggregated measures of nine distinct components of cognitive control. Fifteen percent of the sample reported recent violence, 27% had been in physical fights with family/friends in the preceding 6 months, 10% reported being arrested, 4% reported forced sexual contact, and 26% reported intimate partner violence (IPV). Controlling for substance use and sociodemographic variables, contact with the criminal justice system and violence were associated with deficits in all domains of cognitive control. Forced sexual contact was associated with behavioral dysregulation. IPV was associated with behavior dysregulation and executive control dysfunction. Future studies might utilize deaggregated measures of self-control to provide further insight into links between particular components of cognitive control and various forms of offending and violence.