Are We In or Are We Out? Ingroup Prototypicality Effects in Implicit Ethnic‐American Associations

The goal of the present research was to document ingroup prototypicality effects in implicit associations between ethnic groups and the American identity. Across four studies, we compared implicit associations displayed by perceivers who either belonged to or did not belong to the target ethnic groups. In Studies 1 and 2, African, Asian, Latino, and European American participants were randomly assigned to complete an Implicit Association Test contrasting either their ingroup and an outgroup or two outgroups (third‐party perspective). Data yielded evidence for ingroup prototypicality effects in all interethnic comparisons. Studies 3 and 4 used large datasets available through Project Implicit. We examined whether ingroup prototypicality effects were restricted to U.S. residents or generalized to participants living in other regions of the world. Results showed that ingroup prototypicality effects did not presuppose immersion in the U.S. context, but at the same time patterns of implicit associations varied according to region of residence. Implicit ethnic‐American associations are at least partially the reflection of the perceivers’ positioning in interethnic comparisons.     

A Critical Appraisal of Amish Studies’ De Facto Paradigm, “Negotiating with Modernity”

The predominant paradigm for Amish research over the past three decades has been “negotiating with modernity” (NWM). NWM explains how the Amish as a distinctive American culture and religion have overcome the threats modernity poses to their existence. This article argues that NWM has been accepted and replicated uncritically and without empirical testing due to properties making it inherently untestable. We first synthesize the central NWM literature, as the paradigm has never been fully constructed in one place. We then call attention to two sets of impairments that prevent empirical tests. First, the perspective contains several logical fallacies and terminology problems. NWM reifies “the Amish” as its unit of analysis; creates circular variable relationships (the Amish are Amish because they are not something else); employs terms problematically, notably “modernity” and “modernization”; dichotomizes phenomena; and is grounded in no particular theoretical tradition. Second, we argue that the production of knowledge within core NWM literature has not been sufficiently substantiated. Data collection procedures and methodological strategies are unclear or undefined and scientific peer review is relatively low. We conclude by suggesting more promising theoretical directions for Amish studies.     

Interpersonal Subtypes Within Social Anxiety: The Identification of Distinct Social Features

Although social anxiety disorder is defined by anxiety-related symptoms, little research has focused on the interpersonal features of social anxiety. Prior studies (Cain, Pincus, & Grosse Holtforth, 2010; Kachin, Newman, & Pincus, 2001) identified distinct subgroups of socially anxious individuals' interpersonal circumplex problems that were blends of agency and communion, and yet inconsistencies remain. We predicted 2 distinct interpersonal subtypes would exist for individuals with high social anxiety, and that these social anxiety subtypes would differ on empathetic concern, paranoia, received peer victimization, perspective taking, and emotional suppression. From a sample of 175 undergraduate participants, 51 participants with high social anxiety were selected as above a clinical cutoff on the social phobia scale. Cluster analyses identified 2 interpersonal subtypes of socially anxious individuals: low hostility–high submissiveness (Cluster 1) and high hostility–high submissiveness (Cluster 2). Cluster 1 reported higher levels of empathetic concern, lower paranoia, less peer victimization, and lower emotional suppression compared to Cluster 2. There were no differences between subtypes on perspective taking or cognitive reappraisal. Findings are consistent with an interpersonal conceptualization of social anxiety, and provide evidence of distinct social features between these subtypes. Findings have implications for the etiology, classification, and treatment of social anxiety.     

A Community's Response to Adverse Childhood Experiences: Building a Resilient,Trauma‐Informed Community

Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, may be mitigated by trauma‐informed social environments—programs, services, systems, communities—that offer responses to trauma that promote healing, recovery, and resilience. However, there is currently little empirical evidence to support the use of specific approaches to do so. Guided by a population health perspective, this paper describes a participatory community change process in response to ACEs that seeks to build a resilient, trauma‐informed community in Pottstown, PA. We examine the initial implementation phase of this change process, centered originally on the education sector and the social and behavioral health services sector, and then eventually expanding to 14 community sectors across two years. A variety of data sources and methods are used to track individual and organizational processes, as well as service system network processes. A central feature of this research is the use of data to generate hypotheses rather than test them. Data were also used to guide understanding and decision‐making during implementation. The results show that moving forward the community is well‐positioned to establish stronger inter‐agency and system supports for trauma‐informed practice in the service system and in the broader community. We discuss results for their implications for building resilient, trauma‐informed communities.     

Risk Factor or Protective Feature? The Roles of Grandiose and Hypersensitive Narcissism in Explaining the Relationship between Self-Objectification and Body Image Concerns

Sex Roles - People who self-objectify perceive their bodies as objects which exist for the pleasure of others. Personality traits are important factors that might moderate the pathway between...     

Direct and indirect associations of cognitive reappraisal and suppression with disease biomarkers

Objective: Habitual use of emotion regulation strategies may influence physical health. We examined whether the tendencies to employ cognitive reappraisal and suppression were associated with health biomarkers, and whether stress and sleep quality mediated these associations. Design & main outcome measures: Using data from the Biomarkers substudy (n?=?1255) of the national Midlife in the U.S. Study, we tested the hypothesis that there would be indirect, but not direct, associations of cognitive reappraisal and suppression to biomarker indicators of multisystem physiological dysregulation, that is, allostatic load (AL). We computed the proportion of biomarkers in the highest risk quartile within seven biological systems, and summed these scores to compute AL. Associations with the biological systems were also examined separately.Results: Neither reappraisal nor suppression was directly associated with AL or biomarker function in the seven biological systems. Suppression was indirectly associated with higher AL and greater dysregulation in the inflammatory, metabolic, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal systems via its relations to stress and sleep, p?<?0.05. Reappraisal was indirectly associated with lower AL and less metabolic and inflammatory dysregulation, ps<0.05.Conclusions: Suppression and reappraisal may have different downstream health effects via stress, sleep, and biomarker expression, suggesting malleable emotion regulation strategies may be an important intervention target.     

The mismeasure of Terry stops: Assessing the psychological and emotional harms of stop and frisk to individuals and communities

In Terry v. Ohio, the US Supreme Court relied on a balancing test to uphold the reasonableness of the practice known as “stop and frisk,” balancing the contribution of the practice to effective crime prevention and detection against the nature and quality of the intrusion to individual rights. In recent years, statistics have been powerfully deployed by legal scholars, jurists, and policymakers to challenge the assumption that stop and frisk leads to frequent discovery of contraband or other criminal behavior, and to address stark racial and ethnic disparities in the deployment of stop and frisk. However, the other side of the Terry equation—the nature and quality of the intrusion—has received far less attention from the legal community. With few exceptions, Terry jurisprudence portrays the Terry frisk simply as a brief pat‐down of the outer clothing and treats each Terry stop as an isolated encounter for purposes of measuring the harm involved. Yet there is a robust social science literature on the effects of stop and frisk on individuals, including data on its effects on individuals from marginalized or vulnerable groups, on individuals over time, and on communities as a whole. Moreover, stop and frisk in the current era has evolved from a tool in the arsenal of individual officers to a systematic, widely deployed strategy. This article argues that the failure to grapple with the application of modern knowledge to modern policing practices leads to a mismeasurement on both sides of the Terry equation. Not only does stop and frisk cause a wide range of emotional and psychological harms; these harms may also interfere with the ability of law enforcement to prevent and investigate crime. Even apart from any legal doctrinal implications for stop and frisk jurisprudence, recognizing the flawed assumptions described in this article should encourage all the relevant stakeholders to re‐evaluate the consequences of the Terry regime.     

How Lesbian and Heterosexual Parents Convey Attitudes about Gender to their Children: The Role of Gendered Environments

We studied associations among parents’ gender role attitudes, gender stereotyping in children’s environments, and children’s gender role attitudes and whether these associations were similar for families with lesbian and heterosexual parents. Fifty-seven 4- to 6-year-olds and 114 parents from the US participated. Parents completed self-report questionnaires and responded to interview questions. Researchers collected data regarding the child’s environment and attitudes about gender. Results revealed that children with lesbian mothers had less stereotyped environments and less traditional attitudes. Parental attitudes were associated with stereotyping in children’s environments and with children’s attitudes about gender. Both for lesbian and heterosexual parents, the impact of parents’ attitudes on children’s attitudes was partially mediated by the nature of children’s environments.     

The Presuppositions of Religious Pluralism and the Need for Natural Theology

In ‘The Presuppositions of Religious Pluralism and the Need for Natural Theology’ I argue that there are four important presuppositions behind John Hick’s form of religious pluralism that successfully support it against what I call fideistic exclusivism. These are i) the ought/can principle, ii) the universality of religious experience, iii) the universality of redemptive change, and iv) a view of how God (the Eternal) would do things. I then argue that if these are more fully developed they support a different kind of exclusivism, what I call rational exclusivism, and become defeaters for pluralism. In order to explain rational exclusivism and its dependence on these presuppositions I consider philosophers J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and Alvin Plantinga, who offer arguments for their forms of exclusivism but I maintain that they continue to rely on fideism at important points. I then give an example of how knowledge of the Eternal can be achieved.