Tracking cognitive phases in analogical reasoning with event-related potentials

Analogical reasoning consists of multiple phases. Four-term analogies (A:B::C:D) have an encoding period in which the A:B pair is evaluated prior to a mapping phase. The electrophysiological timing associated with analogical reasoning has remained unclear. We used event-related potentials to identify neural timing related to analogical reasoning relative to perceptual and semantic control conditions. Spatiotemporal principal-components analyses revealed differences primarily in left frontal electrodes during encoding and mapping phases of analogies relative to the other conditions. The timing of the activity differed depending upon the phase of the problem. During the encoding of A:B terms, analogies elicited a positive deflection compared to the control conditions between 400 and 1,200 ms, but for the mapping phase analogical processing elicited a negative deflection that occurred earlier and for a shorter time period, between 350 and 625 ms. These results provide neural and behavioral evidence that 4-term analogy problems involve a highly active evaluation phase of the A:B pair.     

Racial Microaggressions and the Filipino American Experience: Recommendations for Counseling and Development

Racial microaggressions are subtle forms of verbal and behavioral discrimination toward people of color. The current qualitative study explores the experiences of Filipino American participants (N= 12), who described 13 categories of microaggressions, including being treated as an alien in one's own land or as a 2nd‐class citizen, being presumed to have inferior status or intellect, being assumed to uphold Filipino stereotypes, or being mistaken for another identity. Recommendations for counseling and development are discussed. Las microagresiones raciales son formas sutiles de discriminación verbal y conductiva hacia las personas de color. El estudio actual cualitativo explora las experiencias de participantes Filipinoamericanos (N= 12), quienes describieron 13 categorías de microagresiones, incluido el ser tratados como extranjeros o como ciudadanos de segunda clase en su propio país, pertenecer presuntamente a una clase social inferior o tener un nivel intelectual inferior, ser presuntamente representantes de estereotipos Filipinos, o ser confundidos con individuos de otra identidad. Se discuten recomendaciones para la consejería y el desarrollo.     

Memory for child sexual abuse information: Simulated memory error and individual differences

Building on the simulated-amnesia work of Christianson and Bylin (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 13, 495–511, 1999), the present research introduces a new paradigm for the scientific study of memory of childhood sexual abuse information. In Session 1, participants mentally took the part of an abuse victim as they read an account of the sexual assault of a 7-year-old. After reading the narrative, participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: They (1) rehearsed the story truthfully (truth group), (2) left out the abuse details of the story (omission group), (3) lied about the abuse details to indicate that no abuse had occurred (commission group), or (4) did not recall the story during Session 1 (no-rehearsal group). One week later, participants returned for Session 2 and were asked to truthfully recall the narrative. The results indicated that, relative to truthful recall, untruthful recall or no rehearsal at Session 1 adversely affected memory performance at Session 2. However, untruthful recall resulted in better memory than did no rehearsal. Moreover, gender, PTSD symptoms, depression, adult attachment, and sexual abuse history significantly predicted memory for the childhood sexual abuse scenario. Implications for theory and application are discussed.     

On the Importance of Attribution Theory in Political Psychology

Attribution theory, which was initially applied to the study of academic achievement, has generated a large amount of research in psychology. Judgments of causal responsibility, an important facet of attributions, have since been studied in a variety of other contexts, revealing that they pervade our understanding of the social world. The present paper considers the many ways in which causal judgments, particularly attributions of responsibility, influence political life. Examining scholarship primarily from the fields of psychology, political science, and sociology, I discuss how perceptions of responsibility are linked to ideology and how they influence policy attitudes (welfare, affirmative action, abortion, gay rights) and perceptions of international conflict (beliefs about terrorism and war). An argument is made for increased communication among fields and a more systematic application of attributional models to the study of political judgments.     

GAY MARTYRS,JEWISH SAINTS AND INFATUATED YESHIVA BOYS IN THE NEW ISRAELI RELIGIOUS QUEER CINEMA

Popular mainstream cinema often sensationalizes, stigmatizes, and even ridicules religions, faiths, congregations, and the religiously observant. The (mis)representation of religious communities is sometimes even more negative in films that centre on religious gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, and their presumably homophobic congregations. This article offers an initial exploration of a new kind of Israeli film at the beginning of the third millennium, defined here as the New Israeli Religious Queer Cinema. These films, mostly created by religious filmmakers who are members of sexual minorities, are intended to promote tolerance and greater acceptance of homosexuality by the Jewish Orthodox communities in Israel. This research, particularly focused on Chaim Elbaum's acclaimed short film And Thou Shalt Love (2008) [Ve'ahavta], examines the cinematic attempts to reduce hostility towards sexual minorities among religious believers, and problematizes the portrayal of the young protagonist's angst and this new cinema's politics of martyrdom and victimhood. The article also analyses the creation of a sort of Jewish version of Saint Sebastian, the ancient Christian martyr who is often perceived as a gay icon, and this new cinema's genuine attempts to explore homoerotic subtleties in Jewish tradition.     

‘Beyond the oedipal complex’: Freud and lacan revisited

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to explore the position that the mother occupies in both Freud's and Lacan's accounts of oedipalization. Both authors' work will be addressed with reference to contemporary feminist critiques of their accounts. The aim will be to query the belief that the mother must be repudiated in order for the child to move into culture. It will be suggested that both Lacan's and Freud's accounts may ironically perpetuate both the ‘interminable’ nature of analysis and a relationship with the maternal in which the mother will continue to haunt, beckon and terrify until some attempt is made at reparation.     

Dysphoria and memory for emotional material: A diffusion-model analysis

Depression-related differences in memory for emotional material are well established, but recognition memory and lexical decision tasks often fail to produce consistent results. The null results from these tasks could be due to inadequacies in traditional analyses rather than the absence of effects. In particular, analyses of accuracy or mean reaction times rely on only a fraction of the behavioural data and are sensitive to individual differences in response biases. The diffusion model addresses these limitations by incorporating all of the behavioural data and separating out response biases. We applied the diffusion model to data from lexical decision and recognition memory tasks and showed consistent effects, specifically a positive emotional bias in non-dysphoric subjects and even-handedness in dysphoric subjects. This pattern was not apparent with comparisons of reaction times or accuracy, consistent with previous null findings. These results suggest a relationship between dysphoria and the internal representation of emotional information.     

Ethical Considerations in the Treatment of Compulsive Hoarding

Although empirically supported treatment for compulsive hoarding is in its preliminary stages, some information has emerged regarding ethical challenges experienced in treating this population. Our aims are twofold: (a) to inform the clinical community of ethical complications when conducting treatment for hoarding clients, and (b) to provide a decision-making model for ensuring quality and ethical care of hoarding clients. The ethical challenges (boundary crossings, dual roles, privacy/confidentiality, record keeping, fees, and cultural competence in treatment) were discovered through multiple roundtable discussions, supervision, and in the course of delivering empirically supported treatment protocols. A literature search was conducted to identify research that addressed ethical concerns. A decision-making model addressing ethical challenges in treatment of compulsive hoarding was developed.