Sacred Violence: the dark side of God

The subject of this essay is the use to which biblical texts which sanction aggression in the name of God have been put by Jews and Christians over the past 2000 years. The divine injunction given to the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanites has been explained in various ways, but without much success. A literal reading of the Hebrew Bible by Jews and Christians, past and present, has led to its exploitation in support of particular ideologies. Given the appalling record of both faith communities in their relationship with those of a different nationality or religious persuasion, it is imperative that the biblical account of the barbarism inflicted by the Israelites on the people of Canaan be subjected to a searching critique.     

Complexity Training and Prejudice Reduction

It was argued that prejudicc is a likely outcome of simple cognitive structures, and that if a training procedure could be devised which would increase conccptual complexity in the xea of interracial affairs, thcn prejudice would be reduced. Accordingly, a complexity training task was developed which required Ss to engage in uniconceptual or multiconceptual thinking about videotaped stimulus persons who varied in race (black and white) and competence. Ss were 64 paid, white, high school students. Results showed that both complexity training procedures were effective in reducing prejudice and increasing complexity of thinking, but the multiconceptual training group failcd to signiticantly outpcrform the uniconceptual group. This latter result was interprctcd in tcrins of cognitive matching model.     

Frequency effects in spoken and visual word recognition: evidence from dual-task methodologies

The authors report 3 dual-task experiments concerning the locus of frequency effects in word recognition. In all experiments, Task 1 entailed a simple perceptual choice and Task 2 involved lexical decision. In Experiment 1, an underadditive effect of word frequency arose for spoken words. Experiment 2 also showed underadditivity for visual lexical decision. It was concluded that word frequency exerts an influence prior to any dual-task bottleneck. A related finding in similar dual-task experiments is Task 2 response postponement at short stimulus onset asynchronies. This was explored in Experiment 3, and it was shown that response postponement was equivalent for both spoken and visual word recognition. These results imply that frequency-sensitive processes operate early and automatically.     

Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in a low-income African American sample of medical outpatients

The psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) are well established with primarily Caucasian samples. However, little is known about its reliability and validity with minority groups. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the BDI-II in a sample of low-income African American medical outpatients (N=220). Reliability was demonstrated with high internal consistency (.90) and good item-total intercorrelations. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a hierarchical factor structure in which the BDI-II reflected 2 first-order factors (Cognitive and Somatic) that in turn reflected a second-order factor (Depression). These results are consistent with previous findings and thus support the use of the BDI-II in assessing depressive symptoms for African American patients in a medical setting.     

Three steps to open science for qualitative research in psychology

Principles and applications of open science (also referred to as open research or open scholarship) in psychology have emerged in response to growing concerns about the replicability, transparency, reproducibility, and robustness of psychological research alongside global moves to open science in many fields. Our objective in this paper is to inform ways of collectively constructing open science practices and systems that are appropriate to, and get the best out of, the full range of qualitative and mixed-method approaches used in psychology. We achieve this by describing three areas of open research practice (contributorship, pre-registration, and open data) and explore how and why qualitative researchers might consider engaging with these in ways that are compatible with a qualitative research paradigm. We argue it is crucial that open research practices do not (even inadvertently) exclude qualitative research, and that qualitative researchers reflect on how we can meaningfully engage with open science in psychology.     

Fuel of the self-starter: how mood relates to proactive goal regulation

The authors consider how multiple dimensions of affect relate to individual proactivity. They conceptualized proactivity within a goal-regulatory framework that encompasses 4 elements: envisioning, planning, enacting, and reflecting. In a study of call center agents (N = 225), evidence supported the distinctiveness of the 4 elements of proactive goal regulation. Findings further indicated that high-activated positive mood was positively associated with all elements of proactive goal regulation, and low-activated negative mood was positively associated with envisioning proactivity. These findings were further supported in a longitudinal investigation of career-related proactivity amongst medical students (N = 250). The role of affective experience in proactivity is more nuanced than previously assumed.     

Consolidation of vocabulary is associated with sleep in children

Although the acquisition of a novel word is apparently rapid, adult research suggests that integration of novel and existing knowledge (measured by engagement in lexical competition) requires sleep‐associated consolidation. We present the first investigation of whether a similar time‐course dissociation characterizes word learning across development. Consistent with previous research but counter to adults, 7–12‐year‐olds showed sleep‐associated consolidation effects in declarative but not procedural memory. Nevertheless, the relationship between sleep and word learning in children was remarkably similar to the pattern for adults. Following exposure to nonword competitors (e.g. biscal) in the a.m. or p.m., children’s ability to recognize and recall the nonwords improved only after sleep (after approximately 12‐hrs for the p.m. group and 24‐hrs for the a.m. group), with performance stable 1 week later. Novel nonwords only induced lexical competition effects after sleep. These findings suggest that children utilize a dual memory system when acquiring and integrating new vocabulary and highlight sleep as integral to this process. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mm8SDUXw_0&feature=plcp .     

To let hair be,or to not let hair be? Gender and body hair removal practices in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Research and anecdotal evidence suggest women continue to remove body hair, and there is some evidence for cultural changes in men's hair removal practices. This paper reports on data collected using an online mix-methods survey from 584 New Zealanders between the ages of 18–35 (mean age 26, 48.9% male, 50.6% female). The data demonstrated that substantial proportions of both women and men in Aotearoa/New Zealand remove body hair from many sites. However, gendered differences remain, and a key dimension of gendered difference appears in the concept of flexible choice around body hair removal or retention. This was seen in the difference between perceived acceptability of having body hair (81% for men, 11% for women). These findings suggest that although men, like women, are now coming under some pressure to remove body hair, there is still a great difference in men and women's capacity to choose whether to bow to it.     

An Evidence‐Based Model for Understanding the Mental Health Experiences of Transgender Australians

A growing body of empirical research has documented the mental health experiences of Australian transgender people. This research indicates three key factors that appear to play a role in determining outcomes for adult transgender Australians: (a) discrimination, (b) access to hormones and/or surgery, (c) community connectedness. Two theoretical frameworks clarify why these factors exist and how they can lead to either negative or positive mental health outcomes. The first is cisgenderism, which describes the ideology that delegitimises people's own understanding of their genders and bodies. Although anyone can experience cisgenderism, it is a particularly common experience for transgender people. The second is decompensation, which describes the processes through which the cumulative effects of stressors may lead to poor mental health. Drawing on both previous empirical findings and these two theoretical frameworks, this article proposes, and provides initial testing of, a model for understanding the mental health of transgender adults in Australia. The article concludes by suggesting the need for changes regarding how decisions are made about mental health service provision for transgender people, how mental health professionals understand the lives of transgender people, and how legislation can better ensure the full inclusion of transgender people in Australia.