Modes of action of family interventions in depression and schizophrenia: the same or different?

The role of relatives' expressed emotion (EE) in mediating the efficacy of family interventions has been studied in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving people with schizophrenia and depression. Reanalysis of two RCTs (n=48) by Leff (1989) indicated that lowering relatives' EE and/or reducing social contact between the patient and family members accounted for the efficacy of the intervention for schizophrenia. However, this relationship has not been investigated previously with regard to depression, and this paper presents the results of a recent RCT which included measurement of EE and other possible mediating variables. In this study, amelioration of the critical attitude of the partner did not account for the superiority of couples therapy over antidepressant medication, since the same change occurred in the drug group. However, reducing the patient's exposure to the partner's hostility partially explained the efficacy of couples therapy. Further research on the process of change in families undergoing therapy is indicated to identify the variables that account for the efficacy of therapy.     

Making a Party Leader Less of a Party Member: The Impact of Ambivalence on Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Political Party Attitudes

The present study tested the degree to which attitudes about a political party would be influenced by the context in which the party leader was rendered cognitively accessible. A sample of British undergraduates evaluated Prime Minister Tony Blair before expressing their opinion about the Labour party. In one condition, the two items were structured such that Blair was expected to be included in participants' representation of the party. In a second condition, the same items were structured such that Blair was expected to be excluded from participants' representation of the party. The results supported the hypothesis that manipulating the context in which Blair was made salient would produce different effects on a subsequent judgment of the Labour party, but only among politically ambivalent respondents.     

Social Categorization in Intergroup Contexts: Three Kinds of Self‐Categorization

In reviewing self‐categorization theory and the literature upon which it is based, we conclude that individuals' attempts to form social categories could lead to three kinds of self‐categorization. We label them intergroup categorization, ingroup categorization, and outgroup categorization. We review literature supporting these three types and argue that they can help to explain and organize the existing evidence. Moreover, we conclude that distinguishing these three kinds of self‐categorization lead to novel predictions regarding social identity, social cognition, and groups. We offer some of those predictions by discussing their potential causes (building from optimal distinctiveness and security seeking literatures) and implications (on topics including prototype complexity, self‐stereotyping, stereotype formation, intergroup behavior, dual identity, conformity, and the psychological implications of perceiving uncategorized collections of people). This paper offers a platform from which to build theoretical and empirical advances in social identity, social cognition, and intergroup relations.     

The Effects of Secret Instructions and Yes/no Questions on Maltreated and Non‐maltreated Children's Reports of a Minor Transgression

This study examined the effects of secret instructions (distinguishing between good/bad secrets and encouraging disclosure of bad secrets) and yes/no questions (DID: “Did the toy break?” versus DYR: “Do you remember if the toy broke?”) on 262 maltreated and non‐maltreated children's (age range 4–9 years) reports of a minor transgression. Over two‐thirds of children failed to disclose the transgression in response to free recall (invitations and cued invitations). The secret instruction increased disclosures early in free recall, but was not superior to no instruction when combined with cued invitations. Yes/no questions specifically asking about the transgression elicited disclosures from almost half of the children who had not previously disclosed, and false alarms were rare. DYR questions led to ambiguous responding among a substantial percentage of children, particularly younger children. The findings highlight the difficulties of eliciting transgression disclosures without direct questions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Young Children's Use of Contrast in Word Learning: The Case of Proper Names

Recent research has established that contrast can exert a powerful effect on early word learning. This study examined the role of contrast in young children's ability to learn proper names. Preschoolers heard a novel word for an unfamiliar stuffed animal in the presence of a second stuffed animal of either the same or a different kind. Children received contrastive information indicating that the word did not apply to the second animal. Children were more likely to interpret the word as a proper name if the second animal belonged to the same kind as the target than if it belonged to a different kind. Children did not appear to make a proper name interpretation in a control condition in which the second animal was not present, providing no contrastive information. The results reveal the strength of within-kind contrastive information to foster children's acquisition of proper names, highlighting the potency of comparison processes in early word learning.