Altering White Racial Identity and Interracial Comfort Through Multicultural Training

The authors examined the impact of multicultural training on the development of White racial identity and interracial comfort. Findings indicated that an integrative multicultural training program resulted in significant increases along 3 dimensions of White racial consciousness and in the levels of interracial comfort. This work extends related efforts to study White racial identity as an important parameter of multicultural training and counseling. In addition, psychometric data and factor structures are provided for the White Racial Consciousness Development Scale (Claney & Parker, 1989) and the Interracial Comfort Index (Claney & Parker, 1989).     

Evocation and characterization of percepts of apparent motion on the face

The percepts evoked by sequential stimulation of sites in close spatial proximity (<2.5 cm) on the face were studied. Both method-of-limits and magnitude-estimation procedures were used to identify and characterize alterations in the percepts produced by systematic changes in the temporal and spatial parameters of the sequence. Each site was stimulated by a vertically oriented row of miniature vibrating probes. Apparent motion was consistently perceived when the delay between the onsets of sequentially activated rows (interstimulus onset interval, or ISOI) fell within a relatively narrow range of values, the lower limit of which approximated 5 msec. Both the upper limit and the perceived smoothness and continuity of the motion percepts (goodness of motion) increased with the duration for which each row stimulated the skin over the range evaluated, 15–185 msec. For the successive activation of only two rows, goodness of motion was not influenced by changes in their separation from 0.4 to 2.5 cm. The ISOI values at which magnitude estimates of goodness of motion were highest increased with the duration for which each row stimulated the skin. As such, maximum goodness of motion decreased with increases in the apparent velocity of motion. When the number of sequentially activated rows was increased from two to four or more, the quality of the motion percepts improved. For the successive activation of multiple closely spaced rows, values of ISOI at which numerical estimates of goodness of motion were highest approximated integral fractions of the duration for which each row stimulated the skin. In this situation, the probes rose and fell in a regular, step-locked rhythm to simulate an edge-like or rectangular object moving across the skin. The goodness of motion so attained was relatively independent of the apparent velocity of motion.     

Developmental change and the multidimensional cognitive system

The cognitive system is a multidimensional, hierarchically-structured arrangement of cognitive dimensions functionally organized into three subsystems: perceiving, conceptualizing, and symbolizing. Ontogenetic change in these subsystems is described using theoretical concepts from both multivariate developmental psychology and systems theory. Both quantitative and qualitative changes in cognitive dimensions are discussed, including a synthesis of relevant empirical research. The Gompertz equation is used to describe the general form of quantitative change throughout the life-span. The pattern oo quantitative development involves growth, stability, and decline. The pattern of qualitative development, or shifts in structural organization, also invloves three periods: divergence, parallelism, and paraller-convergence. Thus, the overall quantitative-qualitative synthesis reveals a three-phase sequence of cognitive development: divergent growth (childhood- adolescence), parallel stability (adulthood), and parallel-convergent decline (old age).     

Examining the Association Between Racial Identity Attitudes and Coping With Racism-Related Stress

The authors examined the association between racial identity attitudes and coping with racism-related stress among Asian, Black, and Latinx college students (N = 195). Results of the canonical correlation analysis indicated that higher scores on a combination of all racial identity attitudes were significantly associated with greater active coping for Black and Latinx students. Among Asian students, the authors found that higher scores on conformity, dissonance, and immersion-emersion racial identity attitudes were significantly associated with greater avoidant coping. Los autores examinaron la asociación entre las actitudes de identidad racial y el afrontamiento del estrés relacionado con el racismo en estudiantes universitarios asiáticos, negros y latinxs (N = 195). Los resultados del análisis de correlación canónica indicaron que unos valores más altos en la combinación de todas las actitudes de identidad racial estaban asociados significativamente a un mayor afrontamiento activo en estudiantes negros y latinxs. En estudiantes asiático-americanos, los autores hallaron que unos valores más altos en las actitudes de identidad racial de conformidad, disonancia e inmersión/emersión estaban asociados significativamente a un mayor afrontamiento evasivo.     

Global positive expectancies of the self and adolescents' substance use avoidance: testing a social influence mediational model

Grounded in theories of global positive expectancies and social influences of behavior, this investigation posited a model in which global positive expectancies are related to substance use as mediated by attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and intentions. Using a cohort sample (n = 525), structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized predictions of future substance use. The findings suggest that, relative to adolescents with lower global positive expectancies, adolescents with higher global positive expectancies use substances less frequently over time because of their protective attitudinal and control-oriented perceptions towards that behavior. Additionally, results from the current investigation also extend prior findings on the factor structure of global positive expectancies, suggesting these expectancies can be viewed as a second-order factor representing optimism and two components of hope-agency and pathways.     

Factors contributing to the survival of self-help groups

Despite the growing utilization of self-help groups, there have been only a handful of studies that have examined the factors that contribute to their survival. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that contribute to self-help group survival by examining their relationship with external sources (i.e., national and local self-help organizations, professionals) and group organizational characteristics (i.e., leadership diversification, recruitment, attendance at group meetings). Representatives from 245 active and 94 recently disbanded self-help groups were included in the analysis. Results indicated that the primary factors that discriminated between active and disbanded groups were the number of new people to attend a meeting, average group meeting attendance, length of existence, leadership diversification, outreach to potential group members, and support from national and local organizations. Results are discussed in terms of what national self-help organizations, self-help clearinghouses, and others who interact with self-help groups can do to empower and support them.     

An on-line investigation of lexical ambiguity processing in schizophrenia

The processing of lexical ambiguity in context was investigated in eight individuals with schizophrenia and a matched control group. Participants made speeded lexical decisions on the third word in auditory word triplets representing concordant (coin-bank-money), discordant (river-bank-money), neutral (day-bank-money), and unrelated (river-day-money) conditions. When the interstimulus interval (ISI) between the words was 100 ms, individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated priming consistent with selective, context-based lexical activation. At 1250 ms ISI, a pattern of nonselective meaning facilitation was obtained. These results suggest an attentional breakdown in the sustained inhibition of meanings on the basis of lexical context.