In Their Own Words: The Meaning of the Strong Black Woman Schema among Black U.S. College Women

Black girls are socialized to be “strong” under the premise that strength will serve as a means of psychological resistance to oppression prevalent within American society. Although research demonstrates that Black women who internalize ideals of strength (independence, emotional restraint, and self-sacrifice) reap some psychosocial benefits, strength is linked to several psychological consequences. The growing understanding of these consequences have put Black women at a crossroads—forced to reconcile the wisdom of matriarchs with the detriments of being strong. This tension has pushed Black women, especially young women, to reconsider their relationship with strength and redefine its meaning for themselves. The current study sought to qualitatively examine Black U.S. college women’s (n?=?220; M_age?=?21.88, SD?=?3.96, range?=?18–48) varying perceptions of strength, specifically focusing on the meaning women attributed to being a strong Black woman and their attributions to others’ perceptions of strength. Our results revealed that although Black college women recognize that strong Black women may be perceived negatively (e.g., angry) by others, they continue to perceive strength as a relevant aspect of Black womanhood and have redefined strength in novel ways. We conclude by discussing how researchers may advance our understanding of strength and the ways clinicians may support women in defining strength for wellness.

     

Distinct performance profiles on the Brixton test in frontotemporal dementia

The Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test is a well-established test of executive function that evaluates the capacity to abstract, follow, and switch rules. There has been remarkably little systematic analysis of Brixton test performance in the prototypical neurodegenerative disorder of the frontal lobes: behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) or evaluation of the test’s ability to distinguish frontal from temporal lobe degenerative disease. We carried out a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Brixton performance in 76 patients with bvFTD and 34 with semantic dementia (SD) associated with temporal lobe degeneration. The groups were matched for demographic variables and illness duration. The bvFTD group performed significantly more poorly (U = 348, p < .0001, r = .58), 53% of patients scoring in the poor–impaired range compared with 6% of SD patients. Whereas bvFTD patients showed problems in rule acquisition and switching, SD patients did not, despite their impaired conceptual knowledge. Error analysis revealed more frequent perseverative errors in bvFTD, particularly responses unconnected to the stimulus, as well as random responses. Stimulus-bound errors were rare. Within the bvFTD group, there was variation in performance profile, which could not be explained by demographic, neurological, or genetic factors. The findings demonstrate sensitivity and specificity of the Brixton test in identifying frontal lobe degenerative disease and highlight the clinical value of qualitative analysis of test performance. From a theoretical perspective, the findings provide evidence that semantic knowledge and the capacity to acquire rules are dissociable. Moreover, they exemplify the separable functional contributions to executive performance.     

Wittgenstein’s influence on Austin’s philosophy of language

Many philosophers have assumed, without argument, that Wittgenstein influenced Austin. More often, however, this is vehemently denied, especially by those who knew Austin personally. We compile and assess the currently available evidence for Wittgenstein’s influence on Austin’s philosophy of language. Surprisingly, this has not been done before in any detail. On the basis of both textual and circumstantial evidence we show that Austin’s work demonstrates substantial engagement with Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. In particular, Austin’s 1940 paper, ‘The Meaning of a Word’, should be construed as a direct response to and development of ideas he encountered in Wittgenstein’s Blue Book. Moreover, we argue that Austin’s mature speech-act theory in How to Do Things with Words was also significantly influenced by Wittgenstein.     

Shifts in Masculinity Preferences Across the Menstrual Cycle: Still Not There

Harris (2011) failed to find support for the popular hypothesis that women are attracted to masculine-faced men when conception is likely but attracted to feminine-faced men during other menstrual cycle phases. In response, DeBruine et al. (2010) wrote a commentary criticizing Harris theoretical analysis and data (e.g., sample age). The current paper addresses those criticisms with new data analysis, additional literature review, and logical arguments. Harris’ results are not attributable to her sample’s age; no preference shift was found for the subsample of women under 30 years old and no hint of an interaction existed between participant age group and menstrual cycle phase. This work also revisits the questionable assumptions inherent in the cycle shift hypothesis and reviews literature that suggests such assumptions are not tenable.     

Shifts in Methodology and Theory in Menstrual Cycle Research on Attraction

This paper critically examines the hypothesis that different phases of the menstrual cycle induce changes in women’s mate preferences. Empirically, we show that literature on this topic may be particularly prone to experimenter degrees of freedom, in which experimenters increase their likelihood of finding significant effects through elasticity in methodological and analytical strategies (e.g., flexibility in calculation of fertile and nonfertile phases, exclusion criteria, moderators, and analysis of dependent variables). Theoretically, we address misconceptions presented by Gildersleeve and colleagues (2013a). We reveal inconsistencies in the theoretical foundation for this work and discuss tension between theory and data. In short, there is sound reason to question whether reported menstrual cycle effects in women’s mate preferences are indeed real.     

Chinese values and health: A cultural-level examination

Abstract

Previous research has identified two factors from the Chinese Value Survey, Integration vs Inwardness and Reputation vs Morality. In an effort to further establish their validities, the scores of a student sample on these two dimensions were calculated for each of 23 countries. These value profiles were then used as predictors of a number of health indices, after partialing out the confounding influence of per capita GNP. This country-level analysis revealed many relationships between the two value dimensions and 1. longevity measures, 2. modes of death, 3. health endangering behaviors, and 4. indicators of social well-being. These findings were related to theorizing about cultural emphases on individualism and on material success. It is hoped that this research will stimulate more comprehensive within-and cross-cultural research on the link between values and health.     

Personality Differences between Responsible and Less Responsible Children

Social maladjustment has been related to an external locus of control orientation. It was hypothesized, therefore, that delinquent females would be more external than a control sample. Further, since alienation from others is also associated with maladjustment, it was expected that the delinquents would also prefer greater distance from others. These hypotheses were confirmed with discussion being in terms of implication for rehabilitation of delinquents.     

The place of once-weekly treatment in the work of an analytically trained child psychotherapist

In this paper, I explore how we might link ideas about clinical facts to current issues in child psychotherapy research. I consider what our understanding of clinical facts might contribute to our research methods and how our research methods might better represent the clinical facts. The paper introduces a selection of psychoanalytic writers' formulations of the concept and describes some of the debates about the shortcomings of the traditional style of case reporting. The importance of keeping emotional experience central in our research is discussed. I describe a research method that I believe has the potential to capture and describe some of the complicated processes of change in psychotherapy. This is the concept of the ‘turning point’ session. Introducing the paradigm of complexity theory, I briefly explore how we might think about and understand the relationship between processes revealed through detailed analysis of a single session and change over a longer period of therapy.