Iranian Psychotherapists’ Behaviors and Beliefs Toward Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

The aim of this study is to investigate Iranian psychotherapists’ behaviors and beliefs toward sexual orientation and gender identity. The sample consisted of 358 Iranian psychotherapists, of whom 29.3% (n = 105) were male and 67% (n = 24) were female. Results from the chi-square analyses showed that more male participants reported accepting homosexual clients and treating them as having a pathological disorder than their female counterparts; and licensed respondents reported engaging more in accepting only male or female clients, accepting more homosexual and transgender clients for treatment, and treating them as having a pathological disorder when compared with their unlicensed counterparts. Furthermore supervised respondents reported accepting more homosexual clients than their unsupervised counterparts. However results from the multivariate analysis of variance has indicated that the female participants reported “accepting homosexuals or transgender clients for treatment” more often than the male participants; unsupervised participants reported “accepting homosexual or transgender clients for treatment” and “treating homosexuality per se as a pathological disorder” more often than their supervised counterparts.     

Antiegalitarians for affirmative action? When social dominance orientation is positively related to support for egalitarian social policies

Previous research has found that people high in social dominance orientation (i.e., antiegalitarians) generally oppose affirmative action policies. We propose that antiegalitarians may be less opposed to strong affirmative action policies because such policies may be perceived to ultimately strengthen racial hierarchies. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that antiegalitarian individuals are less opposed to affirmative action policies, as compared to egalitarian individuals, when such policies strongly weigh minority status in selection decisions. Study 3 provides evidence that antiegalitarians lessen their opposition to strong policies only when such policies are believed to enhance racial hierarchies through the recruitment of minorities that remain at the bottom of organizational hierarchies. Theoretical, political, and organizational implications are discussed.     

Is the Chinese number-naming system transparent? Evidence from Chinese-English bilingual children.

Chinese-speaking children have been shown to have an advantage over English-speaking children in a variety of mathematical areas, including counting. One possible explanation for the advantage in counting is that the Chinese number-naming system is relatively transparent, compared to English, in that number names typically are directly indicative of base-10 structure (e.g., 12 is named "ten-two" rather than "twelve"). To determine whether the transparency of the Chinese number-naming system influences counting in bilingual children, we tested 25 Chinese-English bilingual children between the ages of 3 and 5 years, both in English and in Chinese. Children were asked to count as high as they could (abstract counting) and also to count objects in small, medium, and large arrays (object counting). No evidence was found for transparency or for transfer from one language to the other. Instead, relative proficiency in the two languages influenced counting skill. These results are discussed in terms of linguistic and cultural variables that might account for cross-linguistic differences in counting.     

Mode of grasp, materials, and grooved chopstick tip on gripping performance and evaluation

This study evaluated the effects of the mode of grasping, chopstick materials, and the groove of the chopstick-tip on gripping performance of 32 participants, among whom 16 were accustomed to using chopsticks with a pliers-grasping mode and the other 16 with a scissors-grasping mode. Based on a random sequence, 8 kinds of chopsticks with different combinations (materials: bamboo, wood, plastic, and stainless steel, with and without grooves in the chopstick-tip) were used to carry out the action of gripping two different objects (peanuts and longan). The time to finish gripping 50 pieces of peanut and longan, the number which fell on the table when gripping, the subjective effort and the subjective preference were measures of efficiency of pinching for 8 kinds of chopsticks. Analysis showed that chopstick materials significantly affect time of gripping. The large object (such as longan) could be gripped more easily with the pliers-grasping mode or gripped with the grooved chopstick-tip. However, for small objects (such as peanuts), there was no significant difference in performance whether the chopstick-tip was grooved or not. A combination of bamboo chopsticks with grooved tips used with a pliers-grasping seem preferrable for more favorable gripping performance.     

How attention enhances spatial resolution: evidence from selective adaptation to spatial frequency

In this study, we investigated how spatial resolution and covert attention affect performance in a texture segmentation task in which performance peaks at midperiphery and drops at peripheral and central retinal locations. The central impairment is called the central performance drop (CPD; Kehrer, 1989). It has been established that attending to the target location improves performance in the periphery where resolution is too low for the task, but impairs it at central locations where resolution is too high. This is called the central attention impairment (CAI; Yeshurun & Carrasco, 1998, 2000). We employed a cuing procedure in conjunction with selective adaptation to explore (1) whether the CPD is due to the inhibition of low spatial frequency responses by high spatial frequency responses in central locations, and (2) whether the CAI is due to attention's shifting sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies. We found that adaptation to low spatial frequencies does not change performance in this texture segmentation task. However, adaptation to high spatial frequencies diminishes the CPD and eliminates the CAI. These results indicate that the CPD is primarily due to the dominance of high spatial frequency responses and that covert attention enhances spatial resolution by shifting sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies.     

Developmental Study of the Reversed Stroop Effect in Chinese-English Bilinguals

Chinese-English bilinguals in Grades 2, 4, 8, 10, and in college read Chinese and English color words in black or in colored print in the corresponding language. Subjects were more efficient in reading Chinese than English. This superiority effect of reading Chinese gradually decreased as subjects' familiarity with English increased. Furthermore, skilled readers were less susceptible than less skilled readers to the introduction of conflicting colors of ink. This result indicates that the pattern of the reversed Stroop (1935; Dunbar & MacLeod, 1984) effect is related to the proficiency of word processing.     

Factor Structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale in Hong Kong Adolescents

E. A. Southwell &; M. Merbaum (Eds.). Personality: Readings in Theory and Research. (2nd ed.) Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1971, 422 pages. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi     

Pooled Peer Ratings,Self-Ratings,and Estimated Ratings of Therapeutic Communication and Popularity: A Relational Analysis

Two studies of therapeutic communication and popularity were conducted in the framework of Dialogic Action Therapy (Ho & Wang, 2009 Ho , D. Y. F. , & Wang , H. L. ( 2009 ). Interpersonal perceptions and metaperceptions in Dialogic Action Therapy: A relational methodological approach to theory construction . Humanistic Psychologist , 37 , 79 – 100 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) that accords centrality to the bidirectional nature of interpersonal perceptions. Pooled peer ratings, self-ratings, and estimates of peer ratings were collected from 88 Chinese students in psychology who knew one another well. Self-inflation was operationally defined as the self-rating minus the peer rating, and overestimation as the estimated rating minus the peer rating, for each participant; negative values would be indicative of self-deflation or underestimation. Major results are: (a) Pooled peer ratings have superior validity over self-ratings of therapeutic communication; (b) bias effects (above-average and self-deflation) are found in ratings of popularity; (c) self-inflation and overestimation decrease as pooled peer ratings of therapeutic communication increase and, similarly, self-inflation decreases as pooled peer ratings of popularity increase. These results strengthen the case for a relational methodological approach that includes assessing how one views oneself and others, how one is viewed by others, and discrepancies between perceptions.