Political goals versus scientific truths: a response to Jackson (2003)

Three fundamental issues separate Jackson's (2003) methodological views from mine. One, whereas he believes an absolute moral view can prevail in a democracy, I assume moral pluralism is an inevitable byproduct of an open society. Two, Jackson feels that psychology can identify a correct moral position, whereas I postulate natural science psychology is only capable of revealing the empirical consequences of competing social policies and their moral implications. Three, Jackson espouses a politically active psychology that from my perspective is antithetical to a democratic and scientific ethic. In sum, Jackson's coupling of science with political advocacy will lead to a mistrust of psychology that will deny a democracy the opportunity to base its social policies on reliable psychological information.     

The relationship between formal thought disorder and executive functioning component processes

In 2 studies, associations between formal thought disorder (FTD) and 2 components of executive functioning, processing of context and interference resolution, were investigated. One study, involving people with schizophrenia, examined associations between performance on processing of context (N-back) and interference resolution (interference in Steinberg probe recognition) tasks and FTD. The second study, involving nonpsychiatric participants, was an analogue study that examined the effects of simulated processing of context (performance of 1-back with distraction) and interference resolution (telling new stories about previously seen pictures) deficits on FTD in a speech production task. In both studies, processing of context deficits predicted FTD. Moreover, in both studies, the effect of processing of context deficits on FTD was especially pronounced when combined with interference resolution deficits.     

A Study of Church Members During Times of Crisis

The purpose of the current study was to understand what church members experience during a situational crisis and identify the resources of social support that are helpful for them. By identifying the degree to which personal religious beliefs and participation in a particular congregation help people in crisis, this study sought to provide a foundation from which religious as well as mental health professionals can understand the psychological benefits of religious involvement. For the purposes of this research the investigators developed the Crisis Appraisal and Coping Interview Protocol. The research team collected interview data from 26 members of one Southern Baptist congregation within two weeks of a crisis event. Qualitative analysis identified several key themes that appeared which are discussed.     

Contingencies of reinforcement in a five-person prisoner's dilemma

As in studies of self-control, a tit-for-tat contingency in an iterated prisoner's dilemma game creates a conflict between maximization of local and global reinforcement. The present experiments examine this conflict in a multiplayer prisoner's dilemma game. Versus tit for tat, cooperation corresponds to self-control; defection, always immediately reinforced, corresponds to impulsiveness. Three experiments examined sensitivity of behavior to the global reinforcement contingency imposed by tit for tat. Undergraduates played a five-player prisoner's dilemma game against four dummy players programmed to play tit for tat or randomly. With tit for tat, a player's cooperation (or defection) increased dummy players' cooperation (or defection) on subsequent trials-reinforcing cooperation and punishing defection in the long run. Participants cooperated at a higher rate when the dummy players played tit for tat than when the dummy players played randomly. These results are consistent with findings in corresponding studies of self-control. Some participants, caught in a trap of mutual defection with the tit-for-tat playing dummy players, came to cooperate when the tit-for-tat contingency was reset ("forgiving" participants' previous defections) during a pause in the game. This increase was a result of the combined effects of a pause and reset; neither pausing nor resetting independently resulted in an increase in cooperation.     

Racial Discrimination and Racial Identity as Risk or Protective Factors for Violent Behaviors in African American Young Adults

This study examined the influences of racial discrimination and different racial identity attitudes on engaging in violent behavior among 325 African American young adults. The contributions of racial discrimination and racial identity attitudes in explaining violent behavior during the transition into young adulthood while controlling for the influences of prior risk behaviors at ninth grade were examined separately for males and females. In addition, the buffering effects of racial identity attitudes on the relationship between racial discrimination and violent behavior were tested. Results indicated that experience with racial discrimination was a strong predictor of violent behavior, regardless of gender. The centrality of race for males and the meaning others attribute to being Black for both males and females were moderators of the influence of racial discrimination on violent behavior.     

Racial Identity, Parental Support, and Alcohol Use in a Sample of Academically At-Risk African American High School Students

This study examined racial identity and parental support as predictors of alcohol use in a sample of 488 African American adolescents. Two dimensions of racial identity were investigated: (1) racial centrality (i.e., the significance that one places on race in defining oneself) and (2) private regard (i.e., the extent to which one feels positively about Black people). In addition, perceived support from mothers and fathers was examined. Multivariate results showed that private regard and father support were associated with less self-reported alcohol use after partialling out the effects of age and gender. An interaction between the two racial identity dimensions was also found such that private regard was associated with less alcohol use for adolescents who reported that race was a more central part of their identity.     

Nine Months of Multicomponent Behavioral Treatment for ADHD and Effectiveness of MTA Fading Procedures

We examined 9-month data from the 14-month NIMH Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (the MTA) as a further check on the relative effect of medication (MedMgt) and behavioral treatment (Beh) for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while Beh was still being delivered at greater intensity than at 14-month endpoint, and conversely as a check on the efficacy of the MTA behavioral generalization/maintenance procedures. Intention-to-treat analysis at 9 months showed essentially the same results as at 14 months, after Beh had been completely faded; MedMgt and the combination (Comb) of medication and Beh were significantly superior to Beh and community care (CC) for ADHD and oppositional-defiant (ODD) symptoms, with mixed results for social skills and internalizing symptoms. All treatment-group differences examined as changes in slopes from 9 to 14 months were nonsignificant (we found general improvement for all groups). Slopes from baseline to 9 months correlated highly (r > .74, p < .0001) with slopes from baseline to 14 months for all groups. The time function from baseline to 14 months showed a significant linear, but not quadratic, trend for the main outcome measure (a composite of parent- and teacher-rated ADHD and ODD symptoms) for all groups. Findings suggest that in contrast to the hypothesized deterioration in the relative benefit of Beh between 9 and 14 months (after completion of fading), the MTA Beh generalization and maintenance procedures implemented through 9 months apparently yielded continuing improvement through 14 months, with preservation of the relative position of Beh compared to other treatment strategies.