The Kindness of Mothers: Ideals and Practice of Buddhist Filial Piety

This article introduces a Buddhist Sutra about filial piety. The Sutra has been widely recited, upheld, and endeared by East Asian people for centuries. It teaches the importance of understanding parents' kindnesses, particularly the mother's, and repaying their kindnesses. It explains the difficulty of repaying parents' kindnesses, unfilial behaviors of children, the mystical hell into which unfilial children are doomed to fall, and the way in which they can repay their parents' kindnesses. The mother (woman), aging, and related issues in Buddhism are discussed.     

A performance comparison between the two language versions of the Affective Go/No‐Go test: A randomised crossover study

The purpose of this randomised crossover study is to validate the Korean version of the Affective Go/No‐go (AGN) test. The Korean words for the AGN test were selected after careful evaluation of emotional valences, word length and frequency. Fifteen Korean advanced learners of English were administered both Korean and English versions, yielding 30 data points. The performance of both language versions was compared for each of the AGN test parameters (response latency, commission error and omission error) using two‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were estimated to evaluate associations between the two versions. The ICCs were high for response latencies of all valences and commission errors of positive and neutral words, but not for that of negative words and omission errors of all valences. A similar pattern of test results, as revealed by the high ICCs and non‐significant interaction effects between language and word valence, suggests that the psychometric properties of the AGN test may be comparable over different language versions.     

Looming Threats and Animacy: Reduced Responsiveness in Youth with Disrupted Behavior Disorders

Theoretical models have implicated amygdala dysfunction in the development of Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBDs; Conduct Disorder/Oppositional Defiant Disorder). Amygdala dysfunction impacts valence evaluation/response selection and emotion attention in youth with DBDs, particularly in those with elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits. However, amygdala responsiveness during social cognition and the responsiveness of the acute threat circuitry (amygdala/periaqueductal gray) in youth with DBDs have been less well-examined, particularly with reference to CU traits. 31 youth with DBDs and 27 typically developing youth (IQ, age and gender-matched) completed a threat paradigm during fMRI where animate and inanimate, threatening and neutral stimuli appeared to loom towards or recede from participants. Reduced responsiveness to threat variables, including visual threats and encroaching stimuli, was observed within acute threat circuitry and temporal, lateral frontal and parietal cortices in youth with DBDs. This reduced responsiveness, at least with respect to the looming variable, was modulated by CU traits. Reduced responsiveness to animacy information was also observed within temporal, lateral frontal and parietal cortices, but not within amygdala. Reduced responsiveness to animacy information as a function of CU traits was observed in PCC, though not within the amygdala. Reduced threat responsiveness may contribute to risk taking and impulsivity in youth with DBDs, particularly those with high levels of CU traits. Future work will need to examine the degree to which this reduced response to animacy is independent of amygdala dysfunction in youth with DBDs and what role PCC might play in the dysfunctional social cognition observed in youth with high levels of CU traits.     

An Ecological Understanding of Kinship Foster Care in the United States

We review empirical studies on kinship foster care in the United States. We conceptualize kinship foster care within the context of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) most recent ecological systems theory. Because there are multiple levels of influences on the developmental outcomes of children placed in kinship foster home, understanding the interrelations between the individual (child) and his or her surrounding environments (e.g., biological families, social-support network) is important. We argue that Bronfenbrenner’s most recent ecological systems theory is an appropriate theoretical framework for policy and practice implications in addressing complex issues surrounding kinship foster care system in the United States. This review integrates the empirical findings collectively on the factors associated with kinship foster care within and between five systems levels of the ecological systems theory: micro- (caregiver-child relationship, attachment, and kinship family environment), meso- (biological families), exo- (social-support network outside the family), macro- (race/ethnicity and policies), and chrono- (welfare reform) systems levels. Theories that are relevant to the ecological factors (e.g., attachment theory) are also discussed. Finally, we draw policy and practice implications from the ecological systems analysis.     

The effect of usage situation on Korean consumers' brand evaluation: The moderating role of self‐monitoring

The objective of this research is to test the theoretical conceptualizations of the self – the malleable self‐concept – by examining the interplay of brand personality and social situation in determining brand preference and evaluation. This research also aims to assess the moderating influence of self‐monitoring in the relationship. Two experimental studies were conducted in Korea. Findings suggest that the congruency of brand personality traits and social situations leads to a more positive brand attitude. This research also supported theory‐based interactions in which situation congruity was enhanced for high versus low self‐monitors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Judgments of facial expressions of emotion in profile

Despite the fact that facial expressions of emotion have signal value, there is surprisingly little research examining how that signal can be detected under various conditions, because most judgment studies utilize full-face, frontal views. We remedy this by obtaining judgments of frontal and profile views of the same expressions displayed by the same expressors. We predicted that recognition accuracy when viewing faces in profile would be lower than when judging the same faces from the front. Contrarily, there were no differences in recognition accuracy as a function of view, suggesting that emotions are judged equally well regardless of from what angle they are viewed.     

"Whose second life is this?" How avatar-based racial cues shape ethno-racial minorities' perception of virtual worlds

Research on social identity contingencies suggests that situational cues, such as a numerical representation of social identities in a given social environment, can trigger identity-associated threat for individuals whose social identity is marginalized. Given that popular virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life [SL]) are often criticized for White-avatar dominance or White bias, we examined the psychological effects of the alleged White dominance in avatar-based virtual worlds by conducting two experiments in which participants read fictitious profiles of SL resident avatars. White and non-White participants were randomly assigned to view either a set of White-dominant avatar profiles or a set of racially diverse ones. After reading the profiles, participants had an opportunity to customize avatars using the SL interface. The findings of Experiment 1 (n=59) revealed that non-White participants exposed to the White-dominant avatar profiles, when compared with those exposed to the racially diverse profiles, reported significantly lower levels of sense of belonging and intention to participate in SL. Experiment 2 (n=64) demonstrated that non-White participants exposed to the White-dominant avatar profiles gave significantly higher estimation of the White user population within SL; the data also showed that exposure to the White-dominant avatar profiles resulted in a greater sense of limitation on skin customization among non-White participants than among White participants. The present research suggests that ethno-racial minorities, when exposed to avatar-based cues that signal White dominance, may perceive the virtual world as identity threatening, thereby feeling psychologically disconnected and detached from it. Implications regarding racial/ethnic diversity in virtual worlds are discussed.     

Impaired body but not face perception in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

Background. Empirical evidence involving the processing of social information by patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) has been relatively scarce. Our study investigated the perceptual abilities of patients with OCD to recognize human faces and bodies. Method. Fifty‐four drug‐free or drug‐naïve patients with OCD and 42 healthy controls performed discrimination tasks consisting of four types of stimuli: two sets of faces that were manipulated with regard to configuration and features, human bodies, and chairs. The stimuli were presented in upright and upside‐down orientations. Results. Patients with OCD were significantly less accurate in discriminating pairs of bodily postures implying actions. However, we found no significant differences between patient and control groups in the ability to recognize faces and chairs. The inversion effects for bodies and faces were also comparable between the two groups. Conclusions. The current findings suggest that patients with OCD experience difficulty in perceiving static forms of bodily postures, but are able to adequately recognize human faces. Our data indicate a selective deficit in the perception of bodily postures in those with OCD and suggest that this deficit is probably not related to the abnormal configurational processing of social objects.