Beauty and the beast: Psychobiologic and evolutionary perspectives on body dysmorphic disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by preoccupation with a defect in appearance. Concepts of beauty play a particularly crucial role in humans' mental and social life, and may have specific psychobiologic and evolutionary underpinnings. In particular, there is a growing literature on the neurocircuitry underpinning the body schema, body image and facial expression processing, and aesthetic and symmetry judgments. Speculatively, disruptions in cognitive-affective processes relevant to judgements about physical beauty lead to BDD.     

Hermannsburg, 1929: Turning Aboriginal “Primitives” into Modern Psychological Subjects

In 1929, the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg (Ntaria), central Australia, became an extraordinary investigatory site, attracting an array of leading psychologists wishing to define the “primitive” mentality of the Arrernte, who became perhaps the most studied people in the British Empire and dominions. This is a story of how scientific knowledge derived from close encounters and fraught entanglements on the borderlands of the settler state. The investigators—Stanley D. Porteus, H. K. Fry, and Géza Róheim—represent the major styles of psychological inquiry in the early‐twentieth century, and count among the vanguard of those dismantling rigid racial typologies and fixed hierarchies of human mentality. They wanted to evaluate “how natives think,” yet inescapably they found themselves reflecting on white mentality too. They came to recognise the primitive as an influential and disturbing motif within the civilised mind—their own minds. These intense interactions in the central deserts show us how Aboriginal thinking could make whites think again about themselves—and forget, for a moment, that many of their research subjects were starving.     

The effects of smoking norms and attitudes on quitting intentions in Malaysia,Thailand and four Western nations: A cross-cultural comparison

This research investigated the influence of smoking attitudes and norms on quitting intentions in two predominantly collectivistic countries (Malaysia and Thailand) and four predominantly individualistic Western countries (Canada, USA, UK and Australia). Data from the International Tobacco Control Project (N = 13,062) revealed that higher odds of intending to quit were associated with negative personal attitudes in Thailand and the Western countries, but not in Malaysia; with norms against smoking from significant others in Malaysia and the Western countries, but not in Thailand; and with societal norms against smoking in all countries. Our findings indicate that normative factors are important determinants of intentions, but they play a different role in different cultural and/or tobacco control contexts. Interventions may be more effective if they are designed with these different patterns of social influence in mind.     

A Relational Approach to Genetic Counseling for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Ethical issues arise for genetic counselors when a client fails to disclose a genetic diagnosis of hereditary disease to family: they must consider the rights of the individual client to privacy and confidentiality as well as the rights of the family to know their genetic risk. Although considerable work has addressed issues of non-disclosure from the client’s perspective, there is a lack of qualitative research into how genetic counselors address this issue in practice. In this study, a qualitative approach was taken to investigate whether genetic counselors in Australia use a relational approach to encourage the disclosure of genetic information from hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) clients among family members; and if so, how they use it. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 genetic counselors from selected states across Australia. Data collection and analysis were guided by a basic iterative approach incorporating a hybrid methodology to thematic analysis. The findings provide indicative evidence of genetic counselors employing a relational approach in three escalating stages––covert, overt and authoritative––to encourage the disclosure of genetic information. The findings lend credence to the notion that genetic counselors envision a form of relational autonomy for their clients in the context of sharing genetic information, and they depart from individualistic conceptions of care/solely client-centered counseling when addressing the needs of other family members to know their genetic status.     

Projectible predicates in analogue and simulated systems

We investigate the relationship between two approaches to modeling physical systems. On the first approach, simplifying assumptions are made about the level of detail we choose to represent in a computational simulation with an eye toward tractability. On the second approach simpler, analogue physical systems are considered that have more or less well-defined connections to systems of interest that are themselves too difficult to probe experimentally. Our interest here is in the connections between the artifacts of modeling that appear in these two approaches. We begin by outlining an important respect in which the two are essentially dissimilar and then propose a method whereby overcoming that dissimilarity by hand results in usefully analogous behavior. We claim that progress can be made if we think of artifacts as clues to the projectible predicates proper to the models themselves. Our degree of control over the connection between interesting analogue physical systems and their targets arises from determining the projectible predicates in the analogue system through a combination of theory and experiment. To obtain a similar degree of control over the connection between large-scale, distributed simulations of complex systems and their targets we must similarly determine the projectible predicates of the simulations themselves. In general theory will be too intractable to be of use, and so we advocate an experimental program for determining these predicates.

the object of the natural history which I propose is...to give light to the discovery of causes and supply a suckling philosophy with its first food. Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration

     

AEIM: A new measure and method of scoring abilities-based emotional intelligence

Two hundred and seventy-two undergraduates completed the new Ability Emotional Intelligence Measure (AEIM) (The AEIM is available upon request from the first author. Patent Reference No. SPEP-12359426.), based on Mayer and Salovey’s (1997) EI definition. To facilitate better application of ability EI, limitations with existing measures were addressed via alternative emotion perception and management items, and a new scoring approach combining consensus and confidence protocols. Analyses of overall consensus and confidence scores, and low and high EI groups were undertaken. Confidence scores produced a single general EI component that was reliable, converged with fluid ability, was distinct from personality domains and incrementally predicted stress. Consensus scores produced a general EI and two-component solution. Consensus results converged with fluid and crystallised ability and empathy; were distinct from the Big Five and incrementally predicted loneliness, and GPA. Implications for the application of EI were discussed.     

Women’s Experience of Telehealth Cancer Genetic Counseling

Telegenetics offers an alternative model of delivering genetic counseling to rural and outreach areas; however there is a dearth of qualitative research into the patient’s experience. Twelve women who had received telemedicine genetic counseling for hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer (HBOC) within the previous 12 months participated in a semi-structured telephone interview. The interview explored women’s experience with telegenetics, satisfaction, perceived advantages and disadvantages and quality of the interaction with their genetic professionals. Overall women were highly satisfied with telegenetics. Telegenetics offered them convenience and reduced travel and associated costs. The majority of women described feeling a high degree of social presence, or rapport, with the off-site genetic clinician. One woman with a recent cancer diagnosis, reported that telemedicine was unable to meet her needs for psychosocial support. This finding highlights the need to be mindful of the psychosocial support needs of women with a recent diagnosis being seen via telegenetics. Patients attending for HBOC genetic counseling are generally highly satisfied with the technology and the interaction. Care should be taken, however, with patients with more complex psychosocial needs.