Henri Hubert,racial science and political myth

Henri Hubert developed early Durkheimian critiques of racial sciences such as an throposociology from his perspective as an archeologist, historian, and ethnographer of primitive European religions. His major works on the “primitive” Celts and Germans continue these critiques of racism. But Hubert also engaged in the political mythologizing of French national identity by trading in the republican myth of “celtisme.”     

Stagnation and generativity: structure, validity, and differential relationships with adaptive and maladaptive personality

Erikson's concepts of stagnation and generativity were investigated in two studies. Study 1 (N=457) yields two important results. First, it revealed that a model in which stagnation and generativity load on a separate dimension showed a significantly better fit to the data than a one-dimensional model. Second, the stagnation and generativity measures were valid predictors of parental behavior. In Study 2 (N=191), the relationships between stagnation and generativity and the dimensions underlying comprehensive measures of personality were investigated. It was found that stagnation was strongly related to Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience, whereas generativity bore strong relationships with Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience. In the discussion, stagnation is distinguished from several related variables and a profile of the stagnant individual is constructed and compared with the generative individual. Finally, the interaction between stagnation and generativity in producing specific outcomes is discussed.     

Further examination of the psychometric properties of the comprehensive effects of alcohol questionnaire

Although the expectancies component of the Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire has previously been shown to be factorially valid, the factor structure of its valuations component has not previously been examined. The aims of this paper were: (i) to replicate the factor structure of the expectancies items; (ii) to explore the factor structure of the valuations items; and (iii) to investigate the utility of using the Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire to predict drinking behavior. The questionnaire was administered to 1004 university students along with measures of quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption. Fromme, Stroot, and Kaplan's (1993) factor structure of the expectancies scales was replicated. The factor structures of the negative valuations scales were characterized by 2 rather than 3 factors. Negative expectancies improved upon the prediction of drinking quantity and frequency over-and-above positive expectancies, and valuations further improved prediction over-and-above expectancies. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Getting over "the problem of other minds": communication in context

Theories of communication often assume that communication has a single, essential form or telos, the culmination of a one-track developmental process where precursors eventually give rise to the real thing. At one time, this essence of communication was identified with linguistic competence, whereas now it is largely defined in terms of "Theory of Mind." But the fundamental problem with "Theory of Mind" is the very problem it pretends to solve: "the problem of other minds."That problem, as formulated, is insoluble, even with the aid of theory or innate modules. In this article, we reject the superficial depth psychology of "Theory of Mind" in favour of a breadth psychology based on context.     

Extending the spectrum idea: child personality,parenting and psychopathology

The spectrum hypothesis, postulating that differences between referred and non‐referred samples are confined to mean level differences, is elaborated by exploring whether the covariation between child problem behaviour and its predictors—child personality and parenting, rated by mothers—is similar in referred (N = 205) and non‐referred (N = 596) children and whether personality by parenting interactions can be generalized across samples. Results showed significant mean level differences for all the variables. Both personality and parenting explained problem behaviour, with some differences in strength of the effects across samples. Parenting by personality interactions mainly predicted externalizing behaviour, with benevolence and conscientiousness as the most prominent moderators. Results confirmed that moderators of problem behaviour operate similarly in the two samples, thus corroborating the spectrum hypothesis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Serotonin transporter genetic variation and biased attention for emotional word stimuli among psychiatric inpatients

The short allele in a variable repeat sequence of the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been associated with stronger activation in brain regions critical for processing emotional stimuli. The authors examined whether variants of the 5-HTTLPR promoter polymorphism were also associated with individual differences in attentional biases for emotional stimuli. Words related to anxious and dysphoric emotional states were presented to psychiatric inpatients in a standard dot-probe reaction time task. Compared with participants with two long alleles, carriers of the short 5-HTTLPR allele exhibited a stronger attentional bias for anxious word stimuli. No genetic group difference was observed for dysphoric word stimuli. Findings from this preliminary study highlight the potential for integrating genetic and cognitive models of psychopathology.     

Principles of Religious Prosociality: A Review and Reformulation

Historically, religion and religious belief have often been credited as the source of human morality. But what have been the real effects of religion on prosocial behavior? A review of the psychological literature reveals a complex relation between religious belief and moral action: leading to greater prosocial behavior in some contexts but not in others, and in some cases actually increasing antisocial behavior. In addition, different forms of religious belief are associated with different styles of co-operation. This body of evidence paints a somewhat messy picture of religious prosociality; however, recent examinations of the cognitive mechanisms of belief help to resolve apparent inconsistencies. In this article, we review evidence of two separate sources of religious prosociality: a religious principle associated with the protection of the religious group, and a supernatural principle associated with the belief in God, or other supernatural agents. These two principles emphasize different prosocial goals, and so have different effects on prosocial behavior depending on the target and context. A re-examination of the literature illustrates the independent influences of religious and supernatural principles on moral action.     

Feedback on health status and peer popularity influences social risk decision-making processes in adolescents and young adults

Cognitive and dual-processes models, involving cognitive and socio-emotional components, for adolescents’ risky behaviour have been proposed. This study tested their predictions by manipulating the presence or absence of feedback about gains and losses in health and peer popularity in a decision-making task with peers. Risky (e.g., taking or refusing a drug) and ambiguous decisions (e.g., eating hamburger or hotdog) were examined in 256 adolescents (aged 13–14; 15–16; 17–18) and young adults (aged 19–20). Participants made more risky choices and required less decision time when receiving feedback about the negative consequences on health and positive consequences on peer popularity. Decision times were comparatively larger for risky than for safe options in late adolescence and young adulthood. Results supported the dual-processes model showing that, though late cognitive changes were observed that could eventually lead to the selection of safe options, feedback gains in peer popularity outweighed unhealthy consequences leading to risky decisions.     

Long-term improvement in coping skills following multimodal treatment in war veterans with chronic PTSD

Due to the long-lasting and resistant symptoms characteristic of chronic combat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), its treatment is complex and often requires a tailored therapeutic approach incorporating both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. A multimodal approach of psychoeducative, sociotherapeutic, and dynamically oriented trauma-focused groups is described. We assessed the short- and long-term effectiveness of this therapeutic program by monitoring its impact on PTSD symptoms, depression, neurotic symptoms, coping skills, and quality of life for three years. The findings revealed short-term reduction in the symptoms of PTSD and depression, while the long-term results were manifested as the increased use of all coping mechanisms and a greater level of obsession.