Distressed Mothers and Their Infants Use a Less Efficient Timing Mechanism in Creating Expectancies of Each Other’s Looking Patterns

The prediction of events and the creation of expectancies about their time course is a crucial aspect of an infant's mental life, but temporal mechanisms underlying these predictions are obscure. Scalar timing, in which the ratio of mean durations to their standard deviations is held constant, enables a person to use an estimate of the mean for its standard deviation. It is one efficient mechanism that may facilitate predictability and the creation of expectancies in mother-infant interaction. We illustrate this mechanism with the dyadic gaze rhythm of mother and infant looking at and looking away from each other's faces. Two groups of Hi- and Lo-Distress mothers were created using self-reported depression, anxiety, self-criticism and childhood experiences. Lo-Distress infants (controls) used scalar timing 100% of the time, about double that of Hi-Distress infants. Lo-Distress mothers used scalar timing about nine times as much as Hi-Distress mothers. The diminished use of scalar timing patterns in Hi-Distress mothers and infants may make the anticipation of each other's gaze patterns more difficult for both partners.     

Internet access and use among homeless and indigent drug users in Long Beach, California.

There has been a growing interest in using the Internet to access a variety of populations for prevention education and health care. It is not clear that this is viable for homeless and other marginalized populations. The purpose of this study was to describe Internet access and use among a sample of homeless and indigent drug users. A brief questionnaire was developed to assess computer ownership, use, email, and Internet access and use. Participants were recruited through a community-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention program. 265 participants completed the questionnaire. While 55% had ever used a computer in their lifetime, only 25% had ever owned a computer, 24% had ever had their own email account, 33% had access to a working computer in the last 30 days, 10% had sent or received email in the last 30 days, and 19% had surfed or accessed information on the Internet in the last 30 days. Logistic regression predicting lifetime use of a computer showed predictive factors of having completed high school (Odds Ratio [OR] = 4.5; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 2.41, 8.38) and number of days used amphetamines in the last 30 days, per 5 days of use (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.18, 2.27). Inversely related were age, per 5 years of age (OR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.65, 0.93) and number of days used marijuana in the last 30 days, per 5 days of use (OR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.76, 0.99). Very low access and usage suggest that Internet-based public health education models be reexamined for this population. The association with amphetamine use may indicate a facilitating effect of amphetamine by heightening awareness and increasing wakefulness.     

A comparative analysis of serial ordering in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta)

Research over the last 25 years has demonstrated that animals are able to organize sequences in memory and retrieve ordered sequences without language. Qualitative differences have been found between the serial organization of behavior in pigeons and monkeys. Here the authors test serial ordering abilities in ring-tailed lemurs, a strepsirrhine primate whose ancestral lineage diverged from that of monkeys, apes, and humans approximately 63 million years ago. Lemurs' accuracy and response times were similar to monkeys, thus suggesting that they may share mechanisms for serial organization that dates to a common primate ancestor.     

Empathy, counteridentification, countertransference: a review, with some personal perspectives on the "analytic instrument"

To understand the affect-laden psychological processes of patients in a fully informed way, analysts must be able to tolerate a regression in which their unconscious or primary-process modes of functioning are given full sway. With the aid of impressions acquired in this way, cognitive functions in the analytic task are provided with a kind of authenticity not otherwise achievable. There are potential problems that can interfere with the analyst's functioning in the desired manner, and an awareness of these problems is essential. Basic issues of theory and technique that are involved are considered herein.     

The impact of theory on psychological testing: how psychoanalytic theory makes diagnostic testing more enjoyable and rewarding.

Systematically applying psychoanalytic theory to psychological testing cultivates a practical, useful, and enjoyable experience of test administration, test scoring, and test interpretation. Furthermore, by grounding psychological testing in psychoanalytic theory, testing becomes rewarding because there is a lively clinical interplay between testing and psychotherapy. These potential sources of enjoyment and skill for the psychological examiner are explored, and several clinical examples are given for illustrative purposes. The need to appreciate the impact of a given theoretical frame of reference is highlighted.     

“What's in a Name”—Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons

High school students' evaluations of labels or terms for 3 disabilities (amputation, mental retardation, and mental hospitalization) were compared with other high school students' evaluations of persons described in sketches as having one of the disabilities but functioning adequately. For each of the 3 comparisons, the person described in the sketch was more favorably evaluated. The variabilities of the labels “Amputees” and “Mentally Retarded” were greater than those of the respective persons described in the sketches. These findings suggest caution in generalizing from attitude studies in which labels or terms are used as the stimulus for disability. The more favorable evaluations of the sketched persons would have implications for counselors in describing persons with disabilities to others.     

Normative data for the F(p) scale of the MMPI-2: implications for clinical and forensic assessment of malingering

Data from several clinical samples and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 standardization group are presented to familiarize the reader with response patterns of different groups on a new validity scale designed to assist in the identification of exaggeration or fabrication of psychological disturbance. Sensitivity-specificity analyses are included along with suggestions for use of the F(p) Scale with other validity scales. Cautions about setting single cutoff scores are also discussed.