Visual form-processing deficits in autism

People with autism have a number of reported deficits in object recognition and global processing. Is there a low-level spatial integration deficit associated with this? We measured spatial-form-coherence detection thresholds using a Glass stimulus in a field of random dots, and compared performance to a similar motion-coherence task. A coherent visual patch was depicted by dots separated by a rotational transformation in space (form) or space-time (motion). To measure parallel visual integration, stimuli were presented for only 250 ms. We compared detection thresholds for children with autism, children with Asperger syndrome, and a matched control group. Children with autism showed a significant form-coherence deficit and a significant motion-coherence deficit, while the performance of the children with Asperger syndrome did not differ significantly from that of controls on either task.     

Using Structural Analysis in Natural Settings: A Responsive Functional Assessment Strategy

Since the reauthorization of IDEA (1997), the use of functional assessments to examine factors that are related to students challenging behaviors has gained increasing attention in the literature. Over the past five years, several groups of investigators have conducted systematic analyses of the current status of the use of functional assessment in relation to students with or at risk for emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). Their findings outline a number of critical, applied research issues for the field to consider. The purpose of this paper is to respond to a number of these issues by highlighting the relevance of structural analysis in addition to and in some cases in lieu of more traditional functional assessments. A brief review of current trends in the functional assessment research is presented as well as a rational for the use of structural analysis to examine the occurrence of appropriate behavior for students with EBD. Finally, illustrations of studies conducting structural analyses in classrooms settings are provided.     

Personality Correlates of Midlife Cardiometabolic Risk: The Explanatory Role of Higher‐Order Factors of the Five‐Factor Model

Varying associations are reported between Five‐Factor Model (FFM) personality traits and cardiovascular disease risk. Here, we further examine dispositional correlates of cardiometabolic risk within a hierarchical model of personality that proposes higher‐order traits of Stability (shared variance of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, inverse Neuroticism) and Plasticity (Extraversion, Openness), and we test hypothesized mediation via biological and behavioral factors. In an observational study of 856 community volunteers aged 30–54 years (46% male, 86% Caucasian), latent variable FFM traits (using multiple‐informant reports) and aggregated cardiometabolic risk (indicators: insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, blood pressure, adiposity) were estimated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The cardiometabolic factor was regressed on each personality factor or higher‐order trait. Cross‐sectional indirect effects via systemic inflammation, cardiac autonomic control, and physical activity were tested. CFA models confirmed the Stability “meta‐trait,” but not Plasticity. Lower Stability was associated with heightened cardiometabolic risk. This association was accounted for by inflammation, autonomic function, and physical activity. Among FFM traits, only Openness was associated with risk over and above Stability, and, unlike Stability, this relationship was unexplained by the intervening variables. A Stability meta‐trait covaries with midlife cardiometabolic risk, and this association is accounted for by three candidate biological and behavioral factors.     

A child psychotherapist’s way of engaging in assessments for the courts

This paper focuses on assessments to guide decisions made by the courts about placements for children rather than any risk they may pose. The child psychotherapist’s specific skills and training which equip them to carry out this work in a distinctive way are described. The paper demonstrates how a child psychotherapist thinks about the material such an assessment might provide and describes the translation work required to provide a meaningful report for the court.     

A rose by any other name: participants choosing research pseudonyms

How do researchers name people respectfully in research projects? In an interview study on aspects of aging, 38 participants were invited to choose their own pseudonyms for the research. The resulting discussions show that the common practice of allocating pseudonyms to confer anonymity is not merely a technical procedure, but renaming has psychological meaning to both the participants and the content and process of the research. The care and thought with which many participants chose their names, and the meanings or links associated with those names, illuminated the importance of the process of naming. There was evidence of rules and customs around naming that further confirmed its importance both within their sociocultural worlds, and as an act of research, affected by issues of power and voice, methodology, and research outputs. We invite researchers to consider a more nuanced engagement with participants regarding choosing pseudonyms in research.     

Social role effects on gender stereotyping in Germany and Japan

Social role theory postulates that gender stereotypes are restrained for men and women observed in the same social role. Cultural differences in the valuation of communal attributes might moderate this effect. To examine this possibility, 288 participants (144 German, 144 Japanese) estimated the communal and agentic attributes of an average man or woman described in a male‐dominated role, a female‐dominated role, or without role information. We hypothesized and found that in Germany and Japan, participants perceived men as more agentic than women without role information and as similarly agentic in the same role. However, for communion, German and Japanese participants reacted differently. German participants perceived women as more communal than men without role information and in male‐dominated roles and perceived men as more communal than women in female‐dominated roles. Japanese participants perceived all targets as similarly communal, regardless of role or gender, suggesting that communion is generally expected in Japan.     

Telepathic Entanglements: Where are we Today? Commentary on Paper by Claudie Massicotte

In this commentary, stemming from Freud’s conflictual interest in psychic phenomena, I examine current views of telepathy as reflected in controversial parapsychological research and theories of nonlocal mind. I hope to inspire readers’ curiosity about the possible existence of telepathic communication by proposing clinical examples and raising the feasibility of the impact of the therapist’s own predisposition and belief system. Finally I speculate about how findings from parapsychology research in combination with findings from neuroscience and quantum theory might influence the evolution of psychoanalytically based practice methods in the future.     

Good and Bad Sides of Self-Compassion: A Face Validity Check of the Self-Compassion Scale and an Investigation of its Relations to Coping and Emotional Symptoms in Non-Clinical Adolescents

To demonstrate that the positive and negative subscales of Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) are very different in nature, we conducted a series of face validity checks on the items of this questionnaire among psychologists and psychology students (Study 1). Furthermore, a survey was administered to a convenience sample of non-clinical adolescents to examine the relations between various SCS subscales and symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as coping styles (Study 2). The results of the face validity checks revealed that the positive subscales seem to be well in line with the protective nature of self-compassion as they were mainly associated with cognitive coping and healthy functioning, whereas the negative subscales were chiefly associated with psychopathological symptoms and mental illness. The survey data demonstrated that the positive SCS subscales were positively correlated with adaptive coping (r’s between .22 and .50) and negatively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression (r’s between ?.19 and ?.53), while the negative subscales were positively correlated with symptoms (r’s between .49 and .61) and maladaptive coping strategies such as passive reacting (r’s between .53 and .56). Additional analyses indicated the negative subscales of the SCS accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in symptoms, whereas the unique contribution of the positive SCS subscales was fairly marginal. We caution to employ the total SCS score that includes the reversed negative subscales as such a procedure clearly inflates the relation between self-compassion and psychopathology.