Associations of Maternal Prenatal Smoking with Early Childhood Physical Aggression,Hyperactivity-Impulsivity,and Their Co-Occurrence

This study investigated associations between maternal prenatal smoking and physical aggression (PA), hyperactivity-impulsivity (HI) and co-occurring PA and HI between ages 17 and 42 months in a population sample of children born in Québec (Canada) in 1997/1998 (N=1745). Trajectory model estimation showed three distinct developmental patterns for PA and four for HI. Multinomial regression analyses showed that prenatal smoking significantly predicted children’s likelihood to follow different PA trajectories beyond the effects of other perinatal factors, parental psychopathology, family functioning and parenting, and socio-economic factors. However, prenatal smoking was not a significant predictor of HI in a model with the same control variables. Further multinomial regression analyses showed that, together with gender, presence of siblings and maternal hostile reactive parenting, prenatal smoking independently predicted co-occurring high PA and high HI compared to low levels of both behaviors, to high PA alone, and to high HI alone. These results show that maternal prenatal smoking predicts multiple behavior regulation problems in early childhood.     

Recalibration of phonetic categories by lipread speech versus lexical information

Listeners hearing an ambiguous phoneme flexibly adjust their phonetic categories in accordance with information telling what the phoneme should be (i.e., recalibration). Here the authors compared recalibration induced by lipread versus lexical information. Listeners were exposed to an ambiguous phoneme halfway between /t/ and /p/ dubbed onto a face articulating /t/ or /p/ or embedded in a Dutch word ending in /t/ (e.g., groot [big]) or /p/ (knoop [button]). In a posttest, participants then categorized auditory tokens as /t/ or /p/. Lipread and lexical aftereffects were comparable in size (Experiment 1), dissipated about equally fast (Experiment 2), were enhanced by exposure to a contrast phoneme (Experiment 3), and were not affected by a 3-min silence interval (Experiment 4). Exposing participants to 1 instead of both phoneme categories did not make the phenomenon more robust (Experiment 5). Despite the difference in nature (bottom-up vs. top-down information), lipread and lexical information thus appear to serve a similar role in phonetic adjustments.     

Individual differences in creativity: personality,story writing,and hobbies

This study investigated the relationship between creativity and personality among college students from a variety of major fields of study. Indicators of creativity were ratings of written stories, lists of personal hobbies, and scores on the Creative Personality Scale (CPS; Gough, 1979 ). Personality was assessed broadly using the NEO‐Five Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1985 ) as well as measures of depersonalization, intolerance of ambiguity, faith in intuition, and problem‐solving styles. The results showed a positive relationship between openness to experience and all creativity measures. Moreover, high scores on intuition and extraversion were the best predictors for creativity as measured by the CPS. Story creativity was predicted by low scores on conscientiousness. Depersonalization was not significantly related to creativity. The results of this investigation confirm and extend previous research in demonstrating a close association between creativity and specific personality traits. Future research should clarify the nature of the creative personality across individuals of differing levels and domains of expertise. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Framing Foreign Policy Alternatives in the Inner Circle: President Carter, His Advisors, and the Struggle for the Arms Control Agenda

This article examines strategic framing efforts within the president's inner circle of foreign policy advisors. The comparative case study method is used to describe and explain the framing process involved in President Jimmy Carter's arms control decisions with respect to the Soviet Union. Carter's two central foreign policy advisors, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, portrayed the Soviets in very different terms. The premise underlying this study is that advisors attempt to frame their policy preferences favorably in order to influence the group process and the president's policy choice. Advisors do so by playing up the positive aspects of an option and downplaying any negative aspects. Three components of the framing process are explored: historical/cultural symbolism, personal beliefs and values, and political cost assessments.     

The functions of freezing in the social interactions of juvenile high‐ and low‐aggressive mice

Selectively bred low‐aggressive mice are frequently observed to freeze on social contact, despite the fact that this behavior was never a direct target of selection. To elucidate this finding, the present research aimed to identify the possible functions freezing may serve in social interactions. It was hypothesized that freezing may modify social interactions through self‐regulatory mechanisms and/or via its modulating effects on the actions of social partners. These hypotheses were evaluated with respect to the sequential changes observed over the course of a 10‐min dyadic test in freezing, social reactivity, and approaches among juvenile (24–30‐day‐old) mice from the NC900 and NC100 high‐ and low‐aggressive lines. Analyses of the patterns of social interactions between subjects and partners revealed two primary results. First, freezing was more than an expression of fear; it also functioned as a regulator of emotional arousal, as suggested by the substantial reduction of reactive behaviors seen in animals that showed high levels of freezing. Second, freezing functioned to facilitate high levels of affiliative social interaction with social partners. The implications of these results for understanding how the differentiation of the NC900 and NC100 occurred within microevolution and development are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 27:463–475, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Mediating factors in chick social pecking: II. effects of exposure to movement

Unfamiliarity with movement may lead isolated chicks to respond aggressively when tested with live, moving conspecifics. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the number and locus of pecks by isolated chicks to a stationary or moving model of a chick, and to a live chick. In a second test of the hypothesis chicks that viewed a moving object during isolation and chicks isolated without movement were tested with a live con-specific and their number and locus of pecks were compared. Neither experiment supported the hypothesis. Movement alone failed to excite aggressive pecks and prior experience with movement failed to suppress aggressive pecks. In the first experiment imlated chicks treated the live testmate more aggressively than the moving or stationary model. In the second experiment aggressive pecking of chicks was unaffected by prior experience with movement, These fmdmgs do not support the hypothesis that movement excites aggression in isolated chicks. Nonetheless the results focus attention on the generally neglected problem of emotional and motivational states produced by isolation.     

Characteristics of a French African Caribbean Epidemiological Psychiatric Sample with a History of Suicide Attempt

Research on vulnerability factors among ethnic groups, independent of primary psychiatric diagnosis, may help to identify groups at risk of suicidal behavior. French African Caribbean general psychiatric patients (N = 362) were recruited consecutively and independently of the primary psychiatric diagnosis. Demographic and clinical characteristics and lifetime history of suicide attempts were recorded. Sixty‐five patients (18%) had a history of at least one suicide attempt. Presence of professional qualifications, children, poor social contacts, treatment with benzodiazepine at inclusion, and poor treatment compliance were all associated with a lifetime history of suicide attempts.