Does the corollary discharge of attention exist?

We discuss experimental support for the existence of a corollary discharge signal of attention movement control and its formulation in terms of the corollary discharge of attention model of attention movement (CODAM). The data is from fMRI, MEG and EEG activity observed about 200 ms after stimulus onset in various attention paradigms and in which the activity is mainly sited in parietal and extra-striate visual areas. Moreover the data arises from neural activity observed before report of a subject's experience occurs. The overall experimental support for the existence of a copy of the attention movement control signal generates, it is suggested, a viable route to explore the relation between this signal and human consciousness, as concluded in the paper.     

Confidence to Foster Across Cultures: Caregiver Perspectives

It is important to understand how cultural values, beliefs and traditions of foster parents are related to placement success because a substantial proportion of children in care come from culturally diverse backgrounds. In the present study participants were asked about resources they saw as necessary to improve their confidence fostering children from culturally diverse backgrounds. Sixty-one foster parents from a central Canadian province participated in a telephone interview that included the question: “what would help you feel more confident about fostering children with different values, beliefs and traditions?” A total of 35 unique responses were obtained and grouped together by 13 foster parents. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis were used to analyze the grouping data. Foster parents described six themes: understanding different cultures, training, self awareness, agency support, open discussion and community services. There were several similarities and differences between the perspectives of foster parents interviewed and the literature. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Becoming irreplaceable: How comparisons to the partner’s alternatives differentially affect low and high self-esteem people

It is proposed that people are motivated to feel hard to replace in romantic relationships because feeling irreplaceable fosters trust in a partner’s continued responsiveness. By contrast, feeling replaceable motivates compensatory behavior aimed at strengthening the partner’s commitment to the relationship. A correlational study of dating couples and two experiments examined how satiating/thwarting the goal of feeling irreplaceable differentially affects relationship perception and behavior for low and high self-esteem people. The results revealed that satiating the goal of feeling irreplaceable increases trust for people low in self-esteem. In contrast, thwarting the goal of feeling irreplaceable increases compensatory behaviors meant to prove one’s indispensability for people high in self-esteem.     

Socioeconomic Status and Coronary Heart Disease Risk: The Role of Social Cognitive Factors

The aim of this study is to examine existing research on social cognitive factors that may, in part, mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and coronary heart disease (CHD). We focus on how social status is 'carried' in the mental systems of individuals, and how these systems differentially affect CHD risk and associated behaviors. To this end, literatures documenting the association of various social cognitive factors (e.g., social comparison, perceived discrimination, and self-efficacy) with cardiovascular disease are reviewed as are literatures regarding the relationship of these factors to SES. Possible mechanisms through which social cognitions may affect health are addressed. In addition, directions for future research are discussed, and a model identifying the possible associations between social cognitive factors, SES, and coronary disease is provided.     

Controversies Involving Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the United States

This paper summarizes five challenging ongoing controversies involving gender and U. S. intimate partner violence (IPV) (i.e., gender symmetry of perpetration; utility of typologies; understanding bi-directionally violent couples; violence motivations and self-defense, and treatment effectiveness). Reviewed evidence support three central theses that: 1) there are subtypes of IPV; 2) women are as involved as men with some but not all subtypes of IPV, and 3) recognition of these gender-related challenges will improve policy, treatment, and working models of IPV. Within this paper, a dyadic culture-family-attachment-skill deficit model of IPV is conceptualized and three types of bi-directionally violent couples are named and described (dyadic dominance, dyadic dysregulation, and dyadic couple violence). Practice and policy implications of these advances are articulated.     

Linking personality to interpersonal citizenship behaviour: The moderating effect of empathy

To account for generally low direct relationships between Big‐Five personality traits and interpersonal citizenship behaviour (ICB), researchers have suggested that Big‐Five traits are associated with such helping‐related behaviour in interactive rather than direct fashion. This study investigated empathy as a potential moderator of Big‐Five trait – ICB relations. Hypotheses were tested with data obtained from employees of a youth treatment facility and their supervisors. Results provided evidence that empathy interacts with three Big‐Five personality traits, suggesting traits functioning at conceptually different hierarchical levels may jointly explain specific behaviours. Empathy could play an important role in understanding connections between these Big‐Five traits and ICB.     

Relationship of Adult Representations of Childhood Parenting and Personality Tendencies to Adult Stressors and Political Ideology

Undergraduate students in a Southeastern US University (n = 232) responded to an inventory that included retrospective measures of their parents’ style of parenting (authoritarian vs. authoritative) and their own childhood psychological tendencies (insecurity vs. confidence), as well as their adult stressors and political orientation. Authoritative parenting positively correlated with childhood confidence and negatively correlated with both childhood insecurity and adult stressors. Conversely, authoritarian parenting was positively associated with childhood insecurity and adult stressors but was not significantly correlated with childhood confidence. For the most part, parenting styles, early childhood tendencies, and adult stressors were unrelated to adult political ideology, contrary to previous longitudinal research reporting these connections.