Brutality of assault in political cartoons affecting humor appreciation

Political cartoons depicting a presidential candidate undergoing an aggressive assault were manipulated to assess the effect on humor appreciation of variations in the degree of brutality of the aggressive tactics (minimal, intermediate, extreme). The identity of the depicted candidate (Richard Nixon vs George McGovern) was also manipulated. Humor-appreciation ratings were given to these cartoons by student subjects during the week preceding the 1972 presidential elections. Attitudes toward the depicted candidates were assessed in a postexperimental questionnaire. Neither degree of brutality nor affect toward the victim exerted a significant main effect, but a significant transverse interaction between the two variables was observed. When the assault involved minimal levels of brutality, the victimization of a rejected candidate was appreciated significantly more than that of a favored one; when intermediate levels of brutality were depicted, assaults against rejected candidates did not differ appreciably from attacks upon favored candidates in the level of mirth they elicited; when the brutality was extreme, aggression against rejected candidates was appreciated less than assaults against favored candidates, although nonsignificantly so. Of the various theoretical notions which were advanced to predict the results, a rationale involving the decoder's motivation to favor or object to the manner in which the aggressive agent is characterized as well as his motivation to enjoy or dislike the communication's projected outcome was considered to account best for the findings.     

Statistical Learning Is Not Affected by a Prior Bout of Physical Exercise

This study examined the effect of a prior bout of exercise on implicit cognition. Specifically, we examined whether a prior bout of moderate intensity exercise affected performance on a statistical learning task in healthy adults. A total of 42 participants were allocated to one of three conditions—a control group, a group that exercised for 15 min prior to the statistical learning task, and a group that exercised for 30 min prior to the statistical learning task. The participants in the exercise groups cycled at 60% of their respective O₂max. Each group demonstrated significant statistical learning, with similar levels of learning among the three groups. Contrary to previous research that has shown that a prior bout of exercise can affect performance on explicit cognitive tasks, the results of the current study suggest that the physiological stress induced by moderate‐intensity exercise does not affect implicit cognition as measured by statistical learning.     

The use of the political categories of Brexiter and Remainer in online comments about the EU referendum

In June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum on EU membership; 52% of those who voted, voted to leave, and 48% voted to remain. During the referendum campaign, two identities emerged: “Brexiter” and “Remainer,” which remained salient post‐referendum. This study explores how the categories of Brexiter and Remainer were deployed by posters online. Data comprise comment threads collected from four online newspapers both during the campaign and after the vote, which focus on the Brexit campaign promise: “We send £350m a week to the EU. Let's fund our NHS instead.” We draw on membership categorization analysis and discursive psychology to analyse when categories were made salient and what responses to the invocation of categories were. Analysis revealed that posters explicitly categorize the out‐group and in doing so implicitly define their group. Posters resisted other political identities when attributed to them in relation to the referendum. The analysis shows how Brexiter and Remainer are new, albeit contested, political categories and identities in their own right, with other political identities resisted when used. The paper highlights implications for the political system in the United Kingdom and for social divisions within U.K. society.     

Conversation with 2016 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award Winner Joanne Maguire Robinson

This conversation between the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion and Joanne Maguire Robinson continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, and Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore. The exchange takes as its point of departure the teaching statement that Professor Robinson produced in support of her candidacy for the American Academy of Religion's Excellence in Teaching Award. Issues addressed include the impact of institutional context on one's teaching, teaching the humanities in universities that are ever more focused on job training, making the transition from a graduate program focused on research to teaching undergraduates who are unlikely to take even a second course in the study of religion, and ways in which women are challenged to navigate multiple responsibilities while striving to make their way in a male‐dominated academy.     

The Management of Disclosure in Children’s Accounts of Domestic Violence: Practices of Telling and Not Telling

Children and young people who experience domestic violence are often represented as passive witnesses, too vulnerable to tell the stories of their own lives. This article reports on findings from a 2 year European research project (Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies, UNARS) with children and young people in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK, who had experienced domestic violence. It explores children and young people’s understandings of their own capacity to reflect on and disclose their experiences Extracts from individual interviews with 107 children and young people (age 8–18) were analysed. Three themes are presented, that illustrate children and young people’s strategies for managing disclosure: (1) “Being silenced or choosing silence?”, explores children and young people’s practices of self-silencing; (2) “Managing disclosures: Finding ways to tell” outlines how children and young people value self-expression, and the strategies they use to disclose safely; and in (3) “Speaking with many voices” considers how children and young people’s accounts of their experiences are constituted relationally, and are often polyvocal. The article concludes that children and young people can be articulate, strategic and reflexive communicators, and that good support for families struggling with domestic violence must enable space for children and young people’s voice to be heard. This is possible only in an integrated framework able to encompass multiple layers and perspectives, rather than privileging the adult point of view. Practitioners who work with families affected by domestic violence need to recognize that children and young people are able to reflect on and speak about their experiences. This requires that attention is paid to the complexity of children and young people’s communication practices, and the relational context of those communications.     

Developmental trajectories to heroin dependence: Theoretical and clinical issues

We have built up a great deal of insight into the early developmental trajectories that lead to heroin use. These cluster under five domains: social disadvantage, parental drug use/psychopathology, childhood abuse and neglect, early onset psychopathology and antisocial behaviors, and a developmental sequence of drug onsets. While not all heroin users have these risk factors, the broad clinical picture shows these early correlates to be the predominant presentation. We discuss each of the early psychosocial correlates of heroin dependence, as well as possible early interventions. Given the chronicity of heroin dependence, interventions to prevent heroin use emerging would reduce the considerable burden of disease associated with the disorder.