Gray matter correlates of fluid,crystallized, and spatial intelligence: Testing the P-FIT model

The parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) nominates several areas distributed throughout the brain as relevant for intelligence. This theory was derived from previously published studies using a variety of both imaging methods and tests of cognitive ability. Here we test this theory in a new sample of young healthy adults (N = 100) using a psychometric battery tapping fluid, crystallized, and spatial intelligence factors. High resolution structural MRI scans (3T) were obtained and analyzed with Voxel-based Morphometry (VBM). The main findings are consistent with the P-FIT, supporting the view that general intelligence (g) involves multiple cortical areas throughout the brain. Key regions include the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, Broca's and Wernicke's areas, the somato-sensory association cortex, and the visual association cortex. Further, estimates of crystallized and spatial intelligence with g statistically removed, still share several brain areas with general intelligence, but also show some degree of uniqueness.     

Motivations and self-presentation strategies on Korean-based "Cyworld" weblog format personal homepages.

The main purposes of this study are to find out individuals' motives and interpersonal self-presentation strategies on constructing Korean weblog format personal homepage (e.g., "Cyworld mini-homepage"). The study also attempts to find predictor motives that lead to the activities of posting and maintaining a homepage and compare the self-presentation strategies used on the Web with those commonly used in interpersonal situations. By using a principal component factor analysis, four salient self-presentation strategy factors and five interpretable mini-homepage hosting motive factors were identified. Accompanying multiple regression analysis shows that entertainment and personal income factors are major predictors in explaining homepage maintenance expenditures and frequencies of updating.     

Information-processing modules and their relative modality specificity

This research uses fMRI to understand the role of eight cortical regions in a relatively complex information-processing task. Modality of input (visual versus auditory) and modality of output (manual versus vocal) are manipulated. Two perceptual regions (auditory cortex and fusiform gyrus) only reflected perceptual encoding. Two motor regions were involved in information rehearsal as well as programming of overt actions. Two cortical regions (parietal and prefrontal) performed processing (retrieval and representational change) independent of input and output modality. The final two regions (anterior cingulate and caudate) were involved in control of cognition independent of modality of input or output and content of the material. An information-processing model, based on the ACT-R theory, is described that predicts the BOLD response in these regions. Different modules in the theory vary in the degree to which they are modality-specific and the degree to which they are involved in central versus peripheral cognitive processes.     

The Rhetoric Of Context

This paper presents a critical appraisal of the recent turn in comparative religious ethics to virtue theory; it argues that the specific aspirations of virtue ethicists to make ethics more contextual, interdisciplinary, and practice‐centered has in large measure failed to match the rhetoric. I suggest that the focus on the category of the human and practices associated with self‐formation along with a methodology grounded in “analogical imagination” has actually poeticized the subject matter into highly abstract textual studies on normative voices within traditions, largely in isolation from considerations of socio‐historical context, political and institutional pressures, and the lived ethics of non‐elite moral actors. I conclude with some programmatic suggestions for how the field of comparative religious ethics can move forward.     

BODY DISSATISFACTION AND DISORDERED EATING AMONG COLLEGE WOMEN IN CHINA, SOUTH KOREA, AND THE UNITED STATES: CONTRASTING PREDICTIONS FROM SOCIOCULTURAL AND FEMINIST THEORIES

Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were compared across groups of college women from China ( n = 109), South Korea ( n = 137), and the United States ( n = 102). Based on cultural differences in the amount of exposure to Western appearance standards, particularly the thin-body ideal, sociocultural theory ( Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999 ) would predict that body dissatisfaction and disordered eating would be highest in the U.S. sample and lowest in the Chinese sample. In contrast, based on the speed and pervasiveness of changes in women's roles, feminist theory ( Bordo, 1993 ; Jeffreys, 2005 ) would predict that body dissatisfaction and disordered eating would be highest in the Korean sample and lowest in the U.S. sample. Multidimensional measures indicated the highest levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in the Korean sample and the lowest levels in the U.S. sample, indicating that predictions derived from feminist theory were a better fit to the data than predictions derived from sociocultural theory. Results indicated that theoretical understandings of body dissatisfaction must recognize not only differences between Western and non-Western cultures, but also differences among non-Western cultures.     

Spousal Religiosity is Positively Associated with the Partner's Meaning in Life

Past research has established that personal religiosity is positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. However, it has largely overlooked how religious others influence one's own life meaning. Given that a marital partner may be the most influential other in a person's everyday life, this study aims to examine how the religiosity of one's spouse is associated with the sense of meaning in life of the self, regardless of the religiosity of the self. Moreover, this study assesses whether this association differs by gender. Analysis of data from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study reveals that spousal religiosity is positively associated with the partner's meaning in life, net of the partner's own religious commitment. However, these observed patterns do not vary by gender. Overall, these observations highlight the importance of social contexts in which others’ religious attributes are related to one's own meaning in life.     

Belief in Supernatural Evil and Mental Health: Do Secure Attachment to God and Gender Matter?

This study examines whether belief in supernatural evil is associated with mental health. In addition, it assesses how secure attachment to God moderates this association and how gender conditions the moderating effect of secure attachment to God. Among a variety of mental health outcomes, this study focuses on general mental health problems as well as anxiety-related disorders (e.g., general anxiety, social anxiety, and paranoia). Using data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1,627), the analyses reveal that belief in supernatural evil is positively associated with general anxiety and paranoia. In addition, secure attachment to God buffers the positive associations between belief in supernatural evil and social anxiety and paranoia. Yet, when general mental health problems and general anxiety serve as the outcome measures, secure attachment to God attenuates the positive associations of belief in supernatural evil with mental health only for women, but not men. These results underscore the ways that religious beliefs have both positive and negative implications for mental health. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of gender in the complex relationships between religious beliefs and mental health.     

Stress and support: The dual role of the migrant community in the acculturation of Korean migrant families in Australia

Despite recent exploration of diverse acculturation experiences, there is still limited understanding of the specific acculturation features of the migrant experience. To address this gap, the current study aimed to explore subjective acculturation experiences of Korean migrant families by focusing on the contexts of home country, migrant community, and marital relationship. Twenty‐three married South Korean migrants with young children participated in four focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to identify major themes from the discussion. Participants reported that, contrary to a stressful life in Korea, they developed premigration expectations regarding a relaxed life in Australia. However, once the participants became involved in the Korean migrant community in Australia, their expectations were mismatched by recreating their previous stressful lives in the new country. The Korean migrant community was helpful in participants' adaptation but also unhelpful in handling acculturation issues of mismatched expectations and parental stress. The study also found that although some postmigration marital conflicts arose, marital communication in the relationship may have a protective role in solving migrants' difficulties. These findings highlight the need for enhancing the traditional acculturation framework with other theoretical frameworks to capture both general and specific acculturation features of the migrant experience.     

A Case Study of Solution-Focused Brief Family Therapy

Abstract

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) was developed as a form of family therapy. Recently, these features have blurred. This case study explores how Insoo Kim Berg interacts with multiple family members in SFBT. The results indicate that she used a circular procedure to ensure that all the family members were involved in the process. The analysis demonstrates the importance of purposeful use of language and the influence of systems theory in SFBT. SFBT provides a useful framework that enables a family therapist to work together with families to help them make the changes they want with their own strengths and resources.