Joint visual attention and social triangular engagement at 3 and 6 months

Two experiments document infants' ability to detect breaks of contact in an ongoing dyadic interaction and to use the joint attention mechanism for social triangular communication purposes. In Experiment 1, the ability of 3- and 6-month-olds to show joint attention when an adult turned to face another person in sight, and to react when both adults conversed in a reciprocal manner, was measured. In Experiment 2, 3-month-olds were tested in two joint attention conditions: a Person-Person-Object condition (PPO) and a Person-Person-Person condition (PPP). Results showed that both 3- and 6-month-olds' gazed backwards and forwards between the two adults and produced socially directed behaviors towards the adults, thus initiating a social triangular coordinated interaction. Three-month-olds replicated this pattern in the PPP condition but not in the PPO condition. The social context with three persons may be particularly facilitative for infant early communication and sharing within the family.     

Irrelevant Influences

We often hear such casual accusations: you just believe that because you are a liberal, a Christian, an American, a woman… When such charges are made they are meant to sting—not just emotionally, but epistemically. But should they? It can be disturbing to learn that one's beliefs reflect the influence of such irrelevant factors. The pervasiveness of such influence has led some to worry that we are not justified in many of our beliefs. That same pervasiveness has led others to doubt whether there is any worry here at all. I argue that evidence of irrelevant belief influence is sometimes, but not always, undermining. My proposal picks out ordinary, non‐skeptical cases in which we get evidence of error. It says that, in those cases, evidence of irrelevant influence is epistemically significant. It shows how respecting evidence of error is compatible with the epistemic lives we see ourselves living. We are fallible creatures, yes, but we are also capable and intelligent ones. We can recognize and correct for our own error so as to improve our imperfect, yet nevertheless robust, epistemic lives.     

The Spanish version of the Wisconsin Personality Disorders Inventory-IV (WISPI-IV): tests of validity and reliability

Personality disorders (PD) are a prevalent class of mental disorders that interfere with functioning and cause subjective distress while increasing the intensity and duration of Axis I clinical syndromes, and therefore assessing PD is important even when PDs are not the focus of treatment. The purpose of these studies was to develop and test a new Spanish version of a self-report measure of PD, the Wisconsin Personality Inventory-IV (WISPI-IV) that would be psychometrically equivalent to the English version while also maintaining the same interpersonal content, which is based on Benjamin's analysis of the PD criteria using her Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) model (1974). Study 1 participants completed the WISPI-IV twice over a two-week interval. For Study 2, participants from two sites in Spain and one site in Argentina completed Spanish versions of the WISPI-IV and other personality measures. SASB-analysis of the translated items showed high correspondence between the interpersonal content of the English version and the Spanish version demonstrating theoretical validation in relation to other PD measures. The Spanish WISPI-IV showed satisfactory reliability based on test-retest correlations and alphas for internal consistency. Study 2 showed the Spanish WISPI-IV had good convergent validity with the Spanish versions of the IIP and SCID-II and performed similarly to the English versions of these measures. Our goal in translating the WISPI-IV was to extend this measure to Spanish-speakers in language that would be understood by different Hispanic sub-groups, however research team members and subjects had a variety of suggestions for changes in item wording. This reflects the difficulty with creating a "neutral" Spanish version of any assessment given regional differences.     

The clustering of health-related occupational stressors among contemporary wage-earners

In this study, it is investigated whether a typology can be imposed upon a sample of wage-earners, based on their exposure to a broad number of occupational stressors: quantitative, emotional, and physical demands, repetitive movements, atypical schedules, low job control, relationships with superiors, job insecurity, and bullying behaviour. Also associations between this typology and measures of emotional problems (EP) and musculoskeletal complaints (MC) are tested. Logistic regression and a latent class cluster analysis are performed on a representative sample of 10,074 Flemish (Belgian) employees. Five clusters are revealed: “low stress”, “high stress”, “manual-passive”, “human contact”, and “high demand”. These clusters are showing a clear socioeconomic distribution and distinct associations with EP and MC—with the “high stress cluster” being the most problematic. Health-damaging occupational stress clusters are prevalent at both higher and lower socioeconomic positions. This is suggesting a complex relationship between occupational stressors and socioeconomic health variations.     

Unconscious perception: the need for a paradigm shift

According to Snodgrass, Bernat, and Shevrin (2004), unconscious perception can be demonstrated convincingly only at the objective detection threshold, provided that the conditions of their objective detection/strategic model are met, whereas both the subjective threshold model of Cheesman and Merikle (1984, 1986) and the objective threshold/rapid decay model of Greenwald, Draine, and Abrams (1996) are inconclusive. We argue on theoretical, metatheoretical, and empirical grounds that all three dual-process models, which are based on both conscious and unconscious perception, should be rejected in favor of the single-process conscious perception model.     

Experimental manipulations of responsibility: An analogue test for models of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Several authors attribute excessive responsibility a predominant role in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) [Salkovskis, P. M. (1985) Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 571–583; Rachman, S. (1993) Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 149–154; van Oppen, P. & Arntz, A. (1994) Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 79–87]. The present studies aimed at demonstrating the link between different levels of perceived responsibility and checking behaviors by experimentally manipulating responsibility in non-clinical Ss. In the first study, a sound recognition task was used to compare checking behaviors in Ss with high (HR) and low (LR) perceived responsibility. Only one variable was significantly different, Ss from the HR group reporting more anxiety during the task than Ss from the LR group. Results did not support a link between responsibility and checking behavior. In a second study HR and LR Ss were compared on a manual classification task. Subjects from the HR group hesitated and checked more, and reported more preoccupation with errors and anxiety during the task than Ss from the LR group. Since perceived severity of the outcome was the most variable affected by the manipulation, the implications for current models of OCD are discussed and an alternative explanation is attempted. Finally, clinical implications are examined and suggestions are made for future directions of research.     

The Transformation of Girls to Women: Finding Voice and Developing Strategies for Liberation

The theme of silence is one of the most pervasive themes in the study of girls and women across cultures. The authors examine emotional, physical, educational, and behavioral losses that occur for adolescent girls. Results of landmark research studies and the implications for practitioners also are discussed. El tema del silencio es uno de los temas más penetrantes en el estudio de jovencitas y mujeres a través de las culturas. Los autores examinan las pérdidas emocionales, físicas, educativas y de comportamiento que ocurren para las jovencitas adolescentes. Los resultados de estudios culminantes y las implicaciones para consejeros se discuten.     

On the nature of nonverbal working memory fractionation: a case of selective spatial short-term memory deficit in a child

Several lines of research on adult subjects demonstrate a visual/spatial fractionation of nonverbal working memory (WM), while behavioral studies on normal children support the idea of a static/dynamic distinction. In the present paper, we report a child (Z.M.) who failed on nonverbal WM tasks. To verify the nature of his defect, we carried out two experiments: in Experiment 1, Z.M. failed on spatial WM tasks but not on visual WM tasks and was not affected by the static/dynamic format of stimulus presentation; in Experiment 2, this visual/spatial dissociation was extended to the imagery domain. These results are best accounted for within the visual/spatial fractionation of WM and confirmed the role of WM in mental imagery. Clinical and rehabilitative implications of the present findings are also discussed.