What's "up" with God? Vertical space as a representation of the divine

"God" and "Devil" are abstract concepts often linked to vertical metaphors (e.g., "glory to God in the highest," "the Devil lives down in hell"). It is unknown, however, whether these metaphors simply aid communication or implicate a deeper mode of concept representation. In 6 experiments, the authors examined the extent to which the vertical dimension is used in noncommunication contexts involving God and the Devil. Experiment 1 established that people have implicit associations between God-Devil and up-down. Experiment 2 revealed that people encode God-related concepts faster if presented in a high (vs. low) vertical position. Experiment 3 found that people's memory for the vertical location of God- and Devil-like images showed a metaphor-consistent bias (up for God; down for Devil). Experiments 4, 5a, and 5b revealed that people rated strangers as more likely to believe in God when their images appeared in a high versus low vertical position, and this effect was independent of inferences related to power and likability. These robust results reveal that vertical perceptions are invoked when people access divinity-related cognitions.     

The relationship between pain tolerance and trait aggression: effects of sex and gender role

The literature on pain and aggression has indicated that pain elicits aggression. However, research has generally examined pain as a situational variable and focused less on the dispositional ability of an individual to tolerate pain. The dearth of research on pain tolerance and aggression appears to contradict the existing theory on the aggression‐eliciting effect of pain, in that studies have found a positive relationship between pain tolerance and aggression. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the relationship between pain tolerance and aggression is moderated by sex and whether the positive relationship could be explained by masculine gender role conformity. A sample of 195 collegiate men and women completed trait measures and a laboratory assessment of pain tolerance. Results indicated that correlations between pain tolerance and trait aggression were significant and positive for men but not women. However, when men's conformity to masculine gender role was controlled for, the relationship between pain tolerance and trait aggression was nil and nonsignificant. Results are discussed in reference to socialization and maintenance of masculine status. Aggr. Behav. 35:422–429, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Development of the positive–negative asymmetry effect: in‐group exclusion norm as a mediator of children's evaluations on negative attributes

Two studies were conducted that go beyond previous research by examining when and why children might show intergroup bias in the attribution of positive, but not negative traits (PNAE: the positive–negative asymmetry effect, Mummendey & Otten, 1998, European review of social psychology, Vol. 9). In Study 1 (n = 107) children completed a ‘mixed’ trait attribution task in a dichotomous group context. As predicted there was a developmental trend between 7 and 12 years of age in the PNAE. The 7‐year olds were the only age group not to show the effect. Study 1 also found a quadratic developmental trend in children's national intergroup bias. Study 2 (n = 62) replicated the developmental path of the PNAE found in Study 1 using a wider age range of 6–16 years. This study used a ‘mixed’ list of traits which were not only antonyms and a procedure that made the positive and negative trait dimensions explicitly independent. Significantly, Study 2 found in‐group exclusion norm partially mediated the development of the PNAE. These findings support an account of the positive–negative asymmetry effect based upon normative processes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Adolescents

The prevalence of most adult psychiatric disorders varies across racial/ethnic groups and has important implications for prevention and intervention efforts. Research on racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and disorders in adolescents has been less consistent or generally lacking. The current study examined the prevalence of these symptom groups in a large sample of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in which the three major racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. (White, Black, and Hispanic/Latino) were well-represented. Hispanic females reported experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety, and reputational aggression than other groups. Black males reported the highest levels of overtly aggressive behavior and also reported higher levels of physiologic anxiety and disordered eating than males from other racial/ethnic groups. Hispanic females also exhibited higher levels of comorbidity than other racial/ethnic groups.     

Management of Behavioral Problems in Late Life—Therapeutic Approaches and Related Issues: Introduction to a Special Issue

In this introduction, I provide a brief overview of the five papers contained within this special issue of the Journal of Clinical Geropsychology. The purpose of this issue is to provide new information and insight into various therapeutic approaches and issues related to the assessment and treatment of behavioral problems in older adults. These papers cover both basic and applied issues pertaining to the broad topic of behavioral management in late adulthood, offering new insights and directions for future research.     

Clinical,developmental and social aspects of infant crying and colic

Persistent unexplained infant crying in the first few months is a common source of distress for parents and is costly for the health services. The aim was to assess the merits of developmental and social conceptualizations of this phenomenon, compared to the clinical approach as represented by the concept of colic. From a community sample of 530 infants, 67 who met the ‘rule of threes’ definition of colic by fussing and crying for 3 or more hours per day at 4-5 weeks of age were chosen. To avoid confusion, these infants were called ‘persistent criers’. Groups of ‘evening criers’ (N = 38) and ‘moderate cries’ (N = 55) were also selected. These 160 infants were assessed by researcher measures of their consolability and by maternal diary measures of their amounts of fussing, crying and colic behaviour when 5-6 weeks old. The persistent and evening criers cried more than the moderate criers. However, irritable, ‘fussy’ behaviour was the predominant form of distress for all three groups of infants. Colic bouts–defined as ‘bouts of intense, unsoothable crying and other behaviour, perhaps due to stomach or bowel pain’–were rare even among the persistent criers and only 7% of these infants were found to be inconsolable. The results support growing evidence that normal infant developmental processes are central to this phenomenon. In addition, social interactions between infants and parents, and parental subjective variables, appear to be involved. Colic was distinguished as a rare and separate form of distress by the infants' mothers. Further evidence needs to determine whether colic is a distinct clinical phenomenon or an extreme degree of normal distress interpreted within a western cultural framework.     

Effects of explicit instructions to "be creative" on the psychological meaning of divergent thinking test scores.

The Alternate Uses Test was administered to 50 undergraduate males instructed to produce creative (i.e., novel and worthwhile) uses and to 55 comparable subjects simply instructed to produce as many uses as possible. All uses were rated for creativity. An index of self-assessed creative thinking ability correlated significantly more strongly (p less than .05) with the number of creative uses produced in the qualitatively-oriented condition than with the number of creative or total uses produced in the standard, quantitatively-oriented condition. The correlation between self-rated creative ability and creative uses production in the qualitatively-oriented condition remained significant (p less than .001) after indices of achievement motivation and general verbal aptitude were partialled out. The results were interpreted as demonstrating the value of coordinating informative divergent thinking test instructions with qualitative scoring criteria.