Source expertise and persuasion: the effects of perceived opposition or support on message scrutiny

Compared to nonexperts, expert sources have been considered to elicit more processing of persuasive messages because of expectations that the information is likely to be valid or accurate. However, depending on the position of an advocacy, source expertise could activate other motives that may produce a very different relation from that found in past research. When messages are counterattitudinal (disagreeable), experts should motivate greater processing than nonexpert sources because of expectations that they will likely provide robust opposition to one's existing views. In contrast, when advocacies are proattitudinal (agreeable), nonexpert rather than expert sources should elicit more scrutiny because of perceptions that they will likely provide inadequate support to recipients' current views. Two studies offer evidence consistent with these predictions. Manipulations of source expertise created different expectations regarding the strength of opposition or support, and these perceptions accounted for effects of source expertise on the amount of message scrutiny.     

Cognition and lobar morphology in full mutation boys with fragile X syndrome

The aims of the present study are twofold: (1) to examine cortical morphology (CM) associated with alterations in cognition in fragile X syndrome (FXS); (2) to characterize the CM profile of FXS versus FXS with an autism diagnosis (FXS + Aut) as a preliminary attempt to further elucidate the behavioral distinctions between the two sub-groups. We used anatomical magnetic resonance imaging surface-based morphometry in 21 male children (FXS N = 11 and age [2.27-13.3] matched controls [C] N = 10). We found (1) increased whole hemispheric and lobar cortical volume, cortical thickness and cortical complexity bilaterally, yet insignificant changes in hemispheric surface area and gyrification index in FXS compared to C; (2) linear regression analyses revealed significant negative correlations between CM and cognition; (3) significant CM differences between FXS and FXS + Aut associated with their distinctive behavioral phenotypes. These findings are critical in understanding the neuropathophysiology of one of the most common intellectual deficiency syndromes associated with altered cognition as they provide human in vivo information about genetic control of CM and cognition.     

Poverty and health: the mediating role of perceived discrimination

Social-class discrimination is evident in many societies around the world, but little is known about its impact on the poor or its role as an explanatory variable in the link between socioeconomic status and health. The current study tested the extent to which perceived discrimination explains socioeconomic gradients in physical health. Participants were 252 adolescents (51% male, 49% female; mean age = 17.51 years, SD = 1.03 years) who participated in Wave 3 of an ongoing longitudinal study focusing on the developmental consequences of rural poverty. Physical health was operationalized as allostatic load, a measure of cumulative wear and tear on the body caused by overactivation of physiological systems that respond to stress. Mediation analyses suggested that 13% of the effect of poverty on allostatic load is explained by perceived discrimination. The findings suggest that social-class discrimination is one important mechanism behind the influence of poverty on physical health.     

40,000 memories in young teenagers: psychometric properties of the Autobiographical Memory Test in a UK cohort study

Although the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is widely used its psychometric properties have rarely been investigated. This paper utilises data gathered from a 10-item written version of the AMT, completed by 5792 adolescents participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, to examine the psychometric properties of the measure. The results show that the scale derived from responses to the AMT operates well over a wide range of scores, consistent with the aim of deriving a continuous measure of over-general memory. There was strong evidence of group differences in terms of gender, low negative mood, and IQ, and these were in agreement when comparing an item response theory (IRT) approach with that based on a sum score. One advantage of the IRT model is the ability to assess and consequently allow for differential item functioning. This additional analysis showed evidence of response bias for both gender and mood, resulting in attenuation in the mean differences in AMT across these groups. Implications of the findings for the use of the AMT measure in different samples are discussed.     

What's in a word? A parametric study of semantic influences on visual word recognition

To what extent does semantic information play a functional role in visual word recognition? Theories of word recognition vary in the importance assigned to semantic information in visual lexical decision, with past research suggesting that the nature of the foils is a crucial determinant of semantic reliance. Here, we explored the conditions under which semantic variables influence lexical decision. Normal readers performed visual lexical decision tasks in which imageability and semantic priming were manipulated, with nonword foils varying systematically in their orthographic and phonological similarity to the real words. The effects of imageability and semantic priming increased in magnitude as nonword foils became progressively more wordlike. These findings provide a clear illustration of the flexible use of semantic information to support normal visual word recognition.     

Making Sense of Their World: Sensory Reactivity and Novelty Awareness as Aspects of Temperament and Correlates of Social Behaviours in Early Childhood

This study examines the early emergence of sensory reactivity and novelty awareness and their relations to children's behaviours with peers. A total of 260 parents (242 mothers, 18 fathers) and 10 teachers of 260 children (131 male, 129 female; M = 63 months; SD = 8.80; range = 39–81) participated. Structural equation models indicate that sensory reactive children appear to be less social (i.e. prosocial and friendly), more likely to engage in solitary‐active play behaviour, and more prone to utilize instrumental aggression in peer interactions. Children scoring high on novelty awareness tend to be more social (i.e. prosocial, friendly, and control impulses), better able to appropriately and punctually comply with tasks given by teacher, less likely to engage in a number of solitary play behaviours (i.e. solitary passive and solitary active), less likely to utilize instrumental or reactive aggressive strategies, and more likely to dodge negative peer interactions by avoiding bullies. Furthermore, the associations between sensory reactivity/novelty awareness and children's behaviours differ from those of other dimensions of temperament (i.e. activity level and emotionality). This suggests that novelty awareness and sensory reactivity uniquely contribute to our overall understanding of children's temperament and its correlates. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wonder and the clinical encounter

In terms of intervening in embodied experience, medical treatment is wonder-full in its ambition and its metaphysical presumption; yet, wonder’s role in clinical medicine has received little philosophical attention. In this paper, I propose, to doctors and others in routine clinical life, the value of an openness to wonder and to the sense of wonder. Key to this is the identity of the central ethical challenges facing most clinicians, which is not the high-tech drama of the popular conceptions of medical ethics but, rather, the routine of patients’ undramatic but unremitting demands for the clinician’s time and respectful attention. Wonder (conceived as an intense and transfiguring attentiveness) is a ubiquitous ethical source, an alternative to the more familiar respect for rational autonomy, a source of renewal galvanizing diagnostic imagination, and a timely recalling of the embodied agency of both patient and clinician.     

An Existential Perspective of Body Beliefs and Health Assessment

Successful health assessments are ongoing and rely on a clinician/client interaction, which is influenced by both the client’s and the clinician’s beliefs about their bodies. These beliefs about the human body arise out of religious and cultural contexts. Theories often explain cultural context by comparison of differences and similarities between the client and the clinician and/or between the client and the dominant culture. This approach can carry a bias inherent in the comparison to dominant beliefs held by those with the most power and economic advantage. The author suggests an existential approach in which client and clinician bodies interact each as adept, autonomous individuals with a conglomerate of beliefs about body and health.The author is an Interdisciplinary PhD candidate in Music Therapy and Health Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Her research goals include the interrelationship of music, spirituality, and cardiovascular health. She is a Board Certified music therapist and has served in that capacity since 1980 in mental health facilities, hospice, and private practice.     

Mind, Body, and Spirit: Family Physicians’ Beliefs, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding the Integration of Patient Spirituality into Medical Care

This study used a qualitative approach to explore family physicians’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding the integration of patient spirituality into clinical care. Participants included family medicine residents completing training in the Southwest USA. The qualitative approach drew upon phenomenology and elements of grounded-theory. In-depth interviews were conducted with each participant. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded using grounded-theory techniques. Four main themes regarding physicians’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices were apparent from the analyses; (1) nature of spiritual assessment in practice, (2) experience connecting spirituality and medicine, (3) personal barriers to clinical practice, and (4) reflected strengths of an integrated approach. There was an almost unanimous conviction among respondents that openness to discussing spirituality contributes to better health and physician–patient relationships and addressing spiritual issues requires sensitivity, patience, tolerance for ambiguity, dealing with time constraints, and sensitivity to ones “own spiritual place.” The residents’ voices in this study reflect an awareness of religious diversity, a sensitivity to the degree to which their beliefs differ from those of their patients, and a deep respect for the individual beliefs of their patients. Implications for practice and education are discussed.Michael M. Olson, Ph.D., is a member of the Department of Family Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.M. Kay Sandor, Ph.D., R.N., is in the School of Nursing.Victor Sierpina, M.D., is in the Department of Family Medicine.Harold Vanderpool, Ph.D., Th.M., represents the Institute for Medical Humanities at the university and Patricia Dayao, M.A., is a graduate student there.Funding for this study provided in part by the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Foundation and the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health/John Templeton Foundation. Correspondence to Michael M. Olson, mmolson@utmb.edu.     

Oral form perception skills of stuttering and nonstuttering children measured by stereognosis

It has been suggested that a primary causative factor in stuttering is a disordered feedback mechanism. Some researchers have explored the relationship between stuttering and the integrity of the feedback mechanism through studies of oral form perception. The studies on the relationship between stuttering and oral form perception have been carried out largely on adult populations. The results of those studies have been contradictory. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of stuttering to oral form perception in a school-age population. The results are in agreement with previous studies which have indicated that stutters do not do as well as non-stutters on tasks of oral form perception.