Attitudes and Attributions Associated With Female and Male Partner Violence1

In an interview study, we examined attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV). We examined whether attitudes toward IPV varied as a function of sample (student, general, and incarcerated), participant gender, and abuse history, or as a function of perpetrator gender. Additionally, participants' conflict‐resolution strategies were examined. Findings revealed that perpetrator gender and participant abuse history were the most influential factors in shaping attitudes. Males and females evaluated violence similarly. Overall, there was greater acceptance for abuse perpetrated by females than by males, and participants who had either perpetrated or received abuse were the most condoning of IPV. A lack of conflict skills was associated with IPV. For males, this lack of skills generalized to situations outside of the relationship.     

Eating behavior in obese BED, obese non-BED, and non-obese control participants: A naturalistic study

Laboratory studies have shown considerable differences between the eating behavior, particularly binge eating behavior, of participants with and without binge eating disorder (BED). However, these findings were not replicated in two field experiments employing ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in which obese BED and obese non-BED participants reported comparable binge eating behavior. In the current study, we examined differences in binge eating with an innovative assessment scheme employing both EMA and a standardized computer-based dietary recall program to avoid some of the limitations of past laboratory and field research. Obese BED, obese non-BED, and non-obese control participants reported significant differences in eating patterns, loss of control, overeating, and binge eating behavior. Of particular importance was the finding that BED participants engaged in more overeating and more binge eating episodes than non-BED participants. These findings suggest that the use of EMA in combination with dietary recall may be a relatively objective and useful approach to assessing binge eating behavior. The findings further suggest that individuals with BED are observably different from those without the disorder, which may have implications for eating disorder diagnoses in DSM-V.     

Working memory impairment in people with Williams syndrome: Effects of delay, task and stimuli

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with impaired visuospatial representations subserved by the dorsal stream and relatively strong object recognition abilities subserved by the ventral stream. There is conflicting evidence on whether this uneven pattern in WS extends to working memory (WM). The present studies provide a new perspective, testing WM for a single stimulus using a delayed recognition paradigm in individuals with WS and typically developing children matched for mental age (MA matches). In three experiments, participants judged whether a second stimulus ‘matched’ an initial sample, either in location or identity. We first examined memory for faces, houses and locations using a 5 s delay (Experiment 1) and a 2 s delay (Experiment 2). We then tested memory for human faces, houses, cat faces, and shoes with a 2 s delay using a new set of stimuli that were better controlled for expression, hairline and orientation (Experiment 3). With the 5 s delay (Experiment 1), the WS group was impaired overall compared to MA matches. While participants with WS tended to perform more poorly than MA matches with the 2 s delay, they also exhibited an uneven profile compared to MA matches. Face recognition was relatively preserved in WS with friendly faces (Experiment 2) but not when the faces had a neutral expression and were less natural looking (Experiment 3). Experiment 3 indicated that memory for object identity was relatively stronger than memory for location in WS. These findings reveal an overall WM impairment in WS that can be overcome under some conditions. Abnormalities in the parietal lobe/dorsal stream in WS may damage not only the representation of spatial location but may also impact WM for visual stimuli more generally.     

On the (mis)categorization of unattractive brides and attractive prostitutes: extending evaluative congruency effects to social category activation

Numerous studies have shown that social categorization is a flexible process that partly depends on contextual variables. However, little is known about the role of affect in people's access to categorical dimensions. We investigated the hypothesis that social category activation is facilitated on evaluatively congruent dimensions. Two studies provide support for this evaluative-matching hypothesis, in which social categorization was found to be faster and more accurate for evaluatively congruent categories (i.e., unattractive foreigners, unattractive prostitutes, attractive fellow-citizens and attractive brides) than for evaluatively incongruent categories (i.e., attractive foreigners, attractive prostitutes, unattractive fellow-citizens and unattractive brides). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

The development of language and abstract concepts: the case of natural number

What are the origins of abstract concepts such as "seven," and what role does language play in their development? These experiments probed the natural number words and concepts of 3-year-old children who can recite number words to ten but who can comprehend only one or two. Children correctly judged that a set labeled eight retains this label if it is unchanged, that it is not also four, and that eight is more than two. In contrast, children failed to judge that a set of 8 objects is better labeled by eight than by four, that eight is more than four, that eight continues to apply to a set whose members are rearranged, or that eight ceases to apply if the set is increased by 1, doubled, or halved. The latter errors contrast with children's correct application of words for the smallest numbers. These findings suggest that children interpret number words by relating them to 2 distinct preverbal systems that capture only limited numerical information. Children construct the system of abstract, natural number concepts from these foundations.     

Contact,configural coding and the other‐race effect in face recognition

The other‐race effect (ORE) in face recognition describes a well‐established finding of better recognition for own‐race than other‐race faces. Although widely thought to reflect differences in contact between own‐ and other‐race faces, little is known about how different contact levels relate to changes in processing of those faces. This study investigated how contact affects the size of the ORE and the use of expert configural face‐coding mechanisms. Using inversion decrements as an index of configural coding, we predicted that increased self‐reported contact would be associated with greater use of configural‐coding mechanisms. Chinese and Caucasian participants varying in contact with other‐race faces were recruited. The Chinese participants also varied in their length of residence in a Western country. Results showed that higher levels of contact were associated with a reduction in the ORE in both face recognition and configural coding. Importantly, smaller cross‐race differences in configural coding were also associated with a smaller ORE in face recognition.     

Young German children's early syntactic competence: a preferential looking study

Using a preferential looking methodology with novel verbs, Gertner, Fisher and Eisengart (2006) found that 21-month-old English children seemed to understand the syntactic marking of transitive word order in an abstract, verb-general way. In the current study we tested whether young German children of this same age have this same understanding. Following Gertner et al. (2006), one group of German children was tested only after they had received a training/practice phase containing transitive sentences with familiar verbs and the exact same nouns as those used at test. A second group was tested after a training/practice phase consisting only of familiar verbs, without the nouns used at test. Only the group of children with the training on full transitive sentences was successful in the test. These findings suggest that for children this young to succeed in this test of syntactic understanding, they must first have some kind of relevant linguistic experience immediately prior to testing--which raises the question of the nature of children's linguistic representations at this early point in development.     

Psychopathy in a forensic sample – the factor structure of the PCL:SV in a Danish forensic sample

The research literature reveals an ongoing debate regarding the most appropriate conceptualization of psychopathic personality disorder. Specifically, it is discussed to what degree antisocial behavior is part of the conceptualization of the psychopathy construct and what constitutes the best factor model of the Psychopathy Checklist scales. The aim of the present study is to consider the underlying factor structure of the PCL:SV (Psychopathy Checklist Screening Version) in a Danish sample as well as considering the role of antisocial behavior in the psychopathy construct. Data from a Danish forensic patient sample (N = 225) was used and item response theory (IRT), aonfirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and structural equations model (SEM) analyses were carried out. Overall, the findings suggest appropriate item and model fit for the PCL:SV as well as superiority of the three‐factor model over the four‐factor model. The results are discussed in relation to the broader concept of personality disorder as well as clinical practice in regards to violence risk assessments and treatment of psychopathy.     

Emotion elicitor or emotion messenger? Subliminal priming reveals two faces of facial expressions

Facial emotional expressions can serve both as emotional stimuli and as communicative signals. The research reported here was conducted to illustrate how responses to both roles of facial emotional expressions unfold over time. As an emotion elicitor, a facial emotional expression (e.g., a disgusted face) activates a response that is similar to responses to other emotional stimuli of the same valence (e.g., a dirty, nonflushed toilet). As an emotion messenger, the same facial expression (e.g., a disgusted face) serves as a communicative signal by also activating the knowledge that the sender is experiencing a specific emotion (e.g., the sender feels disgusted). By varying the duration of exposure to disgusted, fearful, angry, and neutral faces in two subliminal-priming studies, we demonstrated that responses to faces as emotion elicitors occur prior to responses to faces as emotion messengers, and that both types of responses may unfold unconsciously.