Aktuelle Aspekte des Gefängnissuizids

Suicides present a major complication during imprisonment and contribute essentially to the high mortality rate of prisoners. All international studies found increased suicide rates among prisoners in comparison to the general population. This article reviews general and individual risk factors for suicide in prison and possible contributing specific stress factors during imprisonment. The main results of the analysis of the European Annual Prison Statistics from 1997 to 2007 are presented referring to macrostructural determining risk factors for suicide in prison. Measurements and prevention strategies are briefly discussed.     

When do motor behaviors (mis)match affective stimuli? An evaluative coding view of approach and avoidance reactions

Affective-mapping effects between affective stimuli and lever movements are critically dependent upon the evaluative meaning of the response labels that are used in the task instructions. In Experiments 1 and 2, affective-mapping effects predicted by specific-muscle-activation and distance-regulation accounts were replicated when the standard response labels towards and away were used but were reversed when identical lever movements were labeled downwards and upwards. In Experiment 3, affective-mapping effects were produced with affectively labeled right and left lever movements that are intrinsically unrelated to approach and avoidance. Experiments 4 and 5 revealed that affective-mapping effects are not mediated by memory retrieval processes and depend on the execution of affectively coded responses. The results support the assumption that evaluative implications of action instructions assign affective codes to motor responses on a representational level that interact with stimulus evaluations on a response selection stage.     

Comparing elemental and configural associative theories in human causal learning: a case for attention

In two causal learning experiments with human participants, the authors compared various associative theories that assumed either elemental (unique cue, modified unique cue, replaced elements model, and Harris' model) or configural processing of stimuli (Pearce's theory and a modification of it). The authors used modified patterning problems initially suggested by Redhead and Pearce (1995). Predictions for all theories were generated by computer simulations. Both configural theories and the unique cue approach failed to account for the observations. The replaced elements model was able to account for part of the data, but only if the replacement parameters could vary across discrimination problems. The Harris model and the modified unique cue approach, assuming that the salience of stimuli decreases with an increasing number of stimuli in a compound, successfully accounted for all of our data. This success implies that attentional factors should be explicitly taken into account in associative learning theory.     

How to say no: single- and dual-process theories of short-term recognition tested on negative probes

Three experiments with short-term recognition tasks are reported. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants decided whether a probe matched a list item specified by its spatial location. Items presented at study in a different location (intrusion probes) had to be rejected. Serial position curves of positive, new, and intrusion probes over the probed location's position were mostly parallel. Serial position curves of intrusion probes over their position of origin were again parallel to those of positive probes. Experiment 3 showed largely parallel serial position effects for positive probes and for intrusion probes plotted over positions in a relevant and an irrelevant list, respectively. The results support a dual-process theory in which recognition is based on familiarity and recollection, and recollection uses 2 retrieval routes, from context to item and from item to context.     

Semantic processing of crowded stimuli?

Effects of semantic processing of crowded characters were investigated using numbers as stimuli. In an identification task, typical spacing effects in crowding were replicated. Using the same stimuli in a magnitude comparison task, a smaller effect of spacing was observed as well as an effect of response congruency. These effects were replicated in a second experiment with varying stimulus-onset asynchronies. In addition, decreasing performance with increasing onset-asynchrony (so-called type-B masking) for incongruent flankers indicates semantic processing of target and flankers. The data show that semantic processing takes place even in crowded stimuli. This argues strongly against common accounts of crowding in terms of early stimulus-driven impairments of processing.     

Effects of the premenstrual syndrome on facial expressions of sadness

This study examined the relationship between PMS and emotion-related electromyographic facial activity at different phases of the menstrual cycle. Twenty-four women of reproductive age (12 with PMS, 12 controls) participated in two EMG sessions (T1 and T2) in which they were shown photographic images that can elicit various emotions (IAPS stimuli). T1 took place in the follicular phase, T2 in the luteal phase. The activity of the musculus depressor anguli oris ("depressor", expression of sadness) was measured. Depressor activity was compared to activity of musculus orbicularis oculi ("orbicularis"; expression of joy). ANOVA yielded a significant increase of the activity of the depressor at T2 in the PMS group. The PMS group showed more frequent depressor activity during the luteal than the follicular phase. Orbicularis activity did not change from T1 to T2. Conclusions: The PMS group experienced various visual stimuli in a more depressed way during the luteal phase.     

Sexuell übergriffiges und aggressives Verhalten im Kindesalter Einflüsse entwicklungsrelevanter Faktoren

During the last years increasing attention has been paid to young children and adolescents with sexual coercive behaviour. During the year 2007 altogether 232 boys and 30 girls under the age of 14 years were reported to the police because of sexual assaults. In NRW an increasing number of in- and out-patient institutions offers specific and unspecific treatment programs for these children. The major aim of our study, which is supported by the Ministry of Employment, Health and Social Affairs of the state of NRW, is to evaluate the wide range of different treatment programs and to find predictors for successful or difficult treatment outcomes. Furthermore we are interested in differences between children with sexual problem behaviour and children with exclusively aggressive problems. So far 23 institutions take part in our research project and our total sample currently consists of 75 boys between 9 - 15 years. A psychometric test battery is applied at the beginning of individual treatment. Our first results highlight differences in socio-demographic data between children with sexual coercive behaviour and children with exclusively aggressive behaviour problems. Compared to children with exclusively aggressive problem behaviour, children with sexual problem behaviour come more often from incomplete families with no male parent, have experienced more psychological and physical violence and have been more often victims of sexual abuse. Compared to children with exclusively aggressive behaviour problems they score significantly higher on the “Depression / Anxiety” scale of the SPS-J, although average T-scores for both groups are within the normal range. Regarding cognitive functioning there are no significant differences between both groups.     

Diminished cooperativeness of psychopaths in a prisoner's dilemma game yields higher rewards

Maladaptive social behavior is one of the defining characteristics of psychopathic personality disorder. Nevertheless, maladaptive social behavior has only rarely been observed among psychopaths in experimentally controlled situations. The authors assessed the behavior of criminal psychopaths from high-security psychiatric hospitals in a computer simulation of a social dilemma situation. The psychopaths showed a markedly higher proneness to competitive (i.e., noncooperative) behavior than did healthy adults from the general population. The odds ratio between defection and being a psychopath was estimated at 7.86 in the sample. The probability to choose selfish instead of cooperative behavior was significantly linked to the following subscales of the Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Revised (S. O. Lilienfeld & M. R. Widows, 2005): rebellious nonconformity, Machiavellian egocentricity, and the total score. On average, the psychopathic participants accumulated higher gain and more strongly exploited their counterpart than did the healthy participants.     

Why positive information is processed faster: the density hypothesis

The authors postulate and show a speed advantage in the processing of positive information and hypothesize that this advantage is caused by the higher density of positive information in memory: Positive information is more similar to other positive information, in comparison with the similarity of negative information to other negative information. This "density" hypothesis is supported by multidimensional scaling of evaluative stimuli and response latency experiments. The relevance and explanatory power of the hypothesis is demonstrated by secondary data analyses of prior research in the evaluative priming paradigm. The final discussion is concerned with further theoretical implications of the density hypothesis, its generality and limitations, and its relation to other theoretical conceptions and applications.     

Peer pressure: a cause of scholastic underachievement? A cross-cultural study of mathematical achievement among German,Canadian, and Israeli middle school students

The present study examines consequences of high peer pressure on academic performance in mathematics among 14-year-old middle-school students in Germany, Canada, and Israel. Its core assumption is that students with very high abilities in mathematics underachieve in order to avoid social exclusion (in the form of being called, e.g., nerds) in their schools. Altogether almost 1,700 students were surveyed in the three cultures. Findings of the study make it obvious that—concerning achievement in mathematics—the primary victims of peer pressure in middle school are girls, boys more likely than girls being the perpetrators. High individual preferences of achievement values can buffer effects of peer pressure. However, from a pedagogical point of view it may nevertheless seem an option to teach mathematics in mono-gender courses, in order to improve the chances of both girls and boys to show an academic performance that concurs with their real competence.