Claudia Card's Atrocity Paradigm

This paper deals with Claudia Card's important contributions to a theory of evil that steps out from traditional models of thinking about this problem (theodicies, metaphysical theories, etc.). Instead, our author seeks to explore important elements from other theorists (such as Kant and Nietzsche) in order to build up her ideas of what she calls the “atrocity paradigm.” This critical essay focuses mainly in the spaces where Card's conclusions need to rethink the limits and constraints of her theory.     

Social Support and Postpartum Depression Revisited: The Traditional Female Role as Moderator among Mexican Women

Women who lack social support tend to have a higher risk of postpartum depression. The present study examined the traditional female role, understood here as the adoption of passive and submissive traits specific to Mexican women, as another risk factor for postpartum depressive symptomatology that interacts with social support. Using two waves of data from a longitudinal study of 210 adult Mexican women (20–44 years-old, M _age = 29.50 years, SD = 6.34), we found that lacking social support during the third trimester of their pregnancy was associated with greater depressive symptoms at 6 months in the postpartum, although this relationship depended on the level of endorsement of the traditional female role during pregnancy. Lower social support during pregnancy predicted greater postpartum depressive symptoms for women with higher endorsement of the traditional female role, even when accounting for prenatal depressive symptoms. These results suggest that Mexican women’s experience of social support may depend on their individual adherence to gender roles. Understanding the association between women’s traditional roles and social support in the risk for postpartum depression can improve prevention and educational programs for women at risk.     

The Free Harmony of the Faculties and the Primacy of Imagination in Kant's Aesthetic Judgment

This essay argues that, contrary to the prevailing view according to which reflection in Kant's aesthetic judgment is interpreted as ‘the logical actus of the understanding’, we should pay closer attention to Kant's own formulation of aesthetic reflection as ‘an action of the power of imagination’. Put differently, I contend in this essay that the rule that governs and orders the manifold in aesthetic judgment is imagination's own achievement, the achievement of the productive synthesis of the ‘fictive power’ (Dichtungsvermögen), entirely independent of the understanding. While this view does not entail that the faculty of the understanding is not necessary in aesthetic reflection, a stronger emphasis on the role of imagination in aesthetic reflection allows us to realize that its schematizing and interpretive activity, while consistent with, goes well beyond the discursive demands of the understanding insofar as it intimates the supersensible ground of freedom that manifests itself as ‘the feeling of life’. Therefore, I show in this essay that the imagination's unique interpretive power has a special role in completing Kant's critical system by facilitating the connection of the sensible to the supersensible, which further helps us appreciate imagination's practical as opposed to merely cognitive significance.     

Not all gifts are good: The potential practical costs of motivated gifts

People rely on support from others to accomplish mundane and momentous tasks. When asking for assistance, is it beneficial to incentivize a helper by offering a motivated gift (i.e., a gift with the hope of getting support in return)? Six studies (N > 2,500) examine the frequency and potential costs of motivated gifts. In Study 1, a third of Americans indicated that they had given a motivated gift at least once, while nearly two‐thirds believed they had received one. In Studies 2a–d, most participants who imagined receiving a motivated gift before a favor request reported lower willingness to help and anticipated satisfaction from helping than participants who imagined simply being asked for a favor. Finally, Study 3 replicates these findings with actual help provided among friends in a laboratory setting. Findings suggest that motivated gifts are relatively common but may sometimes undermine the assistance that people hope to receive.     

Applicability and attachment findings of the Strange Situation Paradigm in infants with visual impairment

Attachment studies with diverse populations enrich the understanding of infants’ socioemotional development by documenting both universal and idiosyncratic aspects of attachment. Given the effects of attachment in children's socioemotional outcomes, such studies are necessary to investigate the impact of children's sensory impairments on attachment development. Yet, very little attachment research has focused on infants with visual impairment (VI infants), a population in which infant–caregiver emotional exchanges through visual means are reduced/absent. We investigated the applicability of the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP), with added instructions to compensate for degraded visual input, in 20 VI infants (with no additional disabilities and who were receiving developmental counseling). In all but 1 of the SSPs coded, VI infants displayed observable attachment behavior that was classifiable. Nineteen VI infants showed attachment by 12 months of age. Across the ages tested (fractional age range = 0.9–2.33 months), most VI infants’ attachment patterns were classified as secure and organized.     

When Are Clients Ready to Terminate?

Termination of psychotherapy has received less attention in the research literature than other aspects of the treatment process. This paper presents a structured framework emphasizing observable markers to indicate when termination with a client is appropriate during cognitive behavioral treatment. The 7 criteria that indicate when a client is ready for termination are: (a) decrease in symptoms as assessed by sound measures; (b) decrease in symptoms that is stable and maintained for 8 weeks; (c) decrease in functional impairment; (d) evidence that the decrease in symptoms is not a spontaneous remission, such as lower symptoms associated with the use of new skills; (e) usage of the new skills, particularly at times or on themes of former vulnerability; (f) sense of pride regarding the new skills, in contrast to initial doubt regarding whether the techniques would work; and (g) carryover of decrease in symptoms to other areas. A case report and discussion regarding the clinical application of the framework is presented.     

Relationship between organizational justice and cyberloafing in the workplace: has "anomia" a say in the matter?

Anomia describes the individual's lack of integration in social life. This study examines the moderating role of work anomia (WA) in the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational justice (OJ) and workplace Internet misuse (or cyberloafing). The model suggests that WA interacts with that link by tightening their theoretic negative association. Data were collected from 270 (17.46%) of the 1,547 teachers of a Spanish university by Internet e-mail. Multiple hierarchical regression results support that WA acts as a moderator of the OJ-cyberloafing link because the perceptions of three types of OJ (distributive, procedural, and interactional) among employees with low, as compared to high anomia, have a stronger negative relationship with cyberloafing. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the OJ-cyberloafing link, and favor the control of cyberloafing through WA.     

The epidemiology of suicide-related outcomes in Mexico

Nationally representative data from the Mexican National Comorbidity Survey are presented on the lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset (AOO) distributions of suicide ideation, plan and attempt and on temporally prior demographic and DSM-IV psychiatric risk factors. Lifetime ideation was reported by 8.1% of respondents, while 3.2% reported a lifetime plan and 2.7% a lifetime suicide attempt. Onset of all outcomes was highest in adolescence and early adulthood. The risk of transition from suicide ideation to plan and attempt was highest within the first year of onset of ideation. The presence of one or more temporally prior DSM-IV/CIDI (Composite International Diagnostic Instrument) disorder was strongly related to each suicide-related outcome. Suicidal outcomes are prevalent, have an early AOO, and are strongly related to temporally prior mental disorders in Mexico. Given the early AOO, intervention efforts need to focus more than currently on children and adolescents with mental disorders to be effective in prevention.     

Group interventions for patients with cancer and HIV disease: Part I: Effects on psychosocial and functional outcomes at different phases of illness

Group interventions for individuals facing cancer or HIV disease have drawn considerable attention among researchers and clinicians over the past 20 years. There is growing evidence that group services may be helpful, but which interventions are most effective for participants at which phases in the trajectory of disease has been less clear. Moreover, professionals working in different intervention settings (e.g., primary prevention vs. clinical care) and different disease sites (cancer vs. HIV disease) often have little awareness of relevant advances in other fields. Efforts to integrate findings in the literature may accelerate research and advance the standard of clinical care. The current article, the first in a series of four special reports, critically evaluates the efficacy of group interventions led by professional or trained facilitators for individuals confronted by cancer or HIV, across the spectrum of illness from elevated risk through advanced disease. We examine psychosocial and functional outcomes for different interventions directed toward different patient subgroups, trace common themes, highlight limitations, and offer recommendations for further research.