Technological advancements and Internet sexuality: does private access to the Internet influence online sexual behavior?

The aim of this study was to investigate whether demographic characteristics and sexual behavior online and offline were associated with private, respectively, nonprivate access to the Internet in a Web sample of people who use the Internet for sexual purposes. A total of 1,913 respondents completed an online questionnaire about Internet sexuality, and 1,614 reported using the Internet for sexual purposes. The majority of these respondents reported having access to an Internet-connected computer no one else had access to (62 percent women and 70 percent men). The results showed that it is possible to differentiate between those who have access to an Internet-connected computer no one else has access to and those who have shared access to an Internet-connected computer. Not only did they differ in demographic characteristics, but also in the sexual activities they engaged in on the Internet. Different patterns were found for women and men. For example, men who had private access to Internet-connected computers were more likely than those who had shared access to seek information about sexual issues. Thus, having access to Internet computers no one else has access to may promote sexual knowledge and health for men. The results of this study along with the technological development implies that in future research, attention should be paid to where and how people access the Internet in relation to online behavior in general and online sexual behavior in particular.     

Monkeys represent others' knowledge but not their beliefs

The capacity to reason about the false beliefs of others is classically considered the benchmark for a fully fledged understanding of the mental lives of others. Although much is known about the developmental origins of our understanding of others' beliefs, we still know much less about the evolutionary origins of this capacity. Here, we examine whether non-human primates - specifically, rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) - share this developmental achievement. We presented macaques with a looking-time measure of false belief understanding, one that had recently been developed for use with 15-month-old human infants. Like human infants, monkeys look longer when a human experimenter fails to search in the correct location when she has accurate knowledge. In contrast to infants, however, monkeys appear to make no prediction about how a human experimenter will act when she has a false belief. Across three studies, macaques' pattern of results is consistent with the view that monkeys can represent the knowledge and ignorance of others, but not their beliefs. The capacity to represent beliefs may therefore be a unique hallmark of human cognition.     

Examining the effects of stereotype threat on test-taking behaviors

This study examines the relationship between stereotype threat and individual test-taking behaviors. Previous research has examined the impact of stereotype threat on test scores, but little research has examined the impact of stereotype threat on the test-taking behaviors impacting those scores. Using a pre-post experimental design, stereotype threat was manipulated and test-taking behaviors (e.g., time spent per item, response changes) were measured while completing verbal ability items before and after the manipulation. The results indicated that stereotype threat minimally impacted time-related test-taking behaviors, but did impact behaviors related to response changes. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Development of self‐produced locomotion in the first year: changes in parent perceptions and infant behaviour

Self‐produced locomotion is regarded as a setting event for other developmental transitions in infancy with important implications for socioemotional development and parent–child interaction. Using an age‐held‐constant design, this study examined changes in reported infant behaviour and maternal proactive/reactive control and compared them with direct observations of infant and maternal behaviour associated with the development of self‐produced locomotion. Maternal reports were obtained prior to the locomotor transition and, for half the sample, after infants had transitioned to effective mobility. Observations of all infants were conducted shortly after the second interview. Prelocomotor and transitioning infants showed none of the expected behavioural differences (e.g. emotionality and compliance) associated with the locomotor transition. There was modest confirmation of expected differences in maternal behaviour, particularly in the use of reactive control techniques, and mothers of transitioning infants showed higher proactive controls before their infants began to crawl. These findings suggest that the changes in parent–child interaction associated with the locomotor transition may have as much to do with parental expectations than with changes in infant socioemotional behaviour. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A feasibility study of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for emotional dysfunction following psychosis

The experience of psychosis can lead to depression, anxiety and fear. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) facilitates individuals to accept difficult mental experiences and behave in ways that are consistent with personally held values. This study was a single (rater) blind pilot randomised controlled trial of ACT for emotional dysfunction following psychosis. Twenty-seven participants with psychosis were randomised to either: ten sessions of ACT plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills and Working Alliance Inventory were used. Individuals were assessed at baseline and 3 months post-baseline. The individuals randomised to receive ACT found the intervention acceptable. A significantly greater proportion of the ACT group changed from being depressed at time of entry into the study to not being depressed at follow-up. The ACT group showed a significantly greater increase in mindfulness skills and reduction in negative symptoms. Results indicated that individuals randomised to ACT had significantly fewer crisis contacts over the study. Changes in mindfulness skills correlated positively with changes in depression. ACT appears to offer promise in reducing negative symptoms, depression and crisis contacts in psychosis.     

Parent Alcoholism Impacts the Severity and Timing of Children’s Externalizing Symptoms

Although previous studies show that children of alcoholic parents have higher rates of externalizing symptoms compared to their peers, it remains unclear whether the timing of children’s externalizing symptoms is linked to that of their parent’s alcohol-related symptoms. Using a multilevel modeling approach, we tested whether children aged 2 through 17 showed elevated mother-, father- and child-reported externalizing symptoms (a) at the same time that parents showed alcohol-related consequences (time-varying effects), (b) if parents showed greater alcohol-related consequences during the study period (proximal effects), and (c) if parents had a lifetime diagnosis of alcoholism that predated the study period (distal effects). We used integrative data analysis to combine samples from two prospective studies to test these hypotheses. Distal effects of parent alcoholism on increased child externalizing symptoms were large and consistent. In addition, proximal and time-varying effects of parent alcohol symptoms were also found. Implications for preventing escalations in externalizing symptoms among this high-risk population are discussed.     

Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the United States: Confronting the Controversies

This paper comments on the Langhinrichsen-Rohling article (2010), which reviews five major controversies present in the field of partner violence research and in which the author describes a new typology of mutually-violent couples. Strengths of the original article are discussed, including the author’s incorporation of existing data into a new typology, her focus on context in examining relationship violence, and her reasoned argument for studying the behavior of both male and female aggressors. Limitations associated with the scope and explicit predictions of Langhinrichsen-Rohling’s new typology are also covered in this commentary. Finally, the need for improved treatments for partner violence is discussed.     

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children’s self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children’s self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother’s beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children’s negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child’s perspective. Children’s greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children’s emotion understanding to these processes.     

The Social Nature of Engineering and its Implications for Risk Taking

Making decisions with an, often significant, element of risk seems to be an integral part of many of the projects of the diverse profession of engineering. Whether it be decisions about the design of products, manufacturing processes, public works, or developing technological solutions to environmental, social and global problems, risk taking seems inherent to the profession. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the topic and specifically to how our understanding of engineering as a distinctive profession might affect how we should make decisions under risk. This paper seeks to remedy this, firstly by offering a nuanced account of risk and then by considering how specific claims about our understanding of engineering as a social profession, with corresponding social values and obligations, should inform how we make decisions about risk in this context.     

Hemispheric lateralization of bilaterally presented homologous visual and auditory stimuli in normal adults, normal children, and children with central auditory dysfunction

Two experiments were conducted to examine the performance of normal adults, normal children, and children diagnosed with central auditory dysfunction presumed to involve the interhemispheric pathways on a dichotic digits test in common clinical use for the diagnosis of central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) and its corresponding visual analog. Results of the first experiment revealed a significant right ear advantage (REA) for the dichotic listening task and a left-visual-field advantage (LVFA) for the corresponding visual analog in normal adults and children. In the second experiment, results revealed a significantly larger REA in the children with CAPD as compared to the normal children. Results also revealed a reversed cerebral asymmetry (RVFA) for the children with CAPD on the visual task. Significant cross-modal correlations suggest that the two tasks may reflect, at least in part, similar interhemispheric processing mechanisms in children. Findings are discussed in relation to differential diagnosis and modality-specificity of CAPD.