Group focal conflict theory: Description,illustration and evaluation

Group focal conflict theory makes use of a set of interrelated concepts to contain, order, and introduce meaning into the evolving dynamics of therapeutic groups and to relate and connect group and individual dynamics. Key terms are group focal conflict, disturbing motive, reactive motive, enabling or restrictive solution, individual nuclear and derived individual focal conflict, and resonance. The relationships between these are shown. Two illustrations are offered. The first shows the therapist attending mainly to the dynamics of the group-as-a-whole in order to facilitate a newly formed group to develop into a fruitful medium for therapeutic work. In the second, a period of resonance between group and individual focal conflicts shows how an intensive mutual transference between two patients is embedded in whole-group dynamics and how such an episode can be used profitably both by those centrally and not so centrally involved. Criteria for evaluating a theoretical model are described, and group focal conflict theory is discussed in the light of these. The usefulness of the model for research is discussed.     

Heart rate conditioning in young infants using a visual conditional stimulus

Trace heart rate conditioning was evaluated in 16 infants having a mean age of 4.5 months. The Experimental Group received a 3-sec blinking light pattern as the CS, followed by a 3-sec interstimulus interval (ISI), and 3-sec tone as the UCS. The Control Group received an equal number of presentations of the CS and UCS at randomized intervals and in a randomized order. The acquisition of a conditioned deceleration during the period which included the visual CS and the ISI was demonstrated only in the Experimental males. Response differences were also found in the absence of the auditory UCS, with only Experimental females exhibiting a deceleration.     

Predictors of Sentencing Decisions: The Beliefs, Personality Variables, and Demographic Factors of Juvenile Justice

The role of beliefs, personality variables, and demographic factors in the sentencing of juvenile offenders was investigated. The subjects (1,030 members of the juvenile justice system) judged hypothetical juvenile perpetrators. Various personality, belief, and demographic variables were found to be related to sentencing severity; these relationships differed based on the type of crime judged. Further, relations among these variables and sentencing behavior indicated three coherent patterns or resonances. A liberal group of individuals, believing in rehabilitation, external causality of crime, a positive prognosis for the perpetrator, and nontraditional views of women, sentenced moderately. Two types of conservative individuals were defined. Both groups were punitive, and believed in internal causality of crime; however, they differed on attitudes toward women, needs for cognition, and beliefs about seriousness and harm. One group sentenced the most severely and the other the most leniently. Implications for the sentencing of juvenile offenders are discussed.     

Aristotle's Account of Anger: Narcissism and Illusions of Self-Sufficiency

This paper considers an allegation by M. Stocker and E. Hegeman that Aristotle's account of anger yields a narcissistic passion bedevilled by illusions of self-sufficiency. The paper argues on behalf of Aristotle's valuing of anger within a virtuous and flourishing life, showing that and why Aristotle's account is neither narcissistic nor involves illusions of self-sufficiency. In so arguing a deeper appreciation of Aristotle's understanding of a self-sufficient life is reached, as are some interesting contrasts between Aristotle's understanding of anger, its connections to value and our own understanding of these matters.     

Abiding by Sri Lanka Qadri Ismail's way

Qadri Ismail's book, Abiding by Sri Lanka: On Peace, Place, and Postcoloniality (2005) suggests that literary theory might help Sri Lankans re-imagine the colonial social categories and histories that underwrite their long-running conflict. Ismail also argues that the social sciences (particularly anthropology) and history fail Sri Lanka. They fail either because, like anthropology, their colonial origins render them epistemologically unable to ‘abide by’ Sri Lanka (or to see its politics as political); or because, like history, their embrace of an empiricist belief in an objectively real history betrays them into reconfirming nationalism. My article will argue that while the first part of Ismail's thesis is fascinating and useful (if a bit lacking in practical details), his claim that anthropology and history writing as such must be ‘de-authorized’ is too broad. It concludes by arguing for a cease-fire in Sri Lanka.     

Facial expressions modulate the gaze orienting effect on sound localization judgement

Recent studies have shown that cueing eye gaze can affect the processing of visual information, and this phenomenon is called the gaze-orienting effect (visual-GOE). Emerging evidence has shown that the cueing eye gaze also affects the processing of auditory information (auditory-GOE). However, it is unclear whether the auditory-GOE is modulated by emotion. We conducted three behavioural experiments to investigate whether cueing eye gaze influenced the orientation judgement to a sound, and whether the effect was modulated by facial expressions. The current study set four facial expressions (angry, fearful, happy, and neutral), manipulated the display type of facial expressions, and changed the sequence of gaze and emotional expressions. Participants were required to judge the sound orientation after facial expressions and gaze cues. The results showed that the orientation judgement of sound was influenced by gaze direction in all three experiments, and the orientation judgement of sound was faster when the face was oriented to the target location (congruent trials) than when the face was oriented away from the target location (incongruent trials). The modulation of emotion on auditory-GOE was observed only when gaze shifted followed by facial expression (Exp3); the auditory-GOE was significantly greater for angry faces than for neutral faces. These findings indicate that auditory-GOE as a social phenomenon exists widely, and the effect was modulated by facial expression. Gaze shift before the presentation of emotion was the key influencing factor for the emotional modulation in an auditory target gaze-orienting task. Our findings suggest that the integration of facial expressions and eye gaze was context-dependent.     

Assessing the measurement invariance of latent job satisfaction ratings across survey administration modes for respondent subgroups: A MIMIC modeling approach

To date, many studies have assessed the measurement invariance of a wide variety of measures across Internet and paper-and-pencil conditions; however a relative dearth exists in the literature investigating measurement invariance across administration modes for differing subgroups of respondents. Using MIMIC modeling, this study assessed whether gender and age of the respondent systematically influenced responding according to administration mode above and beyond measurement invariance. Consistent with past research, this study demonstrated that job satisfaction ratings were indeed measurement invariant across Internet and paper-and-pencil conditions, however, older respondents tend to differentially rate job satisfaction according to administration mode. Implications are discussed.