The Mental Representation of Human Action

Various theories of moral cognition posit that moral intuitions can be understood as the output of a computational process performed over structured mental representations of human action. We propose that action plan diagrams—“act trees”—can be a useful tool for theorists to succinctly and clearly present their hypotheses about the information contained in these representations. We then develop a methodology for using a series of linguistic probes to test the theories embodied in the act trees. In Study 1, we validate the method by testing a specific hypothesis (diagrammed by act trees) about how subjects are representing two classic moral dilemmas and finding that the data support the hypothesis. In Studies 2–4, we explore possible explanations for discrete and surprising findings that our hypothesis did not predict. In Study 5, we apply the method to a less well‐studied case and show how new experiments generated by our method can be used to settle debates about how actions are mentally represented. In Study 6, we argue that our method captures the mental representation of human action better than an alternative approach. A brief conclusion suggests that act trees can be profitably used in various fields interested in complex representations of human action, including law, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, computer science, robotics, and artificial intelligence.     

Empathic and non-empathic routes to visuospatial perspective-taking

The present study examined whether strategy moderated the relationship between visuospatial perspective-taking and empathy. Participants (N=96) undertook both a perspective-taking task requiring speeded spatial judgements made from the perspective of an observed figure and the Empathy Quotient questionnaire, a measure of trait empathy. Perspective-taking performance was found to be related to empathy in that more empathic individuals showed facilitated performance particularly for figures sharing their own spatial orientation. This relationship was restricted to participants that reported perspective-taking by mentally transforming their spatial orientation to align with that of the figure; it was absent in those adopting an alternative strategy of transposing left and right whenever confronted with a front-view figure. Our finding that strategy moderates the relationship between empathy and visuospatial perspective-taking enables a reconciliation of the apparently inconclusive findings of previous studies and provides evidence for functionally dissociable empathic and non-empathic routes to visuospatial perspective-taking.     

Putting families in the center: family perspectives on decision making and ADHD and implications for ADHD care

Objective: To examine components of family-centered care in families' stories about treatment decision making for their child with ADHD. Method: Twenty-eight families participated in qualitative interviews that addressed families' perspectives on (a) the treatment decision-making process, (b) the cause and impact of their child's symptoms, and (c) treatment goals and preferences. Results: The majority of families preferred to be primary or shared decision makers regarding treatment decisions. Families' perspectives on the cause of the child's symptoms varied and often were not consistent with a biomedical framework. Families described multiple areas of impairment on child, family relationships, and family functioning. Perspectives toward evidence-based treatments were mixed, with families also expressing interest in and pursuing interventions not delineated in current treatment guidelines. Conclusion: These findings reinforce the importance of eliciting families' perspectives and involving these important stakeholders in shared decision making as critical components of family-centered care for children with ADHD.     

Do Historical Changes in Parent–Child Relationships Explain Increases in Youth Conduct Problems?

The coincidence of historical trends in youth antisocial behavior and change in family demographics has led to speculation of a causal link, possibly mediated by declining quality of parenting and parent–child relationships. No study to date has directly assessed whether and how parenting and parent–child relationships have changed. Two national samples of English adolescents aged 16–17 years in 1986 (N = 4,524 adolescents, 7,120 parents) and 2006 (N = 716 adolescents, 734 parents) were compared using identical questionnaire assessments. Youth-reported parental monitoring, expectations, and parent–child quality time increased between 1986 and 2006. Ratings of parental interest did not change. Parenting differences between affluent and disadvantaged families narrowed over time. There was thus little evidence of a decline in quality of parenting for the population as a whole or for disadvantaged subgroups. Parent-reported youth conduct problems showed a modest increase between 1986 and 2006. Findings suggested that the increase in youth conduct problems was largely unrelated to observed change in parent–child relationships.     

From racial discrimination to risky sex: prospective relations involving peers and parents

This study investigated how early experience with racial discrimination affected the subsequent risky sexual behaviors of a diverse sample of African American youths (N = 745). The analyses focused on 3 risk-promoting factors thought to mediate the hypothesized discrimination → risky sex relation: negative affect, affiliation with deviant peers, and favorable attitudes toward risky sex. In addition, attentive parenting was examined as a protective factor. Analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that youths who perceived more racial discrimination at age 10 or 11 were engaging in more sexual risk taking at age 18 or 19. This relation was mediated by the hypothesized risk-promoting factors via pathways that were consistent with our conceptual model. Results also indicated a prospective reciprocal relation between parenting and children's deviant affiliations: deviant peer affiliations at age 10 or 11 predicted more attentive parenting behaviors by the parents; this response from the parents, in turn, predicted relatively fewer deviant affiliations when the youths were 15 or 16. Study findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to the disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infections among African Americans.     

Toward a model for assessing level of personality functioning in DSM-5, part I: a review of theory and methods

Personality disorders are associated with fundamental disturbances of self and interpersonal relations, problems that vary in severity within and across disorders. This review surveyed clinician-rated measures of personality psychopathology that focus on self-other dimensions to explore the feasibility and utility of constructing a scale of severity of impairment in personality functioning for DSM-5. Robust elements of the instruments were considered in creating a continuum of personality functioning based on aspects of identity, self-direction, empathy, and intimacy. Building on preliminary findings (Morey et al., 2011 /this issue), the proposed Levels of Personality Functioning will be subjected to extensive empirical testing in the DSM-5 field trials and elsewhere. The resulting version of this severity measure is expected to have clinical utility in identifying personality psychopathology, planning treatment, building the therapeutic alliance, and studying treatment course and outcome.     

What is Happening With Bill and Jane?

In this comment I applaud Goldner’s ability to capture couple experience and dynamics while emphasizing that coupling involves more than attachment. In my view, couple conflict and therapy involves attending not only to attachment, which involves closeness and the threat of separation, but also to issues of identity, self-definition, and shame. I point out how some of the interactions and dynamics in the case discussed involve a threat to identity through invalidation more than to attachment by abandonment. As Goldner notes, mutual recognition between people is the cornerstone of the relational ideal, and it is for recognition through being seen, and validated for which Bill and Jane fight so hard, not closeness. In my view not everything in couples is about regulating attachment; rather everything is probably about regulating affect. Attachment is one, but only one, of the ways couples regulate their affect.     

Reducing Psychotropic Medications in an Intensive Residential Treatment Center

Medication rates in behaviorally disordered children and youth have greatly increased to current high levels and are very controversial. This study examined changes in psychotropic medication use, levels of behavioral disturbance, and use of personal restraint and seclusion in a population of youth with serious behavioral disorders receiving medically directed cognitive-behavioral treatment in an intensive residential setting. The hypothesis was that there would be significant reductions in medication rates, without the unintended consequences of increased rates of problem behavior or offsetting increases in the use of seclusion or personal restraint. Results showed significant reductions in both the number of youth on medication and the average number of psychotropic medications during the residential stay. There were also significant reductions in behavioral disturbance, seclusions, and personal restraints. These results demonstrate that psychotropic medication can be significantly reduced without increases in problem behavior or the use of seclusions or personal restraints. We conclude that it is possible to significantly reduce psychotropic medication rates to far more conservative levels within the context of a clinically directed cognitive-behavioral treatment milieu.     

Promoting Inclusive Environments: In-group Organizational Endorsement as a Tool to Increase Feelings of Identity-Safety among Black Women

Sex Roles - Black women face unique and harmful biases because of their intersecting and multiple marginalized identities, which are different from those experienced by Black men and White women...