MMPI-2 Profiles of Male Pre-Trial Defendants

Since its introduction, the MMPI-2 has been used as an equivalent to the MMPI. However, the clinical correlates of MMPI-2 profiles are still being investigated. This study examined the MMPI-2 profiles of 217 male pre-trial defendants. Data indicated mean scale elevations over 65 on F, 8, 6, 7, 4, 2, and 1 (in descending order); and mean content scale elevations on DEP, BIZ, HEA, and TRT. The most frequently elevated scales were 6, F, and 2. The most frequently elevated content scales were CYN, DEP, and ANX. The most common 2-point code was a 6–8/8–6 for subjects charged with both violent and nonviolent offenses. The F–K Index was greater than 11 in 22% of the subjects. Generalizability of these data and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Report from the UK and Eire Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors (AGNC) Supervision Working Group on Genetic Counselling Supervision

The Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors (AGNC) is the professional organisation which represents genetic counsellors and genetic nurses in the United Kingdom (UK) and Eire. The AGNC recognises that genetic counselling supervision is instrumental to the practice, training and registration of genetic counsellors in the UK. The AGNC formed a Supervision Working Group, whose terms of reference were to collate information on supervision and create a list of ‘best practice’ recommendations for its genetic counsellor members. This report delivers the findings from the Supervision Working Group and has been peer reviewed by the AGNC membership in the UK and Eire and ratified by the AGNC Committee. It offers a working definition of genetic counselling supervision, gives an overview of some of the literature on supervision and concludes with practice recommendations. Group Authorship: AGNC Supervision Working Group Membership of the AGNC Supervision Working Group     

Parenting and Preschool Child Development: Examination of Three Low-Income U.S. Cultural Groups

We examined the impact of parenting behaviors on preschool children’s social development in low-income families from three cultural groups: European American (n = 286), African American (n = 399), and Hispanic American (n = 164) using Spanish as the primary language in the home. Observed parenting behaviors of stimulation, responsivity, and acceptance of the child in European American and African American families showed positive impacts on children’s social development with notable exceptions discussed. Corporal punishment had a negative impact on children’s social development. With the exception of corporal punishment, none of the parenting behaviors predicted social development outcomes for Hispanic children.     

La psychologie communautaire en Amérique du Nord : historiques et applications

Community psychology is an applied discipline that emerged during a time of political upheaval and social unrest in the United States and Canada. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the history of community psychology for both countries and pinpoint some crucial elements that influenced and shaped this discipline. In order to explain community psychology and to concretely demonstrate the diversity of community research and actions, we propose some examples of practical applications of this active field in North America today.     

Does state self-control depletion predict relationship functioning and partner aggression? An ecological momentary assessment study of community couples

Intimate relationship functioning depends upon the ability to accommodate one's partner and to inhibit retaliatory and aggressive impulses when disagreements arise. However, accommodation and inhibition may be difficult when self-control strength is weak or depleted by prior exertion of self-control. The present study considered whether state self-control depletion prospectively predicts male and female self-reports of anger with partner and arguing with partner. Consistent with the I³ Model (Finkel, 2014, Adv Exp Soc Psychol, 49, 1–104), we also considered whether the association between elevated anger and arguing (i.e., instigation) and partner aggression was stronger when state self-control (i.e., inhibition) was depleted or among people high in negative urgency. In this ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study, heavy drinking married and cohabiting heterosexual couples (N = 191) responded to three randomly signaled reports each day for 30 days. Depletion predicted anger and arguing with partners both cross-sectionally and prospectively for men and women. However, after controlling for prior levels of anger and arguing, these effects were diminished, and supplemental analyses revealed that anger and arguing with partner predicted subsequent depletion. Anger and arguing were strongly associated with concurrent reports of partner aggression perpetration and victimization (verbal and/or physical). However, neither state self-control depletion nor negative urgency moderated these effects. Overall, results suggest a modest impact of depletion on daily couple functioning as well as a potential cyclical effect of arguing on depletion.     

WHERE ARE THE LATINAS?

The inclusion of scholarship about Latinas into psychology courses is considered by answering two questions: (1) How do we evaluate the scholarship that should be included? (2) What factors should be considered for inclusion? To answer the first question on the evaluation of scholarship, six criteria are presented. The factors to be considered for the inclusion of scholarship about Latinas are illustrated in a discussion of three topics that are often presented in introductory psychology courses: identity, gender role socialization, and educational achievement and aspirations. Our discussion questions the validity of the conceptualization of these three topics when Latinas and other ethno-racial groups are excluded and offers evidence of the possibilities for clarification and expansion of theory and knowledge when they are included.     

Veracity is in the eye of the beholder: A lens model examination of consistency and deception

Research has attempted to explain perceived cues to deception based upon self-report of what participants believe are ‘good’ cues to deception, or self-report of what cues participants say they base their veracity judgements on. However, it is not clear to what extent participants can accurately self-report what influences their decision-making. Using a within-subjects design, 285 participants completed a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about deception before rating a selection of truthful and deceptive statements on a variety of cues. Expert coders also rated the statements for the same cues. Laypeople and expert coders do not conceptualise between-subject consistency in the same way. A lens model showed that whilst perceptions of cues, such as consistency and amount of detail, influence veracity judgements, these perceptions (and overall veracity judgements) are mostly inaccurate. Fundamentally, there seems to be inconsistencies between how deception research examines consistency and how it is understood and used by laypeople.     

The role of intersensory redundancy in the emergence of social referencing in 5½-month-old infants

Early evidence of social referencing was examined in 5?-month-old infants. Infants were habituated to 2 films of moving toys, one toy eliciting a woman's positive emotional expression and the other eliciting a negative expression under conditions of bimodal (audiovisual) or unimodal visual (silent) speech. It was predicted that intersensory redundancy provided by audiovisual (but not available in unimodal visual) events would enhance detection of the relation between emotional expressions and the corresponding toy. Consistent with predictions, only infants who received bimodal, audiovisual events detected a change in the affect-object relations, showing increased looking during a switch test in which the toy-affect pairing was reversed. Moreover, in a subsequent live preference test, they preferentially touched the 3-dimensional toy previously paired with the positive expression. These findings suggest social referencing emerges by 5? months in the context of intersensory redundancy provided by dynamic multimodal stimulation and that even 5?-month-old infants demonstrate preferences for 3-dimensional objects on the basis of affective information depicted in videotaped events.     

The Role of Practical Reason in an Empirically Informed Moral Theory

Empirical research paints a dismal portrayal of the role of reason in morality. It suggests that reason plays no substantive role in how we make moral judgments or are motivated to act on them. This paper explores how it is that an empirically oriented philosopher, committed to methodological naturalism, ought to respond to the skeptical challenge presented by this research. While many think taking this challenge seriously requires revising, sometimes dramatically, how we think about moral agency, this paper will defend the opposite reaction. Contrary to what recent discussions lead us to expect, practical reason is not simply a philosophical fiction lacking empirical roots. Empirical research does not exclude the possibility that practical reason can play a substantive role; rather, there is evidence that it can help us both to determine our first personal moral judgments and to motivate us to act on them.     

The Influence of Prior Relationship, Gender, and Fear on the Consequences of Stalking Victimization

While the findings concerning whether victim gender is associated with greater stalking consequences are equivocal, the literature is consistent that a prior victim-stalker relationship increases the severity of stalking victimization. The current study hypothesised that 1) this relationship would predict the psychological, physical, social, and economic consequences to victims, and that 2) fear may serve as a mediator of the impact of victim gender and prior relationship on the consequences of stalking. An international survey of 1,214 valid self-defined stalking victims reveals victim gender contributed to the psychological and physical consequences of stalking beyond the contribution of victim-perpetrator relationship. A more important predictor of these consequences and of social and economic consequences was fear, with women reporting greater levels than men.