Validity and reliability for the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Short Form as applied in the United Arab Emirates culture

Validity and reliability of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Short Form were examined through factor analysis, differences in motor proficiency among age groups, and internal consistency. The sample was comprised of 194 children (96 boys and 98 girls) of ages 6 to 11 years. A principal factor analysis solution with varimax rotation produced four factors: Gross and Fine Motor Skills, Eye-Hand Coordination, Balance-Coordination and Speed, and Visual-motor Coordination. The loadings of these factors partially supported the theoretical work of Bruininks. Univariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between age groups either for each single item or for the total score. Correlation coefficients between single-item and total short form were all significant, although some values were relatively small. These results provided positive support for the construction and reliability of the test.     

Primate cognition: from 'what now?' to 'what if?'

The 'social brain' hypothesis has had a major impact on the study of comparative cognition. However, despite a strong sense, gained from both experimental and observational work, that monkeys and apes differ from each other, we are still no closer to understanding exactly how they differ. We hypothesize that the dispersed social systems characteristic of ape societies explains why monkeys and apes should differ cognitively. The increased cognitive control and analogical reasoning ability needed to cope with life in dispersed societies also suggests a possible route for human cognitive evolution. This hypothesis is supported by behavioural and neurobiological data, but we need more of both if we are to fully understand how our primate cousins see the world.     

Exploring own-age biases in deception detection

The present study explored own-age biases in deception detection, investigating whether individuals were more likely to trust those in their own-age group. Younger and older participants were asked to detect deceit from videos of younger and older speakers, rating their confidence in each decision. Older participants showed an own-age bias: they were more likely to think that deceptive speakers of their own age, relative to younger speakers, were telling the truth. Older participants were also more confident in their judgements of own-age, relative to other-age, speakers. There were no own-age biases for younger participants. In a subsequent (apparently unrelated) task, participants were asked to rate the trustworthiness of the speakers. Both age groups of participants trusted younger speakers who had previously told the truth more compared to those who had lied. This effect was not found for older speakers. These findings are considered in relation to the in-group/out-group model of social cognition and common stereotypical beliefs held about younger and older adults.     

A Complicated Friendship

The author presents a complicated friendship with a woman who helped to raise her children. As a feminist therapist, the author is aware of the non-egalitarian nature of an employer/employee relationship, resulting in a complicated friendship. She discusses the valuable lessons she learned from her comadre (co-mother or allomother) on poverty, Latino culture, and immigration. The author applies these valuable lessons to her work as a feminist therapist, supervisor, and teacher.     

Mindfulness increases recall of self-threatening information

Previous research has suggested that we tend to show impaired memory for self-threatening information, an effect known as mnemic neglect. Mnemic neglect is believed to be due to shallow processing or inhibition of self-threatening information. Mnemic neglect, however, could also be an example of experiential avoidance and mindfulness training has been demonstrated to counteract experiential avoidance. The current study was designed to negate experiential avoidance on a memory task via mindfulness training and attempt to increase recall of self-threatening information. Participants were exposed to a short intervention, either mindfulness or unfocused attention, before being instructed to read and later recall self-referent behaviors. The findings indicated that recall of self-threatening and other self-referent information was increased following the mindfulness but not unfocused attention intervention. The utility of mindfulness as a strategy for negating the experiential avoidance normally associated with self-threatening information and increasing memory performance are discussed.     

Dreading the boards: stress response to a competitive audition characterized by social-evaluative threat

The capacity of psychosocial stressors to provoke the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis has been demonstrated to vary depending upon a number of psychological factors. Laboratory stressors characterized by social-evaluative threat are proposed to be the most efficacious in the elicitation of a cortisol stress response. Salivary cortisol, cardiovascular, and subjective responses of 16 healthy adults facing a naturalistic stressor characterized by social-evaluative threat (competitive performance auditions) were examined. Audition exposure was sufficient to provoke significant cortisol, arterial blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), and subjective stress responses. Cortisol response reactivity (area under the curve with respect to increase [AUCi]) also correlated with participants' subjective rating of social-evaluative threat. The competitive performance audition context is therefore considered a promising context in which to further explore cortisol responsivity to social-evaluative threat.     

Distress,Loss, and Adjustment Following the Birth of a Baby: A Qualitative Exploration of One New Father's Experiences

In contrast with the vast literature on the postnatal psychological difficulties experienced by some mothers, there have been few attempts to study the mental health of fathers in and around the time of the birth of a baby. Using an interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study attempts to map the experience of fathers following the birth of a child. A male consultation group was employed to guide the study, and the results feature an in-depth analysis of one new father. The findings were consistent with Kelly's notion of constructs of transition in revealing powerful emotional themes regarding loss and difficulties with adjustment. These are explored within the context of contemporary fathering, relational patterns, and male identity. The findings suggest that men's experience of distress may be linked to prevalent yet contradictory discourse directly linked to expectations about their roles following childbirth. They also suggest the clinical importance of this area, as men's well-being appears to impact that of the mother and baby.     

Validation of the SASB Introject Surface in a Norwegian Clinical and Nonclinical Sample

Aronow, Reznikoff, and Moreland (this issue) have written a thoughtful contribution to the debate on the status of nomothetic and idiographic approaches to the Rorschach test. One of the interesting and attractive features of the current Rorschach er a is—as the Rorschach has experienced a resurgence of interest—the continuing interest in the foundations of the test and the historic antecedents to contemporary thought about the Rorschach (cf. Handler, 1994). One cannot consider Rorschach's seminal insights or those of the first and second generation and not deepen one's contemporary understanding and practice. In other words, the more you know about the test, the better "Rorschacher" you will be. This is witness to the test's utility and profundity. For this we may be grateful for the thought-provoking contribution of Aronow and his colleagues.     

Deprivation 2 3

The author describes her experience of setting up a therapeutic service for 'looked-after children' in a social services department, and the change of approach from a focus on individual therapy 8 to consultation and liaison with the network. The idea that children in the 'care system' suffer a triple deprivation when the 'double deprivation', as described by Henry (1974), is compounded by organizational difficulties, is explored. Material is presented of work with foster-parents which helped to prevent placement breakdown. The ways in which disturbing emotional states of clients are re-enacted within the organization are discussed. The author suggests that the paralysis in a social services system, which can lead to 'drift', resembles the 'collapse of strategy' of babies displaying a 'disorganized/disoriented' attachment response to a frightened or frightening mother. The need for a 'secure base' for social workers and their managers is stressed if they are to provide the same for their clients.     

Light and movement: making contact with a traumatised and embattled latency girl

This paper shows a child psychotherapist learning and developing her technique as she attempts to make contact with a child who is extremely hard to reach. It is based on the first two years of three-times-weekly intensive psychotherapy of a latency girl who had little faith in a helpful therapeutic relationship. Her defences against such a relationship were entrenched and hard to shift. In this clinical work, the psychotherapist relies on close observation and her countertransference to develop a relationship with the child, in order to begin to make sense of her non-verbal emotional experience and communication.