Developmental trajectories of disruptive behavior problems among sons of alcoholics: effects of parent psychopathology,family conflict,and child undercontrol

This study examined trajectories of disruptive behavior problems from preschool to early adolescence in 302 boys from a community-recruited sample of high-risk families. Growth modeling showed that paternal alcoholism was associated with elevated levels of sons' disruptive behavior problems. Family conflict predicted more disruptive behaviors at school entry and a slower rate of decline in such problems. Parent antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) exacerbated the effects of high preschool levels of sons' undercontrol on level of disruptive behaviors at school entry; this effect became progressively stronger across time. Low levels of undercontrol protected sons of ASPD parents from experiencing heightened levels of disruptive behaviors both at school entry and increasingly as sons grew older. Implications for subsequent maladjustment are discussed.     

Effects of neutral toys on sex-typed play in children with gender identity disorder

This study assessed the relative influences of approach and avoidance behaviors toward same-sex and cross-sex toys in the play of children with gender identity disorder and in normal boys, normal girls, and psychiatric controls. Three forced-choice situations with toys and three forced-choice situations with dress-up apparel were presented that paired same-sex and cross-sex stimuli, same-sex and neutral stimuli, and cross-sex and neutral stimuli. In the same-sex/cross-sex situation, the gender-disordered group played a significantly shorter time with the same-sex stimuli and a significantly longer time with the cross-sex stimuli than the normal boys and the psychiatric controls, whereas the play patterns of the normal girls fell in between that of the gender-disordered group and the other two control groups. Within-groups analyses showed that the normal boys and the psychiatric controls preferred the same-sex toys, whereas the gender-disordered group and the normal girls showed no preference. When the neutral toys were the alternative, avoidance of cross-sex toys appeared to be stronger than the attraction to same-sex toys in the normal boys and in the psychiatric controls. The relative influence of approach-avoidance tendencies was more equivocal in the gender-disordered group, though they appeared to have a weaker attraction to same-sex toys and less avoidance of cross-sex toys in comparison with the normal boys and the psychiatric controls. The approach-avoidance patterns of the normal girls fell in between that of the gender-disordered group and the other two control groups.     

The computational connection in vision: Early orientation selection

It is widely accepted that computer implementations can play a role in verifying psychological theories. In this paper, I argue for a much broader and more abstract role for computation, in particular, one that includes formulation as well as verification. Consideration of issues of abstract computation—what should be computed and how-provides a level of analysis between ecological issues at the problem level and realization issues at the physiological level. This is the computational connection. The paper reflects my personal experience so that my argument can be made concretely. I concentrate on the evolution of one theory of orientation selection, and I show how we were led to differential geometry from “line detectors”; how parallel, distributed computational modeling led to novel proposals regarding curvature estimation; and how these proposals predicted psychophysical sensitivity to discontinuities.     

Attributional and Symbolic Predictors of Abortion Attitudes1

Attributional and symbolic politics approaches were used to develop a model relating symbolic predispositions, perceptions of responsibility for unwanted pregnancy, affects, and attitudes toward abortion. In Study 1, a taxonomy of 12 distinct causes of unwanted pregnancy was identified. College-student subjects in Study 2 rated these causes on importance, controllability, blame, pity, anger, and judgments in favor of abortion. A regression analysis revealed that abortion approval in this student sample is negatively related to conservatism, religiosity, and blame. In Study 3, a more extensive path mode) is offered indicating that abortion approval in a nonstudent sample is linked negatively to religiosity and moral traditionalism, and positively to sympathy. Results of the study demonstrate the utility of applying social psychological theory to abortion attitudes.     

Sex-typed responses in the Rorschach protocols of children with gender identity disorder.

A coding system was developed to measure sex-typed responses in the Rorschach protocols of children with gender identity disorder (n = 79). Their responses were compared to that of sibling (n = 25), psychiatric (n = 26), and normal (n = 28) controls. Results show that children with gender identity disorder gave significantly more cross-sex responses than same-sex responses, whereas the psychiatric and normal controls gave significantly more same-sex responses than cross-sex responses. The siblings did not differ in the number of same-sex and cross-sex responses. Results are discussed with regard to various assessment issues in the study of children with gender identity disorder.     

Conservatism and Perceptions of Poverty: An Attributional Analysis1

Attribution theory was used to relate causal explanations for poverty to affect and behavioral intentions. In Experiment 1, student subjects rated 13 causes of poverty on importance, the attribution of controllability, blame, affects of pity and anger, and judgments of help-giving (personal help and welfare). Two individual differences, conservatism and the belief in a just world, were also assessed. A principal components analysis categorized the causes into three types: individualistic, societal, and fatalistic. Conservatism correlated positively with a belief in the importance of individualistic causes, controllability, blame, and anger, and it correlated negatively with perceptions of the importance of societal causes, pity, and intentions to help. No systematic effects of the belief in a just world emerged. A structural equation analysis revealed that personal help is emotionally determined, whereas welfare judgments are directly related to attributions of responsibility and political ideology. Experiment 2 revealed a similar pattern of results using a nonstudent sample.     

Adolescent Social Structure and Drinking Behavior

The study examines adolescent drinking customs in the context of the informal social structure of the high school. Teenage drinking behavior was also examined in relationship to demographic variables and parental use of alcoholic beverages. The study identified a mosaic adolescent society consisting of eight informal social status subgroups with contrasting and often hostile values, attitudes, and leisure-time patterns. A highly significant (p < .001) relationship was found between the students' subgroup membership and drinking category. Parental alcohol use also was related to teenagers' use (p < .001), and interesting variations were identified when teenage drinking behavior was studied in relationship to demographic factors.     

Bribery and extortion: Can restaurants help?

Examples of tipping suggest that the distinction between tipping, bribery and extortion can be questioned. Some well known ideas about bribery will not work if extended to tipping and, indeed, these analyses may founder whether or not tipping, bribery and extortion merge. I suggest that more case study analysis as well as a discussion of the relationship between character and actions are needed.     

Traumaadaptierte tiefenpsychologisch fundierte und analytische Psychotherapie

The authors discuss the question which criteria should apply to the depth psychologically oriented psychotherapy (TP) and to the analytic psychotherapy (AT) in order to guarantee a state-of-the-art treatment for traumatized patients on the basis of latest scientific research. Specific demands and modifications of the two guideline treatment methods arise from the scientific findings of interdisciplinary research projects bringing together psychobiological research results and models with concepts and results from empirical psychotherapy research.When TP and AP were conceived, an interdisciplinary concept was still out of reach. In the meantime there exist elaborated traumaspecific concepts for TP/AP and show promising empirical research findings.The adaptation of TP/AP to the demands of trauma patients should proceed in the opinion of the authors under the following term: “As much reform as necessary, as much tradition as possible”, so as not to endanger valuable and proven treatment principles of both methods.