Social problem solving and strategy use in young children

In the present study, the authors investigated what prosocial-assertive, passive, and coercive strategies 6-year-olds (N=257) would propose in response to stories about 2 socially challenging situations: displacing another child in a game and obtaining a toy from another child. The scenarios also varied the gender composition of the characters. Participants' verbalizations while acting out their responses using toy props fell into 13 categories of strategies. Teachers reported antisocial behavior and social competence of the participants. Girls and boys responded similarly in their general suggestions of prosocial or assertive strategies, but girls were more likely to offer prosocial strategies with other girls than with boys. Teacher-rated competence and antisocial behavior interacted in predicting coercive responses by girls but not by boys. The results demonstrate that prosocial and antisocial behaviors need to be considered in interaction to fully understand the nature of social competence.     

Detecting the snake in the grass: attention to fear-relevant stimuli by adults and young children

Snakes are among the most common targets of fears and phobias. In visual detection tasks, adults detect their presence more rapidly than the presence of other kinds of visual stimuli. We report evidence that very young children share this attentional bias. In three experiments, preschool children and adults were asked to find a single target picture among an array of eight distractors. Both the children and the adults detected snakes more rapidly than three types of nonthreatening stimuli (flowers, frogs, and caterpillars). These results provide the first evidence of enhanced visual detection of evolutionarily relevant threat stimuli in young children.     

Ministers’ Perceptions of Depression: A Model to Understand and Improve Care

While depression is a significant worldwide health problem, fewer than half of individuals seek care. Faith-based communities may play an important role in improving the knowledge of and linkage to depression care. Focus groups of Caucasian and African-American clergy were conducted to explore these issues. Using a grounded theory approach five themes emerged, including explanatory models of depression, barriers and facilitators to care, and recommendations for involving religious communities. A model of depression care pathways was constructed that integrates secular and spiritual approaches. The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to build trust between clergy and mental health professionals. Teresa L. Kramer, Ph.D., is Chief Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She has conducted research in child, adolescent and adult mental health assessment, outcomes, and quality of care. Her current research on adolescent depression is funded through a Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. She is currently developing faith-based programs to educate ministers and their congregations about depression-related illness. Dean Blevins, Ph.D., teaches in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, at the university and is associated with the Center for Mental Health & Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, and the South Central Mental Illness, Research, and Clinical Center in Little Rock. Terri L. Miller, Ph.D., also teaches in the Department of Psychiatry. Martha Phillips, Ph.D., is at the Department of Human Services in Little Rock. Vanessa Davis and Billy Burris are employed at the Division of Behavioral Health Services, also in Little Rock.     

Depression,Sociocultural Factors,and African American Women

The authors discuss depression in African American women from a sociocultural perspective, including aspects of oppression and racism that affect symptom manifestation. The authors highlight John Henryism as a coping mechanism, the history and continuing role of the African American church as a safe haven, and strategies for culturally competent practice. Los autores discuten la depresión en mujeres Afroamericanas desde una perspectiva sociocultural, incluyendo los aspectos de opresión y racismo que afectan a la manifestación de los síntomas. Los autores destacan el John Henry‐ismo como mecanismo de afrontamiento, la historia y el papel constante de la iglesia Afroamericana como refugio seguro, y las estrategias para una práctica culturalmente competente.     

More than just another face in the crowd: superior detection of threatening facial expressions in children and adults

Threatening facial expressions can signal the approach of someone or something potentially dangerous. Past research has established that adults have an attentional bias for angry faces, visually detecting their presence more quickly than happy or neutral faces. Two new findings are reported here. First, evidence is presented that young children share this attentional bias. In five experiments, young children and adults were asked to find a picture of a target face among an array of eight distracter faces. Both age groups detected threat‐relevant faces – angry and frightened – more rapidly than non‐threat‐relevant faces (happy and sad). Second, evidence is presented that both adults and children have an attentional bias for negative stimuli overall. All negative faces were detected more quickly than positive ones in both age groups. As the first evidence that young children exhibit the same superior detection of threatening facial expressions as adults, this research provides important support for the existence of an evolved attentional bias for threatening stimuli.     

Investigating naturalistic decision making in a simulated microworld: What questions should we ask?

Computer-simulated microworlds can provide a controlled method for investigating concepts related to naturalistic decision making (NDM). However, the extent to which these tools can be used to generate meaningful outcomes is unknown. The current study used a microworld called Networked Fire Chief (NFC) to explore the range of skills and knowledge acquired as participants gained practice on the program. The complexity of the NFC NDM environment was also explored. Twenty participants each completed 20 equivalent 5-min scenarios on NFC. Interview data, behavioral data and performance scores were collected across the trials. Results confirmed that NFC provides an environment that promotes appropriate perceptual-cognitive processing for NDM. However, performance improved to only a small extent across the 20 trials in four performance areas: speed, accuracy, efficiency and planning. In addition, the number of personal and situational factors to be considered when decision making on NFC was not comparable with real-world NDM environments. Overall, results indicated that the use of microworlds for research should be regulated by an understanding of the limitations of their applicability.     

The impact of aggressive priming, rumination, and frustration on prison sentencing

We tested the hypothesis that ruminating about a previous aggressive prime interacts with a subsequent minor frustration to augment aggression. Sixty participants watched a video showing a murder during a bank robbery (the aggressive prime). Those in the rumination condition were asked to write about the video for 20 min. In the no rumination condition, participants were given 20 min to complete an irrelevant task. Participants were then either frustrated or not frustrated. Our results supported the main hypothesis. Relative to the control condition, neither rumination nor frustration alone impacted aggression. Rumination, in combination with a minor frustration, however, increased the recommended prison sentence towards the targets. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

A functional assessment of heterosocial initiation behaviors in adults

The present investigation was designed to assess the relationship between empirically defined behavioral strategies and ratings of social effectiveness, liking, and skill. Female subjects rated audiotapes of dyadic heterosocial interactions. The dyads' verbal behavior was manipulated experimentally such that each male actor exhibited one of two strategies, other-enhancement and positive self-presentation, and each female coactor exhibited one of two responses, encourages and discourages. After each audiotaped interaction, subjects rated each male on five questions: liking, continued interaction, effectiveness, social skill, and similarity. The results indicated that subjects distinguished between effective and ineffective strategies. The data obtained from all questions indicated that subjects preferred the male who was encouraged irrespective of what strategy he used. This study analyzed relevant variables within an interactional framework allowing for a functional, rather than topographic, analysis of social behavior. From this functional perspective, topographically different heterosocial initiation strategies may be viewed as appropriate or effective based on the reactions of the other person in the interaction.     

New arguments in favour of an automatic gender pronominal process

This paper examines the automatic and strategic use of gender information in pronominal processing. Experiments 1 and 2 used short sentences where a pronoun was preceded by two potential antecedents. Results showed that even when adult readers did not use pronominal gender to strategically accelerate pronominal resolution, they remained sensitive to a gender disagreement between the pronoun and its potential referents. This gender sensitivity was further explored in Experiments 3 and 4. These experiments used longer texts where only one of the two potential referents was highly accessible when the pronoun was encountered. A gender disagreement between the pronoun and this antecedent induced longer reading times. The four experiments confirm the existence of a nonstrategic gender coindexation process between a pronoun and the entity in the focus of a discourse.