A Dual Process Model of Attitudes towards Immigration: Person × Residential Area Effects in a National Sample

This research took a person × situation approach to predicting prejudice by looking at how social worldviews interact with real‐world environmental factors to predict how people respond to immigrants within their local area. Taking a Dual Process Motivational approach, we hypothesized that a higher proportion of immigrants in the local community would be associated with negative attitudes toward immigration for respondents high in dangerous world beliefs. Conversely, we hypothesized that living in a highly affluent (as opposed to socioeconomically deprived) community would be associated with negative attitudes toward immigration for respondents high in competitive world beliefs. Both hypotheses were supported using regional information derived from national census data combined with representative survey data from a large telephone sample conducted in New Zealand (N = 6,489). These findings support the proposition that individual differences interact with specific features of the environment to predict people's levels of prejudice in distinct ways.     

Functional Analysis Identified Habit Reversal Components for the Treatment of Motor Tics

This study included brief functional analyses and treatment for motor tics exhibited by two children with Tourette Syndrome. Brief functional analyses were conducted in an outpatient treatment center and results were used to develop individualized habit reversal procedures. Treatment data were collected in clinic for one child and in clinic and school for the other child. Brief functional analysis results were mixed for each child, but provided useful information for informing unique habit reversal components for each child. Treatment results indicated reductions in motor tics for each child. Results are discussed in terms of utility of functional analysis for tics.     

Perceived ownership impacts reward evaluation within medial-frontal cortex

Ownership is a powerful construct. Indeed, in a series of recent studies, perceived ownership has been shown to increase attentional capacity, facilitate a memorial advantage, and elicit positive attitudes. Here, we sought to determine whether self-relevance would bias reward evaluation systems within the brain. To accomplish this, we had participants complete a simple gambling task during which they could “win” or “lose” prizes for themselves or for someone else, while electroencephalographic data were recorded. Our results indicated that the amplitude of the feedback error-related negativity, a component of the event-related brain potential sensitive to reward evaluation, was diminished when participants were not gambling for themselves. Furthermore, our data suggest that the ownership cues that indicated who would win or lose a given gamble either were processed as a potential for an increase in utility (i.e., gain: self-gambles) or were processed in a nonutilitarian manner (other-gambles). Importantly, our results suggest that the medial-frontal reward system is sensitive to perceived ownership, to the extent that it may not process changes in utility when they are not directly relevant to self.     

Screening for Adolescent Substance‐Related Disorders Using the SASSI‐A2: Implications for Nonreporting Youth

In this study (N = 137), although 70.8% of participants reported no current substance use and 42.3% reported never using, the Adolescent Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI‐A2; Miller & Lazowski, 2001) screened 39.41% of the participants for a high level of probability of having a substance‐related disorder. SASSI‐A2 classified more females in our sample as having a high probability of substance‐related disorder than males. Among African American participants, male adolescents had substantially higher levels of drug use and significantly lower levels of alcohol use than did female adolescents. Implications, limitations, and future directions are provided.     

Attentional demands associated with obstacle crossing while carrying a load

The extent to which different locomotor tasks require cognitive control is not well characterized. In this article, the authors consider the potential increase in attentional demands associated with carrying an anterior load while clearing an obstacle. Nine healthy male volunteers participated in 80 walking trials, 20 in each of 4 conditions: 1 no load condition (NL) and 3 carrying conditions (2KG, 5KG, and 10KG). Of the 20 trials in each condition, 12 included a probe reaction time (PRT) test during lead limb obstacle crossing, which was used to measure cognitive load. A load-dependent increase in PRT was observed, with PRT in the 2KG condition being significantly greater than in the NL condition, and PRT in the 5KG and 10KG conditions being significantly greater than in the 2KG condition. These results suggested that cognitive load was increased when: (a) the obstacle was occluded from vision by the load, and (b) the magnitude of load was increased.     

Peripheral pain enhances the effects of incentive downshifts

Physical pain (induced by tissue damage) and psychological pain (induced by surprising incentive loss) share a set of common neural substrates, but little is known about their interactions. The present research studied such interactions using the formalin test to induce physical pain and consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) to induce psychological pain. In the formalin test, animals receive an intradermal injection of formalin (1%) in a hind paw. In cSNC, rats with free access to 32% sucrose show a sharp suppression of drinking behavior after a downshift to 4% sucrose, compared to rats that always receive 4% sucrose. In Experiment 1, formalin administration before the first and second 32-to-4% sucrose downshift trials enhanced cSNC. In Experiment 2, a similar treatment before the first downshift trial after a 16-to-4% sucrose downshift, which normally produces little or no evidence of cSNC, significantly increased cSNC. In Experiment 3, using a 32-to-4% sucrose downshift procedure similar to that of Experiment 1, no effects were observed following formalin administration immediately after Trial 11. Thus, no evidence was found that the effects of physical pain on cSNC were caused by changes in memory consolidation. The procedures used in these experiments offer a new approach to study the neural substrates of interactions between physical and psychological pain.     

Like a Fish Out of Water: Reconsidering Disaster Recovery and the Role of Place and Social Capital in Community Disaster Resilience

In this paper we draw on the findings of a critical, multi-sited ethnographic study of two rural communities affected by a wildfire in British Columbia, Canada to examine the salience of place, identity, and social capital to the disaster recovery process and community disaster resilience. We argue that a reconfiguration of disaster recovery is required that more meaningfully considers the role of place in the disaster recovery process and opens up the space for a more reflective and intentional consideration of the disorientation and disruption associated with disasters and our organized response to that disorientation. We describe a social-psychological process, reorientation, in which affected individuals and communities navigate the psychological, social and emotional responses to the symbolic and material changes to social and geographic place that result from the fire's destruction. The reorientation process emphasizes the critical importance of place not only as an orienting framework in recovery but also as the ground upon which social capital and community disaster resilience are built. This approach to understanding and responding to the disorientation of disasters has implications for community psychologists and other service providers engaged in supporting disaster survivors. This includes the need to consider the complex dynamic of contextual and cultural factors that influence the disaster recovery process.     

Attributing illness to 'old age:' consequences of a self-directed stereotype for health and mortality

Stereotypic beliefs about older adults and the aging process have led to endorsement of the myth that 'to be old is to be ill.' This study examined community-dwelling older adults' (N?=?105, age 80+) beliefs about the causes of their chronic illness (ie, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.), and tested the hypothesis that attributing the onset of illness to 'old age' is associated with negative health outcomes. A series of multiple regressions (controlling for chronological age, gender, income, severity of chronic conditions, functional status and health locus of control) demonstrated that 'old age' attributions were associated with more frequent perceived health symptoms, poorer health maintenance behaviours and a greater likelihood of mortality at 2-year follow-up. The probability of death was more than double among participants who strongly endorsed the 'old age' attribution as compared to those who did not (36% vs. 14%). Findings are framed in the context of self-directed stereotypes and implications for potential interventions are considered.     

Meta-Analysis of Single-Case Design Research on Self-Regulatory Interventions for Academic Performance

The current study examined the effects of self-regulatory interventions on reading, writing, and math by conducting a meta-analysis of single-case design research. Self-regulatory interventions have promise as an effective approach that is both minimally invasive and involves minimal resources. Effects of the interventions were analyzed by academic subject, grade, educational placement, and the number of sessions. Results indicated that self-regulatory strategies showed promise in addressing academic issues in the areas of reading, writing, and math regardless of age, grade, educational placement, and intervention length.     

Comparative meta-analysis of behavioral interventions for insomnia and their efficacy in middle-aged adults and in older adults 55+ years of age.

Meta-analyses support the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for the treatment of insomnia, although few have systematically evaluated the relative efficacy of different treatment modalities or the relation of old age to sleep outcomes. In this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (k = 23), moderate to large effects of behavioral treatments on subjective sleep outcomes were found. Evaluation of the moderating effects of behavioral intervention type (i.e., cognitive-behavioral treatment, relaxation, behavioral only) revealed similar effects for the 3 treatment modalities. Both middle-aged adults and persons older than 55 years of age showed similar robust improvements in sleep quality, sleep latency, and wakening after sleep onset. A research agenda is recommended to examine the mechanisms of action of behavioral treatments on sleep with increased attention to the high prevalence of insomnia in older individuals.