Book reviews

Campbell, B. A., Hayne, H., & Richardson, R. (Eds.) (1992). Attention and information processing in infants and adults. Perspectives from human and animal research. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pp. viii + 360. ISBN 0-8058-0782-9. £54.95 (Hbk).

McFarland, D. (1993). Animal behaviour: Psychobiology, ethology and evolution (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longrnan Scientific and Technical. Pp. xiv + 585. ISBN 0-582-06721-9. £23.99 (Pbk).

Ward, J. P., & Hopkins, W.D. (Eds.) (1993). Primate laterality: Current behavioral evidence of primate asymmetries. New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Pp. xii + 356. ISBN 0-387-97961-1 13-540-97961-1. £34.50 (Pbk).

Zentall, T. R. (Ed.). (1993). Animal cognition. A tribute to Donafd A. Riley. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pp. xiv + 369. ISBN 0-8058-1 184-2. £22.95 (Pbk); ISBN 0-8058-1 183-4. £53.50 (Hbk).

Roitblatt, H. L., Herman, L. M., & Nachtigall, P.E. (Eds.) (1993). Language and communication. Comparative perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pp. xvi + 502. ISBN 0-8058-0947-3. £26.95 (Pbk); ISBN 0-8058-0946-5. £59.95 (Hbk).

Bradshaw, J. L, & Rogers, L.J. (1993). The evolution of lateral asymmetries, language, roo1 use, and intellect. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Pp. xiii + 463. ISBN 0-12-124560-8. £58.00 (Hbk).

Ten Cate, C., Slater, P. J. B., & Kruijt, J. P. (Eds.) (1993). Song learning and imprinting. An inquiry into mechanisms of behavioural development. Amsterdam: Netherlands Zoology Society. Pp. 234. £13.00 (Pbk).     

Are Reaching Movements Planned to be Straight and Invariant in the Extrinsic Space? Kinematic Comparison Between Compliant and Unconstrained Motions

Two main questions were addressed in the present study. First, does the existence of kinematic regularities in the extrinsic space represent a general rule? Second, can the existence of extrinsic regularities be related to specific experimental situations implying, for instance, the generation of compliant motion (i.e. a motion constrained by external contact)? To address these two questions we studied the spatio-temporal characteristics of unconstrained and compliant movements. Five major differences were observed between these two types of movement: (1) the movement latency and movement duration were significantly longer in the compliant than in the unconstrained condition; (2) whereas the hand path was curved and variable according to movement direction for the unconstrained movements, it was straight and invariant for the compliant movements; (3) whereas the movement end-point distribution was roughly circular for the unconstrained movements, it was consistently elongated and typically oriented in the movement direction for the compliant movements; (4) whereas constant errors varied as a function of target eccentricity for the unconstrained movements, they were independent of this factor for the compliant movements; (5) the instruction to move the final effector along a straight line path influenced the characteristics of the unconstrained movements but not the characteristics of the compliant movements. When considered together, the previous observations suggest that compliant and unconstrained movements involve different planning strategies. Our data support the hypothesis that unconstrained motions, unlike compliant motions, are not programmed to follow a straight line path in the extrinsic space. This observation provides a theoretical frame of reference within which some apparently contradictory results reported in the movement generation literature may be explained.     

Intervention Styles With Suicidal Callers at Two Suicide Prevention Centers

Callers to suicide prevention centers are mainly helped by volunteers trained to face these crisis situations. This study evaluated this process of intervention in order to better understand the nature of the interventions and their determinants. A total of 617 calls with suicidal clients were classified with a 20-category rating instrument, the Helper's Response List. Cluster analysis determined that the 617 intervention profiles could match one of two styles: nondirective (“Rogerian”-391 calls) or directive (226 calls). Further analyses indicated that the particular style of intervention was related more to the characteristics of the callers themselves than to characteristics of volunteers.     

Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Quitting smoking: The importance of non-smoker identity in predicting smoking behaviour and responses to a smoking ban

Objective: We examined how ‘smoker’ and ‘non-smoker’ self- and group-identities and socio-economic status (SES) may predict smoking behaviour and responses to antismoking measures (i.e. the Dutch smoking ban in hospitality venues). We validated a measure of responses to the smoking ban.

Design: Longitudinal online survey study with one-year follow-up (N = 623 at T1 in 2011; N = 188 at T2 in 2012) among daily smokers.

Main outcome measures: Intention to quit, quit attempts and ‘rejecting’, ‘victimizing’, ‘socially conscious smoking’ and ‘active quitting’ responses to the smoking ban.

Results: Non-smoker identities are more important than smoker identities in predicting intention to quit, quit attempts and responses to the smoking ban, even when controlling for other important predictors such as nicotine dependence. Smokers with stronger non-smoker identities had stronger intentions to quit, were more likely to attempt to quit between measurements, and showed less negative and more positive responses to the smoking ban. The association between non-smoker self-identity and intention to quit was stronger among smokers with lower than higher SES.

Conclusion: Antismoking measures might be more effective if they would focus also on the identity of smokers, and help smokers to increase identification with non-smoking and non-smokers.     

A Death in the Family: Report of a Single-Session Trauma Group for Nursing Home Residents and Staff

This article describes a single-session trauma-debriefing group conducted at a nursing home following the death of a resident on an outing. The group had as its core an existing weekly therapy group in the facility, with the addition of affected staff, family, and other residents who were on the outing. The treatment illustrates four principles relevant to counseling and psychotherapy in nursing homes: 1) recognition of death; 2) treatment in and of the milieu; 3) flexibility and structure; and 4) dealing with countertransference. Along the way, we see how the residents are capable of giving, and not merely receiving.     

The Uncanny Self in Love: Divorced Catholic Women Remember Abortion in Romania

This essay presents an ethnographic account of two divorced Catholic women's memories of praying to the Virgin Mary while seeking illegal abortions under the Romanian socialist regime. These women's stories focused on troubling memories of being in love, reflections that were retrospectively shaped by divorce. Drawing on Sigmund Freud's notion of the uncanny, I call these recollections uncanny memories of the self in love. Uncannily remembering one's self in love combines experiential self‐examination and ethical assessment of actions. The notion of the uncanny self in love thus helps bridge the divide between experience‐ and action‐oriented approaches to lived ethics. I argue that the ethical significance of the Virgin Mary's actions depended on my acquaintances’ approach to love. For one woman seeking to stay estranged from her ex‐husband, the Virgin Mary's actions accentuated his ethical immaturity. My other acquaintance harbored more ambivalent feelings toward her ex‐husband; for her, talking about the Virgin Mary helped her relativize feelings of ethical indignation. As a core implication of this argument, I urge greater awareness of the problematic tendency to include the need for greater awareness of tendencies in theories of lived ethics to reify socially situated perspectives on love.     

Structure and content of affective associations with health behaviours: Is the behaviour ‘good OR bad’ or ‘good AND bad’

Objective: The feelings and emotions individuals associate with health-related behaviours influence engagement in those behaviours. However, the structure and the content of these affective associations have not been examined. The studies reported here examined competing hypotheses about the structure (unidimensional or bidimensional) and content (generalised affect or specific emotions) of affective associations with two health-related behaviours: physical activity and fruit/vegetable consumption.

Design: For each behaviour, participants (fruit and vegetable consumption n = 149; physical activity n = 199) completed an assessment of the association of 40 positive and 51 negative affect concepts with the behaviour.

Main outcome measures: Ratings of affective associations with each behaviour.

Results: Confirmatory factor analyses comparing unidimensional and bidimensional affect structure models showed that the structure of individuals’ affective associations was bidimensional for both behaviours – positive and negative affective associations were shown to be separate and distinct constructs. Exploratory factor analyses supported a model of affective associations as generalised affect for both behaviours.

Conclusion: Affective associations with both physical activity and with fruit/vegetable consumption consist of separate positive and negative dimensions of generalised affect. These findings lead to recommendations for research and intervention development based on the implications for how affective associations might operate to influence behavioural decision-making.