Domestic violence and psychopathic traits: distinguishing the antisocial batterer from other antisocial offenders

The proliferation of specialized domestic batterer treatment programs suggests that batterers differ from other offenders in important ways. The psychopathic personality represents a constellation of personality traits, which may be relevant to the differentiation of batterers from other offenders. In a sample of 172 county jail inmates, we examined whether antisocial batterers can be distinguished from the larger pool of antisocial offenders on the basis of the four-facet model of psychopathy identified for the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Batterer/non-batterer status was positively related to the PCL-R affective facet and negatively related to the lifestyle facet, but there was no significant relationship between PCL-R total scores and this criterion. Results suggest that antisocial batterers are characterized by deficient affective experience and by reduced impulsivity and irresponsibility compared with other antisocial offenders. Implications are discussed in light of specialized treatments for batterers.     

Motion misperception caused by feedback connections: A neural model simulating the Fröhlich effect

When asked to indicate the starting position of a fast moving stimulus, observers do not indicate the actual starting position but a later position on the motion trajectory. This perceptual illusion is known as the “Fröhlich effect”. We present a neural model aimed at simulating this phenomenon based on feedforward and feedback connections. The basic simulation mechanisms seem to be compatible with the attentional and the motion extrapolation account. A comparison between simulated and empirical results showed that the model is capable of generating the same main effects as those found in the empirical data.     

Contribution of content, context, and process to understanding openness to organizational change: two experimental simulation studies

The authors examined the contribution of the content, context, and process of organizational transformation to employees' openness to change. The authors predicted that 5 factors would have a positive effect on openness to change: (a) threatening character of organizational change (content related), (b) trust in executive management (context related), (c) trust in the supervisor (context related), (d) history of change (context related), and (e) participation in the change effort (process related). The authors tested their hypotheses in 2 separate studies (N = 828 and N = 835) using an experimental simulation strategy. The first study crossed 4 variables in a completely randomized 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Results showed significant main effects for content, context, and process but no significant interaction effects. A second study, with a completely randomized 2 x 2 factorial design, crossed two context variables. Results showed a significant main and an interaction effect: Openness to change decreased dramatically only when history of change and trust in executive management were low.     

Individual differences in executive function partially explain the socioeconomic gradient in middle‐school academic achievement

Children from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) earn lower grades, perform worse on achievement tests, and attain less education on average than their peers from higher‐SES families. We evaluated neurocognitive mediators of SES disparities in achievement in a diverse sample of youth whose data were linked to administrative records of performance on school‐administered tests of 7th grade reading and math proficiency (N = 203). We used structural equation modeling to evaluate whether associations between SES (measured at ages 8–9) and achievement (measured at age 13) are mediated by verbal ability and executive function (measured at age 10), a suite of top‐down mental processes that facilitate control of thinking and behavior. Children from relatively higher‐SES families performed better than their lower‐SES peers on all neurocognitive and achievement measures, and SES disparities in both reading and math achievement were partially mediated by variation in executive function, but not verbal ability. SES disparities in executive function explained approximately 37% of the SES gap in math achievement and 17% of the SES gap in reading achievement. Exploratory modeling suggests that SES‐related variation in working memory may play a particularly prominent role in mediation. We discuss potential implications of these findings for research, intervention programming, and classroom practice.     

The phenomenology and cognitive neuroscience of experienced temporality

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - We discuss the three dominant models of the phenomenological literature pertaining to temporal consciousness, namely the cinematic, the retentional, and...     

A Randomized Comparison of Two Psychosocial Interventions on Family Functioning in Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder

Impairments in family functioning are associated with more severe depressive and manic symptoms, earlier recurrences, and more suicidal behaviors in early-onset bipolar disorder. This study examined whether family-focused treatment for adolescents (FFT-A) with BD I or II disorder led to greater increases in family cohesion and adaptability and decreases in conflict over 2 years compared to a briefer psychoeducational treatment (enhanced care, EC). Participants were 144 adolescents (mean age: 15.6 ± 1.4 years) with BD I or II with a mood episode in the previous 3 months. Adolescents and parents were randomized to either FFT-A (21 sessions) or EC (three sessions). Patients received guideline-based pharmacotherapy throughout the 2-year study. Trajectories of adolescent- and parent-rated family cohesion, adaptability, and conflict were analyzed over 2 years. FFT-A had greater effects on adolescent-rated family cohesion compared to EC over 2 years. Participants in FFT-A and EC reported similar improvements in family conflict across the 2 years. In the FFT-A group, low-conflict families had greater adolescent-rated family cohesion throughout the study compared to high-conflict families. High-conflict families in both treatment groups tended to show larger reductions in conflict over 2 years than low-conflict families. Family psychoeducation and skills training may improve family cohesion in the early stages of BD. Measuring levels of family conflict at the start of treatment may inform treatment responsiveness among those receiving FFT-A.     

What Determines Voting Behaviors of Muslim Minorities in Europe: Muslim Identity or Left-Right Ideology?

Voting is key to political integration of immigrant-background minorities, but what determines their voting preferences remains unclear. Moreover, dual-citizen minorities can vote differently in their country of residence and origin. Using a representative survey of Turkish-Muslim minorities in two cities in Belgium (N = 447, M_age = 36.3), we asked whether left-right ideology or religious identity predicted their voting in their country of residence and origin, besides typical predictors of right-wing voting (i.e., efficacy, deprivation, and authoritarianism). Authoritarianism, low political efficacy, and high deprivation predicted voting for right-wing parties in Turkey, whereas the latter two, surprisingly, predicted voting for the left in Belgium. Latent class analyses of their religious practices distinguished “moderate” versus “strict” Muslims. While “strict” Muslims voted for right-wing parties in Turkey, ideology did not predict their voting. Conversely, in Belgium, while Muslim identity did not predict their voting, ideology did. Analyzing their combined effects, “moderate” Muslims voted based on their ideology—right-leaning voting for the right, whereas “strict” Muslims voted according to their interests as a disadvantaged minority in Belgium—thus voting for the left—or as a devout Muslim in Turkey—thus voting for the right. Our results elucidate processes underlying the voting behaviors of European-Muslim minorities.     

Strategies Aimed at Reducing Gender Differences in Negotiation Are Perceived by Women as Ineffective

Sex Roles - Women often fare worse in negotiations than men. Negotiation researchers, trainers, and policymakers thus aim to find solutions—such as specific strategies for female...     

Fighting patterns in young coyotes: Initiation,escalation, and assessment

The fighting patterns of young coyotes were studied and 2,350 fights were analyzed. Our results can be summarized as follows: 1) No major injuries were sustained by any of the infants, even in unritualized bouts. 2) In pairs, there was no relationship between social rank and the proportion of fights that were initiated by either animal. 3) Dominant animals were more likely than subordinate individuals to escalate first (perform the first unprovoked dangerous move) during short interactions and to escalate and then subsequently win short fights. 4) Highest-ranking (alpha) individuals in litters did not fight the most. 5) Alpha individuals initiated 73% of the fights in which they partook. Alpha coyotes initiated and then won 86% of the contests that they initiated. 6) For fourth-ranking coyotes in litters, there was a perfect positive correlation between the proportion of times that they initiated fights and the proportion of times that they initiated and then won encounters. They initiated interactions least with the first- to third-ranking animals. 7) Alpha and fourth-ranking animals escalated about the same proportion of the time, but alpha coyotes escalated and then won a greater proportion of fights. 8) Both alpha and fourth-ranking animals initiated and then escalated the greatest proportion of time with individuals nearest in rank, with whom they may have experienced the greatest difficulty in assessing relative social standing. 9) Our data suggested that individuals, especially in litters, were able to make pre-fight assessments but that they were not perfect with respect to this ability. During-fight assessments appeared to be easier to make, using escalation to test an opponent.     

Reply to Farrell and Lewandowsky: Recency—contiguity interactions predicted by the temporal context model

Farrell and Lewandowsky (2008) argued that the temporal context model (TCM; Howard & Kahana, 2002) cannot explain nonmonotonicities in the contiguity effect seen at extreme lags. However, TCM actually predicts these nonmonotonicities to the extent that end-of-list context persists as a retrieval cue during recall and to the extent that end-of-list context generates a recency effect. We show that the observed nonmonotonicity in the contiguity effect interacts with the recency effect, as predicted by TCM. In conditions, such as immediate and continualdistractor free recall, that exhibit strong recency, one observes more prominent nonmonotonicities in the contiguity effect than in conditions, such as delayed free recall, that attenuate recency. The nonmonotonicities in the contiguity effect at extreme lags, and the interactions between recency and contiguity, result from the role of end-of-list context as a retrieval cue in TCM. Results of an additional simulation based on the Howard and Kahana (2002) version of TCM may be downloaded from http://pbr.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.