Religious Orientation and Ethnic Identity as Predictors of Religious Coping Among Bereaved Individuals

Religious orientation and ethnic identity inform the religious coping process, but research on this topic is scarce. The authors collected data on these constructs from a sample (N = 319) of bereaved adults. A canonical correlation analysis showed that individuals who engage in traditional spiritual practices and strive to achieve ordinary and transcendental spiritual goals are more likely to engage in positive religious coping (Wilks's Λ = .36, R_c² = .62, p < .001). Also, a multiple regression analysis revealed that individuals with higher levels of ethnic identity development are more likely to engage in positive religious coping (β = .12, t < .05). Finally, a discriminant analysis indicated that ethnic identity and a conservative religious orientation discriminated between Whites and ethnic minority individuals, Wilks's Λ = .71, χ²(4, N = 204) = 70.10, p < .001, R_c² = .26. The authors encourage counselors to strengthen their multicultural and spiritual competencies to provide effective services to a culturally and religiously diverse clientele.     

Defect analysis of Fe3(Al1– x Si x ) alloys by positron-lifetime spectroscopy

The recovery behaviour of vacancy-type defects created at 1000°C in Fe₃(Al_{1– x} Si _x ) alloys has been investigated by positron-lifetime measurements in samples cooled to room temperature by water quenching, air quenching and furnace cooling. In addition, a set of samples was aged for one week at 520°C. After water quenching, measurements reveal a high concentration of thermal vacancies, and from the decrease of the average positron lifetime it is inferred that vacancy recovery is strongly composition-dependent. Greater decreases of the positron lifetime were found for Si-rich samples, suggesting diffusion enhancement as the Si concentration increases. For the Fe₃Al alloy, the retained vacancy concentration depends strongly on the cooling rate. This is related to atomic ordering and a rebuilding of the D0₃ structure.     

Self-conscious emotions in patients suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain: A brief report

Objective: The role of self-conscious emotions (SCEs) including shame, guilt, humiliation and embarrassment are of increasing interest within health. Yet, little is known about SCEs in the experience of chronic pain. This study explored prevalence and experience of SCEs in chronic pain patients compared to controls and assessed the relationship between SCEs and disability in pain patients.

Design and measures: Questionnaire assessment comparing musculoskeletal pain patients (n = 64) and pain-free control participants (n = 63). Pain was assessed using the McGill Pain Questionnaire; disability, using the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire; and six SCEs derived from three measures (i) Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 yielding subscales of shame, guilt, externalisation and detachment (ii) The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale and (iii) The Pain Self-Perception Scale assessing mental defeat.

Results: Significantly greater levels of shame, guilt, fear of negative evaluation and mental defeat were observed in chronic pain patients compared to controls. In the pain group, SCE variables significantly predicted affective pain intensity; only mental defeat was significantly related to disability.

Conclusion: Findings highlight the prevalence of negative SCEs and their importance in assessment and management of chronic pain. The role of mood in this relationship is yet to be explored.     

Categorical perception of anger is disrupted in alexithymia: Evidence from a visual ERP study

High and low alexithymia scorers were confronted with a modified visual oddball task that allowed the study of categorical perception of emotional expressions on faces. Participants had to quickly detect a deviant (rare) morphed face that shared or did not share the same emotional expression as the frequent one. Expected categorical perception effects, which were also neurophysiologically indexed, showed that rare stimuli were detected faster if they depicted a different emotional expression compared to rare stimuli depicting the same emotional expression than the frequent one. Even if no differences were observed at a behavioural level, high alexithymia scorers evidenced overall delayed neurophysiological responses in components related to the attentional processing of rare emotional faces. Moreover, the categorical perception effects for event-related components associated with the attentional processing were smaller in high alexithymia scorers and were even absent for anger. These results show that high alexithymia scorers present discrimination delays that are already observed at the attentional level.     

La enseñanza práctica de la Psicología: una experiencia de condicionamiento instrumental

RESUMEN

n este informe se presenta una experiencia docente en la que un elevado número de estudiantes de primero de Psicología (140), trabajando en grupos de cinco personas y utilizando unos recursos limitados, consiguieron llevar a cabo un condicionamiento instrumental con ratas en la caja de Skinner, cumpliendo adecuadamente los objetivos metodológicos propuestos. Esta experiencia confirma la posibilidad de realizar prácticas en Psicología a pesar de los numerosos impedimentos que existen para ello, destacados por los autores.     

El lenguaje de los antropoides

RESUMEN

José Eugenio Ortega presenta este dossier sobre el lenguaje de los antropoides repasando algunos intentos de enseñar lenguaje a chimpancés y recordando la gran influencia del “Proyecto Washoe” en investigaciones posteriores desde distintas perspectivas. A continuación explica la clasificación de orden de los primates y las características que hacen de los chimpancés los sujetos idóneos para este tipo de estudios y aborda la polémica entre los grupos que siguen distintos procedimientos respecto a cuál es la metodología correcta, afirmando que en todos los trabajos de lenguaje de antropoides ha habido fallos en el control de variables. En la última parte explica cuatro posturas de los investigadores a la hora de interpretar los resultados de sus estudios, finalizando con algunas reflexiones en torno a las implicaciones de estos trabajos con relación a los de Darwin y manifestando que el estudio de las capacidades de simbolización de los antropoides puede aportar bastantes datos al problema de la evolución humana.     

Cultural-Related, Contextual, and Asthma-Specific Risks Associated with Asthma Morbidity in Urban Children

The objective of this study was to examine associations between specific dimensions of the multi-dimensional cumulative risk index (CRI) and asthma morbidity in urban, school-aged children from African American, Latino and Non-Latino White backgrounds. An additional goal of the study was to identify the proportion of families that qualify for high-risk status on each dimension of the CRI by ethnic group. A total of 264 children with asthma, ages 7–15 (40% female; 76% ethnic minority) and their primary caregivers completed interview-based questionnaires assessing cultural, contextual, and asthma-specific risks that can impact asthma morbidity. Higher levels of asthma-related risks were associated with more functional morbidity for all groups of children, despite ethnic group background. Contextual and cultural risk dimensions contributed to more morbidity for African-American and Latino children. Analyses by Latino ethnic subgroup revealed that contextual and cultural risks are significantly related to more functional morbidity for Puerto Rican children compared to Dominican children. Findings suggest which type of risks may more meaningfully contribute to variations in asthma morbidity for children from specific ethnic groups. These results can inform culturally sensitive clinical interventions for urban children with asthma whose health outcomes lag far behind their non-Latino White counterparts.