Electrophysiological responses to auditory novelty in temperamentally different 9‐month‐old infants

Behavioral reactivity to novel stimuli in the first half‐year of life has been identified as a key aspect of early temperament and a significant precursor of approach and withdrawal tendencies to novelty in later infancy and early childhood. The current study examines the neural signatures of reactivity to novel auditory stimuli in 9‐month‐old infants in relation to prior temperamental reactivity. On the basis of the assessment of behavioral reactivity scores at 4 months of age, infants were classified into groups of high negatively reactive and high positively reactive infants. Along with an unselected control group, these groups of temperamentally different infants were given a three‐stimulus auditory oddball task at 9 months of age which employed frequent standard and infrequent deviant tones as well as a set of complex novel sounds. In comparison to high positively reactive and control infants, high negatively reactive infants displayed increased amplitude of a positive slow wave in the ERP response to deviant tones compared to standard tones. In contrast, high positively reactive infants showed a larger novelty P3 to the complex novel sounds. Results are discussed in terms of optimal levels of novelty for temperamentally different infants.     

Theorizing Hyphenated Selves: Researching Youth Development in and across Contentious Political Contexts

In this article, we present social–psychological notions about critical consciousness, change, and power that we consider foundational to the study of youth under siege. Relying on Lewin's field theory and Du Bois' dual consciousness, and critical psychology literature on sociopolitical understandings of conflict, we propose a new conceptual and theoretical framework that we call 'hyphenated selves' to better understand youth identity in and across contentious political contexts. Specifically, we report briefly on our own work with Muslim-American youth in the US post-9/11 and post–'war on terror' as a context from which we may reflect on a social psychology of youth identity and global conflict. At the same time, we want to think forward about critical methods for researching complicated subjectivities across politically and culturally contentious terrains.     

The effects of internal versus external information processing on symptom perception in an exercise setting

The purpose of our study was to determine the effects of internal versus external attentional focus on symptom perception and performance in an exercise setting. Fifteen introductory psychology undergraduates ran 1 mile under each of three experimental conditions: "word-cue," in which subjects were required to focus externally by listening for a target word heard repeatedly over headphones; "breathing," in which subjects were directed to attend to their own breathing and heart rate; and a control. Results indicated that participants reported significantly less symptomatology, particularly exercise-relevant symptoms, in the word-cue condition than in the breathing or control conditions. The findings are discussed with reference to previous theory in this area, and methodological differences between this and earlier research are delineated.     

Estimation of psychometric functions from adaptive tracking procedures.

Because adaptive tracking procedures are designed to avoid stimulus levels far from a target threshold value, the psychometric function constructed from the trial-by-trial data in the track may be accurate near the target level but a poor reflection of performance at levels far removed from the target. A series of computer simulations was undertaken to assess the reliability and accuracy of psychometric functions generated from data collected in up-down adaptive tracking procedures. Estimates of psychometric function slopes were obtained from trial-by-trial data in simulated adaptive tracks and compared with the true characteristics of the functions used to generate the tracks. Simulations were carried out for three psychophysical procedures and two target performance levels, with tracks generated by psychometric functions with three different slopes. The functions reconstructed from the tracking data were, for the most part, accurate reflections of the true generating functions when at least 200 trials were included in the tracks. However, for 50- and 100-trial tracks, slope estimates were biased high for all simulated experimental conditions. Correction factors for slope estimates from these tracks are presented. There was no difference in the accuracy and reliability of slope estimation due to target level for the adaptive track, and only minor differences due to psychophysical procedure. It is recommended that, if both threshold and slope of psychometric functions are to be estimated from the trial-by-trial tracking data, at least 100 trials should be included in the tracks, and a three- or four-alternative forced-choice procedure should be used. However, good estimates can also be obtained using the two-alternative forced-choice procedure or less than 100 trials if appropriate corrections for bias are applied.     

Gender and family therapy: Adding a bi-level belief systems component to assessment

This article proposes that most couples requesting therapy describe gender socialized patterns as part of their relationship issues. Adding a component to assessment derived from principles of strategic and systemic family therapies and post-modernist feminist psychology which examines the couple's gendered belief system context is described. The belief system context is identified as the family's epistemology about gendering at the family belief system and sociocultural belief system level contexts. Three dimensions of the gendered belief system and a method for assessing the functionality of the belief system are discussed.     

Parental Attachment and gender-role identity

The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory were given to 218 primarily middle class college students of whom 90% were Caucasian. A 2 × 4 × 2 univariate factorial analysis of variance was used to examine the association of attachment level with gender, gender-role identity, and the within subjects factor of attachment figure. Feminine and androgynous individuals reported significantly higher levels of parental attachment than those classified as masculine and undifferentiated. There were also similar multivariate differences among the gender-role categories on the IPPA subscales of Communication, Trust, and Alienation. Across all participants, attachment to mother was higher than to father. Although there were no overall gender differences in parental attachment, females reported higher peer attachment.This paper is based on a master's thesis submitted in May of 1993 to the Graduate School of Texas Woman's University. This research appeared as a poster presentation at the 1994 annual convention of the American Psychological Association.