Predicting voting behavior with implicit attitude measures: the 2002 German parliamentary election

Implicit measures of attitudes are commonly seen to be primarily capable of predicting spontaneous behavior. However, evidence exists that these measures can also improve the prediction of more deliberate behavior. In a prospective study we tested the hypothesis that Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures of the five major political parties in Germany would improve the prediction of voting behavior over and above explicit self-report measures in the 2002 parliamentary elections. Additionally we tested whether general interest in politics moderates the relationship between explicit and implicit attitude measures. The results support our hypotheses. Implications for predictive models of explicitly and implicitly measured attitudes are discussed.     

Taking the Focus Away from the Self: Low Individualism Mediates the Effect of Oxytocin on Creativity

Recently, it has been shown that the hormone oxytocin can enable creative cognition. The aim of this investigation was to examine the psychological mechanism via which oxytocin influences creativity. Two opposing explanatory approaches suggested by previous research were investigated: It was predicted that the effect of oxytocin on creativity would be determined by low versus high individualism, especially in people with low levels of anxiety. Participants filled out an anxiety questionnaire and intranasally administered oxytocin or a placebo. After a 40-min waiting period, they performed a creativity task and indicated their level of individualism. Participants with low levels of anxiety showed heightened creative potential under oxytocin, and this relationship was mediated by low individualism. The results could not be explained by changes in the participants’ affective state. The findings underscore the moderating role of dispositional factors and reveal an important factor to understand the role of oxytocin in human behavior.     

Why Is Cancer Genetic Counseling Underutilized by Women Identified as at Risk for Hereditary Breast Cancer? Patient Perceptions of Barriers Following a Referral Letter

Family history information comprises an important tool in identifying and referring patients at risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) to cancer genetic counseling. Despite recommendations and support provided by numerous professional organizations, cancer genetic counseling services are underutilized by atrisk patients. This study aimed to: (1) determine the rate of genetic counseling utilization following a referral letter, (2) characterize factors (barriers and supports) which influenced uptake of services, and (3) identify potential strategies for increasing utilization. This study evaluated the uptake of cancer genetic counseling among 603 screening mammography patients identified as having an increased risk for HBOC based on National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. At risk individuals and their primary care providers were mailed a referral letter recommending genetic counseling. Three focus groups (N = 24) were conducted to identify responses to receiving a letter recommending genetic counseling, barriers to seeking genetic counseling, and facilitating factors to utilizing these services. Participant responses were qualitatively analyzed using thematic and cross case analysis. Within one year, 50/603 (8 %) of the identified at-risk women completed a genetic counseling appointment. Participant-perceived barriers which influenced their decision not to seek genetic counseling included lack of relevance and utility, limited knowledge about genetic counseling, concerns about the genetic counseling process, and concerns about cost and insurance coverage. Participant-perceived facilitating factors which would support a decision to seek genetic counseling included greater awareness and education about genetic counseling services when receiving a referral, and improved follow up and guidance from their provider. Findings from this study support the need for patient and primary care provider education, and improved provider-patient communication to increase uptake of genetic counseling services.     

Why didn’t you say something? Effects of after-event reviews on voice behaviour and hierarchy beliefs in multi-professional action teams

Team decision-making can go wrong when individuals fear to voice suggestions or concerns to higher status team members. We investigate how after-event reviews (AERs) can be used to promote voice behaviour and hierarchy-attenuating beliefs in multi-professional action teams. We hypothesized that (1) lower status team members will speak up more following an assertiveness-specific AER (ASAER) as compared to a teamwork-generic AER (TGAER) and (2) that an ASAER leads to stronger endorsement of hierarchy-attenuating beliefs than the TGAER. To test these hypotheses, we implemented simulations of medical emergencies with 20 healthcare teams consisting of low (i.e., nurses) and high-status (i.e., physicians) professions. After participating in one of the two AERs, teams managed a simulation in which a higher status confederate engaged in potentially harmful actions. Behavioural coding of the videotaped simulations and assessment of team members’ hierarchy beliefs supported both hypotheses: nurses spoke up more following the ASAER than following the TGAER and both professional groups reported significantly higher levels of hierarchy-attenuating beliefs following the ASAER as compared to the TGAER. We discuss how AERs can affect upward voice and increase awareness for the potential downsides of status hierarchies in multi-professional teams.     

Implicated reading: a method for reflecting on practice

This paper evaluates an attempt by the author to operationalise the theory of reflective practice within the context of initial teacher education. Whilst an integral element of many teacher education programmes, the problematic of ‘how’ to reflect on practice remains a concern. In response, and taking inspiration from the work of Deleuze and Guattari, specifically their critique of representational thought and common understandings of text, the author experiments with a method for reflecting called implicated reading. The method involves the reading of students’ lived experiences as beginning teachers (recorded in written form), against a variety of other texts. The author draws on interview data to analyse and discuss the merits of the approach. The paper concludes that the method of implicated reading has the potential to unsettle the common tendency to focus on meaning and interpretation when reflecting on events and experiences. It is argued that the student teachers involved in the project instead begin to experience reflection as a process of connectivity, rethinking pedagogy as a result.     

The Chances for Children Teen Parent–Infant Project: Results of a pilot intervention for teen mothers and their infants in inner city high schools

Adolescent motherhood poses serious challenges to mothers, to infants, and ultimately to society, particularly if the teen mother is part of a minority population living in an urban environment. This study examines the effects of a treatment intervention targeting low‐income, high‐risk teen mothers and their infants in the context of public high schools where daycare is available onsite. Our findings confirm the initial hypothesis that mothers who received intervention would improve their interactions with their infants in the areas of responsiveness, affective availability, and directiveness. In addition, infants in the treatment group were found to increase their interest in mother, respond more positively to physical contact, and improve their general emotional tone, which the comparison infants did not. Importantly, these findings remain even within the subset of mothers who scored above the clinical cutoff for depression on the Center for Epidemiological Studies‐Depression Scale (CES‐D; L. Radloff, 1977), confirming that it is possible to improve mother–infant interaction without altering the mother's underlying depression. The implications of these findings are significant both because it is more difficult and requires more time to alter maternal depression than maternal behavior and because maternal depression has been found to have such devastating effects on infants.     

“We All Have Feelings for Our Girlfriends:” Progressive (?) Representations of Lesbian Lives on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">The L Word</Emphasis>

The Showtime series The L Word (2004–2009) marked one of the first dramatized representations of prominent lesbian characters. While many popular culture scholars are focusing attention on the recent “gaying” of television narrative (e.g., Battles and Hilton-Morrow in Critical Studies in Media Communication 19: 87–105, 2002; Shugart in Text and Performance Quarterly 23: 30–54, 2003; Critical Studies in Media Communication 20: 67–91, 2003), far less attention is given to non-romantic interpersonal relationships surrounding main characters in these narratives. Sexuality scholarship notes that lesbian individuals must negotiate their self-disclosure to heterosexuals (Dindia in Dialectical approaches to studying personal relationships, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., Mahwah, NJ, 1998), and that this can be challenging for forming relationships and maintaining identity (Meyer in Communication Quarterly 51: 262–276, 2004). Ultimately, this essay argues that despite the gains in visibility and even in intimacy, The L Word articulates an ideology of avoidance whereby the underlying problems of heterosexism and homophobia are left unchallenged.     

Effects of a companion dog on associations of danger and threat with oriental-looking targets

In the current study we extend previous findings on the shooter bias toward targets with Arab ethnicity. In an adapted shooter task, we presented stereotypically oriental-looking targets without explicit symbols of Islam (e.g., a turban) and additionally tested if presenting a “harmless” companion dog, together with Arab versus White targets, would affect the shooter bias. Participants responded faster and made fewer errors for armed Arab than for armed White targets. Moreover, compared to the “neutral” no dog condition, the presence of a dog triggered fewer false alarms for White than for Arab targets and slowed down (correct) responses in general. Implications and potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.