Characteristics of Buddhism in Australia

Research on Buddhism in Australia has tended to focus on demographics, ethnic identity and the migrant experience, and history. This paper uses the literature and material from Internet sites on Australian Buddhist groups to identify characteristics of Buddhism in Australia; it aims to both contribute to the understanding of the growth of Buddhism in Australia and to facilitate comparison with similar studies of American and European forms of Buddhism. New information is presented on the number of Buddhist groups in Australia, their geographical location, and the traditions and lineages represented. It is made apparent that more detailed information is needed, and suggestions are made for further research in a variety of areas.     

Construct-oriented Biodata Development for Selection to a Differentiated Performance Domain

This study describes the development of a multidimensional biodata form which used explicit constructs to guide item generation and rational scale development, construct validation, criterion measurement and empirical keying. These constructs were goal-orientation, teamwork, customer service, resourcefulness, learning ability and leadership. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in both applicant and incumbent samples were used to identify and test the model which included the thirteen, more differentiated rational scales relating to these six, broader constructs. Empirical keying of the rationally developed scales was conducted against criterion construct scales conceptually related to each predictor construct. Empirical keying at the item level was found to result in higher validities and cross-validities than either empirical keying at the scale level, or rational keying. The item keyed instrument also demonstrated incremental validity over a test of cognitive ability for specific work performance domains as well as overall work performance.     

Alcohol and aggression: a test of the attention-allocation model

This article presents the first systematic test of the attention-allocation model for alcohol-related aggression. According to this model, alcohol has a "myopic" effect on attentional capacity that presumably facilitates aggression by focusing attention on more salient provocative, rather than less salient inhibitory, cues in hostile situations. Aggression was assessed using a laboratory task in which mild electric shocks were received from, and administered to, a fictitious opponent. Study 1 demonstrated that a moderate-load cognitive distractor suppressed aggression in intoxicated subjects (to levels even lower than those exhibited by a placebo control group). Study 2 assessed how varying the magnitude of a distracting cognitive load affected aggression in the alcohol and placebo conditions. Results indicated that the moderate-load distraction used in Study 1 (i.e., holding four elements in sequential order in working memory) suppressed aggression best. Cognitive loads of larger and smaller magnitudes were not successful in attenuating aggression.     

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.     

How a thing is called—A study of mothers' and children's naming

Mothers' selections of category names in object-naming tasks were examined using the levels of categorization defined by Eleanor Rosch (E. Rosch. In T. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language, New York: Academic Press, 1973. E. Rosch. In E. Rosch & B. Lloyd (Eds.), Cognition and categorization. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1978. E. Rosch, C. Mervis, W. Gray, D. Johnson, & P. Boyes-Braem. Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 8, 382–439). The effect of three variables—Presentation Context, Taxonomy, and Age (of person for whom mother was naming the items)—on mothers' choice of category names, was also investigated. The stimuli were 36 photographs of common concrete objects representative of four taxonomies. Forty mothers named the stimulus items for their 2-year-olds (N = 20), for their 4-year-olds (N = 20), and for the Experimenter. The category labels that children of both ages used when naming the same items, and mothers' independent predictions of the names their children would use in the naming task, were recorded. Contextual factors were found to have a primary role in determining mothers' selections of category names and the three independent variables had a complex and dynamic effect on mothers' naming practices.     

Apathy is Associated with Critical Psychological Determinants of Medication Adherence in HIV Disease

Apathy is common in HIV, separable from depression, and has been associated with non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). We examined the associations between apathy and critical psychological determinants of ART adherence, as per the information-motivation-behavioral model, in 85 persons living with HIV. Apathy was measured using a composite of the apathy subscale of the Frontal Systems Behavioral Scale and the vigor-activation scale of the Profile of Mood States. Independent of major depressive disorder, apathy was related at small-to-medium effect sizes with motivation to adhere and self-efficacy for health-related decision-making and medication management, but not with HIV knowledge or medication management skills. These findings suggest that apathy plays a unique role in several critical health adherence determinants and support the importance of assessment and management of apathy to maximize health outcomes among individuals with HIV disease.

     

Cognitive behaviour therapy of acute stress disorder: a four-year follow-up

The aim of this study was to index the long-term benefits of early provision of cognitive behavior therapy to trauma survivors with acute stress disorder. Civilian trauma survivors (n = 80) with acute stress disorder were randomly allocated to either cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or supportive counseling (SC) - 69 completed treatment, and 41 were assessed four years post-treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. Two CBT patients (8%) and four SC patients (25%) met PTSD criteria at four-year follow-up. Patients who received CBT reported less intense PTSD symptoms, and particularly less frequent and less avoidance symptoms, than patients who received SC. These findings suggest that early provision of CBT in the initial month after trauma has long-term benefits for people who are at risk of developing PTSD.     

Emergence of a cue strategy preference on the water maze task in aged C57B6 x SJL F1 hybrid mice

The effects of age on cue learning, spatial reference memory, and strategy preference were assessed in B6 × SJL F1 mice by using the Morris water maze. This mouse strain is of particular interest because it is the background strain for a common transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease, the Tg2576 mouse, which develops plaques and other neurobiological markers of pathology beginning at 8 mo and increasing in severity with advanced age. In the current study, 12- and 23-mo-old C57B6 × SJL F1 mice were serially trained in cue and place versions of the Morris water maze task. At the completion of training, mice received a strategy probe test in which place (hidden) and cue (visible) strategies were in competition. Cue and spatial learning ability was maintained between 12 and 23 mo of age; however, on the strategy preference probe test, the 23-mo-old mice exhibited a significant bias toward the selection of a cue strategy. There was no relationship between strategy preference in the probe test and spatial learning ability, but the 23-mo-old mice did exhibit a strong trend toward shorter latencies during visible platform training, possibly reflecting the enhanced function of striatal-based neural systems in aging. These data demonstrate that 23-mo-old C57B6 × SJL F1 mice are capable of effective place learning, but if a place strategy is pitted against the use of a cue strategy, the use of a cue strategy predominates in the aged mice. The strategy preference observed here may reflect an emergence of differential processing in underlying brain circuitry with age in the B6 × SJL F1 mouse strain.