The Ecological Veracity of the Self-Report

Sixty-five fourth- and fifth-grade boys were run in a two-choice discrimination learning task for punishment, high or low value reinforcement, or the combination of punishment with high or low value reinforcement. A significant main effect of reinforcement revealed that only Ss in the punishment group showed significant evidence of learning. The results were discussed as possibly being due to the distraction caused by tangible reinforcement; although, an alternative explanation was offered on the basis of previous findings that males perform better for punishment than for reward.     

Biased-Interaction Theory of Psychosexual Development: “How Does One Know if One is Male or Female?”

Eighty-nine black women’s racial and gender identities were examined within an intersectional framework that emphasized their unique integration of these identities. Quantitative analyses indicated that the intersected black-woman identity was more important than the individual identities of woman and black person. Further, interference in the black identity (but not interference in the woman identity) was related to lower self-esteem and depression. Qualitative analyses of rewards and difficulties experienced as black women identified four themes: stereotyping and discrimination, personal esteem, isolation from others, and opportunities and resources. Black women who mentioned any reward reported higher self-esteem than those who did not. The value of an intersectional framework for thinking about black women’s identities is discussed.     

Processes of overall similarity sorting in free classification

The processes of overall similarity sorting were investigated in 5 free classification experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that increasing time pressure can reduce the likelihood of overall similarity categorization. Experiment 3 showed that a concurrent load also reduced overall similarity sorting. These findings suggest that overall similarity sorting can be a time-consuming analytic process. Such results appear contrary to the idea that overall similarity is a nonanalytic process (e.g., T. B. Ward, 1983) but are in line with F. N. Milton and A. J. Wills's (2004) dimensional summation hypothesis and with the stochastic sampling assumptions of the extended generalized context model (K. Lamberts, 2000). Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that the relationship between stimulus presentation time and overall similarity sorting is nonmonotonic, and the shape of the function is consistent with the idea that the three aforementioned processes operate over different parts of the time course.     

Shame as a prospective predictor of self-inflicted injury in borderline personality disorder: A multi-modal analysis

The primary aim of this study was to examine the prospective association of shame with self-inflicted injury (SII), including suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury, among women with borderline personality disorder (BPD) who were enrolled in a clinical trial (N = 77). A multi-method approach was used to assess self-reported shame, nonverbal shame behaviors, and assessor ratings of shame during an interview regarding antecedents for a recent episode of SII. Higher levels of nonverbal shame behaviors predicted a higher likelihood of subsequent SII, and shorter time to SII, after controlling for past SII as well as other emotions associated with SII. Self-reported state shame and assessor ratings of shame were associated with prospective SII, but not after controlling for other emotions. These findings underscore the important role of shame in SII, particularly shame in the presence of contextual prompts for events that surround episodes of SII.     

Identifying the multi-risk family prenatally: Antecedent psychosocial factors and infant developmental trends

Little is known about the relationship between mother and infant within multiproblem, so-called “hard to reach” families. In an effort to understand factors contributing to problems in caring for the young children of these parents, a group of 47 families was recruited for study by the Clinical Infant Development Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. Serious social pathology was found within 75 percent of families. The lives of mothers in these families was marked by long term disruptions: 64 percent were from families characterized by recurring poverty and psychiatric illness, and 69 percent reported disruptions in parental care prior to age twelve, while more than two-thirds reported a history of being physically and/or sexually abused as children. More than 75 percent of this group of women presently showed psychiatric distress. Many of these women have difficulty in providing adequately for their young children and require innovative intervention programs in order to facilitate parenting.