Measuring multiple minority stress: the LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals who are also racial/ethnic minorities (LGBT-POC) are a multiply marginalized population subject to microaggressions associated with both racism and heterosexism. To date, research on this population has been hampered by the lack of a measurement tool to assess the unique experiences associated with the intersection of these oppressions. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a three-phase, mixed method empirical study to assess microaggressions among LGBT-POC. The LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale is an 18-item self-report scale assessing the unique types of microaggressions experienced by ethnic minority LGBT adults. The measure includes three subscales: (a) Racism in LGBT communities, (b) Heterosexism in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities, and (c) Racism in Dating and Close Relationships, that are theoretically consistent with prior literature on racial/ethnic minority LGBTs and have strong psychometric properties including internal consistency and construct validity in terms of correlations with measures of psychological distress and LGBT-identity variables. Men scored higher on the LGBT-PCMS than women, lesbians and gay men scored higher than bisexual women and men, and Asian Americans scored higher than African Americans and Latina/os.     

Prejudice expectations moderate preconscious attention to cues that are threatening to social identity

Two studies examined whether chronic and situational expectations about being stigmatized predict attention toward cues that are threatening to social identity. In Study 1, women's chronic expectations about experiencing sexism were positively associated with their attention toward subliminal cues threatening to their social identity. In Study 2, women were vigilant toward subliminal cues threatening to their social identity when the experimental situation conveyed that their gender was devalued, but not when the experimental situation promoted value and respect for their gender. Women were vigilant toward consciously presented cues threatening to their social identity regardless of the attitudes the experimental context conveyed toward their group. These studies have important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the psychological experience of possessing a devalued social identity.     

A secure base: responsive support of goal strivings and exploration in adult intimate relationships

A theoretical framework is proposed for examining the interpersonal processes involved in the support of a relationship partner's goal strivings, personal growth, and exploratory behavior, and for examining consequences of receiving either responsive or unresponsive support in this domain. These processes were examined using both observational and experimental methods. In Phase 1, couples were videotaped as they discussed personal goals for the future. In Phase 2, support behavior was experimentally manipulated to examine immediate effects on the recipient. Results indicated that responsive (nonintrusive) support of a relationship partner's goal strivings and explorations have important implications for the recipient's happiness, self-esteem, and perceived likelihood of achieving specific goals. The importance of research examining this type of support is discussed.     

Working models of attachment shape perceptions of social support: evidence from experimental and observational studies

Two studies examined the association between attachment style and perceptions of social support. Study 1 (N = 95 couples) used an experimental paradigm to manipulate social support in the context of a stressful task. Insecure participants (anxious and avoidant) who received low-support messages appraised these messages more negatively, rated a prior behavioral interaction with their partner as having been less supportive, and performed significantly worse at their task compared with secure participants. Study 2 (N = 153 couples) used a similar paradigm except that partners were allowed to send genuine support messages. Insecure participants (especially fearful) perceived their partners' messages as less supportive, even after controlling for independent ratings of the messages and relationship-specific expectations. These studies provide evidence that individuals are predisposed to appraise their support experiences in ways that are consistent with their chronic working models of attachment, especially when the support message is ambiguous.     

Development of a school-wide behavior program in a public middle school: an illustration of deployment-focused intervention development, stage 1

School-wide behavior management systems can improve academic performance and behavior in middle schools, and they should have positive effects on students with ADHD. Unfortunately, evidence-based, school-wide behavior management systems have not been widely adopted because of problems with feasibility, acceptability, and sustainability. The Deployment-Focused Model of Intervention Development and Testing has been proposed as a promising method of bridging the gap between research and practice settings. A key aspect of the model is to involve the persons most likely to deliver the service (e.g., teachers) in the intervention development process from the very beginning. To illustrate this process, the authors describe the planning and implementation of a school-wide program designed to improve behavior in a public middle school.     

A prospective investigation of the relationship between just-world beliefs and the desire for revenge after September 11, 2001

We prospectively examined the relationship between individuals' belief in a just world and their desire for revenge against the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. Eighty-three undergraduate students who had completed a measure of just-world beliefs prior to the terrorist attacks were assessed approximately 2 months following the attacks. The more strongly they had endorsed just-world beliefs prior to the attacks, the more distressed they felt about the attacks and the more they desired revenge. Furthermore, the relationship between belief in a just world and the desire for revenge was mediated by feelings of distress in response to the terrorist attacks. The results point to the importance of justice beliefs in understanding responses to the terrorist attacks.     

Inferior olive lesions impair concurrent taste aversion learning in rats.

Taste aversion learning can be established according to two different procedures, concurrent and sequential. For the concurrent task, two different taste stimuli are offered at the same time, one associated with simultaneous intragastric administration of an aversive stimulus and the other associated with physiological saline. This discrimination is learned by sham-lesioned control animals and by animals with lesions in the cerebellar cortex but not by rats lesioned in the inferior olive. At the same time, animals with lesions in the inferior olive and sham-lesioned animals achieve sequential learning when the gustatory stimuli are offered individually during each daily session. The results obtained show that electrolytic lesions in the inferior olive impair acquisition of concurrent learning and are analyzed in terms of an anatomical system consisting of the vagus nerve, inferior olive, and cerebellum, which differentiates between the two modalities of taste aversion learning, concurrent and sequential.     

Modulation of the palmar grasp behavior in neonates according to texture property

The study investigates the newborn's grasping behavior according to the texture property of an object. 22 full term healthy newborns were tested with their right hand. Eleven babies were exposed to a first condition in which the spontaneous manual activity on an object with a smooth texture was recorded. Eleven babies were exposed to an another condition: they hold the very same object than those presented in the baseline condition except that thin pearls were added on its surface, increasing its roughness. The results provide evidence for the existence of a modulation of hand activity according to the texture property of the object. The nature of this modulatory capacity of the hand is discussed.     

Relapse of anxiety-related fear and avoidance: Conceptual analysis of treatment with acceptance and commitment therapy

Excessive fear and avoidance in relatively safe situations can lead to a narrowing of one's behavioral repertoire and less engagement with valued aspects of living. Ultimately, these processes can reach clinical levels, as seen in anxiety, trauma, and obsessive–compulsive disorders. Research on the basic behavioral processes underlying successful treatment with exposure therapy is growing, yet little is known about the mechanisms contributing to clinical relapse. Until recently, these mechanisms have largely been conceptualized in terms of Pavlovian return of fear, with relatively little research into operant processes. In the current paper, we briefly review translational research in anxiety disorders and the connections between fear and avoidance, focusing on recent work in the acquisition, extinction, and relapse of avoidance behavior and the generalization of this learning through arbitrary symbolic relations. We then introduce one possible treatment approach to mitigating clinical relapse, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and provide a conceptual analysis for why ACT may be especially well-situated to address this issue. Finally, we end with potential directions for future research on treatment and relapse of anxiety disorders.     

Association between chemosensory stimuli and cesarean delivery in rat fetuses: neonatal presentation of similar stimuli increases motor activity

Recent studies conducted in this laboratory indicated that prenatal chemosensory stimulation followed by cesarean delivery strongly affected postnatal responsiveness to odors derived from the administered substances. The present experiments were performed in order to examine if an associative process was responsible for such effects. In Experiment 1 rat fetuses during Gestational Day 21 were exposed to a tenuous alcohol solution or to a lemon-containing solution either 40 or 10 min prior to cesarean delivery. All subjects were subsequently tested in terms of changes in neonatal motor activity when confronted with the odor of alcohol or lemon. Rats experiencing prenatal cues 10 min prior to delivery exhibited higher and differential responsiveness to the smell of these cues when compared to those experiencing similar solutions 40 min prior to delivery. In Experiment 2 each fetus sequentially experienced both cues. Subsequent tests confirmed that the delay between prenatal sensory experience and birth induction was critical in terms of significantly affecting olfactory-mediated motor responses. The results suggest that consequences related with cesarean delivery act as an unconditioned stimulus capable of being associated with orosensory cues present in the amniotic fluid.