Can I trust you? Negative affective priming influences social judgments in schizophrenia

Successful social interactions rely on the ability to make accurate judgments based on social cues as well as the ability to control the influence of internal or external affective information on those judgments. Prior research suggests that individuals with schizophrenia misinterpret social stimuli and this misinterpretation contributes to impaired social functioning. We tested the hypothesis that for people with schizophrenia, social judgments are abnormally influenced by affective information. Twenty-three patients with schizophrenia and 35 healthy control participants rated the trustworthiness of faces following the presentation of neutral, negative (threat-related), or positive affective primes. Results showed that all participants rated faces following negative affective primes as less trustworthy than faces following neutral or positive primes. Importantly, this effect was significantly more pronounced for participants with schizophrenia, suggesting that schizophrenia may be characterized by an exaggerated influence of negative affective information on social judgment. Furthermore, the extent that the negative affective prime influenced trustworthiness judgments was significantly associated with patients' severity of positive symptoms, particularly feelings of persecution. These findings suggest that for people with schizophrenia, negative affective information contributes to an interpretive bias, consistent with paranoid ideation, when judging the trustworthiness of others. This bias may contribute to social impairments in schizophrenia.     

Trajectories of emotional well-being in mothers of adolescents and adults with autism

Raising an adolescent or adult child with a developmental disability confers exceptional caregiving challenges on parents. We examined trajectories of 2 indicators of emotional well-being (depressive symptoms and anxiety) in a sample of primarily Caucasian mothers (N = 379; M age = 51.22 years at Time 1) of adolescent and adult children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; M age = 21.91 years at Time 1, 73.2% male). We also investigated within-person associations of child context time-varying covariates (autism symptoms, behavior problems, residential status) and maternal context time-varying covariates (social support network size and stressful family events) with the trajectories of emotional well-being. Data were collected on 5 occasions across a 10-year period. Average patterns of stable (depressive symptoms) and improved (anxiety) emotional well-being were evident, and well-being trajectories were sensitive to fluctuations in both child and maternal context variables. On occasions when behavior problems were higher, depressive symptoms and anxiety were higher. On occasions after which the grown child moved out of the family home, anxiety was lower. Anxiety was higher on occasions when social support networks were smaller and when more stressful life events were experienced. These results have implications for midlife and aging families of children with an ASD and those who provide services to these families.     

Evaluation of the immediate and subsequent effects of response interruption and redirection on vocal stereotypy

We evaluated 2 3-component multiple-schedule sequences-a response interruption and redirection (RIRD) treatment sequence and a no-interaction control sequence-using a multielement design. With this design, we were able to evaluate the immediate and subsequent effects of RIRD on 2 participants' vocal stereotypy. For both participants, RIRD produced an immediate decrease in vocal stereotypy and did not result in a subsequent increase.     

Perception of personal identity at home

This study aims to discover whether observers with the same cultural background as the inhabitant of a bedroom perceive common characteristics among the inhabitants. The study was carried out with 107 females who were asked to assess the inhabitants of eight bedrooms. Several slides of each bedroom were shown to participants and they had to choose from a list of seventy-six characteristics those that defined the resident of each bedroom. Results revealed that socio-demographic variables thus attributed coincided with the profiles of the inhabitants. A correspondence analysis brought to light a dimension linked to affective aspects, which was more prominent among women; whereas among men the characteristics thus attributed were more linked to practical aspects and to difficulties for social interaction. A second study was conducted to determine whether gender stereotype had any influence on the result of the previous study. The outcomes showed that this stereotype did not have any effect on the participants' judgments.     

Death Anxiety and Symbolic Immortality in Relatives at Risk for Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy Type I (FAP I,ATTR V30M)

This study is an investigation of the impact of familial amyloid polyneuropathy type I (FAP I, ATTR V30M) on death anxiety and symbolic immortality. Templer and Drolet’s scales were administered to 524 individuals: (1) 84 relatives at risk, (2) 92 relatives not at risk for FAP I; and (3) a control group (n = 348) with no known hereditary disease in their families. At-risk relatives had, on average, a higher score for death anxiety and a lower score for symbolic immortality, than either those not-at-risk or controls. There were no significant differences in scores on either measure for those not-at-risk versus controls. Being at risk increases death anxiety and threatens the sense of symbolic immortality and psychosocial wellbeing. This may be true for other serious hereditary disorders as well. Genetic counsellors should become familiar with these concepts, feel comfortable initiating discussions about death with their patients, and be able to identify and reinforce their patients’ and family members’ sense of symbolic immortality.     

L’observance et certains de ses déterminants dans les maladies inflammatoires chroniques de l’intestin (MICI)

Factors that favor compliance are not constant in researches about IBD patients. The objective of this study is to determine, in a 79 compliant subjects sample, the links between factors themselves which influence observance: depression, alexithymia, causal attributions, health subjective quality of life, the relation with the physician, the health state evaluation and the rapport between therapeutic benefit/side effects (CGI). Results show that patients comprehend independently factors that motivate them to have treatment and seriousness of their health state. If the relationship established with the physician is perceived as fundamental, personal controllability does not seem essential in compliance. So, it seems important to consider more specifically the link between patient's perceived control and physician's perceived control of the disease.     

The influence of culture on teacher commitment

Culture is believed to be an important factor that influences various aspects of human life, such as behaviour, thinking, perceptions and attitudes. This article examines the similarities and differences in the influence of culture on teacher commitment in three types of Malaysian primary schools. Since commitment to teaching has rarely been investigated in the field of education, it is necessary to identify initially the dimensions of teacher commitment and their interrelationships that are likely to operate in schools. Each of the three types of schools in which this study is conducted is related to one of the three major cultural groups in Malaysia, namely, the Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures. An investigation is undertaken of the similarities and differences between these three groups with respect to cultural orientation with school leadership, in-school working conditions and teacher commitment as the criteria. The statistical analysis, conducted at the teacher level, is path analysis with latent variables using partial least squares regression to estimate the direct and indirect effects for the different ethnic groups of the main variables on teacher commitment. The differences reported between groups are of sufficient strength to argue that analysis with pooled data are largely inappropriate and consideration needs to be given to separate analysis for the various cultural subgroups both within a country and between countries where the effects of culture are largely different.     

The serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism and childhood positive and negative emotionality

Association studies of the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and negative emotionality (NE) are inconclusive. However, emerging evidence suggests that the association between this polymorphism and NE may be influenced by levels of another temperament trait, positive emotionality (PE). Therefore, this study examined whether the association between the 5-HTTLPR and NE was moderated by PE. A community sample of 413 three-year-old children completed a standardized battery of laboratory tasks designed to tap temperamental emotionality. Children were also genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR. No direct association between 5-HTTLPR genotype and NE was found. However, the interaction of child PE and NE predicted 5-HTTLPR genotype. Furthermore, children with a short allele who were also low in PE had significantly greater NE than children without a short allele or children with high PE. Our findings suggest that the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR is associated with NE only in the context of low PE. Inconsistent links between NE and this gene in previous research may stem from the failure to consider other temperament traits that moderate associations.     

Peer harassment and satisfaction with appearance in children with and without a facial difference

This study investigated associations between perceived peer harassment and satisfaction with appearance in the presence or absence of a facial difference. A cross-sectional sample of 661 children aged 10 or 16, with a cleft lip and/or palate, completed measures of satisfaction with appearance and peer harassment. Results indicated that the presence of a visible versus a nonvisible cleft was not associated with appearance dissatisfaction or higher levels of peer harassment for children aged 10 or for adolescent boys. Peer harassment was related to dissatisfaction with appearance in both age groups. In the adolescent group, there was an interaction between cleft visibility and gender, girls with a visible cleft being least satisfied with appearance. However, the association between cleft visibility and satisfaction with appearance was fully mediated by experiences of peer harassment. The results highlight the need to further explore the role of social interactions for subjective perceptions of appearance.     

Automatic imitation of biomechanically possible and impossible actions: effects of priming movements versus goals

Recent behavioral, neuroimaging, and neurophysiological research suggests a common representational code mediating the observation and execution of actions; yet, the nature of this representational code is not well understood. The authors address this question by investigating (a) whether this observation-execution matching system (or mirror system) codes both the constituent movements of an action as well as its goal and (b) how such sensitivity is influenced by top-down effects of instructions. The authors tested the automatic imitation of observed finger actions while manipulating whether the movements were biomechanically possible or impossible, but holding the goal constant. When no mention was made of this difference (Experiment 1), comparable automatic imitation was elicited from possible and impossible actions, suggesting that the actions had been coded at the level of the goal. When attention was drawn to this difference (Experiment 2), however, only possible movements elicited automatic imitation. This sensitivity was specific to imitation, not affecting spatial stimulus-response compatibility (Experiment 3). These results suggest that automatic imitation is modulated by top-down influences, coding actions in terms of both movements and goals depending on the focus of attention.