Family connectedness and women's sexual risk behaviors: implications for the prevention/intervention of STD/HIV infection

The present study explores the relationship between connectedness with the intergenerational family and women's sexual risk-taking as a guide to the development of family-focused prevention and intervention. Cross-sectional interview data from a pilot study were analyzed for correlations between a number of self-reported, risky sexual practices, the range of extended family members with whom the respondent was in contact, and awareness of stories pertaining to intergenerational family history. Structured interviews were administered by female interviewers to 56 women from two contexts: a STD (sexually transmitted disease) Clinic (N = 26), and an inner-city, Hispanic Community Organization (N = 30). Knowledge of stories about grandparents or great-grandparents was a robust predictor of lower sexual risk-taking in the STD Clinic sample. This relationship persisted, but only at the trend level in the Community Organization sample. In both the total sample and the STD subsample, the number of categories of extended family members with whom a respondent was in at least monthly contact was correlated with less sexual risk-taking. Given the fundamental importance of the family system as the primary social unit, these findings argue for further family theory-based research and for its potential application in the development of health prevention and intervention. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Accuracy of target detection in new-object and old-object displays

In 4 experiments, the authors investigated accuracy of detecting a target among nontargets. In some experiments, the target was a second-order square of stationary lines on a background of downward-moving lines, and nontargets were second-order squares of upward-moving lines. In other experiments, target and nontarget squares and background were shades of gray. The principal comparison was between "new" and "old" object displays. In new-object displays, search items appeared abruptly and one might be a target. In old-object displays, search items appeared abruptly, and after a delay one might become a target. Search displays in both conditions terminated shortly after target onset. Except when target onset was associated with the sole luminance change in a display, targets were much better detected in new- than in old-object displays. It is suggested that object onsets elicit a brief stimulus-driven enhancement of attention to the new objects.     

Rorschach correlates of self-reported attachment dimensions: dynamic manifestations of hyperactivating and deactivating strategies

We examined associations between self-reported attachment anxiety and avoidance and responses to the Rorschach test. Seventy-two, nonpatient Israeli adults participated in a 2-session study. In the first session, they completed a self-report scale tapping the dimensions of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. In the second session, they completed the Rorschach test. The Rorschach was administered and coded according to Exner's (2001) Comprehensive System scoring. We found that self-reports of attachment anxiety were associated with Rorschach scores thought to indicate difficulties in regulating and controlling emotions and self-perceptions of being relatively helpless and unworthy. Self-reports of attachment avoidance were associated with Rorschach scores thought to reflect lack of acknowledgment of need states and maintenance of a grandiose self. We discuss the findings in terms of implicit psychodynamic processes inherent in attachment-system functioning.     

Categories as symptoms: conceptions of love in the psychoanalytic relationship

An invitation to participate in a conference, especially the phrase, "we hope that your [contribution] might deal with same-sex love," reveals the persistent, lingering effects of the creation of the categories homosexual and heterosexual. Analysis of the phrase suggests a fantasy condensed in the invitation: that a gay psychoanalyst loves and works differently than his heterosexual colleagues and that this difference is determined by his sexual orientation. Approaching the creation of these categories as a symptom of a process of repudiation and projection, the author seeks to begin identifying and sorting through the projected psychic contents that keep these categories' specious effects alive.     

Working memory and intelligence: the same or different constructs?

Several investigators have claimed over the past decade that working memory (WM) and general intelligence (g) are identical, or nearly identical, constructs, from an individual-differences perspective. Although memory measures are commonly included in intelligence tests, and memory abilities are included in theories of intelligence, the identity between WM and intelligence has not been evaluated comprehensively. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 86 samples that relate WM to intelligence. The average correlation between true-score estimates of WM and g is substantially less than unity (p=.479). The authors also focus on the distinction between short-term memory and WM with respect to intelligence with a supplemental meta-analysis. The authors discuss how consideration of psychometric and theoretical perspectives better informs the discussion of WM-intelligence relations.     

Emotional and deliberative reactions to a public crisis: Mad Cow disease in France

Although most theories of choice are cognitive, recent research has emphasized the role of emotions. We used a novel context--the Mad Cow crisis in France--to investigate how emotions alter choice even when consequences are held constant. A field study showed that individuals reduced beef consumption in months after many newspaper articles featured the emotional label "Mad Cow," but beef consumption was unaffected after articles featured scientific labels for the same disease. The reverse pattern held for the disease-related actions of a government bureaucracy. A lab study showed that the Mad Cow label induces people to make choices based solely on emotional reactions, whereas scientific labels induce people to consider their own probability judgments. Although the Mad Cow label produces less rational behavior than scientific labels, it is two to four times more common in the environment.     

Object onset and parvocellular guidance of attentional allocation

The parvocellular visual pathway in the primate brain is known to be involved with the processing of color. However, a subject of debate is whether an abrupt change in color, conveyed via this pathway, is capable of automatically attracting attention. It has been shown that the appearance of new objects defined solely by color is indeed capable of modulating attention. However, given evidence suggesting that the visual system is particularly sensitive to new onsets, it is unclear to what extent such results reflect effects of color change per se, rather than effects of object onset. We assessed attentional capture by color change that occurred as a result of either new objects appearing or already-present "old" objects changing color. Results showed that although new object onsets accrued attention, changing the color of old objects did not. We conclude that abrupt color change per se is not sufficient to capture attention.     

Mnemonics Strategy Development: Improving Alphabetic Understanding In Turkish Students,At Risk for Failure in EFL Settings

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of integrated mnemonics on consonant letter naming and consonant sound production for three 4th grade Turkish students, at-risk for failure in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) classroom. Mnemonic picture cards, where the target consonant letter was embedded as an integral part of the picture, were developed (e.g., the letter C as the clock, the letter D as the drum). Results showed that (a) all three students reached mastery on consonant letter naming, and (b) all three students showed marked improvement for consonant sound production, with one student reaching mastery. Letter-sound correspondence performance remained near instructional levels one week post-intervention. Generalization data showed students could produce some words that began and ended with consonant sounds, once consonant letter-sound correspondence was mastered.     

Developing human-nonhuman chimeras in human stem cell research: ethical issues and boundaries

The transplantation of adult human neural stem cells into prenatal non-humans offers an avenue for studying human neural cell development without direct use of human embryos. However, such experiments raise significant ethical concerns about mixing human and nonhuman materials in ways that could result in the development of human-nonhuman chimeras. This paper examines four arguments against such research, the moral taboo, species integrity, "unnaturalness," and human dignity arguments, and finds the last plausible. It argues that the transfer of human brain or retinal stem cells to nonhuman embryos would not result in the development of human-nonhuman chimeras that denigrate human dignity, provided such stem cells are dissociated. The article provides guidelines that set ethical boundaries for conducting such research that are consonant with the requirements of human dignity.