Cognitive differentiation between self,ingroup, and outgroup: The roles of identification and perceived intergroup conflict

Several models predict that persons ascribe opposite characteristics to self and ingroups on the one hand and outgroups on the other (outgroup contrast). However, only few studies have found this effect. This study explored its boundary conditions. Sixty‐two students rated (a) characteristics of themselves, an ingroup (own study major), and an outgroup (other study major), (b) ingroup identification, and (c) perceived intergroup conflict. Participants who were relatively high in ingroup identification and who perceived relatively high levels of intergroup conflict displayed outgroup contrast, as indicated by negative correlations between trait ratings for self and ingroup and between trait ratings for ingroup and outgroup. The other participants showed weaker or no outgroup contrast. Thus, this study is one of the few empirical demonstrations of outgroup contrast and points to moderators that should be considered in future research on this effect. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for ADHD in medication-treated adults with continued symptoms

The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential efficacy, patient acceptability, and feasibility of a novel, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who have been stabilized on medications but still show clinically significant symptoms. Thirty-one adults with ADHD and stable psychopharmacology for ADHD were randomized to CBT plus continued psychopharmacology or continued psychopharmacology alone. Assessments included ADHD severity and associated anxiety and depression rated by an independent evaluator (IE) and by self-report. At the outcome assessment, those who were randomized to CBT had lower IE-rated ADHD symptoms (p < .01) and global severity (p < .002), as well as self-reported ADHD symptoms (p < .0001) than those randomized to continued psychopharmacology alone. Those in the CBT group also had lower IE-rated and self-report anxiety (p's < .04), lower IE-rated depression (p < .01), and a trend to have lower self-reported depression (p = .06). CBT continued to show superiority over continued psychopharmacology alone when statistically controlling levels of depression in analyses of core ADHD symptoms. There were significantly more treatment responders among patients who received CBT (56%) compared to those who did not (13%) (p < .02). These data support the hypothesis that CBT for adults with ADHD with residual symptoms is a feasible, acceptable, and potentially efficacious next-step treatment approach, worthy of further testing.     

A strong test of the dual-mode hypothesis

One account of facial cognition, the dual-mode hypothesis, maintains that there are two sources of information in a human face, featural and configural, and that these sources are processed simultaneously and independently of one another. According to the hypothesis, the processing and identification of upright faces relies primarily on configural information, and this information is disrupted to such an extent upon inversion as to result in a reliance on featural information for identifying inverted faces (e.g., Searcy & Bartlett, 1996). When considered in terms of the general characteristics of human information processing, the foundational assumptions of the dual-mode hypothesis are as follows: Facial information processing is accomplished by a parallel self-terminating architecture with unlimited capacity to supercapacity and a preservation of independence between the rates of processing of featural and configural information. Although a number of studies have provided evidence consistent with the dual-mode hypothesis, until now there have been no direct tests of the foundational assumptions of the hypothesis. The present study provides that direct test, providing strong support for three of the assumptions (parallel self-terminating processing with unlimited capacity to supercapacity) while contradicting a fourth (independence in rates).     

Deletion of the mu opioid receptor results in impaired acquisition of Pavlovian context fear

The mu opioid receptor may constitute a critical component of a negative feedback system that regulates Pavlovian fear conditioning. We investigated context fear conditioning acquisition and expression in mu opioid receptor knockout mice (on an inbred, C57 genetic background). We discovered that the mu receptor knockout results in an unexpected and significant deficit in context fear acquisition. Mice lacking the mu receptor showed normal fear acquisition when subjected to a 1-day fear conditioning protocol but evinced deficient fear learning when acquisition was conducted across 5 days. The knockout mice showed normal reactivity to footshock in both fear conditioning protocols. Finally, we confirmed the effectiveness of the receptor deletion in the C57 strain by subjecting the mice to a test of morphine analgesia in the hot-plate assay. As has been seen with mixed genetic background, the receptor deletion resulted in a complete lack of analgesic response to 10 mg/kg morphine. Surprisingly, mice with a single copy of the mu receptor gene (heterozygous knockouts) showed intact sensitivity to morphine but a significant deficit in Pavlovian fear conditioning. The results indicate that deletion of the mu receptor gene impairs fear conditioning and that the conditioning and analgesia effects of heterozygous deletion are dissociable. The conditioning deficit seen in this line of mice may be related to impairment in hippocampus function.     

Knowing is half the battle: teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women's math performance

We tested whether informing women about stereotype threat is a useful intervention to improve their performance in a threatening testing situation. Men and women completed difficult math problems described either as a problem-solving task or as a math test. In a third (teaching-intervention) condition, the test was also described as a math test, but participants were additionally informed that stereotype threat could interfere with women's math performance. Results showed that women performed worse than men when the problems were described as a math test (and stereotype threat was not discussed), but did not differ from men in the problem-solving condition or in the condition in which they learned about stereotype threat. For women, attributing anxiety to gender stereotypes was associated with lower performance in the math-test condition but improved performance in the teaching-intervention condition. The results suggest that teaching about stereotype threat might offer a practical means of reducing its detrimental effects.     

Stability, growth, and decline in adult life span development of declarative memory: cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a population-based study

Five-year changes in episodic and semantic memory were examined in a sample of 829 participants (35-80 years). A cohort-matched sample (N=967) was assessed to control for practice effects. For episodic memory, cross-sectional analyses indicated gradual age-related decrements, whereas the longitudinal data revealed no decrements before age 60, even when practice effects were adjusted for. Longitudinally, semantic memory showed minor increments until age 55, with smaller decrements in old age as compared with episodic memory. Cohort differences in educational attainment appear to account for the discrepancies between cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Collectively, the results show that age trajectories for episodic and semantic memory differ and underscore the need to control for cohort and retest effects in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, respectively.     

Sequential processing in hemispheric word recognition: the impact of initial letter discriminability on the OUP naming effect

The cerebral hemispheres have been proposed to engage different word recognition strategies: the left hemisphere implementing a parallel, and the right hemisphere, a sequential, analysis. To investigate this notion, we asked participants to name words with an early or late orthographic uniqueness point (OUP), presented horizontally to their left (LVF), right (RVF), or both fields of vision (BVF). Consistent with past foveal research, Experiment 1 produced a robust facilitatory effect of early OUP for RVF/BVF presentations, indicating the presence of sequential processes in lexical retrieval. The effect was absent for LVF trials, which we argue results from the disadvantaged position of initial letters of words presented in the LVF. To test this proposition, Experiment 2 assessed the discriminability of various letter positions in the visual fields using a bar-probe task. The obtained error functions highlighted the poor discriminability of initial letters in the LVF and latter letters in the RVF. To confirm that this asymmetry in initial letter acuity was responsible for the absent OUP effect for LVF presentations, Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 1 using vertical stimulus presentations. Results indicated a marked facilitatory effect of early OUP across visual fields, supporting our contention that the lack of OUP effect for LVF presentations in Experiment 1 resulted from poor discriminability of the initial letters. These findings confirm the presence of sequential processes in both left and right hemisphere word recognition, casting doubt on parallel models of word processing.     

Emotion Socialization in Families of Children With an Anxiety Disorder

Compared emotion socialization in 26 children with anxiety disorders ages 8–12 years and their mothers to 26 nonclinical counterparts without psychopathology. Children and their mothers participated in an emotion interaction task in which they discussed occasions when the child felt worry, sadness, and anger. Responses were coded for length of discussion, proportion of words spoken by child vs. mother, frequency of positive and negative emotion words, explanatory discussion of emotion, and maternal facilitation of emotion discussion. Children and their mothers also completed the Expressiveness and Control scales of the Family Environment Scale. Results indicated that mothers of children with an anxiety disorder spoke less frequently than their child, used significantly fewer positive emotion words, and discouraged their childrens emotion discussions more than did mothers of nonclinical children. Nonclinical children and their mothers indicated significantly more emotional expressiveness in their families than did children with an anxiety disorder and their mothers. These results highlight the potential role of truncated family emotional expressivity in the emotional development and functioning of children with an anxiety disorder.     

Entstehung und Verlauf der Panikstörung

Zusammenfassung Das Konzept der Panikstörung ging ursprünglich auf neurobiologische Modellvorstellungen zurück, die rasch von verhaltenstherapeutischen Ansätzen aufgegriffen und differenziert wurden, während die Rezeption durch psychoanalytische Ansätze zurückhaltend erfolgte. In dieser Übersicht werden aktuelle neurobiologische, verhaltenstherapeutische und psychodynamische Modelle dargestellt. Neurobiologische Ansätze beschreiben die zentrale und periphere Fehlsteuerung des Stresshormonsystems. Verhaltenstherapeutische Modelle erklären die Aufrechterhaltung der Störung durch konditionierte Furchtreaktionen, Fehlinterpretation körperlicher Sensationen bzw. dispositionale Angstsensitivität. Neuere psychodynamische Konzepte beschreiben mangelnde Toleranz für intensive Affekte und Trennungserfahrungen aufgrund unsicherer Objektbeziehungsrepäsentanzen als Ursachenfaktoren für Panik. Sie schaffen damit Verbindungen zu tierexperimentellen und neurobiologischen Studien, die die Bedeutung vorzeitiger Trennungserfahrungen für lebenslang erhöhte Stressreagibilität und Furchtsamkeit herausgearbeitet haben. Neurobiologische, verhaltenstherapeutische und psychodynamische Ansätze ergänzen sich beim Verständnis dieses heterogenen Krankheitsbildes.