Blinded by the accent! The minor role of looks in ethnic categorization

The categories that social targets belong to are often activated automatically. Most studies investigating social categorization have used visual stimuli or verbal labels, whereas ethnolinguistic identity theory posits that language is an essential dimension of ethnic identity. Language should therefore be used for social categorization. In 2 experiments, using the "Who Said What?" paradigm, the authors investigated social categorization by using accents (auditory stimuli) and looks (visual stimuli) to indicate ethnicity, either separately or in combination. Given either looks or accents only, the authors demonstrated that ethnic categorization can be based on accents, and the authors found a similar degree of ethnic categorization by accents and looks. When ethnic cues of looks and accents were combined by creating cross categories, there was a clear predominance of accents as meaningful cues for categorization, as shown in the respective parameters of a multinomial model. The present findings are discussed with regard to the generalizability of findings using one channel of presentation (e.g., visual) and the asymmetry found with different presentation channels for the category ethnicity.     

Affirmation, acknowledgment of in-group responsibility, group-based guilt, and support for reparative measures

Three studies, 2 conducted in Israel and 1 conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, demonstrated that affirming a positive aspect of the self can increase one's willingness to acknowledge in-group responsibility for wrongdoing against others, express feelings of group-based guilt, and consequently provide greater support for reparation policies. By contrast, affirming one's group, although similarly boosting feelings of pride, failed to increase willingness to acknowledge and redress in-group wrongdoing. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated the mediating role of group-based guilt. That is, increased acknowledgment of in-group responsibility for out-group victimization produced increased feelings of guilt, which in turn increased support for reparation policies to the victimized group. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

An amorphous model for morphological processing in visual comprehension based on naive discriminative learning

A 2-layer symbolic network model based on the equilibrium equations of the Rescorla-Wagner model (Danks, 2003) is proposed. The study first presents 2 experiments in Serbian, which reveal for sentential reading the inflectional paradigmatic effects previously observed by Milin, Filipovi? ?ur?evi?, and Moscoso del Prado Martín (2009) for unprimed lexical decision. The empirical results are successfully modeled without having to assume separate representations for inflections or data structures such as inflectional paradigms. In the next step, the same naive discriminative learning approach is pitted against a wide range of effects documented in the morphological processing literature. Frequency effects for complex words as well as for phrases (Arnon & Snider, 2010) emerge in the model without the presence of whole-word or whole-phrase representations. Family size effects (Moscoso del Prado Martín, Bertram, H?iki?, Schreuder, & Baayen, 2004; Schreuder & Baayen, 1997) emerge in the simulations across simple words, derived words, and compounds, without derived words or compounds being represented as such. It is shown that for pseudo-derived words no special morpho-orthographic segmentation mechanism, as posited by Rastle, Davis, and New (2004), is required. The model also replicates the finding of Plag and Baayen (2009) that, on average, words with more productive affixes elicit longer response latencies; at the same time, it predicts that productive affixes afford faster response latencies for new words. English phrasal paradigmatic effects modulating isolated word reading are reported and modeled, showing that the paradigmatic effects characterizing Serbian case inflection have crosslinguistic scope.     

Therapist Use-of-Self Orientations Questionnaire: A Reliability and Validity Study

This article describes the development of the Therapist Use-of-Self Orientation Questionnaire (TUSO-Q), an instrument designed to measure therapists’ use-of-self orientations while working with clients. A total of 373 therapists participated in this study. Exploratory factor analysis in the structural equation modeling context revealed three different therapist use-of-self orientations: Transpersonal, Contextual, and Instrumental. The final model provided an excellent fit to the data. TUSO-Q scores exhibited satisfactory evidence of internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Implications for the scale’s use in clinical research and training are discussed.     

Changes in alcohol intake in response to transdiagnostic cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine how alcohol intake changes during and after transdiagnostic cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders (CBT-E). Additionally, the paper considers the relationship between alcohol consumption, eating disorder diagnosis and current major depressive episode at the time of first assessment.

Method

One hundred and forty nine outpatients with an eating disorder (body mass index over 17.5) were divided into high or low alcohol intake groups (HIG and LIG) according to their intake at pre-treatment assessment. Their alcohol intake and eating disorder psychopathology were examined over the course of treatment and follow-up.

Results

There was no difference between the groups on response of the eating disorder to treatment. The HIG significantly reduced their alcohol intake following treatment whilst the intake of the LIG remained stable over the course of treatment and follow-up. There were no group differences in major depression and overall severity of eating disorder at baseline.

Conclusions

The response to CBT-E was not influenced by baseline level of alcohol use. The mean alcohol intake of the heavy drinking subjects decreased without being specifically addressed by the treatment.     

Philosophy between science and the humanities

Philosophy should avoid isolation, and should return to being curious and enthusiastic about explanation: about why- and how possibly-questions. The analytic and continental philosophical cultures should establish a dialogue, where each side brings out the distinctive qualities of its work while widening the scope of its concerns.     

Galectin-3 decreases in mice exposed to immobilization stress

Using M3/38 monoclonal antibody we have analyzed effects of immobilization stress on the expression of galectin-3 in liver, spleen and peritoneal macrophages from adult RFM and C3H mice, as well as from aged C3H mice (total of 22 animals). In all analyzed tissues, immobilization stress caused a significant decrease in the expression of galectin-3, ranging from 14% to 47%. The decrease of galectin-3 was observed in both strains of mice, as well as in old animals. Moreover, the same range of decrease (approximately 50%) was observed when cells grown in vitro were exposed to subculturing, or heat-shock. Although the biological significance of this effect is not known, it is very interesting that a single episode of immobilization stress was sufficient to cause a significant decrease in galectin-3, implicating that this beta-galactoside-binding lectin might be involved in the physiological response to psychological stress.     

Bortner type A scores and basic emotions: aggression, distrustful, depression, and gregarious

We examined the correlations between scores on Bortner's scale and measures of aggression, distrustful, gregarious, and depression in 1,084 employees. Prospectively over 2 yr. we investigated the relationship of Type A behavior with cardiac mortality. Subjects classified as Type A had higher mean ratings on measures of aggression and distrustful than did persons classified as Type B. Mortality was lower in patients classified as reporting Type A behavior (12%) than in the patients classified as reporting Type B behavior (22%).