The psychology of ongoing threat: relative risk appraisal, the September 11 attacks, and terrorism-related fears

There are now replicated findings that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms related to the September 11, 2001, attacks occurred in large numbers of persons who did not fit the traditional definition of exposure to a traumatic event. These data are not explained by traditional epidemiologic "bull's eye" disaster models, which assume the psychological effects are narrowly, geographically circumscribed, or by existing models of PTSD onset. In this article, the authors develop a researchable model to explain these and other terrorism-related phenomena by synthesizing research and concepts from the cognitive science, risk appraisal, traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders literatures. They propose the new term relative risk appraisal to capture the psychological function that is the missing link between the event and subjective response in these and other terrorism-related studies to date. Relative risk appraisal highlights the core notion from cognitive science that human perception is an active, multidimensional process, such that for unpredictable societal threats, proximity to the event is only one of several factors that influence behavioral responses. Addressing distortions in relative risk appraisal effectively could reduce individual and societal vulnerability to a wide range of adverse economic and ethnopolitical consequences to terrorist attacks. The authors present ways in which these concepts and related techniques can be helpful in treating persons with September 11- or terrorism-related distress or psychopathology.     

Psychopathy and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: New Insights on Developmental Pathways to Offending

This study examined the relation between psychopathy and anxiety in 130 juvenile offenders. Adolescents were administered three psychopathy scales (PCL-YV, APSD, and SRP-II), a measure of psychopathology (APS), and subsequently followed prospectively in the community for three years in order to track recidivism. Three mediational models were tested to determine whether psychopathy mediates the relation between anxiety (trait anxiety, fearlessness, and trauma) and future offending. Findings indicated that psychopathy mediated the relation between two types of anxiety (trait anxiety and fearlessness) and recidivism when using the PCL-YV as an index for psychopathy. These influences were not supported when using self-report measures of psychopathy (APSD and SRP-II) and the meditational models did not apply to the anxiety subtype of trauma for any of the psychopathy measures. The PCL-YV mediational models provide new insights on the relation between psychopathy anxiety and offending. Specifically, pathways from fearlessness to psychopathy and later offending were in the expected direction. Surprisingly, higher levels of trait anxiety were linked with higher levels of psychopathy and subsequent offending. This developmental difference is in contrast with theory and the adult literature on this topic. The results from the current study suggest that both fear and anxiety may be important considerations in treatment planning for the reduction of adolescent offending.     

Predictors of Risky and Precautionary Sexual Behaviors Among Single and Married White Women1

Risky and precautionary sexual behaviors were examined in a community sample of 260 single and married/cohabitating White women. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the ability of age, socioeconomic status (SES), marital status, religiosity, and 9 health belief constructs to predict risky sexual behavior with one's partner, using a barrier method of birth control, unintended pregnancies, and number of sexual partners in the past year. The pattern of results suggests that single White women appear to feel more vulnerable to HIV and STD infection and more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than do married White women. The discussion focuses on the importance of sociocultural factors in understanding risk behaviors within the social context of relationship status, the complexity of the concept of risk reduction, and the need for going beyond the health belief model in order to develop different HIV prevention strategies for single and married White women.     

Perceptions of Work Performance Recognition Among Educators

Educators from several states were surveyed to determine their perceptions about the importance of work performance recognition. Results suggested that educators want to receive recognition for their work performance and that recognition would assist in improving their overall work performance and professional development. Data from this study suggest that recognition of teacher performance may be a viable means for school administrators to improve teacher performance in a manner that is both effective and efficient. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Implicit learning is order dependent

Psychological Research - We report two experiments using the artificial-grammar task that demonstrate order dependence in implicit learning. Studying grammatical training strings in different...     

Psychopathy and recidivism from mid-adolescence to young adulthood: cumulating legal problems and limiting life opportunities

This study examined the ability of psychopathy as indexed by the following 4 scales: Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 1996/2003), Antisocial Process Screening Device (P. J. Frick & R. D. Hare, 2001), Hare Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-II (R. D. Hare, 1991), and Personality Assessment Inventory-Antisocial Scale (L. C. Morey, 1991, 2007) to prospectively predict antisocial outcomes including general and violent recidivism across a 3- to 4-year time span. Results indicated that psychopathy was predictive of both general and violent recidivism from mid-adolescence to young adulthood even after accounting for 14 variables theoretically linked to offending. These findings add to the recent research showing stability in the psychopathy traits across time by also demonstrating that psychopathy in adolescents also has a real-world effect, including a cost to society with higher rates of offending in the community and a cost to youth with cumulating legal records that are likely to narrow their potential for prosocial growth in the community.     

Social identity contingencies: how diversity cues signal threat or safety for African Americans in mainstream institutions

This research demonstrates that people at risk of devaluation based on group membership are attuned to cues that signal social identity contingencies--judgments, stereotypes, opportunities, restrictions, and treatments that are tied to one's social identity in a given setting. In 3 experiments, African American professionals were attuned to minority representation and diversity philosophy cues when they were presented as a part of workplace settings. Low minority representation cues coupled with colorblindness (as opposed to valuing diversity) led African American professionals to perceive threatening identity contingencies and to distrust the setting (Experiment 1). The authors then verified that the mechanism mediating the effect of setting cues on trust was identity contingent evaluations (Experiments 2 & 3). The power of social identity contingencies as they relate to underrepresented groups in mainstream institutions is discussed.