Timing, remembering, and discrimination

Four pigeons were first trained in a timing procedure. In one condition, each trial began with the presentation of an X on the center key, followed by a delay (short or long), after which two side keys were lit. If the delay was short, pecks to the red side key were reinforced. If the delay was long, pecks to the green side key were reinforced. In a second condition, the opposite contingencies applied following presentation of a square on the center key. Choice responses were then tested at 10 time intervals ranging from short to long (1 to 4 s and 4 to 7 s in different conditions). The two timing conditions were combined to create a remembering condition in which correct responding depended upon discrimination of both the sample stimulus (X or square) and the delay interval (short or long). Choices varied systematically across delay in timing conditions, but in remembering conditions, accurate choice at the training delays did not initially generalize to intermediate delays. However, with prolonged training in the remembering task, the response pattern began to resemble that of the timing conditions. Generalization gradients were asymmetrical, in accordance with Weber's Law, in that greater generalization occurred with longer delays than with shorter delays.     

Stigma, obesity, and the health of the nation's children

Preventing childhood obesity has become a top priority in efforts to improve our nation's public health. Although much research is needed to address this health crisis, it is important to approach childhood obesity with an understanding of the social stigma that obese youths face, which is pervasive and can have serious consequences for emotional and physical health. This report reviews existing research on weight stigma in children and adolescents, with attention to the nature and extent of weight bias toward obese youths and to the primary sources of stigma in their lives, including peers, educators, and parents. The authors also examine the literature on psychosocial and physical health consequences of childhood obesity to illustrate the role that weight stigma may play in mediating negative health outcomes. The authors then review stigma-reduction efforts that have been tested to improve attitudes toward obese children, and they highlight complex questions about the role of weight bias in childhood obesity prevention. With these literatures assembled, areas of research are outlined to guide efforts on weight stigma in youths, with an emphasis on the importance of studying the effect of weight stigma on physical health outcomes and identifying effective interventions to improve attitudes.     

Early communication development and intervention for children with autism

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by impairments in social and communication development, accompanied by stereotyped patterns of behavior and interest. The focus of this paper is on the early development of communication in autism, and early intervention for impairments in communication associated with this disorder. An overview of components of communication is provided. Communication characteristics that are diagnostic of autism are summarized, with consideration of the overlap between social and communication impairment, particularly for children with autism functioning at the prelinguistic level. Early communication development and predictors of communication functioning in autism are examined, based on a review of prospective and retrospective studies. The focus of the discussion then turns to intervention. Consideration is given to the rationale for beginning intervention as early in life as possible for children with autism. Implications of motor, imitation, and play deficits for communication-based intervention are examined. Finally, issues related to the design and delivery of intervention for young children with autism are presented, along with a review of the major early intervention approaches for autism.     

Character,Common-Sense,and Expertise

Gilbert Harman has argued that the common-sense characterological psychology employed in virtue ethics is rooted not in unbiased observation of close acquaintances, but rather in the ‘fundamental attribution error’. If this is right, then philosophers cannot rely on their intuitions for insight into characterological psychology, and it might even be that there is no such thing as character. This supports the idea, urged by John Doris and Stephen Stich, that we should rely exclusively on experimental psychology for our explanations of behaviour. The purported ‘fundamental attribution error’ cannot play the explanatory role required of it, however, and anyway there is no experimental evidence that we make such an error. It is true that trait-attribution often goes wrong, but this is best explained by a set of difficulties that beset the explanation of other people’s behaviour, difficulties that become less acute the better we know the agent. This explanation allows that we can gain genuine insight into character on the basis of our intuitions, though claims about the actual distribution of particular traits and the correlations between them must be based on more objective data.

Change in emotional processing during a dialectical behavior therapy-based skills group for major depressive disorder

Across studies, paying attention to and analyzing one's emotions has been found to be both positively and negatively correlated with depression symptoms. One way of reconciling these seemingly contradictory findings is the possibility that attending to emotions in a skillful manner may help to reduce depression whereas attending to emotions with limited skill may be counterproductive. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a clinical intervention designed to foster adaptive awareness, expression, regulation, tolerance, and acceptance of emotions. Results of the present report come from a pilot study of a 16-week DBT-based skills training group for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD) as an adjunctive treatment to pharmacotherapy. Patients were randomized to treatment or a waitlist control group. A significant interaction revealed that increases in emotional processing were associated with decreases in depression symptoms in the DBT-based skills group; however, increases in emotional processing in the waitlist condition were associated with increases in depression. Results offer preliminary support for the idea that participating in DBT-based skills training may help individuals with treatment-resistant MDD to develop skills that facilitate processing emotions in a way that helps to reduce rather than exacerbate depression symptoms.     

the résumé's secret identity: a tool for narrative exploration in multicultural career counseling

The résumé can be a window into the life story of a client and help address barriers to work and life success. Using the résumé as a narrative tool, career counselors can address these barriers and increase clients' employment potential. The strength of this approach is its cultural relevance to clients who may not otherwise seek counseling and as a talking tool within counseling. This article explores the potential for the résumé development and refinement process to enhance the counseling process akin to narrative career counseling. A model and case example are provided to illustrate the application of this approach.     

Learning to label letters by sounds or names: a comparison of England and the United States

Learning about letters is an important foundation for literacy development. Should children be taught to label letters by conventional names, such as /bi/ for b, or by sounds, such as /b/? We queried parents and teachers, finding that those in the United States stress letter names with young children, whereas those in England begin with sounds. Looking at 5- to 7-year-olds in the two countries, we found that U.S. children were better at providing the names of letters than were English children. English children outperformed U.S. children on letter-sound tasks, and differences between children in the two countries declined with age. We further found that children use the first-learned set of labels to inform the learning of the second set. As a result, English and U.S. children made different types of errors in letter-name and letter-sound tasks. The children's invented spellings also differed in ways reflecting the labels they used for letters.     

Gender Differences in the Perception of Prisoner Abuse

We examined gender stereotypes and perceptions of aggression in 743 US psychology students at a northeastern university in the USA. Participants rated a vignette depicting torture of an Iraqi prisoner by an American soldier in which the gender of prisoner and guard were varied. The results showed that female participants viewed torture more negatively than male participants. Additionally, participants perceived the torture and killing of a female prisoner warranted significant compensation to her family. However, participants perceived violent acts by a male guard to be as serious as for a female guard, suggesting a shift in perceptions of gender role stereotypes. Our findings demonstrate a change in the gender role stereotyping for females in the military and suggest a number of future studies.     

Changes in cry acoustics and distress ratings while the infant is crying

Acoustics and distress ratings were examined during four minutes of naturally occurring crying from 20 healthy, 1‐month‐old infants. Two listeners made continuous judgements of infant distress during every 10‐s segment of each cry sample. Dysphonation, number of wails, and pause duration were related to distress ratings across the 4 min of crying. Means and variances of ratings and acoustics, and the predictive value of each acoustic variable to ratings, differed in the first and second halves of the samples. Differences in the pattern of results occurred for individual infants. The results highlight the importance of studying the cry as a dynamic acoustic signal that may provide unique information about an individual infant's level of distress. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.