The More the Better? Effects of Training,Experience and Information Amount in Legal Judgments

In an experimental study involving German lay judges, law students and controls, effects of legal training and experience as well as information amount on legal judgments was investigated. In a three (legal knowledge: legal training versus legal experience versus controls) x two (information amount: high versus low) between‐subjects design, 137 participants judged the premeditation of a perpetrator in eight real‐world cases decided by the German Federal Court of Justice. Judgment congruency with the Court's ruling increased with legal training, but official lay judges showed lower congruency compared with student controls. Additionally, legal training and experience corresponded with higher confidence. Emotional reactions to the legal cases were stronger when more information was given for individuals without legal training but decreased for individuals with training. An information‐processing perspective to explain the observed differences in legal judgments is advanced, and the issue of using untrained individuals in the legal decision making process is discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intrafamilial physical victimization and externalizing behavior problems: Who remain the ‘forgotten’ children?

Over the past few decades, researchers have documented positive associations between direct child maltreatment and exposure to interpersonal violence (including intimate partner violence, community violence, school violence, and media violence) and children's externalizing behavior problems. However, current family violence literature largely ignores the effects of child abuse on other children in the family. A handful of studies have focused on exposure to child abuse and documented the behavioral effects on siblings, and these studies lend support for broadening scholarship focused on this type of family violence. This article presents empirical research and theories that focus on the relationships between child physical abuse and exposure to intimate partner violence and children's externalizing behavior problems. Using this literature as a foundation, an argument is made for the need to focus on children's exposure to child physical abuse. This article presents information from the few studies that have focused on children who were exposed to the physical abuse of a sibling and offers theoretical frameworks, including social learning theory and psychological proximity, as a foundation for future research. The article concludes with a discussion of services that may be necessary for children who have been exposed to the physical abuse of a sibling, including services focused on safety and mental health.     

Stigma and hostility towards pregnant smokers: Does individuating information reduce the effect?

Australia is at the forefront of tobacco control, yet 17% of Australian women smoke during pregnancy. Negative attitudes to smoking are intensified when the smoker is pregnant, consistent with a discourse that encourages surveillance of pregnant women. Such overt anti-smoking attitudes create a context which may make it difficult for pregnant smokers to seek assistance to stop. However, there is little evidence on the extent to which pregnant smokers are stigmatised by community members. We used vignettes to examine the degree of smoking-related stigma expressed by 595 Australian university students who rated a woman, described as a mother who was smoking or not, and pregnant or not. Further, we examined whether provision of individuating information reduced the degree of stigma. Mothers described as smokers were rated more negatively than those not, particularly if they were pregnant: smokers were perceived as unhealthy, and also as bad mothers. Provision of individuating information slightly reduced these effects. These findings support the view that smokers – particularly if pregnant – are subject to negative moral judgement. Our findings contribute to the ethical debate about stigma-inducing tobacco control efforts, and suggest that anti-smoking campaigns that contextualise smoking in pregnancy might reduce stigma and assist cessation.     

Cultural and Religious Values: A Cross-Cultural Study In Austria,South Africa and Egypt

This article compares religious values found on the basis of the lexical approach in three cultures. Lists of human values in Austria (German), South Africa (Northern Sotho) and Egypt (Arabic) were compiled. These terms were rated by 456, 400 and 773 participants respectively as personal guiding motives in life. Factor analyses yielded orthogonal dimensions reflecting the specific values of each culture. In all three cases, a dimension pertaining to religious issues emerged. For Austria, a distinct dimension was found, which only comprised religious terms. In South Africa religious values were interrelated with mutual support, while in Egypt, religiosity was highly correlated with political concerns and Arabic nationalism. While only about 25% of the Austrian sample gave positive evaluations to religious values, most of the South African and Egyptian participants rated religiosity positively. Results suggest that religious values are ubiquitous and religious convictions are influenced by the ethical concepts in each culture.     

A Test of the Factor Structure Equivalence of the 50-Item IPIP Five-Factor Model Measure Across Gender and Ethnic Groups

The study aims were to identify the interpersonal style characteristics of Vietnam Era veterans by comparison with World War II veterans. The sample included 3,075 veterans in treatment in 47 VA health care facilities. Patients were categorized as medical-surgical, psychiatric, and drug addicted, and divided by age into the 24 or less, and the 45 to 55 age groups. The measuring device was the Interpersonal Style Inventory. Group differences on the 17 scores were tested by discriminant function analyses. The Vietnam Era veterans were found to be more rebellious, mistrustful, adventure-seeking and expedient than the older veterans.     

Dogs demonstrate perspective taking based on geometrical gaze following in a Guesser–Knower task

Currently, there is still no consensus about whether animals can ascribe mental states (Theory of Mind) to themselves and others. Showing animals can respond to cues that indicate whether another has visual access to a target or not, and that they are able to use this information as a basis for whom to rely on as an informant, is an important step forward in this direction. Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) with human informants are an ideal model, because they show high sensitivity towards human eye contact, they have proven able to assess the attentional state of humans in food-stealing or food-begging contexts, and they follow human gaze behind a barrier when searching for food. With 16 dogs, we not only replicated the main results of Maginnity and Grace (Anim Cogn 17(6):1375–1392, 2014) who recently found that dogs preferred to follow the pointing of a human who witnessed a food hiding event over a human who did not (the Guesser–Knower task), but also extended this finding with a further, critical control for behaviour-reading: two informants showed identical looking behaviour, but due to their different position in the room, only one had the opportunity to see where the food was hidden by a third person. Preference for the Knower in this critical test provides solid evidence for geometrical gaze following and perspective taking in dogs.     

Reimagining gender in psychology: What can critical psychology offer?

In this article, I argue that gender is a complex sociocultural construct, yet how gender is accounted for in psychological research is limited. Specifically, psychologists conflate sex with gender, rely on quantifying gender differences and, by implication, conceptualise gender as merely a participant characteristic. To illustrate, I apply this viewpoint to the topic of gender differences in tobacco use/cessation using on a feminist quality appraisal tool. I show how these three issues promote the narrow study of sex/gender differences, despite problems surrounding this inquiry, and reduce insights into the intersection of gender and behaviour. To offer a way forward for psychology, I describe how a critical psychology perspective attends to the complexities of gender and its influence on behaviour. I showcase diverse ways of attending to gender as a sociocultural construct, inviting psychologists to engage with, and reflect on, their gender analyses.     

Personalistic concepts in action: The case of Adolf Hitler

Grounded in his personalistic worldview, William Stern regarded persons as inherently valuable beings who use values to conduct their lives. One might wonder if such a value-laden and idealistic approach can be applied to the case of Adolf Hitler, who clearly was a very destructive and disharmonious figure. In order to deal with this challenging question we will refer to three personalistic principles, namely convergence, introception, and unitas multiplex. As our analysis shows, all three principles can be exemplified in the case of Hitler if a neutralized version of each principle is used. By the demonstration of “iron will” he strived for coherence and unity, and was tremendously successful in managing that his followers introcepted the Nazi ideals. The convergence principle also applies to Hitler since there was unique conjunction of his traits with influences of his era.     

Effects of male postpartum depression on father–infant interaction: The mediating role of face processing

It is estimated that postpartum depression affects up to 25% of men. Despite such high prevalence, the majority of studies on postpartum depression are focused on mothers, and the role of paternal depression and its effects on infant development have been overlooked by researchers and clinicians. The present study aimed to fill this gap by investigating the effect of paternal postpartum depression on father–infant interactions. In addition, we examined whether differences in face recognition mediated the effects of paternal postpartum depression on father–infant interactions. A total of 61 father–infant dyads (17 postpartum depression, 44 controls) took part in the study. Results revealed that compared to controls, fathers with postpartum depression had a worse pattern of interaction with their infants on measures of responsiveness, mood, and sensitivity; they also had greater difficulty in recognizing happy adult faces, but greater facility in recognizing sad adult faces. Depressed fathers attributed greater intensities to sad adult and infant faces. The tendency to attribute greater intensity to sad adult faces was confirmed as a partial mediator of the effect of paternal postpartum depression on measures of father responsiveness and as a full mediator of the effects of paternal depression on father sensitivity. Clinical implications and suggestions for further studies are discussed.     

Paruresis

The paruretic disorder, a special subtype of social phobia, is presented. It has been almost completely neglected by German research. The disorder manifests in an inability to urinate in public rest rooms. The corresponding fears concern the loss of visual and/or acoustic privacy. Based on considerations about its etiology and pathogenesis a cognitive behavior-therapeutic intervention is recommended. This is illustrated by a case vignette of a 29-year-old male patient.