Intelligence: genetics, genes, and genomics

More is known about the genetics of intelligence than about any other trait, behavioral or biological, which is selectively reviewed in this article. Two of the most interesting genetic findings are that heritability of intelligence increases throughout the life span and that the same genes affect diverse cognitive abilities. The most exciting direction for genetic research on intelligence is to harness the power of the Human Genome Project to identify some of the specific genes responsible for the heritability of intelligence. The next research direction will be functional genomics--for example, understanding the brain pathways between genes and intelligence. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) will integrate life sciences research on intelligence; bottom-up molecular biological research will meet top-down psychological research in the brain.     

Parent-adolescent disagreement regarding psychopathology in adolescents from the general population as a risk factor for adverse outcome

This study investigated whether parent-adolescent disagreement regarding adolescents' behavioral and emotional problems predicted adverse outcome. A Dutch sample of 15- to 18-year-olds was prospectively followed across a 4-year interval. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL: T. M. Achenbach, 1997) and Youth Self-Report (YSR; T. M. Achenbach, 1991b) were administered at initial assessment, and the following signs of poor outcome were assessed 4 years later: police/judicial contacts, expulsion from school/job, suicidal ideation, unwanted pregnancy, suicide attempts, deliberate self-harm, referral to mental health services, report of having a behavioral or emotional problem, and feeling the need for professional help without actually receiving help. Twenty CBCL syndrome scores, 23 YSR syndrome scores, and 16 discrepancy scores were significant predictors of poor outcome. It was concluded that to determine the prognosis of psychopathology in adolescents, discrepancies between informants may be important.     

On the delay-dependent involvement of the hippocampus in object recognition memory

The role of the hippocampus in object recognition memory processes is unclear in the current literature. Conflicting results have been found in lesion studies of both primates and rodents. Procedural differences between studies, such as retention interval, may explain these discrepancies. In the present study, acute lidocaine administration was used to temporarily inactivate the hippocampus prior to training in the spontaneous object recognition task. Male C57BL/6J mice were administered bilateral lidocaine (4%, 0.5 microl/side) or aCSF (0.5 microl/side) directly into the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus 5 min prior to sample object training, and object recognition memory was tested after a short ( 5 min) or long (24 h) retention interval. There was no effect of intra-hippocampal lidocaine on the time needed for mice to accumulate sample object exploration, suggesting that inactivation of the hippocampus did not affect sample session activity or the motivation to explore objects. Lidocaine-treated mice exhibited impaired object recognition memory, measured as reduced novel object preference, after a 24 h but not a 5 min retention interval. These data support a delay-dependent role for the hippocampus in object recognition memory, an effect consistent with the results of hippocampal lesion studies conducted in rats. However, these data are also consistent with the view that the hippocampus is involved in object recognition memory regardless of retention interval, and that object recognition processes of parahippocampal structures (e.g., perirhinal cortex) are sufficient to support object recognition memory over short retention intervals.     

National Character and Personality

ABSTRACT— People in all cultures have shared perceptions about the personality characteristics of the typical member of their own culture and of typical members of other cultures. Recent collaborative work has provided validated assessments of the personality profiles of over 50 cultures, and judged by these criteria, perceptions of national character are unfounded stereotypes. An appreciation of that fact by the public might improve international relations, so research is needed to understand the origins and persistence of national-character stereotypes. Psychologists have begun to explore the utility of aggregate personality profiles, which reflect subtle but real differences between cultures in mean levels of personality traits.     

Adherence to RIASEC structure in relation to career exploration and parenting style: Longitudinal and idiothetic considerations

We explored the “idiothetic” cognitive structure of RIASEC occupational percepts in a sample of Italian middle and high school students over a one year period, examining the possible bidirectional linkages between cognitive-vocational structure, involvement in career exploration activities, and exposure to authoritative parenting style. The focus was on the extent to which individuals’ thinking deviates from the normative RIASEC circumplex structure. Results indicated that there was less stability in the occupational percepts of middle school students over time, but both student groups showed change in the direction of greater adherence to circular structure. In addition, deviation from the circular model was related to subsequent career exploration, and initial levels of career exploration and parental authoritativeness were predictive of later circular structure, especially in middle school students. The results support the importance of examining individual variation in cognitive-vocational structure in relation to career development models and interventions.     

Subjective, behavioral, and physiological reactivity to ethnically matched and ethnically mismatched film clips

This study examined whether individuals from 4 major ethnic groups within the United States (African American, Chinese American, European American, and Mexican American) showed greater subjective, behavioral, and physiological responses to emotional film clips (amusement, sadness, and disgust) with actors from their own ethnic group (ethnically matched) compared with actors from the other 3 ethnic groups (ethnically mismatched). Evidence showed greater responsivity to ethnically matched films for African Americans and European Americans, with the largest effect for African Americans. These findings were consistent across both sex and level of cultural identification. Findings of ethnic difference notwithstanding, there were many areas in which ethnic differences were not found (e.g., little or no evidence was found of greater response to ethnically matched films in Chinese-American or Mexican- American participants). These findings indicate that the emotional response system clearly reacts to stimuli of diverse ethnic content; however, the system is also amenable to subtle "tuning" that allows for incrementally enhanced responding to members of one's own ethnic or cultural group.     

Toward an Aesthetic Medicine: Developing a Core Medical Humanities Undergraduate Curriculum

The medical humanities are often implemented in the undergraduate medicine curriculum through injection of discrete option courses as compensation for an overdose of science. The medical humanities may be reformulated as process and perspective, rather than content, where the curriculum is viewed as an aesthetic text and learning as aesthetic and ethical identity formation. This article suggests that a "humanities" perspective may be inherent to the life sciences required for study of medicine. The medical humanities emerge as a revelation of value inherent to an aesthetic medicine taught and learned imaginatively.     

Cultural and temperamental variation in emotional response

To examine the relative influence of cultural and temperamental factors on emotional response, we compared the emotional behavior, reports of emotional experience, and autonomic responses of 50 European American (EA) and 48 Chinese American (CA) college-age dating couples during conversations about conflicts in their relationships. EA couples showed more positive and less negative emotional behavior than did CA couples, despite similarities in reports of emotional experience and autonomic reactivity. Group differences in emotional behavior were mediated by cultural (values and practices) but not temperamental factors (neuroticism and extraversion). Collapsing across groups, cultural factors accounted for greater variance in emotional behavior but lesser variance in reports of emotional experience compared with temperamental factors. Together, these findings suggest that the relative influence of cultural and temperamental factors on emotion varies by response component.     

Development of demographic norms for four new WAIS-III/WMS-III indexes

Following the publication of the third edition Wechsler scales (i.e., WAIS-III and WMS-III), demographically corrected norms were made available in the form of a computerized scoring program (i.e., WAIS-III/WMS-III/WIAT-II Scoring Assistant). These norms correct for age, gender, ethnicity, and education. Since then, four new indexes have been developed: the WAIS-III General Ability Index, the WMS-III Delayed Memory Index, and the two alternate Immediate and Delayed Memory Indexes. The purpose of this study was to develop demographically corrected norms for the four new indexes using the standardization sample and education oversample from the WAIS-III and WMS-III. These norms were developed using the same methodology as the demographically corrected norms made available in the WAIS-III/WMS-III/WIAT-II Scoring Assistant.