Josephine Baker: psychoanalysis and the colonial fetish

This paper traces an intricate path connecting racial fantasy, aesthetic judgment, and the larger cultural problem of inter-subjective recognition. In particular, the author examines the theme of fetishism, both sexual and racial, in a Western historical, colonial context, in order to unravel a set of disturbances that cohere around the racial fetish then and now. Taking the figure of an entertainment icon of the 1920s, Josephine Baker, as a case study, the author shows how the imagination of the colonizing white male was both articulated and disrupted by Baker as a ready-made representation of the cultural, racial, and sexual other.     

College women: eating behaviors and help-seeking preferences

Late adolescent women at a large, mid-Atlantic university were surveyed. Of the 578 who completed the survey, 17% were found to have eating disorders as defined by a score of 20 or above on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26; Garner, Olmstead, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982). Participants who scored 20 or above were younger and more likely to be white, in a sorority, and Christian than were those who scored below 20 on the EAT-26. No correlation was found between EAT-26 scores and participation in organized athletics. In addition, the participants were asked about their choice of help and support should they have any worries about their eating. They were most likely to say that they would prefer a close friend to support them when dealing with disordered eating, followed by their parents and their significant other. In terms of professional services, most women reported that they would prefer individual assistance such as a consultation with a physician, a nutritionist, or a therapist, followed by family therapy, if they ever had questions about eating or thought they needed professional help with disordered eating.     

Maladaptive personality functioning within the big five and the five-factor model

The five-factor model (FFM) of general personality functioning was derived originally from lexical studies of trait terms within the English language. Many studies have been conducted on the relationship of the FFM to personality disorder symptomatology but, as yet, no lexical study of the representation of maladaptive personality functioning within a language has been conducted. The current study identified the distribution of socially undesirable trait terms within each of the poles of the Big Five and compared this distribution to findings obtained with FFM personality disorder measures. The implications of the results for a FFM of personality disorders and for the FFM assessment of maladaptive personality functioning are discussed.     

Implicit and explicit attitudes toward high-fat foods in obesity

This study examined implicit and explicit attitudes toward high-fat foods in obese (n = 30) and normal-weight controls (n = 31). The Implicit Association Test (A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) was used to measure the differential association of the 2 target categories--high-fat vs. low-fat food words--with an attribute dimension (positive vs. negative). Results suggest that obese people are characterized by a significantly stronger implicit negative attitude toward high-fat foods than are normal-weight controls. This implicit negative attitude is contradictory to their preferences and behavior: Several studies indicate that obese people prefer and consume high-fat foods. Apparently, obese people like the taste of high-fat foods but not the fat content itself, not only on the explicit but also on the implicit level.     

Universality versus language-specificity in listening to running speech

Recognizing spoken language involves automatic activation of multiple candidate words. The process of selection between candidates is made more efficient by inhibition of embedded words (like egg in beg) that leave a portion of the input stranded (here, b). Results from European languages suggest that this inhibition occurs when consonants are stranded but not when syllables are stranded. The reason why leftover syllables do not lead to inhibition could be that in principle they might themselves be words; in European languages, a syllable can be a word. In Sesotho (a Bantu language), however, a single syllable cannot be a word. We report that in Sesotho, word recognition is inhibited by stranded consonants, but stranded monosyllables produce no more difficulty than stranded bisyllables (which could be Sesotho words). This finding suggests that the viability constraint which inhibits spurious embedded word candidates is not sensitive to language-specific word structure, but is universal.     

The spatial integration of adolescent identity: its relation to age,education, and subjective well-being

A sense of being the same person through time and social contexts is a central characteristic of identity formation. The spatial integration of identity was investigated in three groups of high school students differing in age and/or educational level. The 294 adolescents chose and ranked personally revealing identity contexts, described their general and context-specific identities, and indicated their subjective sense of well-being. With increasing age and educational level adolescents chose an increasing number of identity contexts. Context-specific identities were found on average to be closely interwoven. There was a positive linear relationship between spatial integration and subjective well-being. The conclusion is that age and education promote the extension of adolescents' identity horizons, provided that their spatial integration is solid enough to absorb the downward effect of a new identity context. A comparison between spatial integration and two measures of exploration and commitment showed that spatial integration is a relatively powerful measure of adolescent identity.     

Effects of object asymmetry on visual attention

Unilateral neglect has been demonstrated relative to the intrinsic left side of objects, even when presented in the preserved hemispace. These results have been interpreted as evidence of an object-centered reference frame. In the present study, neurologically normal individuals were presented with letter stimuli having distinguishing features to the right (R) or left (J) of their intrinsic midline, shown in normal and mirror parity, and in six angle rotations. RTs confirmed that participants rotated the letters to the upright to decide parity: such rotation would align the object-centered and viewer-centered frames of reference, suggesting that not controlling for mental rotation would confound this effect. In addition, a dot, presented lateral to the main letter stimulus, resulted in quicker parity decisions when on the maximally-informative side of the letter. Together, the results suggest that apparent object-centered neglect may arise from the combined effects of mental rotation and within-object information asymmetries.     

A space for measuring mind and brain: interdisciplinarity and digital tools in the development of brain mapping and functional imaging, 1980-1990

Brain mapping is said to have opened up the possibility of a new collaboration between the sciences of mind and the sciences of the brain, potentially leading to a new kind of scientist, sometimes called "cognitive neuroscientist." This article traces the recent history of brain mapping and analyzes the processes that have led to a new "close working relationship" between the sciences of mind and brain. A key part of the working relationship is shown to be constituted through the development of the Talairach system, a digital space in which to measure structure and function. The development of meaningful brain mapping data involves the creation of measurement spaces that allow interdisciplinary collaboration and is not the result solely of theoretical developments or of the application of a technology.     

Underreporting of psychopathology on the MMPI-2: a meta-analytic review

Meta-analytic techniques were applied to studies of the MMPI-2 in which participants given standard instructions were compared with participants instructed or believed to have been underreporting. Traditional and supplementary indices of underreporting yielded a mean effect size of 1.25, suggesting that underreporting respondents differ from those responding honestly by a little more than 1 standard deviation, on the average, on these scales. Analyses of classification accuracy suggested that several scales are moderately effective in detecting underreporting, although accuracy decreases if participants have been coached about validity scales. Base rates of defensive responding in relevant populations are reviewed, and methodological issues, including research designs, coaching, and incremental validity of supplementary underreporting scales, are discussed.     

Matching and naming objects by shape or function: age and context effects in preschool children

Three experiments tested preschoolers' use of abstract principles to classify and label objects by shape or function. Three- and 4-year-olds were instructed to match objects by shape or function. Four-year-olds readily adopted either rule, but 3-year-olds followed only the shape rule. Without a rule, 4-year-olds tended to match by shape unless object function was shown during matching (Experiment 2). Three-year-olds' ability to use a function rule was tested in several conditions (re-presenting functions; reminders to "use the rule"; repeating rule on every trial). None induced consistent function matching (Experiment 3). Supplemental memory and verbal tasks showed that 3-year-olds have trouble using function as an abstract basis of comparison. Naming data, however, show that preschoolers are learning that object labels are based on function. The results show preschoolers' growing flexibility in adopting abstract generalization rules and growing knowledge of conventions for extending words.