Sharpening Ockham's Razor: The role of psychopathology and neuropsychopathology in the perpetration of domestic violence

Current major explanatory theoretical views of domestic violence perpetration can be summarized as feminist/socio-cultural, social learning theory-based intergenerational transmission, and psychological/psychosocial. Of those, psychological/psychosocial views offer the most parsimonious and thorough explanations, while feminist/socio-cultural theory relies on the metaphysical usage of the construct “patriarchy” and miniscule empirical support, and research guided by intergenerational transmission suffers from small effect sizes. This review summarizes these theoretical perspectives and evaluates them according to epistemological criteria of parsimony, elegance, and empirical utility. A more in-depth review examines empirical links between psychological and neuropsychological disorders and domestic violence perpetration. This effort at theory-building advances the premise that domestic violence perpetration is better and more accurately understood as maladaptive coping, symptomatic of a range of psychological and neuropsychological disorders than as either a culturally supported strategy for male domination of women or as only learned behavior.     

Empirical Identification of Dimensions of Religiousness and Spirituality

Numerous measures of Religiousness and Spirituality (R/S) exist, but the number and type of dimensions represented by these measures remain unclear. We used exploratory and confirmatory analyses in two U.S. college-student samples to identify five dimensions of R/S: Religious/Spiritual Involvement, Search for Meaning, Religious Struggle, Quest, and Spiritual Well-Being. Over half of the measures loaded on the first factor (Religious/Spiritual Involvement). In bivariate and multivariate analyses, the factors had unique patterns of relationships with each other, with alcohol use and problems, and with measures of affect and personality. Although this study utilized a college-student sample, the factors obtained are similar to those found in studies using other samples. While R/S can be represented as a global characteristic, additional dimensions also exist and may have significance for understanding how R/S are related to health and well-being.     

Similarities and Differences in Semantic and Phonological Processing with Age Patterns of Functional MRI Activation

Abstract

In a study modelled after Hashtroudi, Johnson, and Chrosniak (1989), young and older adults were examined in two conditions requiring reality monitoring (i.e., discriminating between one external and one internal source) and two conditions requiring source monitoring (i.e., discriminating between two external or two internal sources). Results indicated age-related deficits in internal source monitoring, although the two age groups did not differ in reality monitoring or external source monitoring. Explicit instructions to remember the source of information had no effect on performance. In addition, performance on putative tests of frontal lobe functioning (i.e., the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and tests of verbal fluency) was unrelated to source memory performance. the results are discussed relative to the view that aging may affect the ability to encode perceptual information in a distinctive manner, as well as the ability to reconstruct perceptual information and its relationship to item information.     

Counter-Recognition in Decolonial Struggle

In decolonial struggle, there is an old colonial order that must be forever dismantled, with all its trimmings of unearned privilege, embedded in generations of wealth. There is a new order to be established, with new constellations of links with the global world. It is with this moment of significant social questioning, disruption, and revolution that this paper is concerned. Colonial situations, wherever they occur, affect our social and political lives deeply, and as they penetrate into our therapy rooms, with identities abraded and subjectivities set aslant with new light, it is urgent that we begin to grapple with their challenges to our skills and our theory. This paper addresses three aspects of this. First, the decolonial turn raises significant challenges for relational therapies. Second, far-reaching change to a social order evokes complex layers of trauma, and the ways in which we respond to these requires a reach beyond our own vulnerabilities, our retreat into the old familiar. Finally, the paper looks at the ways in which the writing of both Frantz Fanon and Donald Winnicott theories provide a way of making sense of this challenging clinical terrain.     

Religiosity,Intolerant Attitudes,and Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance

The latent construct of religiosity comprised measures of external, internal, and quest religiosity and was examined in relation to the latent construct of intolerant attitudes in a sample of undergraduate and graduate students at a Christian-affiliated university. The latent construct of intolerance included the indicators of rape and domestic violence myth acceptance, social dominance, dogmatism, and negative attitudes toward women. Multivariate results revealed significant negative correlations between internal and quest religiosity and indicators of intolerant attitudes, including the interpersonal violence myth acceptance scales. Quest religiosity also demonstrated unique univariate quadratic effects with both rape myth acceptance and domestic violence myth acceptance. Moderate levels of questing were associated with highest levels of interpersonal violence myth acceptance. Implications for the existing literature are discussed within the framework of a relational conceptualization of religiosity.     

Upper Left Hand Placement of Human Figure Drawings as an Indicator of Anxiety

The present study explored the validity of upper left hand placement as an indicator of anxiety in human figure drawings. The DAP and the IPAT Anxiety Scale were administered to 103 college students. Their drawings were then judged for the presence or absence of the indicator under investigation. A Mann-Whitney U-test was used to test for differences in anxiety scores between the indicator present and the indicator absent group. Significant differences were found (p < .01) supporting the hypothesis that upper left placement is a valid indicator of anxiety.     

The Attribution of Positive and Negative Qualities to Social Actions

This research reports on the manner in which extrinsic qualities are attributed to different forms of social action. Particular concern was given to the question of how such attribution of properties might be related to a person's desire to be involved in the action. Two findings seemed to be relatively clear. First, quite arbitrary qualities are attributed to various social actions with a high degree of consistency. Because these qualities cannot be considered intrinsic to the action, the consistent attribution of such qualities must come from some source other than the actions themselves. Second, of the several qualities examined, the most powerful attributed quality for purposes of social motivation appeared to be the general concept of display. Actions perceived as having a high degree of display potential for an actor were also actions that respondents were willing to commit themselves to or become involved in to a profound degree.     

Work–Family Conflict and Flexible Work Arrangements: Deconstructing Flexibility

Workplace flexibility has been a topic of considerable interest to researchers, practitioners, and public policy advocates as a tool to help individuals manage work and family roles. In this study, meta‐analysis is used to clarify what is known about the relationship between flexible work arrangements and work–family conflict by deconstructing the flexibility construct. We found that the direction of work–family conflict (work interference with family vs. family interference with work) and the specific form of flexibility (flextime vs. flexplace; use vs. availability) make a difference in the effects found. Overall, the significant effects were small in magnitude.