Whiteness Uncovered: Commentary on Papers by Melanie Suchet and Gillian Straker

In this discussion of papers by Gillian Straker and Melanie Suchet, the author draws some links between the two papers in the interest of expanding analysts' understanding of the nature of whiteness as part of a racist discourse.     

Commentary on Koons et al.’s (2013) “Negotiating for Improved Reimbursement for Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Successful Project”

This paper provides a commentary of Koons, O’Rourke, Carter, and Erhardt (this issue), which takes an inspiring first step in bridging research and clinical practice. We encourage the field to take the following from this paper: (a) evidence-based treatment (EBT) can work in real-world settings; (b) publishable research can be accomplished in a purely clinical environment; (c) some insurance companies are willing to pay more for EBTs; and (d) getting sufficient pay for more time-consuming work has potential to help patients. Koons et al. found the crucial synthesis for all clinicians: In a purely clinical setting, research demonstrated that people got better and the providers were paid more for their work.     

Assessing complex problem-solving skills with multiple complex systems

In this paper we propose the multiple complex systems (MCS) approach for assessing domain-general complex problem-solving (CPS) skills and its processes knowledge acquisition and knowledge application. After defining the construct and the formal frameworks for describing complex problems, we emphasise some of the measurement issues inherent in assessing CPS skills with single tasks (i.e., fixed item difficulty, low or unknown reliability, and a large impact of random errors). With examples of the MicroDYN test and the MicroFIN test (two instances of the MCS approach), we show how to adequately score problem-solving skills by using multiple tasks. We discuss implications for problem-solving research and the assessment of CPS skills in general.     

Misunderstanding stigma: A reply to Bobys

In his comment on our approach to understanding stigma (Elliott, Ziegler, Altman, and Scott, 1982), Bobys presents an interesting and provocative form of stigma: the stigma of excellence. He notes that it may be just as damaging to appear to be superior as it is to be inferior, and several lines of research quoted by Bobys provide evidence that this is indeed the case.     

The “coconut tree” model of careers: the case of French academia

This research note sets out to explain the main features of the French university academic career—the “coconut tree,” as it is colloquially known, setting it firmly within a social and cultural context; outlining the logic and functions of career stages, explaining its rituals and conventions, its rewards and pitfalls. These are narrated by two characteristic episodes and comparisons are drawn with Anglo-Saxon academic careers.     

Immediate and Prolonged Effects of Videogame Violence

This study examined the relationship between playing violent videogames and sensitivity to aggressive acts. In 2 experiments, college students were randomly assigned to play violent or less violent videogames. They then read a series of criminal vignettes and assigned prison sentences to violent criminals. In the second experiment, participants returned 1 hr later and completed a second series of vignettes. A significant interaction between gender and videogame was found in both experiments. Men who played the violent game gave more lenient sentences to criminals than did those who played the less violent game. In the second experiment, women, unlike men, assigned harsher sentences after playing the violent game. The effects were found to persist for at least 1 hr.     

Dialectical Behavior Group Therapy is Feasible and Reduces Emotional Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis

We examined whether dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was feasible and effective in multiple sclerosis (MS). A convenience sample of 20 patients with anxiety or depression symptoms received either DBT (n = 10) or standard medical care (n = 10). The DBT protocol was found to be feasible in the MS population studied (e.g., good retention and acceptability). For the DBT group, significant improvements were demonstrated in self-rated and clinician-rated depressive symptoms, clinician-rated anxiety symptoms, self-rated general psychopathology symptoms, and quality of life. In contrast, the standard medical care group retained for exploratory purposes showed no significant improvements. This pilot work provides preliminary support for the utility of DBT in MS, but further work is needed to clarify this benefit using a large, randomized controlled approach.     

Reliability of implicit self‐esteem measures revisited

This study investigated the internal consistencies and temporal stabilities of different implicit self‐esteem measures. Participants (N = 101) responded twice—with a time lag of 4 weeks—to five different tasks: the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT), the Affective Priming Task (APT), the Identification‐Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (ID‐EAST) and the Name‐Letter Task (NLT). As expected, the highest reliability coefficients were obtained for the self‐esteem IAT. Importantly, the internal consistencies and the temporal stabilities of the APT, the ID‐EAST, and the NLT were substantially improved by using material, structural, and analytic innovations. In particular, the use of the adaptive response‐window procedure for the APT, the computation of error scores for the ID‐EAST, and the computation of a double corrected scoring algorithm for the NLT yielded reliability coefficients comparable to those of the established IAT. Implications for the indirect assessment of self‐esteem are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oral kinematics: examining the role of edibility and valence in the in-out effect

Previous research has revealed a stable preference for words with inward consonantal-articulation patterns (from the front to the back of the mouth; e.g. BENOKA), over outward-words (from the back to the front; e.g. KENOBA). Following the oral approach-avoidance account suggesting that the in–out effect is due to the resemblance between consonantal-articulations patterns and ingestion/expectoration, recent findings have shown that when judging inward-outward names for objects with particular oral functions, valence did not modulate the effect while the oral function did. To replicate and examine further the role of edibility and valence in shaping the in–out effect, we asked participants (N?=?545) to rate inward and outward names for edible and non-edible products while controlling for valence. Results revealed that the motor-to-affect link was only observed for edible products, regardless of valence.