The positive and negative framing of affirmative action: a group dominance perspective

Using a sample of 328 White, Latino, and Black Los Angeles County adults, the authors examined the tendency to employ various affirmative action "frames" (e.g., affirmative action as a "tie-breaking" device or as a quota-based policy). All three groups agreed about which frames cast affirmative action in a positive light and which cast it in a negative light. Although minorities had a tendency to frame affirmative action in terms that most people find morally acceptable, Whites had a tendency to frame affirmative action in terms most people find unacceptable. In addition, compared to minorities, Whites were less supportive of affirmative action regardless of how it was framed. LISREL modeling also was employed to test two competing models regarding predictors of the tendency to use frames that one personally finds to be relatively negative versus positive. Consistent with the expectations of social dominance theory and a motivated cognition perspective, the authors found that social dominance orientation (SDO) had significant net direct and indirect effects on one's framing of affirmative action.     

The effect of odors on human newborn infants under stress

Five-day-old human infants' responses to heelstick stress were assessed with behavioral and physiological indices. The subjects were divided randomly into three groups: the LAV group, who were presented with artificial odor of lavender during the heelstick; the MILK group, who were presented with artificial odor of milk during the heelstick; and the CONT group, who were presented with no special odors. The CONT group showed more adrenocortisol release in saliva than the other groups, but there were no differences between the two odors.     

Social problem-solving in depressed,conduct-disordered,and normal adolescents

Although past theory and research implicate social problem-solving deficits in both depression and aggressive disorders, research examining carefully diagnosed groups of adolescent depressed and conduct-disordered groups had not previously been conducted. In the current study three groups of adolescents (major depression, conduct-disordered, and normal) were studied using two social problem-solving measures. Both the Means-Ends Problem-Solving task (MEPS) and the Social Situations Analysis measure (SSA) failed to show social problem-solving problem deficits in the depressed group relative to their normal age peers, but did provide corroborative evidence for social problem-solving deficits in the conduct-disordered sample. Relative to the other two groups, the conduct-disordered adolescents were found to generate fewer means to a social end, to anticipate fewer obstacles in the pursuit of solutions to interpersonal situations, and to generate fewer assertive behavioral solutions to difficult social situations. The results are discussed in relation to other work with depressed and aggressive youth, and directions for future research are given.     

Development of the overt-covert aggression inventory

The expression of anger in Japanese people is different from that of other races. We developed a new brief inventory, the Overt-Covert Aggression Inventory, to assess aggressive behavior ofJapanese people by focusing on their uniqueness and examined its reliability and validity. This inventory, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, the Japanese version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and the Picture-Frustration Study were administered to 3,104 men and 316 women in a factory. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the scale were examined. We confirmed that the Overt-Covert Aggression Inventory has adequate reliability and sufficient concurrent validity, however, further studies of the construct validity and discriminant validity are required.     

The influence of Hangul learning upon laterality differences in Hangul word recognition by native Japanese subjects

Single-character Hangul words were presented tachistoscopically in the left or right visual field to 34 normal, right-handed Japanese subjects who did not know Hangul. The reaction time was measured. A significant left-field superiority for Hangul recognition was shown. When 18 out of 34 subjects learned Hangul stimuli, they showed no lateral asymmetry for Hangul recognition. However, the other 16 subjects, without Hangul learning, again exhibited a significant left-field superiority. The results show that the initial left-field superiority shifted to no laterality difference for Hangul recognition by poor Hangul learners.     

Improved Perceptions of Emotion Regulation and Reflective Functioning in Parents: Two Additional Positive Outcomes of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

The purpose of this study was to test whether Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), a widely used effective therapy for children’s externalizing behaviors and parenting problems, was associated with improvements in parents’ emotion regulation and reflective functioning. We also investigated whether these improvements had unique associations with children’s improvements in externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Participants were 139 Australian children aged 29 to 83 months and their caregivers; all were referred for child externalizing behavior problems coupled with parenting skill deficits or high parent stress. All data were gathered via a questionnaire completed prior to and after completion of PCIT. Significant improvements were found in parents’ self-reported emotion dysregulation and capacity to use cognitive reappraisal for emotion regulation. There was also improvement in parents’ self-report of children’s symptoms, parenting practices, and reflective functioning in the form of prementalizing, which measured a low capacity to understand the emotional world of the child. Multiple regression showed that improvements in cognitive reappraisal, prementalizing, and negative parenting practices were associated with improvement in children’s symptoms. The findings extend the existing evidence for PCIT as an effective parenting intervention, adding parents’ perceived emotion regulation and reflective functioning to the list of positive outcomes from PCIT. Improved emotion regulation and reflective functioning, unique from changes in parenting practices, could be mechanisms that help explain why PCIT has been associated with improvements in children’s externalizing behaviors.