Pornography use and sexual aggression: the impact of frequency and type of pornography use on recidivism among sexual offenders

In this study, we examined the unique contribution of pornography consumption to the longitudinal prediction of criminal recidivism in a sample of 341 child molesters. We specifically tested the hypothesis, based on predictions informed by the confluence model of sexual aggression that pornography will be a risk factor for recidivism only for those individuals classified as relatively high risk for re-offending. Pornography use (frequency and type) was assessed through self-report and recidivism was measured using data from a national database from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Indices of recidivism, which were assessed up to 15 years after release, included an overall criminal recidivism index, as well as subcategories focusing on violent (including sexual) recidivism and sexual recidivism alone. Results for both frequency and type of pornography use were generally consistent with our predictions. Most importantly, after controlling for general and specific risk factors for sexual aggression, pornography added significantly to the prediction of recidivism. Statistical interactions indicated that frequency of pornography use was primarily a risk factor for higher-risk offenders, when compared with lower-risk offenders, and that content of pornography (i.e., pornography containing deviant content) was a risk factor for all groups. The importance of conceptualizing particular risk factors (e.g., pornography), within the context of other individual characteristics is discussed.     

Brain and psyche in early Christian asceticism

This study is an 11-part investigation of the psychology and neuropsychology of early Christian asceticism as represented by Evagrius Ponticus (AD 345-399), the tradition's first ascetical theologian and possibly its mosfinfluential. Evagrius's biography is reviewed in the first section. The living circuinstaii and perceptual consequences of desert asceticism are considered in the second. Penitence, dispassion, and the mysticism of "pure prayer" are discussed in the third. Austerities are addressed in the fourth section, particularly fasting, prostrations, and prolonged standing. Ascetical perspectives on sleep, dreams, and the hypnogogic state are analyzed in the fifth. The depressive syndrome of acedia is discussed in the sixth. Evagrius's reports of auditory, olfactory, and visual hallucinations are analyzed in the seventh. Multiple complementary interpretations of demonic phenoniena are developed in the eighth section. Evagrius's psychotherapy for anger is reviewed in the ninth. Interpersonal relations among ascetics are considered in the tenth section. The study concludes with a summary.     

What drives the organization of object knowledge in the brain?

Various forms of category-specificity have been described at both the cognitive and neural levels, inviting the inference that different semantic domains are processed by distinct, dedicated mechanisms. In this paper, we argue for an extension of a domain-specific interpretation to these phenomena that is based on network-level analyses of functional coupling among brain regions. On this view, domain-specificity in one region of the brain emerges because of innate connectivity with a network of regions that also process information about that domain. Recent findings are reviewed that converge with this framework, and a new direction is outlined for understanding the neural principles that shape the organization of conceptual knowledge.     

Psychosocial functioning of borderline patients and axis II comparison subjects followed prospectively for six years

The purpose of this study was to determine the course of the psychosocial functioning of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) over 6 years of prospective follow-up. The psychosocial functioning of 290 patients meeting both DIB-R and DSM-III-R criteria for BPD and 72 patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for another Axis II disorder (and neither criteria set for BPD) was assessed at baseline using a semistructured interview of demonstrated reliability. Over 94% of surviving patients were reinterviewed about their psychosocial functioning blind to all previously collected information at three distinct follow-up waves: 2-, 4-, and 6-year follow-up. The psychosocial functioning of borderline patients improved substantially over time, with the percentage meeting criteria for good overall psychosocial functioning increasing from 26% at baseline to 56% during the third wave of follow-up. Despite this improvement, borderline patients functioned significantly more poorly than Axis II comparison subjects, particularly in the area of vocational achievement. However, a more detailed examination revealed that borderline patients who had experienced a symptomatic remission during the course of the study functioned significantly better both socially and vocationally than never-remitted borderline patients. More specifically, they were significantly more likely to have a good relationship with a spouse/partner and at least one parent, good work/school performance, a sustained work/school history, a GAF score of 61 or higher (43% vs. 0% 6 years after their index admission), and to have good overall psychosocial functioning (66% vs. 27% at 6 year follow-up). Taken together, the results of this study suggest that psychosocial improvement is both common among borderline patients and strongly related to their symptomatic status.