Proactive vs. Retroactive Mediation: Effects of Mediation's Timing on Children's Reactions to Popular Cartoon Violence

An experiment with 150 children aged 5–7 and 10–12 revealed that children's reactions to violent TV shows differed based on when they received negatively valenced, evaluative mediation. Results also showed that the effect of mediation's timing consistently depended on children's age. Older children responded better to pre‐exposure mediation than they did to postexposure mediation. In some cases, older children exhibited reactance to postexposure mediation. For younger children, on the other hand, mediation given at any time was more beneficial than no mediation at all. Therefore, the timing of active mediation may be an important factor in interpreting research and in the design and implementation of mediation interventions.     

Recognition bias and the physical attractiveness stereotype

Previous studies have found a recognition bias for information consistent with the physical attractiveness stereotype (PAS), in which participants believe that they remember that attractive individuals have positive qualities and that unattractive individuals have negative qualities, regardless of what information actually occurred. The purpose of this research was to examine whether recognition bias for PAS congruent information is replicable and invariant across a variety of conditions (i.e. generalizable). The effects of nine different moderator variables were examined in two experiments. With a few exceptions, the effect of PAS congruence on recognition bias was independent of the moderator variables. The results suggest that the tendency to believe that one remembers information consistent with the physical attractiveness stereotype is a robust phenomenon.     

Can Perceived Burdensomeness Explain the Relationship Between Suicide and Perfectionism?

The perception of being a burden to others has been associated with suicidal ideation and behavior. Maladaptive aspects of perfectionism have also been associated with suicidal thinking and behavior. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether perceived burdensomeness would act as a mediator between maladaptive perfectionism and suicidal ideation. Results indicated that perceived burdensomeness mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and suicidal ideation, which suggest that the perception of burdensomeness may be one aspect of the mechanism by which perfectionism can lead to such psychological distress that it becomes a predictor of suicidal ideation. Clinical implications of this relationship are discussed.     

New Nomenclature for Sexually Abusive Youth: Naming and Assessing Sexually Violent and Predatory Offenders

New nomenclature is presented identifying two subsets of sexually abusive youths currently not defined in the literature or in existing models or risk assessment tools: sexually violent youth (YSV) and predatory sexually violent youth (YPSV). Distinctively and qualitatively different, these youths are more dangerous, manifest higher levels of coercion (e.g., threats of bodily injury, use of weapons), or are predatory sexually violent toward strangers or casual acquaintances. Discussed is the innovative, empirically guided risk assessment tool Multiplex Empirically Guided Inventory of Ecological Aggregates for Assessing Sexually Abusive Children and Adolescents (Ages 19 and Under) (MEGA) (Miccio-Fonseca, 2006a Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. August 2006a. Multiplex Empirically Guided Inventory of Ecological Aggregates for Assessing Sexually Abusive Children and Adolescents (Ages 19 and Under)—MEGA, August, San Diego, CA: Author.  [Google Scholar]) for assessing the level of risk for all youths (male and female) under the age of 19 years, including YSVs and YPSVs.     

“I can see clearly now”: The effect of cue imageability on mental time travel

Mental time travel (MTT) is the ability to mentally project oneself backward or forward in time, in order to remember an event from one’s personal past or to imagine a possible event in one’s personal future. Recent work has suggested that, although past and future MTT may rely on shared neurocognitive substrates, the two temporal directions may interact differently with components of this underlying system. Here, we asked 151 participants to recall or imagine past and future autobiographical events in response to high- and low-imageable cue words. The results showed that high- and low-imageable cued events differed markedly on almost all measures, suggesting that imagery acts as a facilitator when constructing both past and possible future events. In line with previous work, future events less often referred to specific events, contained fewer details, and were more positive and idyllic than past events. However, these main effects were qualified by a number of interactions. In particular, we found an increased effect of cue imageability for past as compared to future events, suggesting that the generation of past events is more sensitive to the ability of the cues to invoke the sensory components of the encoding context, whereas the construction of future events is more driven by context-independent schemata.     

Patient Perspectives on Co-Therapists’ Behaviors in Group CBT

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - Therapist behaviour influences group cohesion and the outcome of group psychotherapy. The group members make first hand observations of the therapists in...     

Testing the bi‐dimensional effects of attitudes on behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour

Attitudes are typically treated as unidimensional predictors of both behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour. On the basis of previous research showing that attitudes comprise two independent, positive and negative dimensions, we hypothesized that attitudes would be bi‐dimensional predictors of both behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour. We focused on health‐risk behaviours. We therefore also hypothesized that the positive dimension of attitude (evaluations of positive behavioural outcomes) would better predict both behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour than would the negative dimension, consistent with the positivity bias/offset principle. In Study 1 (cross sectional design), N = 109 university students completed questionnaire measures of their intentions to binge‐drink and the positive and negative dimensions of attitude. Consistent with the hypotheses, both attitude dimensions independently predicted behavioural intentions and the positive dimension was a significantly better predictor than was the negative dimension. The same pattern of findings emerged in Study 2 (cross sectional design; N = 186 university students) when we predicted intentions to binge‐drink, smoke and consume a high‐fat diet. Similarly, in Study 3 (prospective design; N = 1,232 speed limit offenders), both the positive and negative dimensions of attitude predicted subsequent (6‐month post‐baseline) speeding behaviour on two different road types and the positive dimension was the better predictor. The implications for understanding the motivation of behaviour and the development of behaviour‐change interventions are discussed.     

The GFIT Scale: Measuring Goals Following Interpersonal Transgressions

In two studies, we created and validated a scale assessing 12 possible goals that individuals might wish to pursue when transgressed against by another person (e.g., relationship maintenance, power over the offender, retributive justice). Results demonstrated that the 12 subscales of the Goals Following Interpersonal Transgressions scale (GFIT) were reliable and exhibited convergent and discriminant validity with transgression-related interpersonal motivations (i.e., the TRIM), and relevant personality traits (i.e., the Dark Triad). Additional analyses revealed that the structure of the scale was robust across different kinds of transgressions and for differing relationships between victim and offender. We argue that the GFIT is a versatile scale with several advantages over existing measures.     

Migration Factors in West African Immigrant Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children's Neighborhood Safety

Immigrants make up large proportions of many low‐income neighborhoods, but have been largely ignored in the neighborhood safety literature. We examined perceived safety's association with migration using a six‐item, child‐specific measure of parents’ perceptions of school‐aged (5–12 years of age) children's safety in a sample of 93 West African immigrant parents in New York City. Aims of the study were (a) to identify pre‐migration correlates (e.g., trauma in home countries), (b) to identify migration‐related correlates (e.g., immigration status, time spent separated from children during migration), and (c) to identify pre‐migration and migration correlates that accounted for variance after controlling for non‐migration‐related correlates (e.g., neighborhood crime, parents’ psychological distress). In a linear regression model, children's safety was associated with borough of residence, greater English ability, less emotional distress, less parenting difficulty, and a history of child separation. Parents’ and children's gender, parents’ immigration status, and the number of contacts in the U.S. pre‐migration and pre‐migration trauma were not associated with children's safety. That child separation was positively associated with safety perceptions suggests that the processes that facilitate parent–child separation might be reconceptualized as strengths for transnational families. Integrating migration‐related factors into the discussion of neighborhood safety for immigrant populations allows for more nuanced views of immigrant families’ well‐being in host countries.