Depressed fathers' stereotyping of infants labeled “depressed”

This study investigated whether depressed and nondepressed fathers stereotyped infants labeled “depressed” and how they viewed their own infants. Twenty-five fathers (12 nondepressed, 13 depressed) of 4-month old infants rated their infants' psychological, social and physical attributes on the Infant Stereotyping Scale (ISS). They then rated videotaped infants, labeled “normal” or “depressed”, on the ISS. Fathers rated depressed versus normal infants lower on sociability, social behavior, and cognitive competence. Depressed versus nondepressed fathers, rated depressed infants lower on social behavior, potency, and sociability. Depressed fathers rated their own infants lower on social behavior, potency, and cognitive competence as well as being more vulnerable. Implications of parental depression on stereotyping effects and possible risks for infants are discussed. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Personality and the experimental study of education

Literature is reviewed suggesting that a child's personality determines to a large extent his or her reaction to specific methods of teaching, and even to the whole ethos and atmosphere of the teaching situation. Thus, extraverted children benefit from being taught along the lines of discovery learning, while introverted children benefit from being taught along the lines of reception learning. The apparent lack of difference in achievement in groups taught by these methods hides the large individual differences factor that appears in the interaction term. It is suggested that facts of this kind should be of considerable concern to those who design our courses for future teachers, and for teachers generally. We owe our children care in the design of methods for teaching, and personality differences play an important part in such design.     

To coerce and be coerced

Coercion is a way of forcibly influencing others. While one's core conflicts may contribute to an experience of being coerced in any interaction, specific situations or circumstances commonly encountered in clinical practice set the stage for analyst or patient to feel forced or manipulated. The interaction that develops in these instances is conceptualized as a coercive enactment. Conditions that increase the susceptibility to coercing and being coerced may develop at any stage in the psychoanalytic process. Supervision and conversion from psychotherapy to psychoanalysis are examined as situations that predispose to coercion. Silences and other difficulties in maintaining the analytic frame, as well as crises in the life of the analyst, may also lead to coercive enactments. Pertinent literature is reviewed and illustrative clinical cases are presented.     

Effects of state anxiety on performance using a task-switching paradigm: An investigation of attentional control theory

Low- and high-anxious participants performed arithmetical tasks under task-switching or nontask-switching conditions. These tasks were low or high in complexity. The task on each trial was either explicitly cued or not cued. We assumed that demands on attentional control would be greater in the task-switching condition than in the nontask-switching condition, and would be greater with high-complexity tasks than with low-complexity ones. We also assumed that demands on attentional control would be greater when cues were absent rather than present. According to attentional control theory (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007), anxiety impairs attentional control processes required to shift attention optimally within and between tasks. We predicted that there would be greater negative effects of high state anxiety in the task-switching condition than in the nontask-switching condition. Our theoretical predictions were supported, suggesting that state anxiety reduces attentional control.     

Book reviews

Clark, M. S. and Fiske, S. T. (Eds.). Affect and cognition: The Seventeenth Annual Cornegie Symposium on Cognition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. 357. ISBN 0-89859-212-7. £24.00.

Norman, D. A. (Ed.). Perspectives on Cognitive Science. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex. 1981. Pp. 303. ISBN 0-89391-071-6. $19.95

Gollin, E. S. (Ed.). Developmental Plasticity: Behavioral and Biological Aspects of Variations in Development. New York: Academic Press. 1981. Pp. 282. ISBN 0-12-289620-3. £16.60.

Rapin, I. Children with Brain Dysfunction. New York: Raven Press. 1982. Pp. 300. ISBN 0-89004-844-4. $46.50.

Schank, R. C. Reading and Understanding: Teaching from the Perspective of Artificial Intelligence. Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. xii + 196. ISBN 0-89859-169-4. £13.95.

Sheehan, P. W. and McConkey, K. M. Hypnosis and Experience: The Exploration of Phenomena and Process. Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. 297. ISBN 0-89859-195-3. £17.50.

Burton, A. (Ed.). The Pathology and Psychology of Cognition. London: Methuen. 1983. Pp. 306. ISBN 0-416-30810-4. Hardback, £13.00; paperback, £5.95.

Otto, W. and White, S. (Eds.). Reading Expository Material. London: Academic Press. 1982. Pp. xiv + 303. ISBN 0-12-531050-1. £19.60.

Lerdahl, F. and Jackendoff, R. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 1983. Pp. 368. ISBN 0-262-12094-1. £31.30.

Lewis, B. (Ed.). Bioacoustics: A Comparative Approach. London: Academic Press. 1983. Pp. 493. ISBN 0-12-446550-1. £29.50.

Carpenter, T. P., Moser, J. M. and Romberg, T. A. Addition and Subtraction: A Cognitive Perspective. Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. 245. ISBN 0-89859-171-6. £14.95.

Le Ny, J-F. and Kintsch, W. (Eds.). Language and comprehension. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 1982. Pp. 358. ISBN 0-444-86538-1.Dfl. 120.00.

Schwartz, B. and Lacey, H. Behaviorism, science and human nature. New York: W. W. Norton. 1982. Pp. 282. ISBN 0-393-01585-8. $19.95.

Cole, P. R. Language disorders in preschool children. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. 1982. Pp. 178. ISBN 0-13-522862-X. £19.75.

Wood, M. L. Language disorders in school-age children. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. 1982. Pp. 156. ISBN 0-13-522946-4. £19.75.

Baddeley, A. D. Your memory: A user's guide. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. 1982. Pp. 222. ISBN 0-283-98929-7. £9.95.

Lass, N. J. (Ed.). Speech and language: Advances in basic research and practice, Vol. 6. London: Academic Press. 1982. Pp. 477. ISBN 0-12-608606-0. £36.40.

Neisser, U. (Ed.). Memory observed: Remembering in natural contexts. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. 1982. Pp. 433 + xiii. ISBN 07167-1 1371-3. £8.80 (paperback), £18.80 (hardback).

Gentner, D. and Stevens, A. L. Mental models. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1983. Pp. viii + 348. ISBN 0-89859-242-9. £24.95.

Miles, T. R. Dyslexia: The pattern of diculties. London: Granada. 1983. Pp. 225. ISBN 0-246-11345-6. £9.95.

Humphrey, N. Consciousness regained. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1983. Pp. 222. ISBN 0-19-217732-X. £12.95.

Levinson, S. C. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1983. Pp. xvi + 420. ISBN 0-521-22235-4 (Case). £25.00. ISBN 0-521-29414-2 (Paper). £8.50.