Evaluation of the Self-Report Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Sample of Urban Middle School Students: a Multidimensional Rasch Analysis

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by limited empathy, lack of guilt, and callous use of others. The Inventory of Callous...     

Six Factors Fostering Protest: Predicting Participation in Locally Unwanted Land Uses Movements

In two studies we analyzed the predictors of participation in an Italian Lulu mobilization, rooted in the Susa Valley, a North-Western Italian valley where a high speed railway (HSR) should be sited. Based on the data of qualitative Study 1, performed interviewing 12 anti-HSR militants and 12 non anti-HSR militants, we hypothesized that Klandermans' (1997) model on participation (centered on group identification, sense of injustice, and collective efficacy) is suitable to predict the Lulu mobilization we studied, and that three contextual variables (community involvement, the perception of the existence of a vast majority in the community favoring the mobilization, and place attachment) may be added to Klandermans' to predict such a mobilization. We formally tested such hypotheses in quantitative Study 2 (representative sample of the people living in the Susa Valley, N =  250). Results supported the role of Klandermans' (1997) variables and confirmed the influence exerted by our contextual variables, thus suggesting that an integration of the two models would be fruitful in the analysis of Lulu mobilizations. Limits and future developments of this research are discussed.     

Most earcons do not interfere with spoken passage comprehension

A cross‐modal dual attention experiment was completed by 198 undergraduates in three blocks that each consisted of an orientation task and a concurrent listening task. For the orientation task, participants located regions on an LCD that were cued by speech or one of four types of symbolic auditory cues (i.e. earcons); the concurrent task required participants to listen to and answer questions about GRE sample test passages. Results indicated the orientation task had no effect on comprehension of the passages compared to a passage‐only control for four of the five auditory cue types. All auditory cues resulted in high performance for the orientation task, with speech and complex sounds exhibiting the highest performance. Implications for auditory display design and for assistive technologies for visually impaired persons are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A method for the definition of a self-awareness behavior dimension with clinical subjects: A latent trait analysis

The main scope of the present study was to devise a method in order to define a dimension characteristic of self-awareness behaviors with clinical subjects. To do so, I adopted a latent trait methodological approach. I studied the way patients expressed their treatment requests through their behaviors, both during their admission to a medical center in Northern Italy and after a period of treatment that involved an integrated (psychoanalytical and pharmacological) approach. The subjects were 48 females suffering from affective disorders, often combined with personality disorders. Five self-awareness indicators were identified, based both on interviews conducted with the patients and on the literature on the subject. The data gathered were analyzed by means of the many-facet Rasch model (Linacre, 1989). The results confirmed the existence of a self-awareness dimension characterized by the five indicators. Moreover, there was evidence that an improvement in self-awareness occurred during the pretreatment to posttreatment time period for both the affective disorders with personality problems patients and the affective disorders without personality problems patients. The estimation of bias/interactions showed the existence of specific behavioral differences between the two groups of patients. This study demonstrates the appropriateness of the methodological tool adopted, opening new expectations with regard to the integration of two approaches—psychoanalytical and pharmacological ones—in the treatment of psychiatric subjects.     

How Diverse Is This Community? Sense of Community,Ethnic Prejudice and Perceived Ethnic Heterogeneity

In this paper, the relationship between territorial sense of community (SoC), perceived ethnic heterogeneity within the community and ethnic prejudice was analyzed. Specifically, the moderating role of perceived ethnic heterogeneity within the community on the SoC–prejudice relationship was tested in a sample of residents (N = 603) of the Salento region, Italy. Results showed that the relationship between SoC and prejudice was moderated by perceived contextual heterogeneity. For blatant and subtle prejudice, when perceived ethnic heterogeneity was low, SoC was negatively associated with prejudice. In the case of modern prejudice, SoC was positively associated with prejudice when perceived ethnic heterogeneity was high. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“It’s Worth It in the End”: Veterans’ Experiences in Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy

Despite the efficacy of evidence-based psychotherapies (EBP) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and efforts to disseminate them, only 6–13% of veterans seeking care through the Veterans Affairs health care system receive these treatments. EBPs such as prolonged exposure (PE) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT) are exposure-based treatments. Provider and patient fears regarding the tolerability of exposure-based treatments likely impede their delivery and completion. The present study utilized qualitative interviews with 23 veterans who completed at least eight sessions of either PE or CPT to elicit firsthand accounts of veterans’ experiences in these EBPs. Results suggest that while a minority of veterans reported initial symptom worsening, the majority of veterans reported positive experiences and felt that, despite being stressful, these EBPs were “worth it.” Most veterans discussed thoughts of discontinuing treatment prematurely, but stated that adherence was encouraged by their commitment to finishing, desperation for relief, therapist/group support, and family support. Veterans believed exposure made an important contribution to symptom improvement, as did greater self-understanding and changing negative or unhelpful beliefs. These findings indicate veteran satisfaction with PE and CPT, and may assist providers to develop strategies to increase adherence and treatment completion.     

The role of early visual input in the development of contour interpolation: the case of subjective contours

We tested the effect of early monocular and binocular deprivation of normal visual input on the development of contour interpolation. Patients deprived from birth by dense central cataracts in one or both eyes, and age‐matched controls, discriminated between fat and thin shapes formed by either illusory or luminance‐defined contours. Thresholds indicated the minimum amount of curvature (the fatness or thinness) required for discrimination of the illusory shape, providing a measure of the precision of interpolation. The results show that individuals deprived of visual input in one eye, but not those deprived in both eyes, later show deficits in perceptual interpolation. The deficits were shown mostly for weakly supported contours in which interpolation of contours between the inducers was over a large distance relative to the size of the inducers. Deficits shown for the unilateral but not for the bilateral patients point to the detrimental effect of unequal competition between the eyes for cortical connections on the later development of the mechanisms underlying contour interpolation.     

Central–peripheral differences in audiovisual and visuotactile event perception

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - We examined audiovisual and visuotactile integration in the central and peripheral visual field using visual fission and fusion illusions induced by...