Sparing of sensitivity to biological motion but not of global motion after early visual deprivation

Patients deprived of visual experience during infancy by dense bilateral congenital cataracts later show marked deficits in the perception of global motion (dorsal visual stream) and global form (ventral visual stream). We expected that they would also show marked deficits in sensitivity to biological motion, which is normally processed in the superior temporal sulcus via input from both the dorsal and ventral streams. When tested on the same day for sensitivity to biological motion and to global motion at two speeds (4 and 18° s(-1)), patients, as expected, displayed a large deficit in processing global motion at both speeds. Surprisingly, they performed normally in discriminating biological motion from scrambled displays, tolerating as much noise as their age-matched controls. Networks bypassing damaged portions of the dorsal and the ventral streams must mediate the spared sensitivity to biological motion after early visual deprivation.     

Dissertation experiences of doctoral graduates from professional psychology programs

Worldwide, dissertation experiences are acknowledged to be challenging endeavors for students and the faculty members who advise them, and dissertation completion continues to be a concern when seeking to improve overall doctoral graduation rates. Although a number of factors have been associated with completion rates across disciplines, further research is needed within professional psychology graduate programs to understand overall student dissertation experiences. In this USA-based investigation, a mixed-method design was used to examine the experiences of 25 professional psychology doctoral graduates’ dissertation experiences, 12 of which were self-identified as positive and 13 as negative. Participants with positive experiences typically had supportive relationships with their dissertation chairs and committee members, which enhanced their research confidence and professional development. Participants with negative dissertation experiences typically had difficult relationships with dissertation chairs and committee members, which was associated with immediate and long-lasting negative consequences for participants’ professional growth and emotional well-being. The advisory working alliance was stronger for graduates with positive than negative experiences, although research attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs were not different between the two groups.     

Concordance Between Measures of Anxiety and Physiological Arousal Following Treatment of Panic Disorder in Adolescence

This study examined the concordance (or synchrony/desynchrony) between adolescents' self-reports of anxiety and physiological measures of arousal (heart rate) both prior to and after treatment for panic disorder. Results indicated a decline in reported subjective units of distress (SUDS) for the treatment group only at the post-treatment measurement for two of three tasks. Within the treatment group, heart rate changes during the Behavioral Approach Test (BAT) were observed following treatment for one task only. Implications of this apparent desynchrony between self-report and physiological measures in adolescent panic disorder are discussed, with cognitive changes in participants' perception of anxiety after treatment suggested as an important factor in recovery.     

Effects of the Copy-Cover-Compare Strategy on Acquisition,Maintenance, and Generalization of Spelling Sight Words for Elementary Students With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often struggle with spelling. Research shows this population benefits from self-management interventions, structured practice opportunities, and immediate feedback—all components of the copy-cover-compare strategy. This empirical investigation used a multiple-baseline experimental design to determine the effects of the copy-cover-compare strategy on acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of spelling words for four students with ADHD in Grades 1 through 3. Results showed a functional relation between copy-cover-compare and mastery, maintenance, and generalization of three sets of spelling words for each student. Limitations, implications for practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Gratitude and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in Vietnam war veterans

Little information exists on the contribution of psychological strengths to well-being in persons with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Data from other populations suggest that gratitude, defined as the positive experience of thankfulness for being the recipient of personal benefits, may have salutary effects on everyday functioning. We investigated whether dispositional gratitude predicted daily hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in combat veterans with and without PTSD. We also examined associations between daily gratitude and daily well-being across time. Veterans with PTSD, compared to those without PTSD, exhibited significantly lower dispositional gratitude; no differences were found on daily gratitude. Dispositional gratitude predicted greater daily positive affect, percentage of pleasant days over the assessment period, daily intrinsically motivating activity, and daily self-esteem over and above effects attributable to PTSD severity and dispositional negative and positive affect in the PTSD group but not the non-PTSD group. Daily gratitude was uniquely associated with each dimension of daily well-being in both groups. Although preliminary, these results provide support for the further investigation of gratitude in trauma survivors.     

What aspects of face processing are impaired in developmental prosopagnosia?

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a severe impairment in identifying faces that is present from early in life and that occurs despite no apparent brain damage and intact visual and intellectual function. Here, we investigated what aspects of face processing are impaired/spared in developmental prosopagnosia by examining a relatively large group of individuals with DP (n = 8) using an extensive battery of well-established tasks. The tasks included measures of sensitivity to global motion and to global form, detection that a stimulus is a face, determination of its sex, holistic face processing, processing of face identity based on features, contour, and the spacing of features, and judgments of attractiveness. The DP cases showed normal sensitivity to global motion and global form and performed normally on our tests of face detection and holistic processing. On the other tasks, many DP cases were impaired but there was no systematic pattern. At least half showed deficits in processing of facial identity based on either the outer contour or spacing of the internal features, and/or on judgments of attractiveness. Three of the eight were impaired in processing facial identify based on the shape of internal features. The results show that DP is a heterogeneous condition and that impairment in recognizing faces cannot be predicted by poor performance on any one measure of face processing.     

Peer referencing in adolescent decision making as a function of perceived parenting style

This study examined the relationship between parenting style and adolescent decision making. Two hundred sixty-two college students completed a decision-making scale as well as a parenting scale in an effort to determine if the child-rearing style of their parents was related to the tendency of these late adolescents to reference peers rather than parents or other adults in decision making. The results indicated that adolescents raised by authoritative parents tended to refer to their parents for moral and informational decisions, while adolescents raised by authoritarian, permissive, or neglecting-rejecting parents more often referenced their peers for moral and informational decisions. Adolescents referred to their peers for social decisions regardless of how they were raised. Parental responsiveness was a significant factor in determining the source of adolescent decision-making assistance, but parental demandingness was not. It was concluded that less orientation toward peers during late adolescence seems to be another advantage of authoritative parenting.     

Opposition to immigration: How people who identify with far-right discourses legitimize the social exclusion of immigrants

This study sought to develop our understanding of how people legitimize opposition to immigration. Thirty-eight interviews were conducted with people who self-identified with far-right anti-immigration discourses, in Italy (N = 23) and Portugal (N = 15). Using reflexive thematic analysis, we developed four related themes. In the first theme, ‘They're guests’: Legitimizing exclusion by differentiating (non-) immigrants, we discuss how despite differentiating between types of immigrants, participants support their social exclusion and always perceive them as guests. In the second theme, ‘White people exist’: Multiple and intersected identity threats, we identify how anti-immigration is legitimized by recurring multiple group threats including ownership, economic, security, cultural, and existential threats. In the third theme, ‘It's like your home’: Justifying exclusionary solidarity based on ownership rights, we illustrate how collective ownership is used to justify practices of exclusionary solidarity. In the fourth theme ‘This is me’: Being born and becoming anti-immigration, we discuss how opposition to immigration was constructed and influenced by contextual conditions as well as international sources of information. The implications of these findings are discussed while considering how participants' experiences and social contexts shape how they perceive immigration and legitimize the social exclusion of immigrants.     

Antecedents and work-related correlates of reported sexual harassment: An empirical investigation of competing hypotheses

This study investigated antecedents and work-related correlates of reported sexual harassment by 365 primarily Caucasian women in male-typed, female-typed, and gender-integrated occupations. Two competing hypotheses on the antecedents of sexual harassment were tested. No support was found for the contact hypothesis, which holds that harassment is related to contact with the opposite gender. Partial support was found for the sex role spillover model, which holds that harassment is due to the transfer of gender roles to the workplace. No significant differences in reports of sexual harassment were found between women in male-typed, female-typed, and gender-integrated occupations. Within male-typed occupations, blue-collar women reported greater harassment than white-collar women, but were less likely to display assertive reactions to harassment. Investigation of work-related outcomes revealed that sexual harassment was positively related to reports of gender discrimination in promotion and employment practices, and had a negative impact on job satisfaction, particularly among blue-collar women. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed and a revision of the sex role spillover model is presented.The authors would like to thank Barbara Gutek and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Seventh Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Montreal, Canada, May 1–3, 1992.     

Diagnostic morbidity and its relationship to severity of ideation for a nonpsychiatric sample of chronic and severe suicide ideators

This study examined the relationships of frequency and type of psychiatric diagnosis to suicidality within a sample of chronically and severely ideating college-aged students (N=78). The most common diagnoses were the depressive disorders, comprising 43% of all diagnoses, followed by anxiety disorders, comprising 17% of all diagnoses. Retrospective reports of childhood diagnoses were also quite common, comprising 38% of all diagnoses. Number of psychiatric diagnoses was significantly correlated with severity of suicidal ideation (r=.27,p<.02). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that retrospective childhood diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and separation anxiety disorder significantly predicted 19% of the variance in severity of suicidal ideation after controlling for current diagnoses of major depression and PTSD. When entry of childhood and current diagnoses were reversed, PTSD significantly predicted 4% of the variance in severity of suicidal ideation, while major depression was rendered nonsignificant. Severe suicide ideation, therefore, may be a product of early psychological problems as well as the number of such problems.