Strength of hand preference and dual task performance by common marmosets

Study of avian and piscine species has shown that animals with stronger lateralization of the brain are able to perform two tasks presented simultaneously better than can animals with weaker lateralization. We investigated whether this might apply also to primates by testing common marmosets to see whether there is a relationship between the strength of hand preference, as an indicator of strength of brain lateralization, and the ability to carry out two tasks simultaneously. A model predator was introduced into the testing room while the marmoset was foraging. Marmosets with stronger hand preferences detected the ‘predator’ after shorter latency than those with weaker hand preferences. Furthermore, the marmosets with stronger hand preferences produced more mobbing (tsik) vocalizations when they reacted to the predators than did those with weaker hand preferences. There was no such association between hand preference and either latency to respond to the predator or mobbing reaction when the marmosets were not foraging at the time the predator was introduced. Hence, strength of lateralization is associated with the ability to perform foraging and predator detection simultaneously. These results are discussed with reference to the evolution of brain lateralization.     

Reliability and Validity of a Treatment Fidelity Assessment for Motivational Interviewing Targeting Sexual Risk Behaviors in People Living with HIV/AIDS

This study psychometrically evaluates the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code (MITI) to assess fidelity to motivational interviewing to reduce sexual risk behaviors in people living with HIV/AIDS. 74 sessions from a pilot randomized controlled trial of motivational interviewing to reduce sexual risk behaviors in people living with HIV were coded with the MITI. Participants reported sexual behavior at baseline, 3-month, and 6-months. Regarding reliability, excellent inter-rater reliability was achieved for measures of behavior frequency across the 12 sessions coded by both coders; global scales demonstrated poor intraclass correlations, but adequate percent agreement. Regarding validity, principle components analyses indicated that a two-factor model accounted for an adequate amount of variance in the data. These factors were associated with decreases in sexual risk behaviors after treatment. The MITI is a reliable and valid measurement of treatment fidelity for motivational interviewing targeting sexual risk behaviors in people living with HIV/AIDS.     

Women Experiencing Psychological Abuse: Are They a Homogenous Group?

Dichotomizing women as “abused” versus “not abused” assumes that any psychological maltreatment results in similar outcomes. A national sample of women in conflictual relationships completed an online survey. Women with no incidence (N = 33), the lowest quartile (N = 86), and the top quartile (N = 81) of psychological maltreatment demonstrated significant differences in reactions to the maltreatment, mental health indicators, personality variables, perceived harm, problematic relationship schemas, and response styles. Women with no psychological abuse and women in the lowest quartile produced similar scores that were typically distinct from the top-quartile women. Effective treatment of women with lower amounts of psychological abuse might not require a unique intervention likely necessary for women experiencing much psychological abuse.     

Gender Differences in Reporting Psychological Abuse in a National Sample

Understanding the nature and impact of psychological abuse for males and females is crucial because it might be the precursor of other forms of violence. This study examines reported gender differences in psychologically abusive acts using a national sample of U.S. citizens. The data were collected anonymously from an online administration of the Measure of Psychological Abuse (MPAB). Other measures were included to assess outcomes that might occur due to psychological abuse. Results indicate that there are more similarities than differences in the gender reports of psychological abuse. Compared to males' reports, differences include female reports of certain behaviors leading to more negative emotional and behavioral impact and more negative outcomes due to being in a psychologically abusive relationship.     

Congregational Hermeneutics: A Tale of Two Churches

Abstract

The “AHRC Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in Britain” (EFB) project ran over two years, from 2008 to 2009. The network addressed the question “To what extent have Evangelicals in Britain been Fundamentalist?”. This article develops one of the project papers. Drawing on my doctoral research, I explore the relationship between Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism through an ethnographic perspective on how two contrasting evangelical congregations did biblical hermeneutics. The congregational hermeneutics approach addresses the mix of hermeneutical discourses, practices, and artefacts within the churches and I show that congregational hermeneutics are revealing for questions of evangelical identity. I maintain that the language of ‘fundamentalising tendencies’ is to be preferred to more static conceptions, which are not well suited for describing dissonant tendencies within congregations. The study supports the view that fundamentalising tendencies are not identical with Evangelicalism and shows that implicit hermeneutical traditions can be found in such churches with the potential to shape broader congregational traditions.     

Holocaust and Hollywood: An Annotated Filmography

This paper offers a list of Hollywood movies pertaining to the Holocaust. Its aim is to facilitate the access of individuals, libraries, foundations, film clubs, and Holocaust-related study groups to this powerful material. These movies enhance empathy and knowledge regarding the Holocaust and thus serve an important psychoeducational function for all, but especially for those not directly affected by this great human tragedy.     

IS A MESSIANIC POLITICAL ETHIC POSSIBLE? Recent Work by and about John Howard Yoder

In his landmark monograph, The Politics of Jesus, John Howard Yoder challenged mainstream Christian social ethics by arguing that the New Testament account of Jesus's founding of a messianic community entails a normative politics, not only for early Christianity but for the contemporary church. This challenge is further elaborated in several important posthumous publications, especially Preface to Theology, in which Yoder examines the development of early Christology with attention to its political and ethical implications, and The Jewish‐Christian Schism Revisited, Yoder's proposal for a renewed Jewish–Christian dialogue around the moral meaning of messianism. This article interprets these writings with reference to a range of critical scholarship on and about Yoder, Yoder and Augustine, and Jewish and Christian messianism, paying particular attention to questions of political ethics.