Differentiation of self and trait anxiety: A cross‐cultural perspective

Cultural differences are likely to affect the ability to deal with anxiety. We investigated this issue among four cultural groups—Germans and Italians (Europeans living in South Tyrol, Italy), Jews and Arabs (Israelis)—in terms of their levels of differentiation of self, trait anxiety and somatic symptoms. We also examined the relationship of differentiation of self to trait anxiety and somatic symptoms. The sample consisted of 824 students: 387 Israelis (mean age 23.6) and 437 Europeans (mean age 22.3). Israeli participants reported lower levels of trait anxiety than European students. Jewish students reported lower trait anxiety than Arab students (mean difference = ?.14, p < .009), while there was no difference between German and Italian students (mean difference = .03, p > .99). Jews reported a significantly lower level of emotional cutoff than Arabs (mean difference = ?.45, p < .001), and Germans reported a significantly lower level of emotional reactivity than Italians (mean difference = .29, p < .001). Emotional reactivity and I‐position predicted all participants' trait anxiety. On the whole, results point to the importance of examining differentiation of self when trying to reduce trait anxiety, as well as some important cultural differences.     

Behavioural Problems in Children with Headache and Maternal Stress: Is Children's Attachment Security a Protective Factor?

Headache is a potentially disabling condition involving enduring pain that negatively influences the quality of family life. Behavioural problems are more common in children with headache and are potentially associated with higher levels of parental stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which children's behavioural problems were associated with maternal stress and how the child's perception of security in the maternal attachment relationship moderates this association. Seventy‐one school‐aged children with headache (headache group (HG), age M = 9.8 years old, SD = 1.3) and 71 children from a low‐risk normative population (control group (CG), age M = 9.2 years old, SD = 1) and their mothers were involved in the study. Mothers' reports of children's behavioural problems were associated with higher maternal stress in the caring task both in the HG and in the CG. Results also showed that the HG was more at risk for behavioural problems, whereas no difference between groups was detected for parenting stress and for attachment insecurity. In children with headache, perception of attachment security decreased the strength of the association between maternal stress and externalizing behavioural problems. Secure attachment may provide children with headache and their parents with support in managing the negative emotions that arise in the context of significant health issues. Implications for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Man in the age of technology

Abstract :  This paper argues that technology is no longer merely a tool for man's use but has become the environment in which man undergoes modifications. The author traces the role of technology from the Greeks to the present day. For the Greeks, Nature was governed by necessity and therefore unchangeable whereas in the Judeo-Christian tradition, nature was entrusted to man for him to dominate. Modern science studies the world in order to manipulate and dominate nature through the use of technology which has now become an end in itself, governing the solution of political problems and confronting us with problems beyond our competence to resolve. The ethical impact of technology has been to create a change from 'acting' which assumes responsibility for one's actions to 'doing' which is concerned only with the effective execution of a 'job' without concern for the wider consequences. It can no longer be argued that technology is good or bad according to the use we make of it since technology now makes use of us and thus transforms our ethics, social relationships and psychological being.     

Orienting the Finger Opposition Space during Prehension Movements

Two experiments are reported that examined the act of prehension when subjects were asked to grasp with their thumb and index finger pads an elongated object resting horizontally on a surface and placed at different orientations with respect to the subject. In Experiment 1, the pad opposition preferences were determined for the six angles of orientation examined. For angles of 90° (object parallel to frontal plane) or less, no rotation of the wrist (pronation) was used; for angles 110° or greater, pronation was systematically employed to reorient the finger opposition space. Only one angle, 100°, produced any evidence of ambiguity in how to grasp the object: Approximately 60% of these grasps involved pronation and 40% did not.

Using the foregoing grasp preference data, in Experiment 2 we examined the kinematics of the wrist and elbow trajectories during prehension movements directed at an object in different orientations. Movement time, time to peak acceleration, velocity, and deceleration were measured. No kinematic differences were observed when the object orientation either required (110°) or did not require (80°) a pronation. By contrast, if the orientation was changed at the onset of the movement, such that an unpredicted pronation had to be introduced to achieve the grasp, kinematics were affected: Movement time was increased, and the time devoted to deceleration was lengthened.

These data are interpreted as evidence that when natural prehension occurs, pronation can be included in the motor plan without affecting the movement kinematics. When constraints are imposed on the movement execution as a consequence of a perturbation, however, the introduction of a pronation component requires kinematic rearrangement.     

First-Order Logic Formalisation of Impossibility Theorems in Preference Aggregation

In preference aggregation a set of individuals express preferences over a set of alternatives, and these preferences have to be aggregated into a collective preference. When preferences are represented as orders, aggregation procedures are called social welfare functions. Classical results in social choice theory state that it is impossible to aggregate the preferences of a set of individuals under different natural sets of axiomatic conditions. We define a first-order language for social welfare functions and we give a complete axiomatisation for this class, without having the number of individuals or alternatives specified in the language. We are able to express classical axiomatic requirements in our first-order language, giving formal axioms for three classical theorems of preference aggregation by Arrow, by Sen, and by Kirman and Sondermann. We explore to what extent such theorems can be formally derived from our axiomatisations, obtaining positive results for Sen’s Theorem and the Kirman-Sondermann Theorem. For the case of Arrow’s Theorem, which does not apply in the case of infinite societies, we have to resort to fixing the number of individuals with an additional axiom. In the long run, we hope that our approach to formalisation can serve as the basis for a fully automated proof of classical and new theorems in social choice theory.     

Bilattices with Implications

In a previous work we studied, from the perspective of Abstract Algebraic Logic, the implicationless fragment of a logic introduced by O. Arieli and A. Avron using a class of bilattice-based logical matrices called logical bilattices. Here we complete this study by considering the Arieli-Avron logic in the full language, obtained by adding two implication connectives to the standard bilattice language. We prove that this logic is algebraizable and investigate its algebraic models, which turn out to be distributive bilattices with additional implication operations. We axiomatize and state several results on these new classes of algebras, in particular representation theorems analogue to the well-known one for interlaced bilattices.     

Where Am I? A new case of developmental topographical disorientation

Recently, developmental topographical disorientation (DTD) was described (Bianchini et al., 2010, J Clin Exp Neuropsychol, 20, 807–27; Iaria & Barton, 2010, Exp Brain Res, 206, 189–96; Iaria, Bogod, Fox, & Barton, 2009, Neuropsychologia, 47, 30–40) as a navigational deficit in the absence of neurological or psychiatric disorders. Here, we reported the case of a healthy subject who presented this disorder. Dr. WAI was a 29‐year‐old right‐handed man with normal development and no clinical history of neurological or psychiatric diseases who was affected by a very pervasive topographical orientation and navigational disorder. A neuroradiological exam confirmed the absence of structural and anatomical alterations of the brain. Dr. WAI was submitted to an extensive neuropsychological examination and to a battery of tests specifically developed to assess developmental topographical disorder. Using this battery, we analysed Dr. WAI's acquisition of navigational information and re‐orientation processes. He showed severe DTD accompanied by deficits of different cognitive processes directly or indirectly involved in navigational skills. Dr. WAI showed a deficit in developing cognitive maps, already found in previous cases, plus difficulties in evaluating distances and computing metric environmental features. He represents a further confirmation of the existence of DTD suggesting dissociations within the disorder related to the level of development of the ability to build cognitive maps and the association of different imagery deficits. Dr. WAI can help in shedding some light on the mechanisms underlying lack of development of navigational skills.     

The Simon Effect in Action: Planning and/or On‐Line Control Effects?

Choice reaction tasks are performed faster when stimulus location corresponds to response location (Simon effect). This spatial stimulus–response compatibility effect affects performance at the level of action planning and execution. However, when response selection is completed before movement initiation, the Simon effect arises only at the planning level. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether when a precocious response selection is requested, the Simon effect can be detected on the kinematics characterizing the online control phase of a non‐ballistic movement. Participants were presented with red or green colored squares, which could appear on the right, left, above, or below a central cross. Depending on the square's color, participants had to release one of two buttons (right/left), then reach toward and press a corresponding lateral pad. We found evidence of the Simon effect on both action planning and on‐line control. Moreover, the investigation of response conflict at the level of previous trials (i.e., n?1), a factor that might determine interference at the level of the current response, revealed a conflict adaptation process across trials. Results are discussed in terms of current theories concerned with the Simon effect and the distinction between action planning and control.