In the Face of Terrorism: Evidence that Belief in Literal Immortality Reduces Prejudice Under Terrorism Threat

Based on terror management theory, previous research has shown that terrorism threat increases prejudice against Muslims and is mediated by death‐related thoughts. Because this effect was found on a correlational level, it remains unclear whether terrorism threat increases prejudice against Muslims because of enhanced death‐related thoughts or the opposite: terrorism threat increases death‐related thoughts because of stronger prejudice against Muslims. To disentangle this shortcoming, we varied death‐related thoughts by systematically manipulating the belief in literal immortality. Using two studies, we found that participants exposed to terrorism pictures (vs. controls) had increased prejudice against both Muslims (Study 1) and immigrants (Study 2) when they were led to believe that literal immortality does not exist but not when they were led to believe that it does exist. Mediation analysis indicated that this effect was mediated by death‐related thoughts. This provides further evidence that terrorism threat increases prejudice because of death‐related thoughts.     

School and Peers: Examining the Influence of Protective Factors on Delinquency and Age of Onset

This paper uses data on 10th graders from 2014 Caring Communities Youth Survey to examine the effect of protective factors on delinquency/age of onset (never, 13 or younger, 14 or older) of two antisocial behaviors (carrying a handgun to school and attacking someone with the intent of seriously hurting them). Two domains of protective factors are used: school and peers. The most significant protective factor for both antisocial behaviors was religiosity which is within the peer domain. Cramer’s V was used because of the nominal level variables, 2 by 3 tables, and large sample. The literature on age of onset and protective factors is discussed.     

Images: Preliminary scale construction

Abstract

In a series of papers, Bagarozzi and Giddings outlined a theoretical model of mate selection and marital interaction based upon principles of cognitive matching (Bagarozzi, 1982, 1986; Bagarozzi&Giddings, 1983, 1984). Briefly, this theory postulates that individuals seek out, develop intimate relationships with, and eventually marry persons whom they perceive to: (a) possess specific personality traits, qualities and characteristics; (b) share similar values, beliefs, and ideas concerning husband/wife roles; and (c) subscribe to a similar set of rules and assumptions governing interpersonal power, distributive justice, and the exchange of value messages between intimates. Essentially, one marries a person whom he/she perceives to fit an internal cognitive model or schema of an “ideal spouse.” The term “ideal” does not denote perfection. It merely represents an enduring image that becomes a standard against which all prospective mates are judged and evaluated. This cognitive matching takes place at both conscious and unconscious levels of awareness.     

Emotion recognition in body dysmorphic disorder: Application of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by perceived appearance-related defects, often tied to aspects of the face or head (e.g., acne). Deficits in decoding emotional expressions have been examined in several psychological disorders including BDD. Previous research indicates that BDD is associated with impaired facial emotion recognition, particularly in situations that involve the BDD sufferer him/herself. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the ability to read other people's emotions among 31 individuals with BDD, and 31 mentally healthy controls. We applied the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task, in which participants are presented with a series of pairs of eyes, one at a time, and are asked to identify the emotion that describes the stimulus best. The groups did not differ with respect to decoding other people's emotions by looking into their eyes. Findings are discussed in light of previous research examining emotion recognition in BDD.     

Early Childhood Assessments of Community Pediatric Professionals Predict Autism Spectrum and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Problems

For clinically referred children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) several early indicators have been described. However, knowledge is lacking on early markers of less severe variants of ASD and ADHD from the general population. The aim of the present study is to identify early indicators of high risk groups for ASD and ADHD problems based on routine data from community pediatric services between infancy and age four. Data are from 1,816 participants who take part in Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a longitudinal study. Information on early developmental factors was extracted from charts of routine Preventive Child Healthcare (PCH) visits. To assess ASD and ADHD problems, respectively, we used the Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), filled out by parents three times between the ages of 11 and 17. Note that these are parent ratings and not diagnostic instruments performed by trained clinicians. Male gender, low birth weight, low level of education of the mother, social, behavioral, language, psychomotor and eating problems significantly predicted ASD problems (odds ratios (OR) between 1.34 and 2.41). ADHD problems were also predicted by male gender and low level of education of the mother and by maternal smoking during pregnancy, good gross motor skills in first year, early attention and hyperactivity problems, and absence of parent-reported positive behavior (ORs between 1.36 and 1.74). Routine data on early childhood from PCH services are predictive for ASD and ADHD problems in adolescents in the general population. The PCH services are a useful setting to identify high risk groups, and to monitor them subsequently.     

A Personal Construct Approach to Understanding Stress in Mothers of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study explored the contribution of personal construct psychology (PCP) and the repertory grid technique to understanding stress when raising a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Associations between child level of functional impairment, parenting stress, psychological distress, and maternal construing were examined in mothers of 25 children diagnosed with ASD. Results suggest that a personal construct perspective may help delineate factors involved in parent adjustment to ASD.     

A Gift From the Heart: The Experiences of Women Whose Egg Donations Helped Their Sisters Become Mothers

During in‐depth interviews, 3 women whose egg donations resulted in the birth of a child or children for their sisters discussed their donation motivations and decisions, the challenges of the donation procedure, and their postdonation feelings and experiences in the years since the birth of their nieces and nephews. The findings of this narrative study support the viability and advantages of this form of family building and highlight the counseling and support needs of known donors throughout the process.     

Interparental conflict and children's school adjustment: the explanatory role of children's internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships

This study examined how children's insecure internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships served as explanatory mechanisms in multiple pathways linking interparental conflict and parent emotional unavailability with the emotional and classroom engagement difficulties the children had in their adjustment to school. With their parents, 229 kindergarten children (127 girls and 102 boys, mean age = 6.0 years, SD = .50, at Wave 1) participated in this multimethod, 3-year longitudinal investigation. Findings revealed that children's insecure representations of the interparental relationship were a significant intervening mechanism in associations between observational ratings of interparental conflict and child and teacher reports on children's emotional and classroom difficulties in school over a 2-year period. Moreover, increased parental emotional unavailability accompanying high levels of interparental conflict was associated with children's insecure representations of the parent-child relationship and children's difficulties in classroom engagement at school entry. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the intrinsic processes that contribute to difficulties with stage-salient tasks for children who are experiencing interparental discord.     

The awakening of Attneave's sleeping cat: identification of everyday objects on the basis of straight-line versions of outlines

Attneave (1954 Psychological Review 61 183-193) demonstrated that a line drawing of a sleeping cat can still be identified when the smoothly curved contours are replaced by straight-line segments connecting the positive maxima and negative minima of contour curvature. Using the set of line drawings by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 6 174-215) we made outline versions (with known curvature values along the contour) that can still be identified and that can be used to test Attneave's demonstration more systematically and more thoroughly. In five experiments (with 444 subjects in total), we tested identifiability of straight-line versions of 184 stimuli with different selections of points to be connected (using 24 to 28 subjects per stimulus per condition). Straight-line versions connecting curvature extrema were easier to identify than those based on inflections (where curvature changes sign), and those connecting salient points (determined by 161 independent subjects) were easier than those connecting midpoints. However, identification varied considerably between objects: some were almost always identifiable and others almost never, regardless of the selection criterion, whereas identifiability depended on the specific shape attributes preserved in the straight-line version of the outline in other objects. Results are discussed in relation to Attneave's original hypotheses as well as in the light of more recent theories on shape perception and object identification.     

Identification of everyday objects on the basis of fragmented outline versions

Although Attneave (1954 Psychological Review 61 183 193) and Biederman (1987 Psychological Review 94 115-147) have argued that curved contour segments are most important in shape perception, Kennedy and Domander (1985 Perception 14 367-370) showed that fragmented object contours are better identifiable when straight segments are shown. We used the set of line drawings published by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 6 174-215), to make outline versions that could be used to investigate this issue with a larger and more heterogeneous stimulus set. Fragments were placed either around the 'salient' points or around the midpoints (points midway between two salient points), creating curved versus relatively straight fragments when the original outline was fragmented (experiment 1), or angular and straight fragments when straight-line versions were fragmented (experiment 2). We manipulated fragment length in each experiment except the last one, in which we presented only selected points (experiment 3). While fragmented versions were on average more identifiable when straight fragments were shown, certain objects were more identifiable when the curved segments or the angles were shown. A tentative explanation of these results is presented in terms of an advantage for straight segments during grouping processes for outlines with high part salience, and an advantage for curved segments during matching processes for outlines with low part salience.