Coping strategies of mother carers of children living with chronic illness and disease in a rural South African community

The present study explored the coping strategies used by mother carers of children living with chronic illness and disease (CID) in a rural South African community. Ten mothers (age range = 30 to 56 years) were selected through snowball sampling to participate in the present study. They provided care to their children, a majority (50%) of whom had epilepsy, followed by asthma (20%) and other conditions. Data on the coping strategies used by mothers of children living with CID were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically. The results showed that mother carers tended to use three types of coping strategies, namely: appraisal-focused, problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies. Appraisal-focused was commonly used by mother carers whose children had epilepsy, whilst mother carers of children with asthma tended to use problem-focused coping strategies. All mother carers were found to use emotion-focused strategies to varying degrees in coping with the chronic diseases of their children.     

Countermeasures Against the Strategic Use of Evidence Technique: Effects on Suspects' Strategies

As the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique becomes more widely taught to practitioners, it is important to investigate possible countermeasures to the technique. It is possible that guilty suspects who are aware of the SUE technique will employ forthcoming verbal strategies to make themselves appear innocent. Mock suspects committed a richly detailed simulated transgression (or a benign analogue) and were interviewed about their activities. Prior to questioning, some suspects received information about SUE tactics the interviewer was likely to use. Guilty suspects who were informed about the SUE technique employed more verbally forthcoming strategies than their uninformed counterparts. Guilty suspects who were given SUE information also reported planning for the interview in different ways. However, guilty‐informed suspects did not become as forthcoming as innocent suspects overall. In sum, it appears that information about the SUE technique induces guilty suspects to alter their strategies, but only to a relatively small degree.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of social problem‐solving strategies and changes in aggressive behavior: A 7‐year follow‐up from childhood to late adolescence

The aim of this study was to predict a stability of aggressive behavior on the basis of social problem‐solving strategies. Subjects were a total of 120 children, but complete follow‐up data were available only in 47 cases. Their aggressive behaviors were peer rated, and problem‐solving strategies were assessed in childhood subjects being 10 years on average, and 7 years later. Association between a development of social strategies and changes in aggressive behavior was studied with personality‐oriented pattern analyses. The main finding was that a development of strategies predicted a stability or changes of aggressive behavior very well. Aggressive strategies, both in childhood and in adolescence, as well as a lack of constructive alternatives characterized permanently aggressive subjects. Turning from nonaggressive to aggressive behavior was also explained by aggressive problem‐solving strategies, while a positive development, i.e., turning from childhood aggressive to adolescent nonaggressive behavior, was possible only if a person had never used aggressive strategies. Agreement between behavior and strategies was higher among girls. The findings supported a claim that intervention of aggressive behavior may be possible by modifying social strategies. Aggr. Behav. 25:269–279, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Infanticide and maternal aggression: Synchrony of male and female reproductive strategies in mice

Thirty-six percent of male mice from three strains attacked newborn pups sired by another male. No male attacked its own offspring. Females did not show differential aggression toward males likely (strangers) or unlikely (sires) to attack their pups. Both forms of aggression were unaffected by housing in rooms which did or did not contain the aggression targets. The three strains differed in strength of maternal aggression but not in the incidence of infanticide. Females showed more aggression when mated with males of the same, rather than a different, strain but no differences with intruders of the same or a different strain. Infanticide by males is best viewed as a postcopulatory, intermale-competition strategy, and maternal aggression as a counter strategy.     

Braine心理逻辑理论述评

该文对Braine提出的在推理心理学研究领域占居重要地位的“心理逻辑理论”做了综合述评。“心理逻辑理论”主要包括三方面内容:构成“心理逻辑理论”基础的一组推理规则图式、将推理规则图式应用于推理过程的推理方案、实际应用意义。Braine认为他和他的同事于1984年设计并实施的以“自然推理系统”所含各推理规则为实验材料的实验结果支持该理论的基本观点。     

非亲密关系中的礼物赠予：礼物偏好的不一致

礼物赠予是由于不同的事件和动机,在不同的关系背景中赠予者和接收者的物质和非物质产品交换的过程,具有重要的个人和社会意义。但是诸多研究表明,非亲密关系（非恋爱关系和夫妻关系）的赠予者和接收者在礼物类型偏好、礼物价值偏好及双方关系结果的知觉等方面均存在不一致性。可以从赠予者-接收者的认知差异、动机差异及社会规范的约束差异来解释这一现象,并提出了可供借鉴的礼物赠予策略。未来研究还可以从礼物成败的线索反馈、礼物选择的决策过程、采取更符合现实的研究方法及认知神经科学技术等方面对礼物偏好现象进行深入探究。     

行为决策中诱饵效应的认知加工机制

在原选项集中加入一个诱饵选项能够使人们的选择发生改变, 这就是诱饵效应。研究者发现可以通过设置相似诱饵、妥协诱饵、吸引诱饵以及幽灵诱饵等达到诱导决策者选择目标选项的目的。当前, 很多研究探索了诱饵效应的认知加工机制, 有研究者基于启发式加工和分析式加工的视角开展研究, 也有研究者从维度加工和选项加工的视角对此进行探索。诱饵效应的认知加工过程受到年龄、后悔情绪、决策形式以及时间压力等因素的影响。未来的研究需要构建适用于各类诱饵效应的统一的认知加工机制模型, 探索知觉在诱饵效应形成过程中的基础性作用, 探索个体的决策风格对不同类型诱饵效应的影响, 并通过合理利用诱饵效应助推社会发展。     

Liberal Churches and Social Justice Movements: Analyzing the Limits of Inclusivity

Conservative Protestants have been successful in communicating their religious voice in the public sphere, while liberal Protestants have struggled to articulate a distinctly liberal, religious voice. In this article, I show that a major component of liberal Protestant identity—inclusivity—itself constitutes a fundamental barrier to developing that voice. Drawing on 26 interviews and a year of participant observation at a liberal Protestant congregation in the southeast, I first show that congregants construct their identity of inclusivity in response to cultural associations of Christianity with conservatism and exclusivism. I then analyze three discursive strategies that congregants use to make sense of individuals’ involvement in Moral Mondays, a left-leaning local social movement. By connecting Moral Mondays to social justice, to religious beliefs, and to individual commitments, congregants depoliticize involvement in Moral Mondays and maintain their commitment to inclusivity. I argue that inclusivity does not limit their participation, but rather limits their ability to connect that participation to their liberal religious voice. This research has important implications for understanding barriers to liberal Protestants’ articulation of a distinctly liberal and religious voice in the public sphere.