The informational basis of social judgments: Memory for informative and uninformative arguments

This study investigates the encoding and retrieval of arguments in an opinion formation task. It is based on a model of opinion formation that partitions the latter process into initial encoding, elaborative encoding, integration, and decision. According to this model elaborative encoding depends on two factors: (i) the informativeness of the arguments and (ii) their thematic relatedness. Since it is reasonably well established that the likelihood of retrieving an argument is an increasing function of the amount of elaboration performed on it, the first hypothesis is straightforward, namely, that the memory for an argument will increase with its informativeness and with its thematic relatedness to other arguments. The second hypothesis assumes that by dint of their closer association with the decision, informative arguments occupy a more central position in the representation of an opinion than uninformative ones. This implies that an informative argument should be accessed and reported prior to an uninformative argument, even when differences in retrievability (i.e., probabilities of recall) are controlled. The findings were consistent with such an analysis.     

Self–Serving Perceptions of Terrorism Among Israelis and Palestinians

Definitions of political violence as terrorism are often tainted by self–serving motivations. Groups in conflict in particular tend to justify the use of indiscriminate violent means by highly regarded political ends. This study explores such self–serving perceptions of terrorism in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In two surveys during December 2001, Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians were asked whether 11 local and international incidents were acts of terrorism in their view, and whether they were considered acts of terrorism by the international community. Self–serving judgments on both sides were expected, but their extent is striking, and they extend also to the international incidents. Israeli Arabs judge all acts of violence as terrorism in high percentages. Israeli Jews and Palestinians' definitions present a mirror image; however, they do not project these definitions to the international community. Instead, they perceive an international norm largely divergent from their own point of view, inflating world judgment of their own acts of violence as terrorism and underestimating world judgment of the other side's violence, in what amounts to a hostile–world phenomenon.     

Group Therapy with Individuals and Families Coping with Illness or Disability in Israel

This paper illustrates a group intervention with individuals and family caregivers coping with illness/disability, and focuses on the relationship between the process of group development and the process of coping with the illness/disability. People experiencing illness/disability cope with a great deal of pressure and stress that stem from the illness's biopsychosocial demands. A group can provide encouragement and support and reduce helplessness, isolation, and despair through cooperation and use of mutual resources. The design of the intervention was based on our clinical experience with numerous groups for ill/disabled individuals or their family. The process is described and analyzed using examples from three documented groups, and is presented in terms of four variables: group process, group atmosphere, group content, and group intervention.     

Eating Attitudes and Dieting Behavior Among Religious Subgroups of Israeli-Arab Adolescent Females

Objectives The aim of the study was to compare the eating attitudes and behaviors, including weight concerns and dieting behavior, among three religious subgroups (Moslems, Druze, and Christians) and three age subgroups (12–13, 14–15, and 16–18 years old) of Israeli-Arab adolescent females. Methods The sample consisted of 1141 Israeli-Arab adolescent females, including 926 (81.2%) Moslem, 128 (11.2%) Christian, and 87 (7.6%) Druze schoolgirls in the seventh to twelfth grades. Participants were assessed using the EAT–26 questionnaire. Results The results showed that 75% of the students had a negative EAT-26 score (>20) and that 25% of the students had a positive EAT-26 score (<20). No significant differences were found in total scores, subscale scores, or scores above 20 between the age subgroups or the religious subgroups. The results demonstrated a high prevalence of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors among Israeli-Arab adolescent schoolgirls. Discussion Higher prevalence of disturbed eating attitudes found among Israeli-Arab schoolgirls as compared to their Jewish counterparts. Although our sample is a communal based, there still remains an open question as to why the desired “slenderness culture” evident in the results is not reflected in the number of ED clinic referrals, among clinical population. These discrepancies were discussed in light of ethnicity-specific factors that may influence the perceived severity of eating disorders and the receptiveness of primary practitioners to address them.     

‘Her Majesty the Baby’: narcissistic states in babies and young children

This article considers narcissistic states in babies and young children with some reference to the myth of Narcissus in Ovid’s Metamorphosis. The object-seeking character of babies from the beginning of life is elaborated in connection with selected research from mother–baby interaction. This forms the backdrop to a discussion of withdrawal into illusions of self-sufficiency and denial of dependence in adverse circumstances. Two clinical cases are discussed in some depth. One boy whose superiority, self-reliance and pseudo maturity is prompted by anxieties around separation as he approaches starting school is considered within the parameters of ordinary transient narcissism. The lengthy psychotherapy of another child, who developed entrenched narcissistic defences as a response to traumatic, abusive and neglectful experiences in early life, and who needed considerable help, is described in greater detail. Some links are made with difficulties associated with the emergence from narcissistic functioning and encountering the pain of separation and loss.     

Higher order influences on evaluative priming: Processing styles moderate congruity effects

A growing body of research challenges the automaticity of evaluative priming (EP). The present research adds to this literature by suggesting that EP is sensitive to processing styles. We relied on previous research showing that EP is determined by the extent to which the prime and the target events on a given trial are processed as a unified compound. Here, we further hypothesised that processing styles encouraging the inclusion of the prime to the target episode support congruity effects, whereas processing styles that enhance the exclusion of the prime from the target episode interrupt (or reverse) these effects. In Experiment 1, a preceding similarity search task produced a congruity effect, whereas a dissimilarity search task eliminated and (non-significantly) reversed this effect. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicated and extended these findings using a global/local processing manipulation. Overall, these findings confirm that EP is flexible, open to top-down influences and strategic regulation.     

Math-gender stereotypes and career intentions: an application of expectancy–value theory

Exposure to negative math-gender stereotypes undermines the intentions of female college students to engage in careers in the math field, yet the mechanisms by which such stereotypes relate to girls’ career intentions remain unclear. We simultaneously tested multiple mediators in a sample of 186 female students from one high school in central China. Participants completed five questionnaires that measured mathematics-related gender stereotypes, competence beliefs, task value, sexual attraction beliefs and career intentions. The path analysis results indicated that math-gender stereotypes were negatively related to adolescent girls’ career intentions in math fields through negative relationships with students’ mathematics-related competence beliefs, task value and sexual attraction beliefs. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and educational practice.     

Using psychoanalytic concepts to inform interpretations and direct interventions with a baby in working with infants and parents

Abstract

How can some classical Freudian concepts such as defense, transference, infantile sexuality, and the role of the body ego and superego in the first year of life be applied to help the analyst working with parent–infant dyads? The case of a newborn that could not look at her mother, who did not feel empathy towards this child conceived as a result of an egg donation, was understood using Winnicott’s notion of early superego and the lack of libidinal pleasure. The notion of defenses towards primitive anxiety and the role of unconscious maternal functioning were helpful in helping the child as well as the parents to regulate their interactions.     

The relationship between dynamic strain aging and serrated flow behaviour in magnesium alloy

The relationship between dynamic strain ageing (DSA) and serrated flow has been investigated via alternately switching strain rates at various temperatures in a Mg–3Nd–1Zn alloy. The results reveal that serrated flow is enhanced with decreasing strain rate and increasing temperature and tends to vanish, while the DSA continually intensifies as revealed by a higher flow stress even after the serration flow disappears. A mechanism is proposed, which could explain some abnormal deformation behaviour, such as a negative strain rate sensitivity and thermal hardening.