Developmental patterns of emotion regulation in toddlerhood: Examining predictors of change and long‐term resilience

Emotion regulation is critical for optimal functioning across a wide range of domains and may be even more important for individuals in high‐risk environments. While evidence suggests that childhood is generally a period of emotion regulation growth and development, research is needed to examine factors that may contribute to deviations from a typical trajectory. In a prospective study of 1,905 children, latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to identify trajectory groups of emotion regulation across toddlerhood (age 14–36 months), examine predictors of those trajectory groups from child temperament, parenting behaviors, and environmental risk, and explore predictions of resilience in 5th grade from the identified groups. LGCA supported a three‐class model, with a Stable Incline group, a Decline group, and a Catch‐Up group. Child negative emotionality, positive and negative parenting, and environmental risk predicted group membership. These trajectory groups in toddlerhood were predictive of child resilient functioning in the 5th grade. Our findings highlight the importance of utilizing developmental models of emotion regulation and provide implications for prevention and early intervention services to enhance emotion regulation development in early childhood.     

Rhesus plasma cortisol response at four dominance positions

Adrenocortical function and social behaviors were measured in 48 laboratory-born juvenile monkeys in stable (original) groupings at rest, in the same groupings in competition for drinking water, in newly formed groupings each composed of animals from the same original dominance position, and upon return to the original groupings, always in groups of four. In newly formed groupings, plasma cortisol measured higher with each step down in the new dominance hierarchy, the effect attenuating by day 8. Although the partial correlation between frequencies of hostility behavior and plasma cortisol level was low (r = 0.05) when holding fear constant, the partial correlation between cortisol and fear behaviors, holding hostility behavior constant, was 0.86. The data provide evidence that corticosteroid elevations during social stress are related to behavior suggestive of fear and not aggression and are dependent upon dominance rank, the level of dominance competition, and previous dominance history.     

Simple reaction time with very small imperative- stimulus probabilities

The simple reaction time was studied as a function of the probability of the delivery of the imperative stimulus which was or was not (randomly) delivered 1 sec after the warning signal. The probability of the imperative stimulus was varied much more extensively than in any of the previous studies; thus, the response speed with very small probabilities was of especial interest. The results obtained with five subjects suggested a quadratic relationship between the probability and the reaction time so that the latter appeared to be relatively independent of the former with very small probabilities.     

Treatment of dental fears by imaginal flooding and rehearsal of coping behaviour

All combinations of high versus low arousal imaginal flooding, and coping versus no-coping imaginal rehearsal, were compared in the modification of dental fear. About one half of all subjects seen successfully completed dental treatment, although significant differences were found between groups in anxiety reduction before and during dental examination, which favoured the low arousal flooding groups. Coping rehearsal did not influence anxiety, but interacted with arousal level of flooding to determine subsequent dental attendance. The results suggest that flooding without coping rehearsal had little effect at high levels of arousal, but good results at low levels. Flooding with coping rehearsal on the other hand, had mixed results. At high arousal levels avoidance was reduced but not anxiety, while at low levels anxiety was reduced but not avoidance. The implications for further research on coping rehearsal are discussed.     

Reactions to success and failure in public and in private conditions

It was shown that the reaction to success and failure differs when it is communicated publicly or privately and when the reaction to success and failure is measured publicly or privately. Participants took an intelligence test and received fictitious results which were positively or negatively discrepant from the average. The dependent variable was the evaluation of the intelligence test. It was found that when the subject's evaluation of the test was private, the test was evaluated more positively under public than under private success. However, it was evaluated more negatively under public than under private failure. Under public success feedback the test was evaluated more positively under private than under public evaluation, whereas under public failure feedback the effect was reversed. The results are interpreted in terms of a self-presentation model and were discussed in the context of earlier research within the field of interpersonal relations.     

Decomposing the reaction time distribution: Pure insertion and selective influence revisited

This paper investigates the consequences of extending the assumptions of pure insertion and selective influence (popular in RT theorizing) to the level of the distribution. In the case of pure insertion and under the additional assumption that the additive random variable is exponentially distributed, a solution is obtained which not only allows estimation of the exponential-rate parameter but also provides a test of the assumptions. The result is shown to be applicable not only when processing is serial but also for certain parallel models. In addition, discrimination between self-terminating and exhaustive search strategies is provided, and in the case of either, both parameter estimation and tests of the model are possible. Extensions to nonexponential models are investigated and a general method of moments solution is outlined. In the case of selective influence a general nonparametric alternative to Sternberg's additive factor method is developed. The problem of empirical estimation and application is then considered. Simulations which place bounds on the type I and II error are reported. Finally the first theorem is provided an illustrative application with data from a memory scanning experiment. The results provide some support for the double assumption of pure insertion and that the additive random variable is distributed exponentially.     

The place of the 17th century in Jung's encounter with China

After recounting several dreams and related alchemical interests of Jung's tied to the 17(th) century, a contextualizing look at select scientific and philosophical developments of that century is presented. Several precursors of the contemporary debates on the mind/body relation are noted, with special reference to the work of Antonio Damasio. This in turn leads to a reconsideration of the work of the 17(th) century polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, which Jung read as a major precursor to his formulation of synchronicity (via Leibniz's concept of 'pre-established harmony'). Leibniz was the first philosopher to articulate the mind/body relationship in terms of supervenience, sharing an accord with those contemporary philosophers and scientists who see the mind as being an emergent property of the body-brain. Similarly, these ideas are also consistent with a reformulation of synchronicity in terms of emergence. Tracing Leibniz's interest in China reveals another set of links to Jung and to emergentism. Jung's use of Taoist concepts in developing the synchronicity principle is well known. According to scholars, Leibniz was the first major Western intellect to study the I-Ching, through the assistance of a Jesuit missionary in Beijing, Fr. Joachim Bouvet. Some details of the Leibniz-Bouvet correspondence are discussed here. Despite Helmut Wilhelm's presenting aspects of this correspondence at an Eranos conference, Jung does not appear to have integrated it into his writing on synchronicity--a possible reason for this omission is suggested.     

Visual allesthesia in manual pointing: Some evidence for a sensorimotor cerebral organization

The authors of this paper first summarize some of the theoretical frames put forward to account for allesthesia. Then, pointing performances in a case of visual allesthesia is reported; unexpectedly, pointing behavior for identical targets was different according to hand. The most salient feature was that a same visual target elicited relatively short RTs with adequate pointing using the left hand versus much longer reaction times with allesthesic pointing using the right hand. Discussion is focused on the presented theoretical frames. In view of the results, authors are led to hypothesize that, in sensorimotor cerebral organization, some aspects of signal processing are dependent upon some premotor aspects of response elaboration.     

Measuring Inconsistency

I provide a method of measuring the inconsistency of a set of sentences – from 1-consistency, corresponding to complete consistency, to 0-consistency, corresponding to the explicit presence of a contradiction. Using this notion to analyze the lottery paradox, one can see that the set of sentences capturing the paradox has a high degree of consistency (assuming, of course, a sufficiently large lottery). The measure of consistency, however, is not limited to paradoxes. I also provide results for general sets of sentences.