Maternal experience of their infants’ crying in the context of war trauma: Determinants and consequences

We examined, first, how prenatal maternal mental health and war trauma predicted mothers’ experience of their infant crying, indicated by emotions, cognitions, and behavior; and second, how these experiences influenced the mother–infant interaction and infant development. Participants were 511 Palestinian mothers from the Gaza Strip, reporting their war trauma, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and perceived stress during pregnancy (Time 1). They reported experiences of infant crying at 4 months (Time 2), and the mother–infant interaction and infant sensorimotor and language development at 12 months of infants’ age (Time 3). Results revealed that maternal mental health problems, but not war trauma, were important to experiences of infant crying. A high level of PTSD symptoms predicted negative emotions evoked by infant crying, and high depressive symptoms predicted low active and positive responses to crying. Unexpectedly, high prenatal perceived stress predicted high active and positive responsiveness. Concerning the consequences, mothers’ sensitive interpretation of infant crying predicted optimal infant sensorimotor development, and mothers’ active and positive responses predicted high emotional availability in mother–infant interaction. Crying is the first communication tool for infants, and mothers’ sensitive responses to crying contribute to infant well-being. Therefore, reinforcing mother's optimal responses is important when helping war-affected dyads.     

Effects of male postpartum depression on father–infant interaction: The mediating role of face processing

It is estimated that postpartum depression affects up to 25% of men. Despite such high prevalence, the majority of studies on postpartum depression are focused on mothers, and the role of paternal depression and its effects on infant development have been overlooked by researchers and clinicians. The present study aimed to fill this gap by investigating the effect of paternal postpartum depression on father–infant interactions. In addition, we examined whether differences in face recognition mediated the effects of paternal postpartum depression on father–infant interactions. A total of 61 father–infant dyads (17 postpartum depression, 44 controls) took part in the study. Results revealed that compared to controls, fathers with postpartum depression had a worse pattern of interaction with their infants on measures of responsiveness, mood, and sensitivity; they also had greater difficulty in recognizing happy adult faces, but greater facility in recognizing sad adult faces. Depressed fathers attributed greater intensities to sad adult and infant faces. The tendency to attribute greater intensity to sad adult faces was confirmed as a partial mediator of the effect of paternal postpartum depression on measures of father responsiveness and as a full mediator of the effects of paternal depression on father sensitivity. Clinical implications and suggestions for further studies are discussed.     

On Being a Mindful Authoritarian: Is Need for Cognition Always Associated with Less Punitiveness?

Previous research shows that the motivation to be mindful is associated with less intolerance toward deviant and stigmatized groups. The present research examines authoritarianism as a possible moderator of this seemingly robust finding. We obtained consistent evidence from two studies that authoritarianism (right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) moderates the relationship between need for cognition and punitiveness. Among low authoritarians, need for cognition was negatively associated with punitiveness and dispositional attribution of crimes and positively associated with support for rehabilitation of criminals. However, among high authoritarians, the pattern reversed. These results are discussed in the context of some recent advances in the understanding of motivated social cognition.     

Modulating effects in learned helplessness of dyadic dominance-submission relations

In this experiment, learned helplessness was studied from an ethological perspective by examining individual differences in social dominance and its influence on the effects of helplessness. Ninety animals were used, 30 randomly selected and 60 selected because of their clear dominance or submission. Each condition (dominant, submissive, and random) was distributed in three subgroups corresponding to the triadic design. The test consisted of an escape/avoidance task. The results showed that the animals in the uncontrollable condition performed worse than those in the controllable and no treatment conditions. Social submission and dominance reduced vulnerability of the subjects against learned helplessness. Submission had a facilitating effect on subsequent learning, independently of whether pretreatment was controllability or uncontrollability. Learned mastery was observed in the submissive condition, because submission benefited the subjects in the controllable condition in comparison with the untreated subjects, and dominance impaired the subjects in the controllable condition.     

低地位群体的外群体偏好

内群体偏好是群际关系中较为普遍现象。但是, 近来研究发现, 在低地位群体中存在着外群体偏好现象。社会认同理论、社会优势理论和系统公正理论从不同角度对这一现象进行了解释。社会认同理论关注情境因素的作用, 它描述了在何种情境下, 外群体偏好可能会出现。社会优势理论认为, 低地位群体成员的社会优势取向水平会决定其究竟是反抗现状还是接受现状。系统公正理论提出, 系统公正动机会使低地位群体成员支持与其内群体利益相违背的现存等级系统。每个理论各有优劣之处, 将各理论进行整合是值得考虑的研究方向。本文提出, 在解释低地位群体的外群体偏好现象时, 社会认同与社会优势取向之间可能会存在交互作用。     

La pragmatique développementale : état des lieux et perspectives

The aim of this article is to summarise the field covered by the submitted theme: “Developmental pragmatics: normal aspects and pathological aspects”, to discuss the tracks already explored by published articles and to indicate the research tracks to be explored. We are trying to show how the developmental pragmatics allowed to take in consideration the social uses of language and communication, to renew the theoretical perspectives which model children development, to increase our empirical knowledge and to finally progress in the building of relevant methodological tools. Therefore pragmatics allow to solve the mental processes which underlie the use of communication and language by children.     

视知觉无意识加工中的形状优势效应

研究了视知觉无意识加工中是否存在形状优势效应。被试为天津师范大学本科生60名。仪器为pentium lll高分辨率计算机．程序用E-prime心理实验软件系统编制而成。在实验1中,用信号检测论技术发现．当启动图形呈现时间为20ms时．被试是不能觉知到该图形的。在实验2和3中．被试的任务分别是判断图形的形状和颜色,用MANOVA分析启动图形对靶图形的启动效应时发现．启动图形的颜色线索不会影响靶图形的形状判断,但启动图形的形状线索却能抑制或促进靶图形的颜色判断。实验证据提示．在判断物体整体特征时,无意识知觉具有形状优势效应。     

采用理想点方法检验生活取向测验及其修订版的单维性

该文从项目反应过程出发,认为可能是由于原有的维度分析方法将生活取向测验（LOT）及其修订版（LOT-R）这两个测验的项目反应理想点过程错误地限定为优势过程,导致两个测验违背单维性的结论;进而采用主成分分析的未旋转成分负荷散点图和对应分析的维度分数散点图,并结合项目相关矩阵法验证LOT和LOT-R的维度。结果显示LOT-R的单维性得到了验证,LOT由于包含两个测量应对的项目而导致违背单维性。最后作者提出应该与理想点过程相一致的心理计量学模型对LOT-R的数据进行分析。