Infrastructure and Scaffolding: Interpretation and Change of Research Involving Human Genetic Information

This essay addresses the relationship of interpretation to change, at two levels. One level concerns the revolutionary claims of molecular biology and biotechnology about using genetic information, read literally or with a minimum of interpretation, to reshape human life. The other level concerns the relationship in social studies of science and technology (STS) between interpreting projects in the life sciences and influencing their direction. On that level, the essay is experimental, employing a series of vignettes that introduce themes and questions—scaffolding—intended to stimulate readers to make their own connections between interpretation and change, in science, STS, and society. The vignettes in Part 1, which range from treatment of individuals with PKU or MAOA genes to personalized medicine and biobanks, indicate in different ways that the use of genetic information always requires social infrastructure. Once attention is given to the actual or implied social infrastructure, the prospect of reshaping life using human genetic information raises more questions than it answers. This thread carries over into Part 2, which speaks to an area of STS that needs more development, namely, conceptualizing the structure of the social context of scientific and technological developments and the nature of human agency in the ongoing restructuring of that context. The vignettes create a picture in which the influence on science of an STS interpretation will, like any effort to produce change, depend on how it links with other engagements and with the heterogeneous components that make up ongoing, intersecting processes of science in society.     

Effects of Pointing Rate and Availability of Visual Feedback on Visual and Proprioceptive Components of Prism Adaptation

The withdrawal of vision of the arm during a manual aiming task has been found to result in a large increase in aiming error, regardless of the amount of practice in normal vision before its withdrawal. In the present study, the authors investigated whether the increase in error reflects the domination of visual afferent information over the movement representation developed during practice to the detriment of other sources of afferent information or whether it reflects only transformation errors of the location of the target from an allocentric to an egocentric frame of reference. Participants (N = 40) performed aiming movements with their dominant or nondominant arm in a full-vision or target-only condition. The results of the present experiment supported both of those hypotheses. The data indicated that practice does not eliminate the need for visual information for optimizing movement accuracy and that learning is specific to the source or sources of afferent information more likely to ensure optimal accuracy during practice. In addition, the results indicated that movement planning in an allocentric frame of reference might require simultaneous vision of the arm and the target. Finally, practice in a target-only condition, with knowledge of results, was found to improve recoding of the target in an egocentric frame of reference.     

Spouse marital adjustment and patient dietary adherence in chronic hemodialysis: A Comparison of Afro-Americans and Caucasians

Abstract

This study investigated racial differences in the relationship between spouse marital adjustment and dietary adherence of chronic hemodialysis patients. Sixty-eight adult patients and their spouse were subjects. Fifty-two percent of the patients were Caucasians while 48% were Afro-Americans. Spouses completed the Locke-Marital-Questionnaire (LMQ) and provided demographic data pertaining to their patient spouses. The patients' predialysis potassium levels (indices of food intake compliance) for the previous three months were matched with the respective questionnaires. Afro-American spouses, especially males, evidenced significantly lower marital satisfaction than Caucasian spouses. Afro-American female patients seemed to be most compliant as far as food intake wasconcemed. Although the spouse LMQ score was negatively correlated with interdialysis weight gain. Afro-Americans who generally scored lower on the LMQ did not differ from Caucasians in so far as their adherence to the dietary regimen was concerned. Implications for improving quality of life of hemodialysis couples in general, and Afro-Americans in particular are discussed.     

The Racial and Ethnic Identity Formation Process of Second‐Generation Asian Indian Americans: A Phenomenological Study

This phenomenological study elucidates the identity development processes of 12 second‐generation adult Asian Indian Americans. The results identify salient sociocultural factors and multidimensional processes of racial and ethnic identity development. Discrimination, parental, and community factors seemed to play a salient role in influencing participants’ racial and ethnic identity development. The emergent Asian Indian American racial and ethnic identity model provides a contextualized overview of key developmental periods and turning points within the process of identity development. Este estudio fenomenológico dilucida los procesos de desarrollo de la indentidad de 12 individuos Americano‐Indoasiáticos adultos. Los resultados identifican factores socioculturales destacados y procesos multidimensionales del desarrollo de la identidad racial y étnica. Los factores de discriminación, paternos y comunitarios parecieron jugar un papel destacado en su influencia sobre el desarrollo de la identidad racial y étnica de los participantes. El modelo emergente de identidad racial y étnica Americano‐Indoasiática proporciona una visión general contextualizada de los periodos clave del desarrollo y los puntos de inflexión durante el proceso del desarrollo de la identidad.     

Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words? A Comparison of Three Organizational Practices for Reducing Racial/Ethnic Harassment and Discrimination

We assessed the effectiveness of three commonly suggested organizational practices for reducing racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination (REHD): training; resources for reporting REHD; and implementation actions taken by leadership to reduce REHD. In a sample of 39,475 U.S. military personnel, we conducted dominance analyses to examine the relative contributions of these practices to REHD. Implementation contributed more to the prediction of REHD than did training or resources. Moreover, implementation moderated the effect of resources and training. This suggests that active leadership effort to address REHD can be 1 of the most effective means of reducing such behavior.     

Omnipotence in the transference and in the countertransference

The concept of omnipotence refers to a primitive fantasy, a mechanism of defense, and a pathological psychic structure. Omnipotence and its derivative defensive operation, omnipotent control, are highly prevalent in borderline personality organization. Three clinical vignettes illustrate these mechanisms in the treatment of patients with borderline, narcissistic, and obsessive personality disorders, respectively. These vignettes illustrate the transference developments when omnipotence and omnipotence control are dominant, and the therapeutic approach to these conditions.     

A Change is Gonna Come: Generational Membership and White Racial Attitudes in the 21st Century

The election of President Barack Obama offers a unique opportunity to test the impressionable‐years hypothesis—the theory of political socialization that predicts that widely experienced political events can have a lasting impact on the political attitudes of individuals who experience that event in their youth, thereby creating a generational distinction. Using data from an original survey embedded in the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we examine the racial attitudes of White youth who came of age during Barack Obama's presidential campaign and election to see if those individuals are significantly more liberal on racial attitudes than older generations of Whites. In other words, we look for early evidence that an “Obama generation” has emerged. We find there are indeed early signs of a generational distinction. Members of the “Obama generation” are more strongly opposed to racial resentment, but they exhibit similar levels of opposition to old‐fashioned racism as older cohorts. Additionally, we uncover that the factors that traditionally structure racial attitudes among Whites, most notably contact, education, and residential proximity, work quite differently for members of this generation. We take these findings as initial evidence that Barack Obama's presidency will have a lasting impact on the racial views of a generation of Americans.     

MANIPULATING SLOT MACHINE PREFERENCE IN PROBLEM GAMBLERS THROUGH CONTEXTUAL CONTROL

Pathological and nonpathological gamblers completed a task that assessed preference among 2 concurrently available slot machines. Subsequent assessments of choice were conducted after various attempts to transfer contextual functions associated with irrelevant characteristics of the slot machines. Results indicated that the nonproblem gambling group, but not the problem gambling group, increased their responding toward the slot initially trained as greater than following the initial training procedure, then decreased their responding toward that slot following the reversal phase.     

Is it Racist? Addressing Racial Microaggressions in Counselor Training

This article describes a series of activities for educating counselors regarding a form of racism dubbed racial microaggressions. Meaning and impact of microaggressions are examined. Activities for responding to microaggressions can be applied to clinical and school contexts, and are useful for educators in professional and university settings.     

THIS IS NOT B. F. SKINNER'S BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS: A REVIEW OF HAYES,STROSAHL, AND WILSON'S ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) is an important addition to and extension of the growing field of clinical behavior analysis. The book provides a comprehensive introduction to a new therapy that is rooted in functional contextualistic philosophy and a “post-Skinnerian” behavior-analytic theory of verbal behavior. It begins with the assertion that language or verbal processes are at the heart of psychopathology and human suffering and goes on to describe a therapeutic approach that seeks to undermine these verbal processes and facilitate clients' active commitment to value-driven behavior change. Along the way, the book provides a compelling behavior-analytic account of a number of important but neglected issues in behavior analysis, including human suffering, the nature and function of private events, the self, suicide, anxiety, depression, values, responsibility, and commitment. In so doing, the book cogently challenges the unfortunately common but erroneous assertion that behaviorism does not and perhaps cannot address the complexity of the human condition. The present review provides a general overview of the book, summarizes its chapters, and raises a number of questions that might be addressed in future research.