Visual perception of direction when voluntary saccades occur: II. Relation of visual direction of a fixation target extinguished before a saccade to a subsequent test flash presented before the saccade

Previously reported experiments demonstrated changes in the relation of visual direction to retinal locus for stimulation during voluntary saccades as compared to this relation before saccade initiation. The quantitative features of these results led to the prediction, confirmed in the present experiments, that there are shifts in visual direction for stimulation presented before the saccade itself. In the present report, monotonically increasing shifts were mapped with stimuli presented as early as 240 msec before the saccade up to the saccade itself. Such shifts cannot be accounted for readily by “inflowing” processes, and while “outflowing” processes seem to be implicated, their quantitative characteristics would need to be considerably different from those required by classical outflow theories.     

Conditioned tilt naming: A modified absolute judgment method is used to measure the oblique effect

Two naive human observers were conditioned to report on the slant of a 3.8-cpd sinusoidal grating viewed monocularly with a light-adapted eye and presented at various orientations extending from ?45 to +135 deg. The procedures used yielded a baseline measure of performance and measures obtained during conditioning, extinction, and reconditioning of the tilt-naming response. Both subjects learned rapidly, achieving a level of performance that permits efficient measurement of meridional differences in perceived orientation Ithe oblique effect) at a large number of angles.     

Evolution of behavior and the comparative method

The comparative method, that is, the discrimination of similarities and differences in the physical and social aspects of the environment, requires the concept of levels of integration and organization to be useful in the study of the evolution and development of behavior. Comparative studies based on the quasi-scientific theories of the inheritance of behavior and the predominance of genetic processes as causal in evolution and development of all species, including people, — Lorenzian ethology, Wilsonian sociobiology —overlook significant differences among species and reduce quantitative and qualitative differences in behavior to a unitary causal mechanism, which is not sufficient to explain complex behavior. Further, such theories oversimplify genetic processes and their relation to behavior. The comparative method is applicable and useful when the questions to be answered are based on stated assumptions which are testable and when the levels of the phenomena being compared are equivalent.     

Reliability,validity, and prevalence of partner violence measured by the conflict tactics scales in male-dominant nations

This article evaluates whether use of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) with women in male-dominant nations results in reliable and valid data. Tabulation of ten published studies in male-dominant nations found a median alpha coefficient of reliability of .86. For university students in the 32 nation International Dating Violence Study, the median alpha for women is .82 and .78 for males. Similar alpha coefficients were found regardless of the national level of male-dominance. Validity was measured by estimating the sensitivity of the CTS in eliciting data on perpetration of physical assault, by evaluating the degree to which assaults reported by the women were acts of self-defense, and by construct validity analyses to test the hypothesis that being a victim of physical assault as measured by the CTS is associated with physical injury, depressive symptoms, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. The hypothesized relationships were found regardless of the degree of male dominance in a nation. The results support continued use of the CTS to investigate PV in the lives of women worldwide. The discussion suggests that the effort to combat violence against women could be enhanced by using the full CTS to provide data on perpetration by women as well as victimization of women.     

Predicting support for racial transformation policies: Intergroup threat,racial prejudice,sense of group entitlement and strength of identification

Policies and programs designed to challenge the effects of racial discrimination (such as affirmative action) are hotly contested. Factors which have been proposed to explain opposition to these policies include racial prejudice, group threat and self‐interest, and perceptions of intergroup justice. We report the results of two random national telephone surveys which tested a theoretically based model of the predictors of policy support in post‐apartheid South Africa. The results provided limited support for Blumer's group position model. Compensatory and preferential treatment policies had different underlying predictors: Violated entitlement featured in the models of compensatory policy attitudes, but not preferential treatment policy attitudes, where threat was the strongest predictor. In addition to threat and violated entitlement, policy attitudes among the black sample were related to ingroup identification but those of the white sample were related to prejudice. The effects of these variables were in the opposite directions for the two samples: Policy support was associated with strong ingroup identification and high levels of threat among the black sample (i.e. prospective beneficiaries of the transformation policies), but with low levels of prejudice and threat among the white sample. We conclude by considering the implications that these findings have for social change programs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional intelligence and personal growth initiative effects on subjective happiness among university students

This study examined emotional intelligence and personal growth initiative influences on the level of subjective happiness among university students in Ghana. Two hundred and sixty undergraduate students were participants (female = 69.8%; mean age = 21.72 years, SD = 3.61 years). They responded to measures of emotional intelligence, personal growth initiative, and subjective happiness. After controlling for their demographic characteristics, and following hierarchical regression analysis, results indicate emotional intelligence and intentional behaviour domain of personal growth to predict students’ level of subjective happiness. These findings suggest that students’ ability to manage and utilise their emotions, as well as their personal growth initiative contribute significantly to their level of happiness.     

Developing Praxis: Mobilising Critical Race Theory in Community Cultural Development

Race remains a significant issue in the lives of many people in Australia. For example, Indigenous Australians lives continue to be marked by social and economic disadvantage and everyday experiences of exclusion. Within this context, the Community Arts Network Western Australia promote social change and the empowerment of Indigenous groups through community cultural development. With an emphasis on community strengths and resources, community arts practice is employed to create, promote, and improve opportunities for participation, network development and empowerment. In this article, we explore these projects from a community psychology orientation, which is committed to developing opportunities for inclusion and also exposing the workings of power in everyday settings. Although there have been many positive outcomes that have resulted from the different activities with communities, there have also been significant barriers to transformative practice, in particular, issues of racialisation and continuing colonisation. We discuss our efforts aimed at understanding racism, which have included engaging with critical race theory and whiteness studies within the context of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous partnerships for change. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

child pornography and the internet: perpetuating a cycle of abuse

Thirteen men convicted of downloading child pornography were interviewed with a view to understanding how these men talked about the photographs and the function such talk played in their accounts. The interviews were informed by earlier work with defended subjects and were analyzed within a discursive framework. Quotations are used from the interviews to illustrate the analysis. Six principal discourses emerged within these accounts in relation to child pornography: sexual arousal; as collectibles; facilitating social relationships; as a way of avoiding real life; as therapy; and in relation to the Internet. These are discussed in the context of previous research. The analysis illustrates the important role that the Internet plays in increasing sexual arousal to child pornography and highlights individual differences in whether this serves as a substitute or as a blueprint for contact offenses. It also draws our attention to the important role that community plays in the Internet and how collecting facilitates the objectification of children and increases the likelihood that in the quest for new images children continue to be sexually abused. Discourses focussing on both therapy and addiction serve to distance the respondent from personal agency and allow for continued engagement with child pornography.     

Challenging the Stubborn Core of Opposition to Equality: Racial Contact and Policy Attitudes

A Random Digit Dialing survey (n = 794) examined the interracial contact experiences and racial attitudes of White South Africans. The survey measured racial attitudes not only in terms of individuals' prejudice, but also in terms of their perceptions of group threat, perceived injustice, and support for various government policies designed to rectify the legacy of apartheid. The results indicated that the frequency and quality of interracial contact predicted Whites' support for both race compensatory and race preferential policies of redress, and these effects were partly mediated by perceived threat, sense of fairness, and racial prejudice. The research points to a potential rapprochement between the social psychological theories of intergroup contact and group positioning theories derived from the work of Blumer. It also highlights the value of adopting a more expansive and politically nuanced conception of the “consequences” of contact and desegregation.     

The Role of Women's Relationships With Their Partners in Their Adjustment Following Prenatal Genetic Testing1

This study explored how aspects of the couple relationship contributed to the adjustment of 95 women who underwent prenatal diagnostic (PND) testing because of advanced maternal age (AMA). Participants completed self‐report measures prior to genetic counseling (T1), during the waiting period for PND test results (T2), and after normal results were received (T3). At T2, distress was predicted by the degree to which women approached the PND decision jointly with their partners, and marital adjustment was predicted by women's satisfaction with the support received from their partners. Marital adjustment at T3 was predicted by earlier levels of partner agreement about PND‐related issues. Results suggest that the couple relationship has the potential to facilitate or hinder women's experience of PND testing.