Communities as conduits of harm: A social identity analysis of appraisal,coping and justice-seeking in response to historic collective victimization

Social identity approach (SIA) research shows that community members often work together to support survivors of collective victimization and rectify social injustices. However, complexities arise when community members have been involved in perpetrating these injustices. While many communities are unaware of their role in fostering victimization, others actively deny their role and responsibility to restore justice. We explore these processes by investigating experiences of community violence and collective justice-seeking among Albanian survivors of dictatorial crimes. Survivors (N = 27) were interviewed, and data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis guided by the SIA. The analysis reveals the diverse ways communities can become harmful ‘Social Curses’. First, communities in their various forms became effective perpetrators of fear and control (e.g., exclusion and/or withholding ingroup privileges) during the dictatorship because of the close relationship between communities and their members. Second, communities caused harm by refusing to accept responsibility for the crimes, and by undermining attempts at collective action to address injustices. This lack of collective accountability also fosters survivors' feelings of exclusion and undermines their hope for systematic change. Implications for SIA processes relating to health/wellbeing (both Social Cure and Curse) are discussed. We also discuss implications for understanding collective action and victimhood.     

The acquisition of observing.

Pigeons were exposed to stimuli correlated with the presence or absence of a variable-interval 60-second schedule of reinforcement only while they depressed a crossbar or "perch." In the first experiment, the stimuli were different tilts of a line displayed on the key. When the difference in brightness between the line and the background (salience) was maximal, seven of eight birds acquired the discrimination, but when the difference was reduced by 50%, only one succeeded. In the second experiment, wavelength of chamber illumination served as the relevant dimension. Neither experiment showed a large effect attributable to the magnitude of the difference (disparity) between the positive and the negative stimulus. Individual differences in time spent observing were positively correlated with level of discrimination in the presence of the stimuli. All birds produced the positive stimulus for a greater proportion of the available time than they did the negative stimulus. This may be the mechanism that provides selective reinforcement of observing. Finally, the formation of a discrimination was analyzed in terms of changes in the proportion of time spent in contact with the discriminative stimuli.     

Impact of Well-being Interventions for Siblings of Children and Young People with a Chronic Physical or Mental Health Condition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Siblings of children and young people with a chronic illness are at increased risk of poor psychological functioning. A number of studies have attempted to implement and evaluate interventions targeting the psychological well-being of this at-risk group. This systematic review summarises the evidence regarding psychological functioning of siblings following an intervention targeting their well-being. The meta-analysis considered behaviour and knowledge, two of the most frequently studied outcomes. The following databases were used: PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. Seventeen studies were eligible to be included in the systematic review and eight in the meta-analysis. Results from the systematic review reflected the inconsistency of intervention evaluations in this area with a high level of heterogeneity and a total of 23 outcomes considered across the 17 included studies. The meta-analysis estimated effect sizes using a standardised mean difference (SMD) approach. Pre-post analysis suggested significant improvement in behavioural outcomes and knowledge of their sibling’s health conditions with a SMD of ? 0.44 [95% CI (? 0.6, ? 0.29); p = 0.000] and 0.69 [(95% CI = 0.42, 0.96); p = 0.000], respectively. The SMD was not significant for behavioural outcomes when considering treatment–control studies. In conclusion, the findings suggest interventions for well-being have a positive effect on the psychological functioning of siblings of children and young people with a chronic illness, but their specificity needs to be established. There is a need for further, more methodologically robust research in this area.     

Information on response requirements compared with information on food density as a reinforcer of observing in pigeons

On a variable-interval schedule, pecking the key to the pigeon's right (observing response) produced red or green displays relating to the delivery of grain and its dependence on pecking the key to the left (food key). During various blocks of sessions, mixed (no stimulus change) schedules including the following pairs of components were temporarily converted by the observing response to their corresponding multiple (correlated stimuli) schedules: variable-interval 60-s, extinction; variable-interval 60-s, variable-time (response-independent) 60-s; extinction, variable-time 60-s. Differences in food delivery maintained substantial rates of responding on the observing key, without regard to pecking requirements on the food key. Although stimuli correlated with differences in the response requirement on the food key maintained higher observing rates than those maintained by uncorrelated stimuli, they were much lower than those based on food. The value of predictive stimuli as reinforcers is determined by the value of the events predicted. In particular, the cost of pecking appears to be low, and this may place limitations on the applicability of energy-based and economic models of behavior.     

Roles of the qualities and locations of stimuli and responses in simple associative learning

The Quality-Location Phenomenon is defined by the previous research of Lawicka (1964 and 1969) in which dogs easily learn go/no-go tasks to differences in stimulus quality and go-left/go-right tasks to differences in stimulus location whereas the opposite pairings of tasks and stimulus attributes are difficult to learn. The Lawicka-Konorski explanation in terms of drive differentiation and response selection is described, and a new hypothesis, the Quality-Location Hypothesis, is offered. This hypothesis states that the quality of a stimulus best serves as a cue for the quality of a response, whereas the location of a stimulus best serves as a cue for the location of a response. The evidence for the hypothesis is reviewed, and experimental considerations for its evaluation are mentioned.     

When does prior knowledge disproportionately benefit older adults’ memory?

Material consistent with knowledge/experience is generally more memorable than material inconsistent with knowledge/experience – an effect that can be more extreme in older adults. Four experiments investigated knowledge effects on memory with young and older adults. Memory for familiar and unfamiliar proverbs (Experiment 1) and for common and uncommon scenes (Experiment 2) showed similar knowledge effects across age groups. Memory for person-consistent and person-neutral actions (Experiment 3) showed a greater benefit of prior knowledge in older adults. For cued recall of related and unrelated word pairs (Experiment 4), older adults benefited more from prior knowledge only when it provided uniquely useful additional information beyond the episodic association itself. The current data and literature suggest that prior knowledge has the age-dissociable mnemonic properties of (1) improving memory for the episodes themselves (age invariant), and (2) providing conceptual information about the tasks/stimuli extrinsically to the actual episodic memory (particularly aiding older adults).     

Acceptance-Enhanced Behavior Therapy for Trichotillomania in Adolescents

Although several studies have examined the efficacy of Acceptance Enhanced Behavior Therapy (AEBT) for the treatment of trichotillomania (TTM) in adults, data are limited with respect to the treatment of adolescents. Our case series illustrates the use of AEBT for TTM in the treatment of two adolescents. The AEBT protocol (Woods & Twohig, 2008) is a structured treatment manual that was adapted to the individual clients’ needs and clinical progress. Both clients reported clinically significant gains in treatment as determined by at least 2 weeks of abstinence from pulling, and subjective reports of decreased distress and impairment, although one required a booster session due to relapse. AEBT is worth further exploration as a treatment for adolescents with TTM.     

Spatial and temporal relations in conditioned reinforcement and observing behavior

In Experiment 1, depressing one perch produced stimuli indicating which of two keys, if pecked, could produce food (spatial information) and depressing the other perch produced stimuli indicating whether a variable-interval or an extinction schedule was operating (temporal information). The pigeons increased the time they spent depressing the perch that produced the temporal information but did not increase the time they spent depressing the perch that produced the spatial information. In Experiment 2, pigeons that were allowed to produce combined spatial and temporal information did not acquire the perch pressing any faster or maintain it at a higher level than pigeons allowed to produce only temporal information. Later, when perching produced only spatial information, the time spent depressing the perch eventually declined. The results are not those implied by the statement that information concerning biologically important events is reinforcing but are consistent with an interpretation in terms of the acquisition of reinforcing properties by a stimulus associated with a higher density of primary reinforcement.