Somebody hit the button! The implicit power motive and the frequency of verbal persuasion behavior in children

Motivation and Emotion - We examined the relationship between the implicit power motive (nPow) and the frequency of verbal persuasion behavior (VPB) in dyads of children, while they negotiated a...     

A video game-based investigation of power stress moderators in children

Motivation and Emotion - In this paper, we examine the relationship between the implicit power motive (nPow) and power stress in primary school children under the additional consideration of...     

OVERCOMING AN AUTISTIC CHILD'S FAILURE TO ACQUIRE A TACT REPERTOIRE

A 6-year-old nonvocal autistic girl who had acquired over 30 signs as mands (requests), simple intraverbals (English-sign translations), and imitative responses repeatedly failed to acquire a tact (labeling) repertoire. It was speculated that the verbal stimulus “What is that?” blocked the establishment of stimulus control by nonverbal stimuli. When procedures to transfer stimulus control from verbal to nonverbal stimuli were implemented, the subject quickly learned to tact all 18 target stimuli.     

The Kind of Student You Were in Elementary School Predicts Mortality

We examined the association of self‐reported and teacher‐rated student characteristics assessed at the end of primary school with all‐cause mortality assessed through age 52. Data stem from a representative sample of students from Luxembourg assessed in 1968 (N = 2,543; M = 11.9 years, SD = 0.6; 49.9% female; N = 166 participants died). Results from logistic regression analyses showed that the self‐reported responsible student scale (OR = .81; CI = [.70; .95]) and the teacher rating of studiousness (OR = .80; CI = [.67; .96]) were predictive for all‐cause mortality even after controlling for IQ, parental SES, and sex. These findings indicate that both observer–rated and self–reported student behaviors are important life‐course predictors for mortality and are perhaps more important than childhood IQ.     

Predictors of Early Termination in a University Counseling Training Clinic

Despite the existence of counseling dropout research, there are limited predictive data for counseling in training clinics. Potential predictor variables were investigated in this archival study of 380 client files in a university counseling training clinic. Multinomial logistic regression, predictive discriminant analysis, and classification and regression trees converged on the use of a 4‐predictor model (client age, income, perceived difficulty, and functional impairment) for classifying counseling dropouts. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Minimizing motor mimicry by myself: Self-focus enhances online action-control mechanisms during motor contagion

Ideomotor theory of human action control proposes that activation of a motor representation can occur either through internally-intended or externally-perceived actions. Critically, sometimes these alternatives of eliciting a motor response may be conflicting, for example, when intending one action and perceiving another, necessitating the recruitment of enhanced action-control to avoid motor mimicry. Based on previous neuroimaging evidence, suggesting that reduced mimicry is associated with self-related processing, we aimed to experimentally enhance these action-control mechanisms during motor contagion by inducing self-focus. In two within-subjects experiments, participants had to enforce their action intention against an external motor contagion tendency under heightened and normal self-focus. During high self-focus participants showed reduced motor mimicry, induced either by mirror self-observation or self-referential judgments. This indicates that a self-focus provoking situation can enhance online action-control mechanisms, needed to resist unintentional motor contagion tendencies and thereby enables a modulation of automatic mirroring responses.     

Helping and change without traditional therapy: Commonalities and opportunities

The therapeutic elements of four types of helping interactions (friends/family, religion, cinematherapy/bibliotherapy, and self-help groups), and their commonalities with traditional psychotherapy are explored. Empirical findings in these areas are discussed, along with suggestions for process and outcome research. Recommendations for the integration of self-help and paraprofessional counseling with professional therapy are presented.     

Epigenetic programming of the HPA axis: early life decides

Stress during early life can impact the developing brain and increase vulnerability to mood disorders later in life. Here, we argue that epigenetic mechanisms can mediate the gene-environment dialogue in early life and give rise to persistent epigenetic programming of adult physiology eventually resulting in disease. Early life stress in mice leads to epigenetic marking of the arginine vasopressin (AVP) gene underpinning sustained expression and increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. This epigenetic memory is laid down in the parvocellular neurons of the paraventricular nucleus and involves Ca(2+)/calmodulin kinase-mediated phosphorylation of the methyl-CpG binding domain protein MeCP2 leading to dissociation from its DNA-binding site and derepression of the AVP gene. The reduced occupancy of MeCP2 during this early stage of life facilitates the development of hypomethylation at the AVP enhancer, which sustains derepression throughout later life and thereby serves to hardwire early life experiences. The sequential order of these events may represent a critical time window for the preventive therapy of severe trauma.     

Sharʿī norms and German Schools: Court Challenges to Participation in Swimming Lessons,School Trips and Sex Education

ABSTRACT

This article examines the treatment by German courts, from the early 1970s to 2016, of requests made by Muslims to be exempted from school activities for religious reasons. Based on a qualitative reading of 72 court rulings, the article demonstrates a shift in the courts’ decision-making, from initially tolerating Muslim requests for exemption to firmly denying them. Arguments from the court rulings are substantiated by an analysis of the public discourse on Muslims in German schools. The results suggest that the transformation of court attitudes corresponded with the rise of broader concerns about multiculturalism and manifestations of Islam in the public sphere, the liberalization of gender norms, and increasing secularism within German society. The article further demonstrates that, contrary to public perception, requests for exemptions from school activities were not a distinctly Muslim phenomenon. Christian families have challenged school activities in a similar way.