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Supporting patient self-management is an important part of the care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but patients vary in their capacity and willingness to manage their illness and may feel overwhelmed by the challenge of controlling the impact on their life. This paper discusses the value and importance of control theory and how it might be applied to enhance patients' self-management. Not only does it offer a means of identifying those who might have greatest difficulty in managing their illness, but it also points the way to effective interventions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The purpose of this paper was to review the existing literature regarding the contribution of parental influences to the sociocultural pressures on body image disturbance and disordered eating so as to highlight principal findings so that parents can be given practical information and identify areas that require further research. Methods Relevant articles were located through Pubmed, Sciencedirect and PsychInfo, as well as the screening of bibliographies. Results The available data suggest that parents are strong communicators of sociocultural pressures. Parental influences via verbal messages and active encouragement have been shown to have more impact on offspring's body concerns and eating behaviours than modelling effects. Both mothers and fathers are important sources of influence for their offspring. Conclusion Considering the role of parents could help improve public health management. Futher exploration of the way adolescents and young adults interpret and perceive parental attitudes and of potential protective factors is necessary. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mimicry is functional for empathy and bonding purposes. Studies on the consequences of mimicry at a behavioral level demonstrated that mimicry increases prosocial behavior. However, these previous studies focused on the mimickee. In the present paper, we investigated whether mimickers also become more helpful due to mimicry. In two studies, we have demonstrated that participants, who mimicked expressions of a person shown on a video, donated more money to a charity than participants who did not mimic. Moreover, the processes by which mimicry and prosocial behavior are related largely remain empirically unexamined in existing literature. The results of Study 2 confirmed our hypothesis that affective empathy mediates the relationship between mimicry and prosocial behavior. This suggests that mimicry created an affective empathic mindset, which activated prosocial behaviors directed toward others. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an experimental study, the basic aim of which is to check whether the congruence between personality characteristics and task characteristics has positive effects for performance and satisfaction on individuals. The results obtained reveal that Type A behavior pattern individuals get better results in cases of congruence than in cases of incongruence, while the performance of Type B behavior pattern individuals is not related to the (in)congruence between personal needs/aims and the task's demands. Besides, we have found that Type A behavior pattern individuals also have greater levels of satisfaction in cases of congruence than in cases of incongruence. However, Type B behavior pattern individuals show the same levels of satisfaction in both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commentary highlights some of the key points to emerge from the paper by Hobfoll, Hall, Canetti-Nisim, Galea, Johnson, and Palmieri (2007 , in this issue) about the relationship between posttraumatic growth and action, psychological functioning, and cognitive processing. In our commentary, we question the sequence of steps that Hobfoll et al. took to critique current theoretical cognitive models of posttraumatic growth. On the basis of the Janus-face model ( Maercker & Zöllner, 2004 ) of posttraumatic growth, we argue that, in addition to a cognitive core, posttraumatic growth may, but does not necessarily, involve an action component. Ce commentaire souligne quelques-unes des idées maîtresses de l’article de Hobfoll & al. concernant la relation existant entre le développement post-traumatique et l’action, le fonctionnement psychologique et les processus cognitifs. Nous nous interrogeons sur les étapes que les auteurs retiennent pour critiquer les modèles cognitifs théoriques actuels du développement post-traumatique. A partir du modèle bifacial de Maercker & Zöllner, nous défendons l’idée qu’en plus d’un noyau cognitif le développement post-traumatique peut s’accompagner d’une composante action, mais que ce n’est pas nécessaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper reports two studies designed to test the Dualistic Model of Passion with regard to performance attainment in two fields of expertise. Results from both studies supported the Passion Model. Harmonious passion was shown to be a positive source of activity investment in that it directly predicted deliberate practice ( Study 1 ) and positively predicted mastery goals which in turn positively predicted deliberate practice ( Study 2 ). In turn, deliberate practice had a direct positive impact on performance attainment. Obsessive passion was shown to be a mixed source of activity investment. While it directly predicted deliberate practice ( Study 1 ) and directly predicted mastery goals (which predicted deliberate practice), it also predicted performance-avoidance and performance-approach goals, with the former having a tendency to facilitate performance directly, and the latter to directly negatively impact on performance attainment ( Study 2 ). Finally, harmonious passion was also positively related to subjective well-being (SWB) in both studies, while obsessive passion was either unrelated ( Study 1 ) or negatively related to SWB ( Study 2 ). The conceptual and applied implications of the differential influences of harmonious and obsessive passion in performance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the psychological construct mindfulness has received a great deal of attention. The majority of research has focused on clinical studies to evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions. This line of research has led to promising data suggesting mindfulness-based interventions are effective for treatment of both psychological and physical symptoms. However, an equally important direction for future research is to investigate questions concerning mechanisms of action underlying mindfulness-based interventions. This theoretical paper proposes a model of mindfulness, in an effort to elucidate potential mechanisms to explain how mindfulness affects positive change. Potential implications and future directions for the empirical study of mechanisms involved in mindfulness are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prominent accounts of language use (those of Grice, Lewis, Stalnaker, Sperber and Wilson among others) have viewed basic communicative acts as essentially involving the attitudes of the participating agents. Developmental data poses a dilemma for these accounts, since it suggests children below age four are competent communicators but would lack the ability to conceptualise communication if philosophers and linguists are right about what communication is. This paper argues that this dilemma is quite serious and that these prominent accounts would be undermined if an adequate more minimal alternative were available. Just such a minimalist account of communication is offered, drawing on ideas from relevance theory and situation theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the dimensions of emotion conveyed by music. Participants rated emotion terms after seeing and/or hearing recordings of clarinet performances that varied in expressive content. A factor analysis revealed four independent dimensions of emotion. Changes to the clarinetists' expressive intentions did not significantly affect emotions conveyed by sound. It was largely through the visual modality that expressive intentions influenced the experience for observers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines methodological issues associated with the theory of planned behaviour and explains that an alternative account of data used to support this theory can be provided by positioning theory. A case is presented that shows tests of the theory of planned behaviour fail to eliminate the possibility of alternative explanations for co-variation in its data. An agency or person-centered alternative shows how a causal interpretation can be reinterpreted as evidence of the actions of a person. Unlike the conceptualisation of the individual as behaving in keeping with postulated underlying cognitive laws or rules we assume that the person has, through socialisation, acquired the skills necessary to initiate and manage their own actions. Unlike the interest in TPB data as a causal explanation of action we draw attention to the interpretation of patterns in these data as an aggregate of each person using a common mode of explanation to justify and explain their intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the construct validity of the Direct & Indirect Aggression Scales (DIAS) (Finland: Abo Akademi University) [Björkqvist et al., 1992c] in 653 adolescents aged 14 to 17 in four Spanish high schools. This paper also examined sex and age differences in aggression. The factor structure of scales was assessed using exploratory factor analysis. Varimax rotation was used, with a factorial structure of three factors: physical aggression, verbal aggression and indirect aggression. The results showed that, compared with girls, boys reported a more frequent use of physical and verbal aggression. However, for indirect aggression no differences were found between boys and girls. A specific examination of sex differences on individual items of the DIAS showed that boys used physical, verbal and indirect aggression more often than girls. The findings also indicated that, as expected, adolescents in lower courses (14-15 years old) rated higher in all types of violence than adolescents in higher courses (16-17 years old). Also, we found that boys used physical and verbal aggression more often than girls did in all age groups studied. This study provided a better understanding of female aggression in the Spanish context and it enhanced our understanding of how aggression is expressed by Spanish girls. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–11, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of a psychometric measure of indirect aggression for use in an adult population. Items were generated from a series of qualitative interviews. Two versions of the scale were developed; the Indirect Aggression Scale Aggressor version (IAS-A) and Target version (IAS-T). Both versions of the scale were administered to separate samples (nA=294; nT=294). Scales were analysed using item analysis of internal consistency, as well as exploratory factor analysis. Both versions were found to have the same consistent three sub-scales: social exclusion, use of malicious humour, and guilt induction. Preliminary psychometric evaluation suggests that the scales are both sufficiently reliable (with Cronbach's alphas ranging from .81 to .89) and valid. There were no gender differences in either using or being the victim of indirect aggression, and the behaviour was significantly negatively correlated with age. Future validation and potential usage of the measures are discussed. Aggress. Behav. 31:1–14, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study addressed the question of whether there are gender and age differences in aggressive behavior when it is studied as the spontaneous expression of mental contents and not as the result of immediate social interaction. This study also investigated whether aggression, in terms of mental content, is related to temperamental aspects. Aggressive behaviors were examined in make-believe play, in relation to age, gender, and temperament in a near-ecological context, i.e., the Dolls' House Play. The participants, 55 boys and 47 girls, subdivided into three age levels (4 years–4 years and 6 months; 5–6 years; and 7 years and 6 months–8 years and 6 months) were requested to represent what happens in their family 1) during Mealtimes; 2) at Bedtime; 3) on the Saddest day; and 4) the Happiest day; their Dolls' House Play was then recorded. Children's temperaments were measured with the TABC-Teachers' form [Martin, The Temperament Assessment Battery for Children, Brandon, VT: Clinical Psychology Publishing, 1998]. Data analysis was conducted considering aggressive behaviors in their distinct expressions—physical, verbal, direct, and indirect. Results revealed no statistical differences between boys and girls when all aggressive behaviors were compounded. However, when the distinct types of aggressiveness were considered, boys presented statistically higher levels of physical aggression than girls did. Moreover, boys and girls reacted with different types of aggression in the different emotional contexts created by the four episodes. Few age differences were observed. Surprisingly, there was a significantly greater presence of indirect verbal aggressiveness in younger children. With respect to temperament, a higher level of negative emotivity was significantly linked to a greater degree of aggressive behaviors in some of the episodes. In conclusion, this paper confirms gender differences in the type of aggressive behavior children display even in the absence of any immediate social interaction, which might itself trigger aggression. Aggr. Behav. 30:504–519, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: A number of studies have explored nurses' attitudes toward older people. However many of those have produced inconclusive results. Moreover dated attitudinal measures have been used to answer a broad range of questions relating to older people. AIM: The aim of this paper is to report a study examining whether negative attitudes and beliefs toward older adults persist. METHODS: Focus group interviews were used identifying factors which may influence attitudes and beliefs both negatively and positively. Nine Registered Nurses from care of older adult areas, four from acute areas, six nurse teachers, and 17 nursing students participated in the study. Ten themes were identified from the findings. FINDINGS: The findings show that the student nurses had varying experiences in older adult settings. Some of which had the effect of turning them away from the specialty. However, nurses who worked with older adults were very positive about their work and the nursing opportunities they had to offer student nurses. They were rather critical of the content of the pre-registration curriculum, which they perceived to over-rely teaching the negative aspects of ageing, and there was also criticism of the currency of teachers' knowledge. Nurses who worked in acute settings also did not escape criticism, in that they were identified as attributing a lack of sense of humour to older adults. The limitations include the small sample size although it is congruent with qualitative research. CONCLUSIONS: All nursing staff need to be more aware of their influence on the attitudes of student nurses toward older people. Good practice includes the ability to demonstrate that older people in hospital settings are valued. Nurse teachers need to review the way they prepare students for this specialist work in order to avoid inadvertently conveying negative attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the link between attitudes and behaviour in relation to adolescent participation on the National Lottery and scratchcards by applying the theory of planned behaviour. A questionnaire constructed by the authors was administered to a sample of 1195 adolescents between the ages of 11 and 15 years (550 male, 641 female, 4 unspecified). In this paper, all data relating to factors associated with adolescent attitudes toward the National Lottery and scratchcards, and the links with any subsequent gambling behaviour, were analysed. Results revealed that young people''s attitudes are an accurate predictor of their gambling behaviour on these activities, and that social cognitive theory provides an explanation of how these attitudes may develop. In light of these findings, a number of suggestions are given on how to discourage young people from gambling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Perceptions are important in determining performance appraisal system success. The growing body of research in this area has clearly documented the differences in perceptions between appraisers and appraisees. However, many of these findings are predominately based on aspects of the system in judging its overall effectiveness and rely heavily on self-report questionnaire responses with weak methodological rigor. Not much is known about the deeper cognitive perceptions of appraisers and appraisees in better explaining their attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. This paper breaks away from conventional questionnaire-generated perceptions and applies a unique clinical cognitive mapping methodology called the repertory grid technique to elicit the personal constructs of how real respondents perceive appraisal systems based on their real-life experiences. The method allowed the investigation to go much deeper than past research into the core perceptions that influenced respondents' attitudes and subsequent behaviors. Though the findings showed some commonality in personal constructions of appraisal systems with those found in the literature, new constructs, core perceptual dimensions, and collective cognitive maps were elicited for the very first time, opening up new questions and issues for further research. Implications to theory and practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is it like to differentiate from a country, a culture? Is it even possible? This paper describes my struggle to differentiate from Israel. I share both the emotional and intellectual dimensions of my journey. The emotional plane is illustrated with a journal entry, and the intellectual through the meaning that I give to my experiences and the conclusions that I draw from them as a therapist. This paper is not a political statement but it does illustrate, I believe, the close and complicated relationship between what is public and what is personal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study, conducted in Bochum, Germany, involving 160 participants. Two research interests were combined in our study. The first aim was to integrate habit into the process of normative decision making to predict environmentally relevant behavion Two approaches of implementing habits are analyzed and discussed. Both conceptualizing habitual and normative influences on behavior as excluding paths and integrating habit into the process of normative decision making are illustrated by data. With our approach, we intended to initialize a discussion about the consideration of habits in the context of normative decisions. The second aim was to develop and test different modifications of Verplanken's (Verplanken, Aarts, van Knippenberg, & van Knippenberg, 1994) response frequency measure (RFM) to improve the operationalization of habit. The modified forms of RFM were not more appropriate than the unmodified form. Therefore, we suggest using the unmodified RFM until there is an improved form available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the development of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity and then examines the psychometric properties of the Norwegian translation of this instrument among a sample of 479 young people between the ages of 11 and 18 years attending secondary school. The data support the reliability of this instrument and commend it for further validation studies and for wider general use among young people in Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To improve women's childbirth experiences in health facilities, their psychosocial and communication needs have to be met. However, what constitutes these specific needs is poorly understood, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper explores women's needs for communication and emotional support during facility-based childbirth.Methods: Qualitative research was conducted in a large referral maternity hospital and its catchment communities in Akure, Nigeria. In-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among women of reproductive age, midwives, doctors, and facility administrators. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize findings, and then interpreted within the context of this study and existing quality of care framework.Results: Forty-two IDIs and 10 FGDs are included in this analysis. Participants reported such needs as communication in simple words in local language by healthcare staff, having their husbands as birth companions, spiritual support, and prayers from family members and healthcare providers.Conclusion: To increase, improve, and sustain facility-based childbirth in Nigeria, health systems should appreciate the uniqueness and importance of each woman's needs during childbirth. Practical and sustainable actions should be taken to meet these needs, within the confines of the acceptable sociocultural norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some of the major principles of belief system theory and describes the method of value self confrontation. An example of how value self- confrontation can be used to modify environmental values is provided. The research on value self confrontation is reviewed and critically evaluated. Although there is support for belief system theory and for the efficacy of value self-confrontation as a means of inducing long-term change in important values, attitudes, and behaviors, a number of important questions remain unanswered. In particular, the psychological mechanisms underlying change in values, attitudes, and behaviors after value self-confrontation require clarification and further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that attitudes should be viewed as strategies for meeting personal needs; they serve psychological functions. After reviewing the early functional attitude theories proposed by Katz and by Smith, and some of the problems associated with them, a new functional approach is outlined. This neofunctional approach distinguishes two principal sources for the benefit related to attitudes: the attitude's object and the attitude's expression. Within these two major categories, specific functions are described based on the author's research and that of earlier functional theorists. The personality, situational, and domain characteristics likely to influence the functional value of attitudes are also discussed. Strategies suggested by this approach for changing attitudes are briefly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on "symbolic racism" has underscored an important paradox in racial attitudes: whites' rejection of racial injustice, in principle, has developed without diminishing resistance to the social policies designed to correct the injustice. Yet despite the currency of symbolic racism in contemporary research on racial attitudes, questions about the meaning of the concept remain unanswered. The results of two investigations reported in this paper indicate that (a) the conceptual and empirical distinctions between symbolic racism and "old-fashioned" prejudice have been exaggerated, and (b) symbolic racism may be best understood as one symptom of' generalized tendencies to derogate out-groups-- tendencies associated with a configuration of personal attributes that reflect commitments to conservative sociopolitical values and conventional standards of conduct. These findings are discussed in reference to the persistence of racial prejudice, as well as its implications regarding exposure to and the ejects of interracial contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the measurement and generality of response dispositions in person perception. Since the earliest systematic study of person perception, perceivers have been noted to differ in their judgments of others. Consistencies in these differences have been largely attributed to global dispositions or readiness to evaluate others in a consistent direction, like positive or negative. While there are universal aspects to dispositions, for example, a preference for positive descriptions, marked individual differences also exist. The direct measurement of these idiosyncratic dispositions is taken up in this paper. Then, the generality or stimulus specificity of disposition manifestation will be considered. Research will be reviewed which bears on the relationship between measured dispositions, and informational and situational factors. Dispositions are generalized attitudes toward others. As with any global attitude, dispositions represent the pooled evaluative response to the hierarchy of beliefs about the stimulus class being considered. Two methods for measuring perceiver dispositions in person perception were discussed. Both rest on the theoretical premise that attitudes are determined by the evaluative components of beliefs about the object.

This paper describes and reviews the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The focus is on evidence supporting the further extension of the TPB in various ways. Empirical and theoretical evidence to support the addition of 6 variables to the TPB is reviewed: belief salience measures, past behavior/habit, perceived behavioral control (PBC) vs. self-efficacy, moral norms, self-identity, and affective beliefs. In each case there appears to be growing empirical evidence to support their addition to the TPB and some understanding of the processes by which they may be related to other TPB variables, intentions, and behavior. Two avenues for expansion of the TPB are presented. First, the possibility of incorporating the TPB into a dual-process model of attitude-behavior relationships is reviewed. Second, the expansion of the TPB to include consideration of the volitional processes determining how goal intentions may lead to goal achievement is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta-analyses of research using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) show that these models explain on average between 40% and 50% of the variance in intention, and between 19% and 38% of the variance in behavior. This paper evaluates the performance of these models in predicting and explaining intentions and behavior. It discusses the distinction between prediction and explanation, the different standards of comparison against which predictive performance can be judged, the use of percentage of variance explained as a measure of effect size, and presents 9 reasons why the models do not always predict as well as we would like them to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing of children during individuals' lives has many important macrolevel and microlevel effects. This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding an important psychological sequence that affects the timing of childbearing by individuals. In the first step of this sequence, child-timing attitudes and beliefs affect child-timing desires; in the second step, child-timing desires affect child-timing intentions. The Child-Timing Questionnaire is a data collection instrument designed to measure attitudes and beliefs relevant to child timing. Using this instrument, we constructed four child-timing indices and tested the two-step framework with data from 187 husbands and 188 wives with no children and 182 husbands and 184 wives with one child. The results provide support for the framework and indicate some important sex and parity differences in the psychology of child timing. The Child-Timing Questionnaire appears to be a reliable, valid instrument; it is readily adaptable for use with any population in which the timing of children is an important research or service issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern has been expressed in the literature regarding the method of scoring 'beliefs' within expectancy-value models of attitudes. This paper reviews the major issues and focuses upon some hitherto largely neglected problems with scoring methods. Empirical findings from a series of studies concerned with 'the theory of reasoned action' are examined: with a multiplicative combination of beliefs and evaluations, it is found that bipolar scoring of 'belief' items leads to higher correlations of the summed products of beliefs and evaluations with attitudes that are achieved with unipolar scoring. These findings contrast markedly with recently reported research and indicate the important role played by contextual factors (such as belief content and the response scales prevented to subjects). It is concluded that more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between conceptual and methodological issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological inquiry into social phenomena has become virtually indistinguishable from controlled experimentation. Although the assets and liabilities of psychological experiments have been subject to periodic debate, a continued increase in the reliance placed on experiments is evidenced. The present paper re-examines the adequacy of experimentation in light of major features of social interaction. Significant failures of the experiment emerge when the following characteristics of social events are considered: their imbeddedness in broader cultural patterns, their position within extended sequences, their open competition within real-life settings, their reliance on psychological confluences, and their complex determination. The additional consideration of social phenomena within historical context indicates that all reasonable hypotheses are valid and that critical testing between hypotheses about social behaviour is fruitless. Criteria for the productive usage of experiments are detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the factor-analytic LOGIT model approach to identify the reasons why truck drivers leave a particular company. Truckload carriers in the United States devise strategies for retaining truck drivers in an environment that is increasingly competitive on all fronts. In order to retain drivers, then, trucking managers understand why drivers leave one company to go to another or to another career. This study illustrates the use of model choices of mode, route, destination, and carrier using nominally scaled, binary dependent variables to prevent this problem. The most common of these models is the LOGIT model. These models use sets of explanatory variables to predict the probability that an individual will choose a particular outcome. The purpose of this paper is to present and empirically test a model of driver turnover behavior that may assist managers in controlling turnover. It also demonstrates an approach to choice modeling that alleviates some of the problems associated with multi-collinearity. The approach combines factor analysis with LOGIT to predict probability of choice.

Attribution of responsibility is becoming the subject of increasing research activity. Reasons for such activity appear fairly obvious. It is highly probable that the degree to which one person holds another as responsible for the latter's acts is a prime determinant of much interpersonal behavior. For example, responses to others that are punishing versus rehabilitative, generous versus niggardly, kindly versus hostile, or accepting versus rejecting may all be mediated to a substantial extent by the degree to which one attributes responsibility to another person for the outcome of his acts. The focus of the present paper is on several potential determinants of responsibility attribution and their interactions. In professor E. Walster's study, the stimulus events were described as chance-determined. That is, a person gained, broke even, or lost money on an investment purely as a function of environmental events over which he had no control. In this study, Walster was not able to show a relation between responsibility attribution and outcome seventy.

It has for some time been well understood by social scientists that considerable insight into a society can be gamed through an analysis of its heroes and scapegoats. In turn, a full understanding of the genesis and functions of these two types of figures can be acquired only when one is able to project them against the background of the social situations in which they occur. It is the intent of the paper to examine the advent, characteristics and functions of an outstanding hero and an equally outstanding scapegoat in a peasant community. The acceptance by the Indian of unequal division is not so much a matter of choice as it is a function of conformity to an all-embracing set of traditional norms and patterns. This conformity is reinforced, on the one hand, by considerable ignorance of and indifference to possible alternatives, and, on the other, by a belief in the divine sanction of the status quo. Common to both Ladinos and Indians, but with differential emphases, is the significance of heterosexuality and family life. The normal pattern among the unmarried youth of both groups is to lay considerable stress on frequent heterosexual contact as a mark of virility.

The ability to shift its behavior to meet the changing demands of its environment is necessary for the survival of an organism. It has been pointed out that in general, the more differentiated and hierarchically organized the mental structure of an organism, the more flexible its behavior. In human beings, a distinction has been drawn between the behavior of normal and feeble-minded individuals on the basis of the degree of rigidity displayed. Clinicians have noted that patients suffering from certain mental disorders manifest stereotypy, preservation and lack of shift in their behavior. In brief, the problems of rigidity and of the degree of rigidity are of theoretical and clinical importance. This paper will describe some methods, which the writer, in experimentation with normal and abnormal subjects, has found of value in testing for rigidity. A number of the procedures are based upon his work on the Esnstellung phenomenon. Substitute procedures are described under most of the techniques in order to provide means of retesting the same individual.

The progress of science is characterized by the formulation of theories on the basis of controlled or uncontrolled observations. The theory suggests further controlled observations, which in turn lead to its confirmation, modification, or rejection. The present paper is concerned with sociologist Alfred Adler's theory of memory and its position today in the light of subsequent research. Adler's views relate specifically to the dynamics of recall in general and the significance of earliest childhood recollections. This is in accord with, his interest in the idiographic rather than the problems of psychology, that is, the problem concerned with the understanding of some particular event in a particular individual rather than those concerned with the finding of general laws. This study by no means exhausts the significance of earliest recollections. Clinical examination of each case would undoubtedly uncover a wealth of further relationships, as would also greater refinement of categories. Adler's view that it is underlying attitudes, which largely determine individual recall, has been substantiated by extensive important research. His view that early childhood recollections are particularly expressive of an individual's basic attitude toward life has been tentatively substantiated by some preliminary research.

The article focuses on the question for Relational View of Propositional Attitude Reports regarding the nature of cognitive relation in which thinkers stand to propositions. It also mentions the promise the Measure Theory of Mind that it can avoid answering the question by allowing a relational account of attitude reports without a relational account of the attitudes themselves. The article argues that the promise of the Measure Theory of Mind cannot be realized.

This research examined the hypothesis that people judge as true those claims aligned with the normative content of their salient social identities. In Experiment 1a, participants' social identities were manipulated by assigning them to 'inductive‐thinker' and 'intuitive‐thinker' groups. Participants subsequently made truth judgements about aphorisms randomly associated with 'science' and 'popular wisdom'. Those with salient inductive‐thinker social identities judged science‐based claims as more truthful than popular wisdom‐based claims to a greater extent than those with salient intuitive‐thinker social identities. Experiment 1b was a preregistered replication, with additional conditions eliminating an alternative semantic‐priming explanation. In Experiment 2, American Conservatives and Liberals judged as more true claims associated with the ideological content of their social identities. This difference was attenuated through a manipulation that framed participants as more moderate than they had originally indicated. Overall, these experiments suggest an identity‐truth malleability, such that making salient specific social identities can lead to related perceptions of truth normatively aligned with those identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do poorer and less educated Asians trust their institutions of governance more than their richer and well educated counterparts, despite their disadvantaged position within society? System justification theory (SJT) assumes that this trust is driven by a system‐level motivation that operates independently from social identity needs. In two nationally representative surveys spanning several years (Ntotal = 221,297), we compared SJT's explanation with a newer social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA): that system justification amongst disadvantaged Asians is driven by a group norm for harmony, especially amongst those who are strongly invested in their national ingroup. The results supported SIMSA more than SJT. Specifically, a strong sense of national identification boosted trust in systems of governance amongst poorer and less‐educated Asians, both when societal norms for harmony (Study 1), and personal endorsement of this norm (Study 2) were strong. Hence, social identity needs help to explain stronger system justification among objectively disadvantaged Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore dental and dental hygiene students' and faculty members' perceptions of student evaluations of teaching (SET) and determine whether dental vs. dental hygiene student, beginning vs. advanced student, and faculty vs. student responses differed. Perceived benefits, challenges, and suggestions for conducting SETs optimally were also assessed. Survey data were collected from 329 dental students (D1: 108; D2: 91; D3&4: 130) and 68 dental hygiene students (DH2: 26; DH3: 19; DH4: 23) (overall response rates 76%/92%) and 56 dental and eight dental hygiene faculty members (response rates 41%/100%). Faculty respondents were more positive about SETs than students (five-point scale with 1=disagree: 3.85 vs. 3.39; p<0.001), with seniors being the least positive (mean 2.42). Respondents agreed that all students should complete SETs (3.87 vs. 3.61; p=0.068), with faculty agreeing more strongly than students that all courses should be evaluated (4.32/4.04; p=0.046). Students agreed more strongly than faculty that SETs should occur during regular class time (3.97/3.44; p<0.001) and are too long (3.47/3.09; p=0.010) and that results should be shared with students (4.03/3.57; p=0.002). Open-ended responses showed that students perceived more benefits of SETs for faculty members than for students and that the most frequently mentioned problem was that SETs do not result in changes. Faculty members were generally more positive than students (especially seniors) about SETs. These findings suggest that, according to these respondents, SETs should be completed by all students for all courses, be short, provide opportunities for open-ended comments, and be administered in class to improve response rate. In addition, SET results and how SETs are used to improve courses should be shared with students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I(3) theory assumes that aggressive behavior is dependent on three orthogonal processes (i.e., Instigator, Impellance, and Inhibition). Previous studies showed that Impellance (trait aggressiveness, retaliation tendencies) better predicted aggression when Instigator was strong and Inhibition was weak. In the current study, we predicted that another Impellance (i.e., normative beliefs about aggression) might predict aggression when Instigator was absent and Inhibition was high (i.e., the perfect calm proposition). In two experiments, participants first completed the normative beliefs about aggression questionnaire. Two weeks later, participants' self-control resources were manipulated either using the Stroop task (study 1, N = 148) or through an "e-crossing" task (study 2, N = 180). Afterwards, with or without being provoked, participants played a game with an ostensible partner where they had a chance to aggress against them. Study 1 found that normative beliefs about aggression negatively and significantly predicted aggressive behavior only when provocation was absent and self-control resources were not depleted. In Study 2, normative beliefs about aggression negatively predicted aggressive behavior at marginal significance level only in the "no-provocation and no-depletion" condition. In conclusion, the current study provides partial support for the perfect calm proposition and I(3) theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a method of weighting attitude scale items from subject responses. The most widely used technique for studying attitudes is the "rating scale" method. The scale usually consists of a group of statements which have been assigned differential weights. The subject indicates which statements he endorses and his final score may be the mean, median, or sum of weights for the endorsed statements. The purpose of this paper is to present a method of weighting attitude scale items from the responses of subjects. An attitude scale of 45 statements was constructed and administered to 586 students who were all freshmen at the University of South Carolina. Each statement was weighted according to a system based on the number of times it was endorsed by members of this group.

In this paper, I will explore the concept that healing activities shape the objects of therapy and seek to construct those objects through therapeutic activities. Objects of therapy are the persons, patients, human bodies, diseases, physiological processes and personal suffering—that which clinical medicine constructs through its distinctive formative processes, practices and knowledge. The rationale for choice of philosophical sources namely, Cassirer, Foucault, the anthropological perspective of Good and the sociological account of Frank will be discussed. The claim articulated by Good will be examined and its relationship to culture, illness, medical knowledge, practice, truth, and science. I then focus on Frank's concepts of the patient and the body and how medical knowledge and practices affects it. The concept that the medicalization of the illness narrative silences the patient's voice requiring an ethic of listening will be emphasized, described and further supported by Charon's (2006, Narrative medicine: Honoring the stories of illness. New York, NY: Oxford University Press) and Cassell's (2015, The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine. New York, NY: Oxford University Press) thoughts on narrative of illness in clinical medicine. My position concludes that healing activities construct the objects of therapy: as the medical culture's way of seeking truth; as medicine's way of mediating and organizing forms of reality through culture and symbolic forms; and, as medicine's way of entering the body and constructing the disease. Lastly, I suggest that in spite of the remarkable progress in the control of disease, the failure to address the interpretation of illness meanings is a fundamental flaw in the work of "doctoring." The experience and meanings of illness are at the centre of clinical practice and is a moral, political, ethical and professional obligation. The person is a cultural construct, a complex and culturally shaped way of experiencing self and other, and cultural "work" is required to constitute the person who is the object of medical attention and it also necessitates the ethic of listening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human enhancement technologies raise serious ethical questions about health practices no longer content simply to treat disease, but which now also propose to "optimize" human beings' physical, cognitive and psychological abilities. These technologies call for a reassessment of our relationship to health, the human body and the body's organic, identity and social functions. In nursing, such considerations are in their infancy. In this paper, we argue for the relevance of critical phenomenology as a way to better understand the ethical issues related to human enhancement technologies (HET). In so doing, we seek to problematize HET and assess their influence on the future development of nursing science and practice. It is difficult to anticipate the concrete effects of HET, we suggest, because these practices reconfigure the meaning of normativity and disorient our conventional ethical landscape. In this context, we argue that the later work of Martin Heidegger and Michel Foucault invites a critical perspective into how techno‐scientific discourses modify our relationship to care, to health and to our own social and corporeal identities. Despite the traditional philosophical opposition between phenomenology and critical theory, we maintain that a hybrid critical phenomenological approach opens new ways to assess the integration of technology and practice. Our analysis understands HET as a process of "hybridization" between technological objects and human subjects. Critical phenomenology thus effectively questions anthropocentric definitions of technology, challenges the dichotomy between curative treatment and enhancement and, finally, prompts valuable reflection on the implications of HET for nursing theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some have argued that behavior analysts have insulated themselves by eschewing the vernacular and adopting idiosyncratic and sometimes counterintuitive technical terms to describe their science and practice. Because of this, behavior analysis plays a minor role in psychology and related fields and effective behavior‐change interventions go unused. All told, findings about the effects of behavior‐analytic jargon are mixed. Studies that provided technical terms independent of context have produced unfavorable results, whereas studies that have provided context have produced positive or neutral results, overall. This study evaluated the effects of behavioral jargon on the acceptability ratings of several applied behavior analysis interventions described in terms of varying target behaviors, populations, and settings. We presented brief vignettes adapted from published research articles that were described in either jargon or nonjargon versions. There were no appreciable differences in the rated acceptability of interventions described with or without jargon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As recent as 2019, individuals residing within the United States were not protected from employment termination on the basis of their sexual orientation. It is unsurprising, then, that a large percentage of non‐heterosexual individuals remain 'closeted' about their sexual identity both at home and work, which takes a psychological and physical toll. The purpose of this study was to document perceptions, feelings, and experiences among women who have sex with women in regard to social and emotional well‐being. Thirty‐seven women between the ages of 20 and 64 participated in 6 focus groups held in three states in the United States. The purpose of these focus groups was to gather data about the experiences of living in a heteronormative world and the factors that might influence social and emotional well‐being. Responses were transcribed and thematically coded. Results offer insights into main themes that can assist community members, health professionals, and scientists to better appraise the disparities and struggles of sexual minorities who experience minority stress and have to compartmentalize in order to feel safe at home, work, and their third places. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several reinforcer-related variables influence a response's resistance to change (Nevin, 1974). Reinforcer type (i.e., conditioned or unconditioned) is a reinforcer-related variable that has not been studied with humans but may have clinical implications. In Experiment 1, we identified unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers of equal preference. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, we reinforced participants' behavior during a baseline phase using a multiple variable-interval (VI) 30-s VI 30-s schedule with either conditioned (i.e., token) or unconditioned (i.e., food; one type of reinforcement in each component) reinforcement. After equal reinforcement rates across components, we introduced a disruptor. Results of Experiments 2 and 3 showed that behaviors were more resistant to extinction and distraction, respectively, with conditioned than with unconditioned reinforcers. Results of Experiment 4, however, showed that when prefeeding disrupted responding, behaviors were more resistant to change with unconditioned reinforcers than with conditioned reinforcers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article was to shed light on children's experiences and views of documentation in home-school relations. The study draws on qualitative interviews with 52 pupils in Year 6 in Sweden. The analyses reveal pupils' understanding of documents and documentation and how they form an important part of the communication between home and school. Furthermore, the analyses show that children see themselves positioned as objects and messengers between home and school, but also as subjects who resist and use documents and documentation in their own interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To discuss an historical episode in which obesity was conceptualized as an addictive disorder and declared to be a major epidemic in the early postwar United States. This history illuminates past consequences of framing obesity as an addiction in ways that may inform constructive policy responses today. Methods Review of secondary and primary sources, including archival documents, relating to obesity in biomedical and popular thought of the 1940s and 1950s. Results In the United States in the late 1940s and 1950s, new medical thinking about obesity reinterpreted overweight and obesity as chiefly the consequence of addiction (understood in the then dominant psychodynamic theory as a psychological defect, oral fixation). This new conception was rapidly taken up in popular discourse and clinical practice, with adverse effects through amplification of weight stigma. Further, in the conservative political context, the addiction concept contributed to an ineffective policy response to the alarming new epidemiological evidence about obesity's consequences. Despite a lack of evidence for efficacy of the intervention, public health efforts focused on correcting individual eating behaviour among obese people by encouraging self-help in lay groups modelled, in part, on Alcoholics Anonymous. Population-level intervention was neglected. Conclusions Current public health policy initiatives must be mindful of the risks of reframing obesity as an addiction. These include inadvertently reinforcing stigma, narrowing responses to those aiming to modify individual behaviour and biology and neglecting population policies aiming to reduce the consumption of energy-dense foods, as all occurred in the 1950s United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent re‐evaluations of Milgram's obedience experiments have drawn attention to the role of social identity and group processes. Milgram himself was concerned to explore processes of group influence by varying the collective dynamics of his experimental scenario in several conditions. The present study seeks to explore archived audio recordings from one of Milgram's group experiments—the 'two peers rebel' condition—from a perspective informed by discursive and rhetorical psychology. The findings show that collectivity was an active concern for speakers in the sessions, with contestation over the relevant group boundaries, and the appropriate course of group action. It is suggested that explanations of behaviour in Milgram's experiments that emphasise intergroup dynamics would benefit from attention to the ebbing and flowing of solidarity in the experimental sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author has responded to T.F. Pettigrew's rejoinder. In his rejoinder Pettigrew advocates a position somewhat different from that in his original article. In his rejoinder he advocates using G.W. Allport's (1954) four situational characteristics as criteria to analyze racial contact situations. Since Allport's four conditions were not attained in the contact studies which he mentioned in the critique, Pettigrew feels he was justified in omitting them from his original article. This is most apparent on pages 54 and 55 of Pettigrew's original paper where, beginning his section on Contact Studies, he states, "The most solid social psychological evidence of racial attitude change comes from the contact studies. Repeated research in a variety of newly desegregated situations discovered that the attitudes of both whites and Negroes toward each other markedly improved."

Visits to the emergency department ( ED) for mental health reasons account for 10-15% of all visits. Consumers of mental health ED services, however, report that they often feel sent to the back of the queue and that their mental health concerns are not taken seriously, suggesting that societal stigma has impacted their care in the ED. In this study, we systematically explore the research concerning the attitudes of ED professional staff towards those who present with issues related to mental health. Four themes emerge from the literature: consumer perspectives, whose tenor is generally one of negativity; staff-reported attitudes and influencing factors, such as age, experience, and confidence in working with mental health presentations; the environmental climate of the ED, which might not be conducive to good mental health care; and interventions that have been used to evaluate changes in attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]