Presidential disability and the proposed Constitutional amendment.

A major legislative accomplishment of the Eighty-Ninth United States Congress was a proposal for a Constitutional amendment dealing with the issues of Presidential disability and executive succession. As a Constitutional amendment requires ratification by at least three-fourths of the states, it is important that the need for, and rationale of, the proposed amendment be understood by the citizenry. Of additional interest to psychologists and other behavioral scientists is the factor of psychological disability of the President, regardless of cause. The objective of this paper is a clarification and assessment of both the historical and the proposed methods of dealing with cases of Presidential disability. Special emphasis will be given the issue of psychological disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

International children's rights. Can they make a difference in American family policy?

The United States' actual and potential use of international children's rights' standards are detailed, and the substance and aspirations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (U.N. General Assembly, 1989) with current U.S. family policy and jurisprudence are compared. The examination highlights the importance of considering diverse forums and forces that may influence the eventual implementation of children's international human rights. The analysis also underscores the striking divergence between international and U.S. approaches to children's rights. The author concludes that current efforts to play down differences and obligations create a danger of making eventual ratification of international children's rights' treaties a Pyrrhic victory, if any.     

Increasing diversity of the U.S. population

Demographic changes have shaped the nation's past and will continue to shape its future. During the first half of the 1990s, the U.S. population grew, on average, by 2.7 million people each year, reaching 262.8 million in 1995. Population growth is projected to continue for the next 50 years, although at a slower rate. The forecast is for more than 390 million Americans by the year 2050. As the U.S. population grows, it will increasingly become more diverse along many socioeconomic dimensions. This increasing diversity will represent an historic shift in America's racial and ethnic composition with long-range implications for how we view racial issues, how we define racial categories and how the political landscape will be refashioned. By the middle of the 21st century the "minority" population will almost equal the size of the non-Hispanic white population. The minority population grew 14 percent during the first half of the 1990s compared with a 3 percent growth in the non-Hispanic white population. But even within the minority population, growth rates varied. Between 1990 and 1995, the Asian population grew 23 percent, the Hispanic population 20 percent and the African American population increased their numbers by 8 percent. Hispanics are projected to outnumber African Americans within the next 15 years. In part, these demographic changes are shifting because of U.S. immigration policies. Until the early 1960s, immigrants to the United States were primarily of white, European stock. Nowadays, Europeans account for about 20 percent of the immigrants. Three-quarters of legal immigrants in the mid-1990s now come from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. The increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States will create both challenges and opportunities for U.S. schools and businesses in the future. The magnitude of these numbers and their geographic location will be important factors to consider as we prepare for the 21st century.     

U.S. Workplace bullying: Some basic considerations and consultation interventions.

Bullying in the workplace is a worldwide phenomenon. There is a sizable professional literature on workplace bullying based largely on studies in European and other countries in comparison to studies involving U.S. corporations. Psychological consultants to U.S. corporations need to know and understand how certain considerations such as prevalence, legal reform and issues, and employers’ response to bullying differ in the United States compared with other countries. This article provides an overview of these considerations, emphasizing prevalence studies on bullying in the United States. It then describes one successful consultation intervention that targeting bullying in a U.S. corporation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smearing the opposition: Implicit and explicit stigmatization of the 2008 U.S. Presidential candidates and the current U.S. President.

Four studies investigated whether political allegiance and salience of outgroup membership contribute to the phenomenon of acceptance of false, stigmatizing information (smears) about political candidates. Studies 1–3 were conducted in the month prior to the 2008 U.S. Presidential election and together demonstrated that pre-standing opposition to John McCain or Barack Obama, as well as the situational salience of differentiating social categories (i.e., for Obama, race; for McCain, age), contributed to the implicit activation and explicit endorsement of smearing labels (i.e., Obama is Muslim; McCain is senile). The influence of salient differentiating categories on smear acceptance was particularly pronounced among politically undecided individuals. Study 4 clarified that social category differences heighten smear acceptance, even if the salient category is semantically unrelated to the smearing label, showing that, approximately 1 year after the election, the salience of race amplified belief that Obama is a socialist among undecided people and McCain supporters. Taken together, these findings suggest that, at both implicit and explicit cognitive levels, social category differences and political allegiance contribute to acceptance of smears against political candidates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Becoming a clinical psychologist in the United Kingdom.

The process by which one becomes a qualified clinical psychologist in the United Kingdom (U.K.) is described so that American (United States) clinical psychologists visiting the U.K. may better understand the context in which their British counterparts work. The process begins with the admissions criteria of training programs and ends with one's acceptance as a fully qualified, independent clinical psychologist. Educational and health care issues are described as factors relevant in shaping the structure of clinical psychology programs. Advantages and disadvantages of the British system are discussed in the light of continuing political changes, and some suggestions for improvements are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The child's right to a family environment: Why children's rights and family values are compatible.

Critics of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (U.N. General Assembly, 1989) have lobbied against its ratification on the grounds that its impact in the United States would be antifamily. Careful reading of the Convention shows, however, that it not only is supportive of strong families but offers a creative and conceptually coherent foundation for government action to promote and protect family life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists as legislators: Results of the 2002 elections.

The elections of 2002 saw a record number of psychologists run for, and win election to, state and federal offices. The steady increase in the number of psychologists in the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures continues a positive evolution in the political maturation of the profession. This trend benefits society by facilitating the development of public policy from a psychologically informed perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Third world medicine in first world cities: capital accumulation, uneven development and public health

This paper addresses issues of public health and access to care for the urban poor in the context of current U.S. urban, economic and industrial policy. The pathologies that threaten "inner city" neighborhoods are the result of decades of political neglect, economic exploitation and resource withdrawal, which themselves stem directly from public and corporate sector strategies to facilitate capital accumulation and consolidation. The resulting conditions of uneven development between wealthy and impoverished local sectors mirror similar relationships between First and Third World countries. These same patterns are reflected and reproduced in the health care "industry" itself, where growing corporate dominance has developed alongside a concomitant reduction in support for public sector and community-based care. These trends create and exacerbate conditions that place poor and minority populations at risk. Community development and political empowerment, as well as the overall corporate hegemony that increasingly characterizes the political economy of the U.S.A., are essential public health considerations that must be included in any meaningful health policy or health care reform proposals.     

Cultural malpractice: The growing obsolescence of psychology with the changing U.S. population.

With the changing demographics occurring in the United States, psychology must make substantive revisions in its curriculum, training, research, and practice. Without these revisions, psychology will risk professional, ethical, and economic problems because psychology will no longer be a viable professional resource to the majority of the U.S. population. In particular, this article discusses the need for psychology to address issues of ethnicity/culture, gender, and sexual orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association for the Advancement of Psychology: 1976.

The Association for the Advancement of Psychology (AAP), established by the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association in 1974, interacts with the U.S. Congress and federal regulatory agencies on issues of interest to psychology, in the public interest. This article presents information on AAP board members, Operations Committee members, meeting dates, legislative agenda, headquarters staff members, and bylaws revisions for the year 1976. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and the U.S.-Canada border: trade disputes and border traffic problems

The public health interest in trade and in cross-border traffic of alcoholic beverages is considered in general terms. Within this framework, three specific issues in U.S.-Canada trade and borders are discussed: cross-border drinking and driving in both directions, particularly by youth; smuggling from the U.S. to Canada; and the "beer wars" and other U.S.-Canada trade disputes involving alcoholic beverages. While problems can be alleviated on each of these fronts, it is concluded that an important step internationally would be to establish that, because of the problems they entail, alcoholic beverages should be exempt from trade agreements, or else provision should be made for the public health interest to be represented in negotiations and dispute resolution involving alcoholic beverage controls.     

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual victimization in the military: An unintended consequence of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”?

The integration of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals into the U.S. military is a long-standing and politically and socially divisive issue. Exclusionary and pseudo-inclusionary policies that restrict openly LGB individuals from military service are also of long duration. Yet LGB servicemembers have continued to serve covertly in the military for many decades. Moreover, political issues and social conventions associated with “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” (DADT) have diverted focus from imperative research issues, such as LGB servicemembers and incidents of victimization in the military. Research is reviewed to evaluate such victimization, which is conceptualized as resulting from a convergence of sexual stigma, conservative gender role beliefs, and sexual prejudice. DADT, in combination with overarching difficulties intrinsic to sexual orientation research, serves to augment LGB victimization and reduce victim reports and help seeking. Consequently, there is a deficient evidence base for assisting LGB servicemembers and for advancing research, prevention efforts, and policy changes. Implications of repealing DADT are discussed, as are future directions for LGB military research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commentary.

Comments on the articles of J. J. Furedy (see record 199801996-002), O. E. Favreau (see record 199801996-003), C. Stark (see record 199801996-005), D. Kimura (see record 199801996-006), and K. S. Dobson (see record 199801996-007), on the multifaceted topics surrounding political correctness in academia, including academic freedom, and women's issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the lab to the police station: A successful application of eyewitness research.

The U.S. Department of Justice released the first national guide for collecting and preserving eyewitness evidence in October 1999. Scientific psychology played a large role in making a case for these procedural guidelines as well as in setting a scientific foundation for the guidelines, and eyewitness researchers directly participated in writing them. The authors describe how eyewitness researchers shaped understanding of eyewitness evidence issues over a long period of time through research and theory on system variables. Additional pressure for guidelines was applied by psychologists through expert testimony that focused on deficiencies in the procedures used to collect the eyewitness evidence. DNA exoneration cases were particularly important in leading U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to notice the eyewitness literature in psychology and to order the National Institute of Justice to coordinate the development of national guidelines. The authors describe their experience as members of the working group, which included prosecutors, defense lawyers, and law enforcement officers from across the country. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using a multicultural lens to understand illnesses among Haitians living in America.

Currently, ethnic and racial minority individuals represent a large proportion of the U.S. population, and researchers expect that they will represent the majority of the population by 2050. This shift in U.S. demographics calls for a greater awareness and integration of cultural issues into the assessment and treatment of ethnically and linguistically diverse clients. This article examines the unique beliefs and manifestations of illnesses among Haitians in connection with the American Psychological Association's (APA, 2002) Multicultural Guidelines. The authors use a common culture-bound syndrome, Séizisman, to illustrate the cultural beliefs, assessment, and treatment of illnesses among Haitians. In so doing, they demonstrate how to incorporate the APA Multicultural Guidelines into treatment with clients of diverse cultural and racial backgrounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On malignancies.

Comments on the articles of J. J. Furedy (see record 199801996-002), O. E. Favreau (see record 199801996-003), H. J. Klatt (see record 199801996-004), D. Kimura (see record 199801996-006), and K. S. Dobson (see record 199801996-007), on the multifaceted topics surrounding political correctness in academia, including academic freedom, and women's issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on Gilbert.

Comments on the article by S. J. Gilbert (January, 1983) regarding the work of institutional review boards and the ethics of research with human subjects. Gilbert argues that until researchers can learn to take ethical issues in research seriously as ethical and not merely political problems, those same researchers are likely to be mystified by objections to their protocols. The solution is not to psychologize the committees, but for psychologists to do some honest reflection on the ethics of their own research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive style and political belief systems in the British House of Commons.

Used the integrative complexity coding system to analyze confidential interviews with 89 members of the British House of Commons. The primary goal was to explore the interrelation between cognitive style and political ideology in this elite political sample. Results indicate that moderate socialists interpreted policy issues in more integratively complex or multidimensional terms than did moderate conservatives who, in turn, interpreted issues in more complex terms than extreme conservatives and extreme socialists. The latter 2 groups did not differ significantly from each other. These relations between integrative complexity and political ideology remained significant after controlling for a variety of belief and attitudinal variables. Results are interpreted in terms of a value pluralism model that draws on M. Rokeach's (1973, 1979) 2-value analysis of political ideology and basic principles of cognitive consistency theory. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond instrument selection: Cultural considerations in the psychological assessment of U.S. Latinas/os.

Currently the second largest U.S. ethnic group, U.S. Latinas/os are projected to continue increasing as a proportion of the U.S. population over the next century. The culturally competent psychological evaluation of U.S. Latinas/os requires both the use of instruments that are adequately validated in that population and the adequate consideration of culturally linked factors known to influence the assessment process and its findings. This article makes foundational recommendations in this second area, organizing them along 4 stages of professional practice in psychological assessment. Consultation with qualified professionals is discussed as being important in ensuring the accurate and ethical psychological assessment of U.S. Latinas/os at all stages of professional practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)