An Examination of the Communication Styles Associated with Psychopathy and Their Influence on Observer Impressions

Psychopathic individuals are characterized as “intra-species predators”—callous, impulsive, aggressive, and proficient at interpersonal manipulation. For example, despite their high risk for re-offending, psychopathic offenders often receive early release on parole. While reputed to be social chameleons, research suggests that even naive observers can accurately infer high levels of psychopathic traits in others with very brief exposures to behavior, but accuracy degrades with extended observation. We utilized a lens model approach to examine the communication styles (emotional facial expressions, body language, and verbal content) of offenders varying in levels of psychopathic traits using “thin slice” video clips of psychological assessment interviews and to reveal which cues observers use to inform their evaluations of psychopathy. Psychopathic traits were associated with more (a) Duchenne smiles, (b) negative (angry) emotional language, and (c) hand gestures (illustrators). Further, psychopathy was associated with a marked behavioral incongruence; when individuals scoring high in psychopathic traits engaged in Duchenne smiles they were also more likely to use angry language. Naïve observers relied on each of these valid behavioral signals to quickly and accurately detect psychopathic traits. These findings provide insight into psychopathic communication styles, opportunities for improving the detection of psychopathic personality traits, and may provide an avenue for understanding successful psychopathic manipulation.     

Who will change the “baby?” Examining the power of gender in an experimental setting

We conduct an experiment designed to test the impact of a gender-loaded frame on the distribution of labor between care and market work. In an unframed tre     

Advertising ‘Happy’ Children: The Settler Family,Happiness and the Indigenous Child Removal System

We analyse 4300 advertisements of children featured in the Today's Child column, a daily written by Helen Allen in The Toronto Telegram and The Toronto Star from 1964 to 1982, to understand how the Canadian public became accepting of the adoption of Indigenous children. While children of all ethnic backgrounds were featured, the Indigenous children who were displayed were part of a larger system of child removal, known as the ‘Sixties Scoop’. We demonstrate the ways Indigenous children are described with a specific form of happiness that is conjoined with colonial conceptions of the family and nation.     

Secrets and Lies: Involuntary Leakage in Deceptive Facial Expressions as a Function of Emotional Intensity

Darwin (1872) hypothesized that some facial muscle actions associated with emotion cannot be consciously inhibited, particularly when the to-be concealed emotion is strong. The present study investigated emotional “leakage” in deceptive facial expressions as a function of emotional intensity. Participants viewed low or high intensity disgusting, sad, frightening, and happy images, responding to each with a 5 s videotaped genuine or deceptive expression. Each 1/30 s frame of the 1,711 expressions (256,650 frames in total) was analyzed for the presence and duration of universal expressions. Results strongly supported the inhibition hypothesis. In general, emotional leakage lasted longer in both the upper and lower face during high-intensity masked, relative to low-intensity, masked expressions. High intensity emotion was more difficult to conceal than low intensity emotion during emotional neutralization, leading to a greater likelihood of emotional leakage in the upper face. The greatest and least amount of emotional leakage occurred during fearful and happiness expressions, respectively. Untrained observers were unable to discriminate real and false expressions above the level of chance.     

Organizing creation: The role of musical text

This study considers how the work of an amateur orchestra creating a concert performance of a Haydn's concerto is organized by the musical score. The method of inquiry which places the text in the centre of the analysis explores how the surrounding social relations and discourses are carried into an actual work-in-progress; in this process, the score is a link between the macro level of musical discourse embodied in other texts, the related macro level of performance history, and the micro level of individual performance, finally connecting the individual work of actual composers to the exposition of that work. The study furthers existing ethnomethodological and phenomenological examinations of orchestral performance by exposing some of the relations underlying the taken-for-granted ‘common ground’ of the score.     

Kurt Lewin Address: Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control

A power/interaction model of interpersonal influence is applied to the analysis of religions as mechanisms of social control. The original six bases of power presented by French and Raven (1959)—coercion, reward, legitimate position, expert, referent, and informational—are expanded to include variants of these bases: personal reward and coercion and legitimacy of equity, reciprocity, and responsibility (Raven, 1992). Over centuries, certain sages, seers, and chieftains, feeling that they knew what was best for their people individually and collectively, have attempted to utilize these power resources (e.g., to counter tendencies toward murder, theft, adultery, mayhem, or harmful dietary practices). To implement power strategies, various preparatory devices were developed, which include the establishment of a Deity, whose ultimate reward and coercive power is enhanced by omnipotence; whose omnipresence establishes necessary continual surveillance; and whose ultimate expertise follows from omniscience. Much of what has been developed in holy works, and in supportive art and literature, can then be seen as further preparing the bases of power for social control. Tensions result when a populace that is educated to expect informational power is faced with a religion that emphasizes extreme coercion, reward, ultimate legitimate and expert power.     

Squaring Up: Experiences of Transition from Off‐Street Sex Work to Square Work and Duality—Concurrent Involvement in Both—in Vancouver,BC

Many studies of exit from sex work are inspired by role theory, where people experience a lack of attachment to a role; are faced with individual, interactional, and structural challenges; contemplate transition and exit a role; and then struggle to establish postrole identities and new lives. This framework has been used to explicate the factors and experiences of those who leave or attempt to leave the sex industry; however, it is limited because studies present sex work as a harmful and dangerous profession that people are trapped in, escaping, or have survived. In this paper, I discuss Vancouver's history of violence against sex workers and I review research on sex work exiting and bring forward recommendations for the design of exit program based on the experiences of 22 active and former off‐street sex workers from Vancouver, British Columbia. I describe study participants who include Sex‐Work‐No‐More participants who would not return to the industry, Sex‐Work‐Maybe participants who consider reinvolvement, and Dual‐Life participants who are employed in sex work and conventional work simultaneously. These participants uniquely challenge narrow, binary understandings of involvement and transition because they discuss their use of deception to obtain resources needed to make change; the support that clients have provided; their strategic engagement in sex work as a means to exit; their considerations of reentry; and for some, their dual employment. In light of new legislation that criminalizes activities related to sex work—the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act—and the Federal government announcement of $20 million dollars for the creation of exit services nationwide, hearing from sex workers is essential to advancing agendas in this area. De nombreuses études de la sortie du travail du sexe sont inspirées par la théorie des rôles, où les gens éprouvent un manque d'attachement à un rôle; sont confrontés à des défis particuliers, interactionnelles et structurelles; contempler transition et quitter un rôle; et ensuite du mal à établir des identités post‐rôle et les nouvelles vies. Ce cadre a été utilisé pour expliquer les facteurs et les expériences de ceux qui quittent ou tentent de quitter l'industrie du sexe; Cependant, elle est limitée parce que le travail présente des études de sexe comme une profession nocive et dangereux que les gens sont piégés dedans, échapper ou ont survécu. Dans cet article, je discute de l'histoire de la violence contre les travailleurs du sexe de Vancouver et je passe en revue la recherche sur le travail du sexe sortant et de formuler des recommandations pour la conception d'un programme de sortie fondée dans les expériences de 22 travailleurs actifs et les anciens hors rue sexe de Vancouver CB Je décris les participants à l'étude qui incluent le travail du sexe‐No‐More participants qui ne reviendrait pas à l'industrie; Sex‐travail, peut‐être les participants qui considèrent réengagement; et les participants Dual‐vie qui sont employés dans le travail du sexe et le travail classique simultanément. Ces participants contestent unique, ententes binaires étroites de la participation et de la transition parce qu'ils discutent de leur recours à la tromperie pour obtenir les ressources nécessaires pour apporter des changements; le soutien que les clients ont fourni; leur engagement stratégique dans le travail du sexe comme un moyen de sortir; leurs considérations de rentrée; et pour certains, leur double emploi. À la lumière de la nouvelle législation qui criminalise les activités liées au sexe de travail ‐ Loi sur la protection des collectivités et des personnes victimes d'exploitation ‐ et l'annonce du gouvernement fédéral de 20 millions de dollars pour la création de services de sortie à l'échelle nationale, l'audition de travailleurs du sexe est essentielle pour programmes faisant la promotion dans ce domaine.     

The role of the psychologist in formulating,administering and evaluating policies associated with economic and social development in western society

The paper (which draws heavily on the results of surveys of civic culture, human resources, and evaluations of educational policy) argues that major changes have come about in the way in which our society is organised. These changes mean that neither the economic market-place nor democracy function in the ways in which they are generally believed to operate. As a result, if modern society is to function effectively, we not only need new concepts of money, equality, democracy, bureaucracy and the role of the citizen, we also need new mechanisms to provide for choice and variety, to evaluate policy, and to hold public servants, managers and institutions accountable for their actions. Psychologists have a crucial role to play in developing the understandings and tools which are needed.