Algorithm-based modular psychotherapy vs. cognitive-behavioral therapy for patients with depression, psychiatric comorbidities and early trauma: a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial.

Effect sizes of psychotherapies currently stagnate at a low-to-moderate level. Personalizing psychotherapy by algorithm-based modular procedures promises improved outcomes, greater flexibility, and a better fit between research and practice. However, evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of modular-based psychotherapy, using a personalized treatment algorithm, is lacking. This proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial was conducted in 70 adult outpatients with a primary DSM-5 diagnosis of major depressive disorder, a score higher than 18 on the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-24), at least one comorbid psychiatric diagnosis according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5), a history of at least "moderate to severe" childhood maltreatment on at least one domain of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and exceeding the cut-off value on at least one of three measures of early trauma-related transdiagnostic mechanisms: the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-16 (DERS-16). Patients were randomized to 20 sessions of either standard cognitive-behavioral therapy alone (CBT) or CBT plus transdiagnostic modules according to a mechanism-based treatment algorithm (MoBa), over 16 weeks. We aimed to assess the feasibility of MoBa, and to compare MoBa vs. CBT with respect to participants' and therapists' overall satisfaction and ratings of therapeutic alliance (using the Working Alliance Inventory - Short Revised, WAI-SR), efficacy, impact on early trauma-related transdiagnostic mechanisms, and safety. The primary outcome for efficacy was the HRSD-24 score at post-treatment. Secondary outcomes included, among others, the rate of response (defined as a reduction of the HRSD-24 score by at least 50% from baseline and a score <16 at post-treatment), the rate of remission (defined as a HRSD-24 score ≤8 at post-treatment), and improvements in early trauma-related mechanisms of social threat response, hyperarousal, and social processes/empathy. We found no difficulties in the selection of the transdiagnostic modules in the individual patients, applying the above-mentioned cut-offs, and in the implementation of MoBa. Both participants and therapists reported higher overall satisfaction and had higher WAI-SR ratings with MoBa than CBT. Both approaches led to major reductions of depressive symptoms at post-treatment, with a non-significant superiority of MoBa over CBT. Patients randomized to MoBa were nearly three times as likely to experience remission at the end of therapy (29.4% vs. 11.4%; odds ratio, OR = 3.2, 95% CI: 0.9-11.6). Among mechanism-based outcomes, MoBa patients showed a significantly higher post-treatment effect on social processes/empathy (p<0.05) compared to CBT patients, who presented an exacerbation on this domain at post-treatment. Substantially less adverse events were reported for MoBa compared to CBT. These results suggest the feasibility and acceptability of an algorithm-based modular psychotherapy complementing CBT in depressed patients with psychiatric comorbidities and early trauma. While initial evidence of efficacy was observed, potential clinical advantages and interindividual heterogeneity in treatment outcomes will have to be investigated in fully powered confirmation trials.

Social processes influencing nursing students in passing the nursing licensure examination: A grounded theory approach.

AIM: To explore the strategies used by nursing students in passing the nursing licensure examination. DESIGN: This study uses a classic grounded theory design to explore the social processes influencing a nursing license examination. METHODS: Eight graduate students participated in this research study and were interviewed in-depth twice. The Classic Grounded Theory method of Glaser was applied to collect and analyse the data until saturation was reached. RESULTS: The findings revealed that students who passed the nursing licensure examination described the strategies as a preliminary model comprising a core category, Reviewing (Phase 1), which consisted of two sub-categories: Entering Time and Reviewing Styles. Additionally, two other main categories emerged: the Tutoring category (Phase 2) and the Testing Practice category (Phase 3). It was observed that each course (subject) does not necessarily follow a specific order in traversing these phases; they may move back and forth between them until the conclusion of the examination. Furthermore, it was found that the time allocated to Entering Time and completing the three phases significantly influences the successful passing of the nursing licensure examination.

Alcohol cue reactivity in the brain: Age-related differences in the role of social processes in addiction in male drinkers.

Social attunement (SA)-the tendency to harmonize behavior with the social environment-has been proposed to drive the escalation of alcohol use in adolescence, while reducing use in adulthood. Little is known about how heightened social sensitivity in adolescence may interact with neural alcohol cue reactivity-a marker of alcohol use disorder-and its relationship to alcohol use severity over time. The aims of this study were to test whether (1) adolescents and adults differ in social alcohol cue reactivity in the nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulate cortex, and right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and (2) age moderates the relationship between social alcohol cue reactivity and social attunement, measures of drinking at baseline, and changes in drinking over time. A sample of male adolescents (16-18 years) and adults (29-35 years) completed an fMRI social alcohol cue-exposure task at baseline and an online follow-up two to three years later. No main effects of age or drinking measures were observed in social alcohol cue reactivity. However, age significantly moderated associations of social alcohol cue reactivity in the mPFC and additional regions from exploratory whole-brain analyses with SA, with a positive association in adolescents and negative association in adults. Significant age interactions emerged only for SA in predicting drinking over time. Adolescents with higher SA scores escalated drinking, while adults with higher SA scores reduced drinking. These findings warrant further research on SA as a risk and protective factor and suggest that social processes influence cue reactivity differentially in male adolescents and adults.

Residential Segregation and Depressive Symptoms in Older Chinese Immigrants: The Mediating Role of Social Processes.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Older Chinese immigrants are at risk for depression due to acculturative stress and language barriers. Residential segregation with respect to language use plays an important role in the mental health of historically marginalized populations. Previous research provided mixed evidence about the segregation effect among older Latino and Asian immigrants. Guided by a model of social processes, we examined the direct and indirect effects of residential segregation on depressive symptoms via multiple mechanisms of acculturation, discrimination, social network, social support, social strain, and social engagement. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Four waves of depressive symptoms were assessed in the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (2011-19, N = 1,970), and linked to the 2010-14 American Community Survey estimates of neighborhood context. Residential segregation was measured by the Index of Concentrations at the Extremes which simultaneously assesses Chinese and English language use within a given census tract. Latent growth curve models with adjusted cluster robust standard errors were estimated after controlling for individual-level factors. RESULTS: Residents of segregated Chinese-speaking neighborhoods had fewer baseline depressive symptoms but a slower rate of symptom reduction than those living in neighborhoods segregated with English-only speakers. Racial discrimination, social strain, and social engagement partially mediated the association between segregation and baseline depressive symptoms; social strain and social engagement partially mediated the association with long-term reduction in depressive symptoms. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This study demonstrates the importance of residential segregation and social processes in shaping mental well-being among older Chinese immigrants and suggests potential mechanisms to alleviate mental health risks.

Children's developing understanding of economic inequality and their place within it.

Income inequality is growing in many parts of the world and, for the poorest children in a society, is associated with multiple, negative, developmental outcomes. This review of the research literature considers how childrens' and adolescents' understanding of economic inequality changes with age. It highlights shifts in conceptual understanding (from 'having and not having', to social structural and moral explanations), moral reasoning and the impact of the agents of socialization from parents to the media and cultural norms and discourses. It also examines how social processes affect judgements and the importance of an emerging sense of self in relation to questions of economic inequality. Finally, the review covers methodological considerations and suggests pathways for future research.

Neural systems underlying RDoC social constructs: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis.

Neuroscientists have sought to identify the underlying neural systems supporting social processing that allow interaction and communication, forming social relationships, and navigating the social world. Through the use of NIMH's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, we evaluated consensus among studies that examined brain activity during social tasks to elucidate regions comprising the "social brain". We examined convergence across tasks corresponding to the four RDoC social constructs, including Affiliation and Attachment, Social Communication, Perception and Understanding of Self, and Perception and Understanding of Others. We performed a series of coordinate-based meta-analyses using the activation likelihood estimate (ALE) method. Meta-analysis was performed on whole-brain coordinates reported from 864 fMRI contrasts using the NiMARE Python package, revealing convergence in medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction, bilateral insula, amygdala, fusiform gyrus, precuneus, and thalamus. Additionally, four separate RDoC-based meta-analyses revealed differential convergence associated with the four social constructs. These outcomes highlight the neural support underlying these social constructs and inform future research on alterations among neurotypical and atypical populations.

Attachment processes in posttraumatic stress disorder: A review of mechanisms to advance theories and treatments.

Current conceptualisations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are driven by biological, learning, and cognitive models that have shaped current treatments of the disorder. The strong influence of these models has resulted in a relative neglect of social mechanisms that can influence traumatic stress. There is abundant evidence from experimental, observational, and clinical studies that social factors can moderate many of the mechanisms articulated in prevailing models of PTSD. In this review it is proposed that attachment theory provides a useful framework to complement existing models of PTSD because it provides explanatory value for social factors can interact with biological, learning, and cognitive processes that shape traumatic stress response. The review provides an overview of attachment theory in the context of traumatic stress, outlines the evidence for how attachment factors can moderate stress responses and PTSD, and considers how harnessing attachment processes may augment recovery from and treatment of PTSD. This review emphasizes that rather than conceptualizing attachment theory as an independent theory of traumatic stress, there is much to gain by integrating attachment mechanisms into existing models of PTSD to accommodate the interactions between cognitive, biological, and attachment processes.

Experiencias adquiridas de las enseñanzas de procesos sustantivos en el enfrentamiento a la COVID-19 desde una perspectiva enfermera / Lessons Learned from Substantive Process Teachings in Coping with COVID-19 from a Nursing Perspective

Introducción: El personal de enfermería cumple un papel fundamental en tiempos de pandemia, porque aporta conocimientos, habilidades y experiencias de vida unido al equipo de salud. Objetivo: Comprender las experiencias adquiridas de las enseñanzas de los procesos sustantivos en el enfrentamiento a la COVID-19 en la práctica pediátrica, desde una perspectiva enfermera. Métodos: Estudio cualitativo fenomenológico transcendental, realizado en Hospital Pediátrico "Octavio de la Concepción", Holguín, Cuba, en el período febrero-abril de 2021. Se integraron experiencias de ocho enfermeras, siete médicos, cinco estudiantes de medicina y cinco de enfermería, seleccionados por muestreo no probabilístico. Se obtuvo la información a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas. Se recurrió a tres etapas, descriptiva (elección de técnica, entrevista, elaboración de la descripción), estructural (lectura, determinación del tema central, expresión en lenguaje científico) y discusión (comparación de hallazgos con los de otros investigadores) para entender diferencias y similitudes. Resultados: Del análisis de los datos emergieron tres categorías: a) Experiencias adquiridas en las enseñanzas durante la COVID-19 en los procesos sociales. b) Experiencias adquiridas en las enseñanzas durante la COVID-19 para los profesionales de la salud. c) Experiencias adquiridas en las enseñanzas durante la COVID-19 para el personal en formación. Conclusiones: Se evidenció la implementación de acciones sanitarias y de apoyo social en la accesibilidad a los sistemas de salud. La oportunidad de compartir experiencias con expertos que facilitaron el diseño de protocolos, generación continua de evidencia científica y la formación de estudiantes con métodos alternativos(AU)

Introduction: Nurses play a critical role in times of pandemic because they bring knowledge, skills, and life experiences together with the healthcare team. Objective: To understand the experiences gained from the lessons learned from the substantive processes in dealing with COVID-19 in pediatric practice, from a nursing perspective. Methods: Transcendental phenomenological qualitative study, carried out at the Pediatric Hospital "Octavio de la Concepción", Holguín, Cuba, in the period from February to April 2021. The experiences of eight nurses, seven physicians, five medical students and five nursing students, selected by non-probabilistic sampling, were integrated. Information was obtained through semi-structured interviews. Three stages were used: descriptive (choice of technique, interview, and formulation of the description), structural (reading, determination of the central theme, expression in scientific language) and discussion (comparison of findings with those of other researchers) to understand differences and similarities. Results: Three categories emerged from the data analysis: a) Experiences acquired in the teachings in the COVID-19 in social processes. b) Experiences acquired in the teachings in the COVID-19 for health professionals. c) Experiences acquired in the teachings in the COVID-19 for personnel in training. Conclusions: The implementation of health and social support actions in accessibility to health systems was evidenced. The opportunity to share experiences with experts facilitated the design of protocols, continuous generation of scientific evidence and the training of students with alternative methods(AU)

Chinese language teachers' dichotomous identities when teaching ingroup and outgroup students.

Research into second language teacher identity has experienced a shift in recent years from a cognitive perspective to social constructionist orientation. The existing research in Chinese language literature in relation to Foreign Language (CFL) teachers' identity shift is principally in relation to the change of social, cultural, and institutional contexts. Built on the current literature, this research asks: "How might teachers' self-images or self-conceptualizations be renegotiated when they are located within their own mainstream cultural and educational system, yet comprised of students from various cultural backgrounds?" The data were collected from a group of CFL teachers in a South China university. The research found that students' backgrounds largely impacted on, and led to, the teachers' dichotomous relational identities, but did not dramatically change the teachers' perception on what or how much subject knowledge to be possessed to make an ideal CFL teacher. This attribute of their identity was sustained even though the teaching content was modified at a practical level in response to groups' differences. Further, the CFL teachers' pedagogical identity remained stable with only minor modifications when teaching "ingroups" and "outgroups" of students.

Champing at the Bit for Improvements: A Review of Equine Welfare in Equestrian Sports in the United Kingdom.

Equestrian sports, including racing (e.g., flat, steeple-chasing, harness or donkey derby); show-jumping; cross-country; dressage; polo; polocrosse; endurance; carriage driving; vaulting and hunting; are hugely popular in the UK, and they involve a significant number of people, both as participants and spectators, and tens of thousands of equids. In this paper, we discuss animal welfare as a complex and disputed issue, clarifying what the term means and how it can be measured. We review many aspects of welfare risk to equids used for sport, addressing issues encountered throughout their lives, including housing, feeding, veterinary intervention, shoeing, handling, training, breeding and equipment. This is followed by a unique exploration of the institutions and social processes influencing equine welfare. The institutional components comprise the rules of competition, the equids, attributes of the stakeholders and the space where participants strive to achieve a common purpose. We endeavour to untangle the most significant elements that create barriers or provide opportunities for equine welfare improvement. We expose the challenges faced by a broad range of stakeholders with differing ethics, attitudes and values. Evidently, there are many welfare risks to which equids used in sports continue to be exposed. It is also evident that significant improvements have occurred in recent times, but there remains a barrier to reducing the risks to an acceptable level. We conclude with recommendations regarding a process for change, involvement of stakeholders and management of knowledge to improve equine welfare that involves identifying and prioritising the risk factors and ultimately leading to interventions, further research and/or education.

Employing Contemporary Integrative Interpersonal Theory to Understand Dysfunction in Those at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis.

Poor social functioning is related to the development of psychosis; however, our current understanding of social functioning in those at-risk for psychosis is limited by (a) poor conceptual models of interpersonal behavior and (b) a reliance on comparisons to healthy controls (e.g., vs. clinical controls). In this study, we introduce Contemporary Integrated Interpersonal Theory (CIIT) and use its Interpersonal Circumplex (IPC) model to compare interpersonal behavior traits in those at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis, clinical controls, and healthy controls. A community sample (N = 3460) was used to derive estimates of IPC dimensions (i.e., affiliation and dominance), which were then compared among a large subsample that completed diagnostic interviews (N = 337), which included a CHR group, as well as several control groups ranging on degree of psychosis vulnerability and internalizing disorders. CHR individuals were distinguished from healthy controls by low affiliation (d = -1.31), and from internalizing disorder groups by higher dominance (d = 0.64). Negative symptoms were consistently associated with low affiliation and low dominance, whereas positive symptoms were related primarily to coldness. These results connect social functioning in psychosis risk to a rich theoretical framework and suggest a potentially distinct interpersonal signature for CHR individuals. More broadly, this study suggests that CIIT and the IPC may have utility for informing diagnostics and treatment development in psychosis risk research.

Public beliefs about trauma and its consequences: Profiles and correlates of stigma.

Public stereotypes about trauma exposure and its likely consequences have the potential to influence levels of support extended to survivors in the larger community. The current project sought to examine unique profiles of stereotype endorsement both within and across participants sampled from distinct populations. Trauma-related stereotypes involving symptom course, dangerousness, employability, social functioning, predictability, character, and treatment need were examined in undergraduate (N 1 = 404; N 2 = 502) and MTurk (N 3 = 364) samples. Sympathizing [low overall endorsement], Fearful [high overall endorsement], Pejorative [high endorsement + moralizing beliefs], Safety-Focused [intermediate endorsement + dangerousness], and Performance-Focused [intermediate endorsement + employability] groups were replicated in latent profile models across all samples. Stereotype profiles demonstrated hypothesized associations with general perspectives of mental illness although support for consistent relations with respondent characteristics (e.g., sex; personal exposure to trauma; reported exposure in friends/family) was limited. Data suggest that trauma stereotypes are endorsed at high frequencies in the general community and conform to systematic patterns of prejudice that may be overlooked in more global assessments of stigma.

Social Ecological Dynamics of Catchment Resilience.

Catchment resilience is the capacity of a combined social ecological system, comprised of water, land, ecological resources and communities in a river basin, to deal with sudden shocks and gradual changes, and to adapt and self-organize for progressive change and transform itself for sustainability. This paper proposes that analysis of catchments as social ecological systems can provide key insights into how social and ecological dynamics interact and how some of the negative consequences of unsustainable resource use or environmental degradation can be ameliorated. This requires recognition of the potential for community resilience as a core element of catchment resilience, and moves beyond more structural approaches to emphasize social dynamics. The proposals are based on a review of social ecological systems research, on methods for analyzing community resilience, and a review of social science and action research that suggest ways of generating resilience through community engagement. These methods and approaches maximize insights into the social dynamics of catchments as complex adaptive systems to inform science and practice.

How does neighborhood affect child maltreatment among immigrant families?

BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment in immigrant families is understudied, although research suggests that they are at higher risk of child abuse and neglect. While the limited studies on the etiology of child maltreatment among immigrant families have mainly focused on children and their caregivers, this study breaks new ground by examining the neighborhood as an environmental context for child maltreatment among immigrant families. METHODS: Following social disorganization theory, this study explores the mechanisms by which neighborhood structural characteristics and social processes affect the maltreatment of children in immigrant families, using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 372). RESULTS: Structural equation modeling revealed that negative neighborhood structural characteristics were positively associated with higher physical assault (ß = 0.42, p < .001), higher psychological aggression (ß = 0.29, p < .001), and higher neglect (ß = 0.19, p < .001) among immigrant families. Conversely, positive neighborhood social processes were associated with lower physical assault (ß = -0.37, p < .001) and lower psychological aggression (ß = -0.31, p < .001) among immigrant families. In addition, neighborhood social processes mediated the relationship between neighborhood structural characteristics and child physical assault (ß = -0.09, p < .001) among immigrant families. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study highlighted the positive role of neighborhood social processes in reducing child physical assault among immigrant families, even in neighborhoods with negative structural characteristics.

Advancing the RDoC initiative through the assessment of caregiver social processes.

The relationships infants and young children have with their caregivers are fundamental to their survival and well-being. Theorists and researchers across disciplines have attempted to describe and assess the variation in these relationships, leading to a general acceptance that caregiving is critical to understanding child functioning, including developmental psychopathology. At the same time, we lack consensus on how to assess these fundamental relationships. In the present paper, we first review research documenting the importance of the caregiver-child relationship in understanding environmental risk for psychopathology. Second, we propose that the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative provides a useful framework for extending the study of children's risk for psychopathology by assessing their caregivers' social processes. Third, we describe the units of analysis for caregiver social processes, documenting how the specific subconstructs in the domain of social processes are relevant to the goal of enhancing knowledge of developmental psychopathology. Lastly, we highlight how past research can inform new directions in the study of caregiving and the parent-child relationship through this innovative extension of the RDoC initiative.

Effects of Transmission Delay on Client Participation in Video-Mediated Group Health Counseling.

In face-to-face group counseling, active client participation contributes to the counseling agenda by a variety of social processes, but little is known about how video mediation shapes client participation. In this article, we use conversation analysis to investigate how transmission delay affects client participation in video-mediated group counseling through shaping the resolution of overlapping talk. Data are video recordings from three video-mediated group health counseling sessions recorded simultaneously in the two participating locations. The delay changes the timing of the overlapping turns and pauses at each end of the mediated counseling, making it difficult to interpret who should take the turn after the overlap. This may pose obstacles to client participation. While mediated counseling services can increase access to services and thus improve client participation at a macro level, transmission delay can pose threats to active client participation at the micro level of interaction.

Investigating the stress-related fluctuations of level of personality functioning: A critical review and agenda for future research.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) proposed a dimensional approach to the assessment of personality disorders (PDs). Both models dictate that the clinician first determines PD severity before assessing maladaptive traits, invoking the level of personality functioning (LPF) construct. We consider LPF a promising dimensional construct for translational research because of its clinical importance and conceptual overlap with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Social Processes. We aim to identify biomarkers that co-vary with fluctuations in LPF in adulthood, ultimately to predict persistent decrease in LPF, associated with suicidality and morbidity. However, a theoretical framework to investigate stress-related oscillations in LPF is currently missing. In this article, we aim to fill this hiatus with a critical review about stress and LPF. First, we discuss acute stress and LPF. We briefly present the basics of the neurophysiological stress response and review the literature on momentary and daily fluctuations in LPF, both at a subjective and physiological level. Second, we review the effects of chronic stress on brain function and social behaviour and recapitulate the main findings from prospective cohort studies. This review underlies our suggestions for multimethod assessment of stress-related oscillations in LPF and our theoretical framework for future longitudinal studies, in particular studies using the experience sampling method (ESM).

Safety Culture: An Integration of Existing Models and a Framework for Understanding Its Development.

OBJECTIVE: This study reviews theoretical models of organizational safety culture to uncover key factors in safety culture development. BACKGROUND: Research supports the important role of safety culture in organizations, but theoretical progress has been stunted by a disjointed literature base. It is currently unclear how different elements of an organizational system function to influence safety culture, limiting the practical utility of important research findings. METHOD: We reviewed existing models of safety culture and categorized model dimensions by the proposed function they serve in safety culture development. We advance a framework grounded in theory on organizational culture, social identity, and social learning to facilitate convergence toward a unified approach to studying and supporting safety culture. RESULTS: Safety culture is a relatively stable social construct, gradually shaped over time by multilevel influences. We identify seven enabling factors that create conditions allowing employees to adopt safety culture values, assumptions, and norms; and four behaviors used to enact them. The consequences of these enacting behaviors provide feedback that may reinforce or revise held values, assumptions, and norms. CONCLUSION: This framework synthesizes information across fragmented conceptualizations to clearly depict the dynamic nature of safety culture and specific drivers of its development. We suggest that safety culture development may depend on employee learning from behavioral outcomes, conducive enabling factors, and consistency over time. APPLICATION: This framework guides efforts to understand and develop safety culture in practice and lends researchers a foundation for advancing theory on the complex, dynamic processes involved in safety culture development.

Attributing Blame to Robots: I. The Influence of Robot Autonomy.

OBJECTIVE: The research examined how humans attribute blame to humans, nonautonomous robots, autonomous robots, or environmental factors for scenarios in which errors occur. BACKGROUND: When robots and humans serve on teams, human perception of their technological team members can be a critical component of successful cooperation, especially when task completion fails. METHODS: Participants read a set of scenarios that described human-robot team task failures. Separate scenarios were written to emphasize the role of the human, the robot, or environmental factors in producing the task failure. After reading each scenario, the participants allocated blame for the failure among the human, robot, and environmental factors. RESULTS: In general, the order of amount of blame was humans, robots, and environmental factors. If the scenario described the robot as nonautonomous, the participants attributed almost as little blame to them as to the environmental factors; in contrast, if the scenario described the robot as autonomous, the participants attributed almost as much blame to them as to the human. CONCLUSION: We suggest that humans use a hierarchy of blame in which robots are seen as partial social actors, with the degree to which people view them as social actors depending on the degree of autonomy. APPLICATION: The acceptance of robots by human co-workers will be a function of the attribution of blame when errors occur in the workplace. The present research suggests that greater autonomy for the robot will result in greater attribution of blame in work tasks.

The social context of nonsuicidal self-injury: Links to severity, suicide risk, and social factors.

OBJECTIVES: Though nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is generally considered to be a private act, 21%-52% of individuals who engage in NSSI do so around others. Those who engage in NSSI alone often demonstrate severe behavior. However, little is known about the distinction between those who only sometimes versus always engage in NSSI when they are around others. Three groups of individuals who engage in NSSI were examined: Always, sometimes, and never alone. METHOD: Participants (N = 861; 84.2% female; M age = 20.06) were undergraduates who answered online questionnaires. Severity of NSSI, suicide risk, and social risk factors were used to predict group membership. RESULTS: Engaging in NSSI around others aligned with less severe NSSI behavior, lower suicide risk, and fewer interpersonal difficulties versus those who engage in NSSI alone. CONCLUSIONS: NSSI's social context may indicate clinical severity. This information is useful for clinicians who work with individuals with a history of NSSI.