Free Speech and the 527 Prohibition

Proponents of measures to make independent section 527 organizations into "political committees" under the Federal Election Campaign Act, subjecting the organizations federal campaign limits and reporting requirements, misunderstand both the role and result of regulation in campaigns and the jurisprudence in this area. Such measures would leave much activity unregulated and would induce a shift of activity from one legal structure to another, thus rendering any perceived partisan advantage arising from the measures improbable or incalculable. Organizations engaged in independent speech and association with no connection to candidates or officeholders cannot be made to register with the Federal Election Commission simply because they mention candidates; and they cannot be limited in the financial contributions they may receive for their independent communications. Independent organizations do not corrupt the legislative process. They are not corrupting the balloting process. They are a part of, not corrupters of, the information exchange process in and around elections. That politicians and party chairmen on both sides of the aisle favor restricting the speech of independent organizations on vaguely egalitarian grounds ignores the Supreme Court's clear instruction that limiting the voice of some to enhance the relative voice of others is foreign to the First Amendment. The instrumental value of this maxim is backed by data. Studies show that more speech in campaigns, not less, benefits voters of all socio-economic backgrounds

The Effects of Priming, Culture, and Context on Perception of Facial Emotion, Self-representation and Thought: Brazil and the United States

Individualist and collectivist cultural approaches describe the relationship between an individual and his or her social surroundings. the current study had a two-fold purpose. the first was to investigate whether Brazilians, like other collective peoples, displayed more group self-representations, categorized items more relationally and paid more attention to context than Americans. the second purpose of this study was to investigate if counter-cultural primes played a role in activating either collective or individual selves. Both American (n = 100) and Brazilian (n = 101) participants were assigned either to a no-prime condition or a counter-cultural prime condition and then were asked to rate emotion cartoons, categorize items, complete the Twenty Statement Test (TST), and choose a representative object. As expected, unprimed Brazilian participants displayed more collectivist patterns on emotional (F[1,196] = 10.1, p = .001, ?²= .049; F[1,196] = 7.9, p = .006, ?²= .038; F[1,196] = 9.0, p = .005, ?²= .044) and cognitive (F[1, 196] = 6.0, p < .01, ?² = .03) tasks than Americans. However, Brazilians offered more individualist self-representations (F[1, 195] = 24.0, p < .001, ?² = .11) than American participants. Priming only had a marginal effect on item categorization (F[1,194] = 3.9, p = .051, ?² = .02). Understanding such cultural differences is necessary in the development of clinicians’ multicultural competence. Therefore, these findings, along with the strengths and limitations of this study and suggestions for future research, are discussed

No place to call home: Cultural homelessness, self-esteem and cross-cultural identities.

The study examined relations between a cross-cultural geographically mobile childhood and adult cultural identity, attachment to cross-cultural identities (CCIs) and self-esteem. CCIs are loosely defined identities (e.g., third culture kids [TCKs], military brats, missionary kids) that describe some individuals' childhood cross-cultural experience. The 475 participants spent at least two years before age 18 in a culture different from their parents' and completed an online survey including childhood cross-cultural experiences, Cultural Homelessness Criteria, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and Self Label Identity Measure (SLIM) that captured strength of affirmation, belonging and commitment to any CCI. Cultural homelessness (CH) was related to lower self-esteem; higher SLIM scores was related to higher self-esteem and lower CH. TCKs reported lower self-esteem than non-TCKs and older participants experienced less CH and higher self-esteem. SLIM scores buffered the CH-self-esteem relationship, whereas a TCK CCI and having more cross-culturally experienced social networks did not

Questionable research practices among Brazilian psychological researchers: Results from a replication study and an international comparison

Studies conducted in Germany, United States, and Italy suggest that the prevalence of questionable research practices (QRP) is high among psychologists in different places. Although the estimates of some countries are helpful, it is desirable to understand how widespread those practices are in countries with different cultural and economic backgrounds outside Europe and North America. The aim of the present project is to estimate the prevalence of questionable research practices among Brazilian psychologists

Navigating Uncharted Waters: Considerations for Training Clinics in the Rapid Transition to Telepsychology and Telesupervision During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic offers both challenges and opportunities for those who provide and receive psychological services. For training clinics tasked with educating the next generation of health service psychologists, providing vital mental health care to the community, and conducting clinical research, the pandemic offers an opportunity to consider how best to fulfill these crucial missions during a time of global uncertainty. The present paper reviews the recent, rapid move to telepsychology among North American university training clinics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and offers relevant suggestions for mental health service providers rapidly transitioning to telepsychology moving forward. Data summarizing the response of university training clinics in health service psychology in the United States and Canada to physical distancing guidelines are presented, and considerations regarding best practices in service delivery and supervision via telepsychology are provided. While the present data focus on North American training clinics, the suggestions offered are relevant to any clinic tasked with providing high quality services and training mental health providers via telepsychology, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the growing emphasis within health service psychology on increasing access to mental health services via telepsychology prior to the pandemic, as well as the benefits to psychology trainees in gaining competence in this valuable form of service delivery, this paper aims to provide timely guidance around the benefits, risks, and practical considerations regarding the maintenance of effective clinical care in training settings when rapidly implementing telepsychology