Using behavior-analytic implicit tests to assess sexual interests among normal and sex-offender populations

The development of implicit tests for measuring biases and behavioral predispositions is a recent development within psychology. While such tests are usually researched within a social-cognitive paradigm, behavioral researchers have also begun to view these tests as potential tests of conditioning histories, including in the sexual domain. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the utility of a behavioral approach to implicit testing and means by which implicit tests can be built to the standards of behavioral psychologists. Research findings illustrating the short history of implicit testing within the experimental analysis of behavior are reviewed. Relevant parallel and overlapping research findings from the field of social cognition and on the Implicit Association Test are also outlined. New preliminary data obtained with both normal and sex offender populations are described in order to illustrate how behavior-analytically conceived implicit tests may have potential as investigative tools for assessing histories of sexual arousal conditioning and derived stimulus associations. It is concluded that popular implicit tests are likely sensitive to conditioned and derived stimulus associations in the history of the test-taker rather than 'unconscious cognitions', per se

Diversidade de bromeliáceas epífitas na Área de Proteção Ambiental Ilha do Combu, Belém, Pará, Brasil Diversity of epiphytic bromeliads in the environmental protection area of Combu Island, Belém, Pará, Brazil

Informações sobre a diversidade no nível de espécie oferecem subsídios importantes para o desenvolvimento sustentável e a conservação biológica. Neste contexto, estudos com Bromeliaceae merecem destaque, especialmente porque o grupo é importante ecologicamente, mas ainda pouco conhecido na Região Norte. Neste trabalho, foram demarcadas duas parcelas de 100 m x 100 m em uma floresta de várzea localizada na Área de Proteção Ambiental Ilha do Combu, em Belém, Estado do Pará. Cada parcela foi subdividida em oito parcelas de 50 m x 50 m, tendo todas as espécies e espécimes de bromeliáceas epífitas registradas e quantificadas. A diversidade do grupo foi calculada utilizando o índice de Shannon-Wiener. Foram registrados 1.339 indivíduos pertencentes a oito espécies e quatro gêneros. Tillandsia e Aechmea apresentaram maior riqueza. A diversidade de espécies na área foi de H= 1,10, apresentando dominância acentuada de muitos indivíduos em poucas espécies.<br>Information about diversity at the species level offers data for sustainable development and biological conservation. In this context, studies about Bromeliaceae are noteworthy, especially because this group is ecologically important and poorly known in the North Region of Brazil. In this study, two grids (100 m x 100 m) were delineated in a floodplain forest in the environmental protection area of Combu Island, Belém, Pará, Brazil. The grids were subdivided into eight grids of 50 m x 50 m, and all species and individuals of epiphytic Bromeliaceae were recorded and quantified. The diversity was calculated using the Shannon-Wiener index. A total of 1,339 individuals, belonging to eight species and four genera were recorded. Tillandsia and Aechmea presented the greatest richness. The diversity of species was H= 1.10, presenting sharp dominance of many individuals of few species