Commentary on Krueger and Eaton's “Personality traits and the classification of mental disorders: Toward a more complete integration in DSM-5 and an empirical model of psychopathology”: Real-world considerations in implementing an empirically based dimensional model of personality in DSM-5.

Comments on the original article Personality traits and the classification of mental Disorders: Toward a more complete integration in DSM–5 and an empirical model of psychopathology by Robert F. Krueger and Nicholas R. Eaton (see record 2010-13810-003). In their article, Krueger and Eaton (pp. 97–118, this issue) advocate for a “more complete and extensive integration of personality traits in future DSMs [Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals of Mental Disorders], via the explicit inclusion of an empirically based, dimensional personality trait model” (p. 97) and review the “diverse ways in which the inclusion of an empirically based personality trait model could constitute a critical innovation in the transition from DSM–IV to DSM-5” (p. 113). Krueger and Eaton’s proposal that (DSM-5) adopt a dimensional personality trait approach exemplifies the difficulties of devising a classification scheme that satisfies the needs of the both the clinical and research communities. In this instance, the challenge is adapting a complex dimensional trait scheme developed and utilized almost exclusively by the research community, for clinical use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No ownership of common factors.

Comments on the original article, "The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy," by J. Shedler (see record 2010-02208-012). Shedler’s informative article raised several issues worthy of comment. His choice of the word distinctive (p. 98) in describing aspects of psychodynamic technique is open to at least two interpretations. On the one hand, distinctive can have a qualitative meaning and indicate the presence of a characteristic that is not shared. For example, a sign in the Bronx Zoo distinguishes birds from all other creatures as follows: “If it has feathers it’s a bird, if it doesn’t, it isn’t.” On the other hand, distinctive can have a quantitative meaning and indicate that one practice has more of a common element than another practice. Careful reading of Shedler’s article and the article by Blagys and Hilsenroth (2000) that forms the basis of the “seven features [that] reliably distinguished psychodynamic therapies from other therapies” (Shedler, 2010, p. 98) shows that Shedler subscribes to the latter, quantitative, definition of distinctive. In other words, the seven features he presented are present in both psychodynamic therapies and the cognitive-behavioral therapies to which he compares them. For example, although Shedler did not mention it, dialectical behavior therapy explicitly focuses on six of the seven features, namely, “focus on affect and expression of emotion,” “exploration of attempts to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings,” “identification of recurring themes and patterns,” “discussion of past experience,” “focus on interpersonal relations,” and “focus on the therapy relationship” (Shedler, 2010, p. 99). However, in the articles that Blagys and Hilsenroth reviewed, psychodyamic therapists engaged in more of these behaviors than did cognitive-behavioral therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Near-death experiences: Out of body and out of mind?

Comments on the original article, "Implications of near-death experiences for a post-materialist psychology," by B. Greyson (see record 2010-03251-005). Greyson (2010) has argued that complex consciousness (i.e., near-death experiences, or NDEs) under conditions such as cardiac arrest and general anesthesia challenge “materialist reductionism” and require a revised psychology anchored in 21st-century quantum physics that includes consciousness in its conceptual formulation. Unfortunately, Greyson fails to specify how quantum mechanics or a holistic approach can (a) enlighten our understanding of NDEs and (b) pave a foundation for a “new scientific conceptualization of the interface between mind and brain (Greyson, 2010, p. 43).” We agree with Greyson that NDEs are fascinating phenomena, and we further recognize that quantum mechanics undergirds chemistry, and so surely plays some as-yet- undefined role in mental processes. However, we sharply disagree that it is necessary to “expand models of the mind” on the basis of quantum mechanics “before we can progress in our understanding of consciousness and the brain (Greyson, 2010, p. 43).” We do not wish to duel with Greyson regarding if and when the brain is “completely disabled” during NDEs, but instead argue that the future is bright for understanding NDEs in terms of the everyday workings of the brain, and suggest important avenues of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Trauma and human existence: Autobiographical, psychoanalytic, and philosophical reflections.

Reviews the book, Trauma and human existence: Autobiographical, psychoanalytic, and philosophical reflections by Robert Stolorow (see record 2007-07947-000). The author discribes his book as a “project (that) has occupied (him) now for more than 16 years” (p. 45) starting six months after the tragic death to metastatic cancer of his 34-year-old wife Daphne (“Dede”) Stolorow, on February 23, 1991. His book exemplifies a value, deeply shared by the author and his late wife, that of “staying rooted in one’s own genuine painful emotional experiences” (p. 46). The volume is very dense (50 pages of text, total), the product of 16 years of intense and sensitive reflection. It condenses in very short order the history of his intersubjective perspective on developmental trauma, (the outcome of invalidating malattunement in the “parent–child mutual regulation system” lending to unbearable affect states in search of a “relational home”), his theory of the phenomenology of trauma (the shattering of “absolutisms of everyday life”), trauma’s temporality (trauma freeze frames the past and the future into an eternal present), and, finally an analysis of the ontological or universally constitutive aspect of trauma in our lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of What you don't know you know: Our hidden motives in life, business, and everything else.

Reviews the book, What you don't know you know: Our hidden motives in life, business, and everything else by Ken Eisold (2010). This book sets out to refresh and renew our understanding of the unconscious. It seeks to build on new research and recent discoveries, and in the process, rescue our thinking about the unconscious from the dying hand of psychoanalysis, to make it more widely accessible and useful (p. 18). A rather large chunk of this book is devoted to a discussion of the “self,” a comparison with concepts like “personality,” “individual,” and “ego,” and ultimately the shortcomings of the very term. This book argues for the centrality of the unconscious to the psychoanalytic identity. As such, I believe it is a useful corrective to the recent emphasis on the defining nature of transference and countertransference processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Noninvasive brain stimulation reduces prejudice scores on an implicit association test.

Objective: Inhibiting the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) via repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) appears to have deleterious effects on people's semantic conceptualization, and left ATL damage is associated with semantic dementia. However, little research has investigated whether rTMS can inhibit conceptual schemata that have potentially negative consequences. Our aim was to investigate whether rTMS to the ATLs could reduce scores on a standard measure of prejudice (implicit association test, IAT). Method: Forty (17 female; mean age 20.6) neurologically normal, right-handed undergraduates participated. Participants were randomly allocated into one of four rTMS stimulation conditions—left ATL, right ATL, control site (motor cortex, Cz), and sham stimulation. All participants completed a modified IAT, where “good” and “bad” words were replaced with “terrorist” and “law-abider” words, and, “Black” and “White” were replaced with “Arab” and “Non-Arab” words. Participants were then given 15 min of rTMS stimulation. Afterward, participants completed a parallel form of the IAT. Results: To investigate the effects of rTMS on IAT scores, a one-way ANOVA on the difference between pre- and postscores was carried out revealing that there were significant between group differences (F3,36 = 3.57; p = .02). Planned contrasts revealed that both left and right ATL stimulation significantly reduced IAT scores poststimulation, indicating lower prejudice. Conclusion: We show that prejudice scores can be significantly reduced by inhibitory rTMS delivered to the bilateral ATLs. This may implicate this area in conceptual associations that lead to overgeneralization and stereotyping of social groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Jerome Bruner: Language, culture, self.

Reviews the book, Jerome Bruner: Language, culture, self by David Bakhurst and Stuart G. Shanker (2001). The subject of this fine collection of essays is Jerome Bruner’s contribution to our contemporary understanding of the mind. As the editors note, although Bruner has typically “concerned himself with concrete and practical issues, such as education and, most recently, the law, he has always been an intensely theoretical thinker, a man fascinated by ideas” (p. 1). It is for that reason that the editors and contributors to this volume have chosen to focus exclusively on Bruner’s work as a “philosophical psychologist and philosopher of psychology” (p. 1). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

薄板坯连铸连轧技术推动传统连铸高速化

薄板坯铸机生产达到了较高的浇铸速度。从薄板坯连铸轧技术“薄、快、连”的特点出发，分析了变截面结晶器、铸轧、非正弱振动、电磁制动在薄板坯连铸中的作用。经技术特点对比，认为厚板坯的高速浇铸条件好于或不次于薄板坯，厚板坯连铸可以达到薄板连铸同样高的铸速水平（4－6m/min）并适用于单流的连铸直轧生产。     

Student veterans: A national survey exploring psychological symptoms and suicide risk.

The current study explored psychological symptoms, symptom severity, and suicide risk in a national sample (N = 628) of student veterans. We hypothesized that the rates, types, and severity of problems experienced by student veterans on campus would in many ways mirror those reported by active duty service members as well as the Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom veteran population. Almost 35% of the sample experienced “severe anxiety,” 24% experienced “severe depression,” and almost 46% experienced significant symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Of particular concern, there were significant numbers of participants thinking about suicide (46%), with 20% having a plan, 10.4% thinking about suicide “often or very often,” 7.7% making an attempt, and 3.8% believing that suicide is either “likely” or “very likely.” Implications of the findings are discussed, with a particular focus on college and university campuses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is there room for criticism of studies of psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Comments on the original article, "The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy," by J. Shedler (see record 2010-02208-012). Shedler declared unequivocally that “empirical evidence supports the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy” (p. 98). He did not mention any specific criticisms that have been made of evidence on psychodynamic psychotherapies or address possible distinctions between evidence for short-term versus long-term psychodynamic psychotherapies. Instead, he attributed dissenting views to biases in evidence dissemination and review, which he suggested are rooted in a “lingering distaste in the mental health professions professions for past psychoanalytic arrogance and authority” related to a “hierarchical medical establishment that denied training to non-MDs and adopted a dismissive stance toward research” (Shedler, 2010, p. 98). Shedler (2010) justified his blanket dismissal of criticisms of evidence supporting psychodynamic psychotherapy on the basis of several published meta-analyses. The validity of conclusions from metaanalyses depends on the quality of the evidence synthesized, the nature of the studies included, and the rigor of the statistical analyses employed. Many meta-analyses, however, are not performed rigorously, which can result in treatment efficacy estimates that obscure important intertrial differences and that are unlikely to be replicated in clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rediscovering differential psychology?

Comments on the original article, "Many forms of culture," by A. B. Cohen (see record 2009-04471-003). Cohen offered an eye-opening review of how culture means much more than ethnicity within a nation or differences between nations. After developing a much-expanded definition of culture, he concluded, “I have lamented the fact that psychology has focused on some important cultural differences, but not others” (Cohen, 2009, p. 202), and he went on to explain how deeply this expanded definition can impact our psychological research. Without naming it, Cohen (2009) apparently rediscovered the now-forgotten concept of “differential psychology,” which actually surpasses his own expanded definition of culture. Anastasi (1937) defined differential psychology simply as “the scientific study of differences between groups” (p. 59). One look at her book’s table of contents shows that this definition goes far beyond race and ethnicity, to include all sorts of group differences based on gender, social class, education, religion, age, and family. These all qualify as cultural differences under Cohen’s (2009) expanded definition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Have confidence in contact.

In an article in the May–June 2009 American Psychologist, we discussed a new approach to reducing prejudice and encouraging more positive intergroup relations (Crisp & Turner, 2009). We named the approach imagined intergroup contact and defined it as “the mental simulation of a social interaction with a member or members of an outgroup category” (Crisp & Turner, 2009, p. 234). Our proposition is that simply imagining contact with outgroup members can produce more positive perceptions of outgroups. In his commentary, Honeycutt noted that our “article is excellent in its premise” (p. 129), but he was critical of our decision not to discuss his own work in imagined interactions (IIs). Imagined contact is not a magic cure, and it is not a one-shot solution to the problem of prejudice. But as a first step on the road to reduced prejudice and more positive intergroup relations, it may just turn out to be invaluable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In search of integrated specificity: Comment on Denson, Spanovic, and Miller (2009).

Psychologists have long been interested in the integrated specificity hypothesis, which maintains that stressors elicit fairly distinct behavioral, emotional, and biological responses that are molded by selective pressures to meet specific demands from the environment. This issue of Psychological Bulletin features a meta-analytic review of the evidence for this proposition by T. F. Denson, M. Spanovic, and N. Miller (see record 2009-19763-001). Their review concluded that the meta-analytic findings support the “core concept behind the integrated specificity model” (p. 845) and reveal that “within the context of a stressful event, organisms produce an integrated and coordinated response at multiple levels (i.e., cognitive, emotional, physiological)” (p. 845). I argue that conclusions such as this are unwarranted, given the data. Aside from some effects for cortisol, little evidence of specificity was presented, and most of the significant findings reported would be expected by chance alone. I also contend that Denson et al. failed to consider some important sources of evidence bearing on the specificity hypothesis, particularly how appraisals and emotions couple with autonomic nervous system endpoints and functional indices of immune response. If selective pressures did give rise to an integrated stress response, such pathways almost certainly would have been involved. By omitting such outcomes from the meta-analysis, Denson et al. overlooked what are probably the most definitive tests of the specificity hypothesis. As a result, the field is back where it started: with a lot of affection for the concept of integrated specificity but little in the way of definitive evidence to refute or accept it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alliance in individual psychotherapy.

This article reports on a research synthesis of the relation between alliance and the outcomes of individual psychotherapy. Included were over 200 research reports based on 190 independent data sources, covering more than 14,000 treatments. Research involving 5 or more adult participants receiving genuine (as opposed to analogue) treatments, where the author(s) referred to one of the independent variables as “alliance,” “therapeutic alliance,” “helping alliance,” or “working alliance” were the inclusion criteria. All analyses were done using the assumptions of a random model. The overall aggregate relation between the alliance and treatment outcome (adjusted for sample size and non independence of outcome measures) was r = .275 (k = 190); the 95% confidence interval for this value was .25–.30. The statistical probability associated with the aggregated relation between alliance and outcome is p     

Advancing “the boldest model yet”: A commentary on psychology, religion, and spirituality.

Following O’Donahue’s (1989) consideration of the psychologist as metaphysician-scientist-practitioner, Jones (1994) proposed, “the boldest model yet” in which “religion could participate as an active partner with psychology as a science and as an applied discipline” (p. 184). Lisa Miller goes a step farther in her call for a spiritual psychology, which extends “a map of human experience beyond the material” and offers “the vast possibility of the science of psychology...to generate new methods beyond materialism” (see record 2010-09501-001). Each of the articles in this section illustrates what can be gained in reaching beyond materialism to meaning. Len Sperry (see record 2010-03251-006) advocates for a holistic, postmaterialist perspective to health, which de-emphasizes pathology and symptom reduction as the singular focus. Embedded in his thesis is the intricate connection between mind and body, yet he resists the unified model of scientific naturalism on the grounds that it “represents a biologization of spirituality.” The final article in this special section calls into question the fundamental assumptions of materialist psychology. Bruce Greyson’s study (see record 2010-03251-005) of near-death experiences challenges the assumption that the mind and the brain are identical and that psychological phenomena can be readily explained by existing physiological models. Will such challenges be embraced and will more fundamental questions be taken up, though it means that certain truth claims may need to be put aside? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational interviewing and the social context.

Comments on the article by Miller and Rose (see record 2009-13007-002). As Miller and Rose opened “the black box of treatment to examine linkages between processes of delivery and client outcomes” (p. 529) in motivational interviewing (MI), it is important that their model include factors from the social context that may explain conditions that enhance or diminish MI interventions. Aspects of the social context may serve as mediators or moderators of the relational (MI spirit) and technical (change talk) components in MI theory. In this comment, the author suggests the addition of social influence to their theoretical model. The author suggests that existing research on the role of significant others argues that the conceptual model should include a box for Social Influence as a hypothesized process variable that relates to “Client Preparatory Change Talk and Diminished Resistance” and “Commitment to Behavior Change” (see Figure 1, p. 530). In addition, a second new box, labeled Significant Other Training in MI, should be added in direct relationship to the new Social Influence variable. Further research is needed to explore these variables and their specific functions within the model. These additions to the theoretical model affirm the active components of MI and potentially extend the effects through positive social influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Democracy’s discontent.

Reviews the book, Democracy’s discontent: America in search of a public philosophy by Michael Sandel (1996). This book has been widely read by academics, politicians and others in public life, and interested citizens, giving him the stature of a leading public intellectual in contemporary America. Even though it is a work of political philosophy, I believe that Sandel’s writings have a special relevance for theoretical and philosophical psychology. At the outset of this book Sandel delivers his often-quoted observation that the “anxiety of the age” is the “fear that, individually and collectively, we are losing control of the forces that govern our lives” and that “from family to neighborhood to nation...the moral fabric of community is unraveling around us” (p. 3). He then describes how this loss of a sense of personal efficacy and meaningful human ties might derive from the dominance in our society of the “public philosophy of contemporary liberalism.” (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Exploring research, seventh edition.

Reviews the book, Exploring research, seventh edition by Neil J. Salkind (2009). This is the seventh edition of an introductory text on research methods. It is intended for “upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students in their first research methods course in the social, behavioural, and health sciences fields” (p. xvii). The intention of the book is to introduce the important topics in research methods in a “nonintimidating and informative way” (p. xvii). Changes in this edition include a new chapter on ethics, with more material on ethical issues when doing online research, the use of children as participants, and updated general ethical guidelines; updated and new coverage of software for dealing with both qualitative data and for bibliographies; updated information on the use of the Internet for research and for conducting research and literature reviews online; as well as changes to the questions and exercises at the end of the chapters and to the Web site that accompanies the book. The Web site also contains an appendix with an introduction to SPSS 16 (which was not available at the time of this review). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further analysis of perception of the standard Müller-Lyer figures in pigeons (Columba livia) and humans (Homo sapiens): Effects of length of brackets.

Nakamura, Fujita, Ushitani, & Miyata (2006) have shown that pigeons perceive the standard Müller-Lyer illusion. In this report, the authors examined effects of bracket sizes on perception of this illusion in pigeons (Columba livia) and humans (Homo sapiens). In Experiment 1, three pigeons were retrained to classify six lengths of target lines into “long” and “short” by pecking two keys on the monitor, ignoring the two brackets oriented toward the same direction. In the tests that followed, the standard Müller-Lyer figures of different bracket sizes were presented. All birds chose “long” more frequently for the figures having inward-pointing brackets (>), regardless of bracket sizes. The overestimation of the target lines of inward-pointing figures continued to increase in pigeons, whereas it decreased as the bracket size became longer in humans (Experiment 2). The results suggest that these two species perceive the standard Müller-Lyer illusion with long brackets in different ways. Perhaps pigeons might not perceive illusions induced by contrast with the surrounding stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A person-centered personality approach to heterogeneity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Person-centered personality approaches are an underused means of illuminating clinical heterogeneity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the present study, latent profile analysis was conducted with personality traits to identify homogeneous profiles within the ADHD population. Participants were 548 children ages 6–18 years (302 with ADHD). Personality traits were measured via parent report on the California Q-Sort (A. Caspi et al., 1992). Latent profile analysis was conducted on the Big 5 factors. A 6-profile solution best fit the data. Resulting groups were characterized as “disagreeable,” “introverted,” “poor control,” “well adjusted,” “extraverted,” and “perfectionistic.” External validation of this model using ADHD diagnosis, subtypes, and comorbid psychopathology suggested that children with ADHD could be parsed into 4 groups: (a) an introverted group with high rates of the ADHD-inattentive type, (b) a group characterized by poor control, with high rates of ADHD-combined type (ADHD-C) and comorbid disruptive behavior disorders, (c) an extraverted group, with ADHD-C and few associated comorbid disorders, and (c) possibly, a very rare “perfectionistic” group, exhibiting obsessive traits. A person-centered personality approach may be one promising way to capture homogeneous subgroups within the ADHD population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)