The self-fulfilling nature of positive illusions in romantic relationships: Love is not blind, but prescient.

It is proposed that satisfying, stable relationships reflect intimates' ability to see imperfect partners in idealized ways. In this study of long-term benefits (or possible costs) of positive illusions, both members of dating couples completed measures of idealization and well-being 3 times in a year. Path analyses revealed that idealization had a variety of self-fulfilling effects. Relationships were most likely to persist—even in the face of conflicts and doubts—when intimates idealized one another the most. Intimates who idealized one another more initially also reported relatively greater increases in satisfaction on and decreases in conflicts and doubts over the year. Finally, individuals even came to share their partners' idealized images of them. In summary, intimates who idealized one another appeared more prescient than blind, actually creating the relationships they wished for as romances progressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships among objective and subjective environmental stress levels and serum uric acid: The moderating effect of perceived control.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of objective and subjective stress levels and perceived control on serum uric acid (SUA). Respondents were 2,504 male and 1,176 female manufacturing employees. Objective job-related stress was assessed by the Ergonomic Stress Level (ESL) inventory (S. Melamed, D. Yekutieli, P. Froom, E. Kristal-Boneh, & J. Ribak, 1999). As expected, ESL was positively associated with SUA, but among male respondents only. The measure of subjective stress, environmental annoyance, was negatively related with SUA for male respondents, thus not confirming the hypothesis. Perceived control was not found to have a direct effect on SUA, after controlling for the ESL measure. For male respondents only, perceived control moderated the relationship between ESL and SUA: This relationship was negative for those reporting above-average control and positive for those reporting below-average control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and hostility to an "outsider," as moderated by low perceived power.

The hostile and anxious responses of young adults to an immigrant (vs. native-born) stranger were examined as a function of participants' self-perceived power. In Studies 1 and 2, individuals with low perceived social power (males, in particular) showed high anxiety toward an "outsider" but more so if that individual was an immigrant (and thus posed an ambiguous threat to their position in the hierarchy). In Study 3, young adult males competed on a reaction time test with an immigrant or native-born rival. With immigrant rivals, males with low perceived social power showed relatively high aggression toward an immigrant rival and derogation of the rival's formidability; however, they showed a more deferential pattern with native-born rivals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maintaining perceptions of control: Finding perceived control in low-control circumstances.

Three questions about the role of perceived control in coping with a major life stressor were addressed in a sample of 71 cancer patients. As expected, those with greater perceptions of control were less depressed, even when physical functioning, marital satisfaction, and negative affectivity were controlled for. Consistent with a compensatory model of control, it was more important for patients to believe that they could control daily emotional reactions and physical symptoms than the course of the disease. Patients who endorsed irrational beliefs had lower overall perceptions of control. The results indicated that even patients who were physically or psychosocially worse off were better adjusted if they had higher perceptions of control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bupropion improves attention but does not affect impulsive behavior in healthy young adults.

Bupropion is an effective abstinence aid for cessation of smoking and possibly other drug use as well. There is evidence that bupropion improves attention and impulse control in certain patient populations, and improvements in these processes could mediate its efficacy as an abstinence aid. In the present study, we tested the effects of acute bupropion on measures of attention and impulsivity in healthy adults with d-amphetamine included as a positive control. Twenty-two nonsmokers (11 women) and 11 smokers (4 women) completed four 4-hr sessions where they received placebo, bupropion (150 or 300 mg), or d-amphetamine (20 mg) in capsules. Ninety minutes after capsule administration, participants were tested on attention with a simple reaction time task (SRT) and on impulsivity with the stop task, a delay and probability discounting task (DPD), and the balloon analogue risk task (BART). Participants also completed mood questionnaires during sessions. Bupropion (150 mg) decreased lapses in attention on the SRT, but did not affect performance on the stop task, DPD, or BART. Amphetamine decreased lapses in attention and speeded sensory motor processing time on the SRT but did not significantly affect responding on the stop task or DPD. On the BART, d-amphetamine tended to decrease risk taking in men but increased risk taking in women. Bupropion (300 mg) and d-amphetamine increased ratings of arousal. These results suggest that bupropion improves attention without affecting impulsive behavior in healthy adults. Improvements in attention may contribute to the effectiveness of bupropion as a pharmacotherapy for smoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flavor-illness aversions: Potentiation of odor by taste with toxin but not shock in rats.

Paired almond odor or saccharin taste as a single CS or as a compound CS for both a footshock UCS and a toxin UCS (LiCl) to test the generality of potentiation in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Extinction tests with the almond and saccharin components were then given. In single CS–toxin experiments, taste was more effective than odor, and after compound conditioning, the taste component potentiated the odor component. Conversely, in single CS–shock experiments, odor was more effective than taste, and after compound conditioning, no potentiation was observed. Instead, interference effects were observed. In Exps I and II, the addition of taste disrupted odor CS–shock conditioning, and in Exp III, odor interfered with taste CS–shock conditioning. Visceral feedback was apparently a necessary UCS for the potentiation of odor by taste. Data support the neural convergence and gating hypothesis of flavor aversion conditioning. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative affect relates to cross-sectional but not longitudinal symptom reporting: Data from elderly adults.

To test hypotheses about the relationship between negative affect and symptom reports, symptom reports of 4 groups of elderly participants (N?=?76; mean age?=?73.5 years) were compared: those high on measures of both depression and anxiety, those high on one measure and low on the other, and those low on both measures. Symptom reports were obtained before and after 3 simultaneously given active inoculations (influenza; tetanus toxoid; and keyhole limpet hemocyanin, a neoantigen) and 3 similarly given placebo injections. Cross-sectional analyses replicated associations between negative affect and reports of elevated systemic (flulike) symptoms. Local symptoms (sore arm and redness at injection site) increased significantly from before to after active inoculations. Reports of systemic symptoms declined from before to after for both active and placebo inoculations regardless of affect groups. The results add to previous research showing that negative affect is related to cross-sectional symptom reporting but not to increases in symptom reporting from before to after a symptom-producing inoculation procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diazepam impairs behavioral inhibition but not delay discounting or risk taking in healthy adults.

There are reports that diazepam can increase, decrease, or have no effect on measures of impulsive behavior, which may be related, in part, to differences among the tasks used to measure impulsivity. This study examined the effects of a relatively high dose of diazepam (20 mg) on 5 measures of impulsive behavior in healthy adult men and women. Volunteers (N = 18) participated in a 2-session double-blind randomized design in which they received 20 mg diazepam or placebo. One hour after ingesting the capsule, participants completed mood questionnaires and several impulsivity tasks to measure subtypes of impulsive behavior, including behavioral inhibition, delay and probability discounting, and risk taking. Diazepam impaired behavioral inhibition but had no effect on measures of discounting or risk taking. These results are discussed in the context of other recent findings suggesting that different behavioral indices of impulsivity are dissociable and governed by separate underlying mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of power in therapeutic relationships

Power is an important factor in how health care is delivered. Neither health care professionals nor clients fully appreciate the power that they exercise, nor how they influence others. Understanding how power works, however, is vital to establishing a helping relationship. In a traditionally rigid health care system, professionals who try to empower clients can create conflicts among colleagues. A possible solution is an explicit contract with a client, setting out the responsibilities of those involved.     

Children's preference for challenge: The role of perceived competence and control.

This research tested the hypothesis that children's perceptions of academic competence and their personal control over school-related performance affect subsequent intrinsic interest and preference for challenge in an evaluative setting. In a correlational study, children's self-reported perceptions of academic competence and personal control were found to relate positively to their intrinsic interest in schoolwork and preference for challenging school activities. A subset of this sample was exposed to varying levels of a controlling directive, and preference for challenge was assessed behaviorally during a free-choice period in which subjects were unaware that they were being observed. As predicted, the data indicated that when given the evaluative, controlling directive, children who had high perceptions of academic competence and control preferred a greater challenge than did children whose perceptions were low on these measures. No difference between groups in terms of preference for challenge was evident when no controlling directive was presented. These findings are discussed in terms of theories of intrinsic motivation and potential processes that underly these effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Avoidance by rats of illumination with low power nonionizing electromagnetic energy.

Results of 2 experiments with a total of 18 female and 8 male Sprague-Dawley rats indicate that Ss spent more time in the halves of shuttle boxes that were shielded from illumination by 1.2-GHz microwave energy than in the unshielded halves. In Exp I, Ss avoided the energy when it was presented as 30-msec pulses with a pulse repetition rate of 100 pulses/sec (pps). The average power density was about .6 mW/cm2, and the peak power density was about 200 mW/cm2. In Exp II, the energy was presented both continuously and in pulse-modulated form (i.e., .5-msec exponentially decaying pulses at a rate of 1,000 pps). The average power density of the continuous energy was 2.4 mW/cm2, and the average power density of the pulse-modulated energy was .2 mW/cm2. The peak power density of the modulated energy was 2.1 mW/cm2. Results show that Ss avoided the pulsed energy, but not the continuous energy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nicotine reduces the frequency of anger reports in smokers and nonsmokers with high but not low hostility: An ambulatory study.

Two studies were conducted to determine the anger-attenuating effects of nicotine as a function of trait hostility. The 1st study examined the effects of nicotine on diary ratings of anger during a 24-hr period in a natural setting in 30 smokers and 30 nonsmokers. Participants took part in 2 monitoring sessions involving the administration of a nicotine patch and a placebo patch. Participants were categorized as high or low on trait hostility on the basis of their scores on the Cook-Medley Hostility scale. Administration of the nicotine patch, compared with the placebo patch, resulted in a significant reduction in diary reports of anger from 24% to 13% in high-hostile participants. In low-hostile participants, nicotine had no effect on reports of anger during the day. The anger-palliative effects of nicotine were greatest among participants more frequently reporting anger on the placebo-patch day. These effects were independent of smoking status and gender. The 2nd study, which was restricted to high-hostile smokers (n?=?19) and nonsmokers (n?=?23), found that, compared with a placebo patch, administration of nicotine resulted in significant reductions in reports of anger in smokers and nonsmokers. The results of these 2 studies clearly link nicotine to reduced reports of anger in high-hostile individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The rat prelimbic cortex mediates inhibitory response control but not the consolidation of instrumental learning.

The potential role of the prelimbic cortex of the rat in the acquisition of instrumental responding is currently uncertain. In addition, modeling the acquisition of Pavlovian and spatial conditioning tasks has suggested that the process of acquisition can, for certain forms of learning, be step like and consequently misrepresented in averaged group curves. Here, the authors report an experiment investigating the potential involvement of the prelimbic cortex in instrumental acquisition, in which the authors used the control data to model individual acquisition curves mathematically. The authors show that instrumental acquisition under fixed interval schedules was a gradual process extending over 4 instrumental sessions that is well represented in averaged group curves. Postsession infusion of a protein synthesis inhibitor into the prelimbic cortex did not affect any measure of acquisition, showing that during acquisition the prelimbic cortex does not mediate postsession consolidation of instrumental learning. However, inactivation of the prelimbic cortex increased responding, suggesting that the prelimbic cortex mediates a form of inhibitory response control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual-motor expectancies interact with covert visual orienting under conditions of endogenous but not exogenous control.

Investigated whether the interaction between endogenous cueing and stimulus/response (S/R) would be obtained if attention was controlled exogenously, using 16 Ss. Central and peripheral cues were used to endogenously or exogenously direct the S's attention to the location at which an increase or decrease in the size of a peripheral object was most likely to occur. For each S, one size change was more likely to occur than the other, and the task was choice reaction time (RT; expansion/contraction). S/R probability (particular size change) interacted with cue condition (valid, neutral, and invalid) when the cues were central (endogenous), but the 2 variables were additive when the cues were peripheral (exogenous). Data suggest that controlled allocation of attention in response to a peripheral cue involves qualitatively different mechanisms from those associated with endogenous generation of an expectancy. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensionality of perceived locus of control: Two replications.

Administered Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale to 2 Australian samples, one of 159 14-19 yr old male adolescents and one of 134 18-20 yr old female adolescents. Both samples indicated the multidimensional structure of the scale in another culture, and pointed to the basic lack of relationship among its items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring perceived mutuality in close relationships: Validation of the Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire.

In an initial validation study of the Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire (MPDQ), a measure of perceived mutuality in close relationships, 345 respondents completed the scale for spouse or partner and friend relationships. Results indicated high interitem reliability. Construct and concurrent validity were demonstrated. MPDQ ratings were correlated with adequacy of social support, relationship satisfaction, and cohesion. Ratings correlated negatively with depression. Low spouse or partner mutuality was predictive of significant depressive symptoms in women but not in men. In a 2nd study, 81 respondents completed the scale at 2 time points. Test–retest reliability was satisfactory, and high interitem consistency was replicated. The substantive meaning of these findings, gender differences, and possible future research applications of the MPDQ are disscussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions for negative life events and depression: The role of perceived control.

Although perceptions of control occupied a central role in the development of learned helplessness theory, recent helplessness research has not considered controllability judgments when relating attributions to depression. Supporting the importance of this construct, the research discussed in this article found evidence that judgments of control interact with other attributions in predicting depression. Specifically, in a prospective study of stress and well-being in adolescence, internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events attributed to uncontrollable causes were found to be positively related to increases in depression (as predicted by the reformulated helplessness theory), but internal and global attributions for negative events attributed to controllable causes were found to be inversely related to increases in depression. The discussion considers the implications of the findings for understanding the nature of the relation between attributions for naturally occurring life events and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships among asymmetry in task dependence, perceived helping behavior, and trust.

Social relations analyses involving 132 working relationships among 60 individuals from 29 teams revealed that an increase in a team member's task dependence on another team member was associated with higher levels of perceived help from and interpersonal trust in that specific team member, provided the other member was highly task dependent on the focal member. The degree to which an actor perceived a relationship with a partner to be helpful partially mediated the relationship between task dependence and trust. These findings highlight the importance of attending to asymmetries in task dependence and provide valuable insights into mechanisms that can explain the development of trust in organizational work teams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why minority group members perceive or do not perceive the discrimination that confronts them: The role of self-esteem and perceived control.

Self-esteem and perceived control were examined to explain why minority group members sometimes perceive discrimination but, more often, minimize the discrimination. Women (Study 1), and Asians and Blacks (Study 2) reacted to negative feedback after information about the probability for discrimination. Minority group members tended to minimize discrimination and attributed their failure to themselves. By perceiving discrimination as a reason for failure, minority group members protected their performance state self-esteem. In contrast, by minimizing discrimination, they protected their social state self-esteem and maintained the perception of control in the performance and social domains. Results suggest that minority group members minimize discrimination because the consequences of doing so are psychologically beneficial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)