Religious ideology, a neglected variable.

Comments on an article by J. T. Jost (see record 2006-12925-001), which presented interesting data relating some personality dimensions to voting patterns in the last three U.S. presidential elections. R. K. Unger is surprised that in his extensive review of the role of ideology, Jost ignored the role of religious ideology in political attitudes and voting behavior. There is ample evidence that level of religious observance (sometimes labeled religiosity, hierarchical religious beliefs, or religious fundamentalism) played a role in 2004 and earlier presidential elections. The relationship between religious ideology and political attitudes is correlational, and one needs to look further for an explanation of their impact. A number of studies indicate relationships between religious fundamentalism and what Jost has termed "system-justifying ideologies." Unger suggests that religiosity has been largely ignored by psychologists interested in social and political behaviors. It is quite possible that religiosity is related to the various personality dimensions discussed by Jost. But we cannot learn more about these potential connections if we continue to ignore the importance of religious ideology as a psychological variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian ideology and attitudes on parent-child relationships.

"The relationship between authoritarian ideology and attitudes about parent-child relationships was investigated by testing 172 native-white, Christian university students." Findings indicate a relationship in females that could be related to personality dispositions. It was proposed that strong authoritarian beliefs may be maladjustive in a democratic society since such beliefs are associated with attitudes similar to those held by parents of problem children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian ideology in Negro college students.

Likert-like opinion-attitude scales of anti-Negro and anti-white ideologies, the California E scale (anti-Negro subscale omitted), F scale, and a revision of the PEC scale were administered to Negro students in colleges with primarily Negro enrollment. Intercorrelations were moderate and positive. Mean scores indicated group tendencies to disagree with ethnocentric and anti-white ideologies but to agree with authoritarian, anti-Negro, and conservative ideologies. Concluded that Negro middle class attempts "to identify with stereotyped white middleclass values and to dissociate itself from other Negroes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism, ideology, and political candidate choice.

2 experiments were conducted investigating the relationship between F Scale scores and preference for the candidates of a particular party or ideology. Exp. I showed that Ss with high scores on the F Scale preferred the Republican party and voted for Nixon while those with low scores preferred the Democratic party and voted for Kennedy. The relationship was hypothesized to appear because (a) both candidates clearly differed in the degree to which they represetned liberal and conservative ideologies, (b) the voters possessed an ideological outlook, and (c) liberal or conservative values were more salient than other factors in the choice of candidates. In Exp. II, 3 samples of students were presented with different pairs of candidates: liberal Democrat and conservative Republican, liberal Republican and conservative Democrat, and candidates ideologically equated. Ignoring candidate ideology, there was no relationship between F score and party vote. When ideology was taken into account, high scorers voted for the conservative candidate and low scorers voted for the liberal candidate regardless of party label. When the stimulus figures were equated ideologically there was no relationship between F scores and choice. There was no support for the hypothesis that choices by high scorers were more subject to the pressure of group norms than those of low scorers. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some observations on the ideology of professional psychologists.

"Analysis of the value position of psychologists starts with an examination of certain of the intellectual postulates and biases of modern psychology. These contribute to what I call the ideology of professional psychologists… . Modern psychology derives its particular orientations in good measure from the social context of American life. The ideology of professional psychology, I shall argue, is linked to the antiphilosophical, antihistorical, narrowly means-oriented and optimistic character of much American thought and culture." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture and ideology in Ian Suttie's theory of mind.

The author discusses the comprehensive outlook that shaped Ian Suttie's psychology. Suttie is seen as a background influence behind the British school of psychoanalysis, and his ideas pervade that school and therefore late-modern notions of the mind. The author describes the formation of Suttie's independent theory, and argues that his project was expressly ideological, as he tried to counter what he saw as the reactionary and disruptive influence of Freud's classical theory. Suttie offered an optimistic perception of the mind, which could serve as the basis for a progressive social policy. This perception was rooted in the outlook of early 20th-century reforming liberalism, whose preferences and prejudices it shares. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The end of the end of ideology.

The "end of ideology" was declared by social scientists in the aftermath of World War II. They argued that (a) ordinary citizens' political attitudes lack the kind of stability, consistency, and constraint that ideology requires; (b) ideological constructs such as liberalism and conservatism lack motivational potency and behavioral significance; (c) there are no major differences in content (or substance) between liberal and conservative points of view; and (d) there are few important differences in psychological processes (or styles) that underlie liberal versus conservative orientations. The end-of-ideologists were so influential that researchers ignored the topic of ideology for many years. However, current political realities, recent data from the American National Election Studies, and results from an emerging psychological paradigm provide strong grounds for returning to the study of ideology. Studies reveal that there are indeed meaningful political and psychological differences that covary with ideological self-placement. Situational variables--including system threat and mortality salience--and dispositional variables--including openness and conscientiousness--affect the degree to which an individual is drawn to liberal versus conservative leaders, parties, and opinions. A psychological analysis is also useful for understanding the political divide between "red states" and "blue states." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Holocaust trauma reconstructed: Individual, familial, and social trauma.

Psychic trauma is characterized by ego damage, regression, and relative helplessness. Following a historic catastrophe, psychic trauma with ego damage is frequently encountered as cumulative trauma. Reconstruction was essential to the understanding of an adult patient initially unaware of his holocaust trauma. When the patient was a child, he and his parents were simultaneously traumatized. Intrapsychic intergenerational psychosocial and neurobiological factors were adverse codeterminants of his cumulative trauma. Isolated affects and fragmented memories required sequential connection in the context of family, identity, and society. Reconstruction importantly contributed to ego reintegration of a lost, lacerated childhood, and to adaptive mastery of trauma and conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of initial trauma exposure on the symptomatic response to a subsequent trauma.

The effect of initial trauma on the symptomatic response to a subsequent trauma was investigated in a cross-sectional study of urban bus drivers. Comparisons were made among 175 drivers (mean age 42.2 yrs) who had developed either high or low symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the initial trauma, and a third group exposed to only a single trauma. The group with high levels Of PTSD symptoms after the initial trauma reported high PTSD symptoms for a subsequent trauma (75%) significantly more often than the other two groups who did not differ from each other (Low PTSD symptoms group 49%, No prior trauma group 41 %). These results suggest that unless trauma exposure leads to significant PTSD symptoms, it is not a risk factor for high PTSD symptoms after exposure to a subsequent traumatic event. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Somatic expressions of trauma in experiential play therapy.

The authors postulate that trauma experienced during childhood effects brain functioning that is inaccessible to verbal recall. Trauma memories are observed in children's habitual and sporadic body movements. These repeated somatic expressions and affective states activate somatic disorders and traumatic traits. A correlation between trauma responses in animals to somatic expressions in children is established. The trauma effects of these unconscious, implicit memories require special strategies. Experiential Play Therapy (EPT) (Norton & Norton, 2006) has implications for accessing and alleviating these memories. In EPT, children follow patterns in their expressions of trauma experience as explained using the Nortons' 4 Ss of Trauma Expression and Healing. Utilizing these play patterns facilitates the dissipation of trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory of infant trauma.

This article reviews empirical research that investigates memory of trauma that occurred in infancy and very early childhood. The authors considered 9 articles in which children and adults' memory presentations were described and compared with 3rd-party documentation of traumatic events. The 9 studies reviewed have emerged from multiple perspectives, including psychoanalytic theory, trauma theory, neuropsychology, cognitive science, and nursing theory. Based on these articles, in which approximately 150 cases of early trauma are represented, the authors summarize the findings regarding the nature of memory for infant and very early childhood traumas and highlight points of agreement and disagreement among clinicians and researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Borderline personality characteristics: A betrayal trauma approach.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been associated with both trauma and insecure attachment styles. Betrayal Trauma Theory proposes survivors of interpersonal trauma may remain unaware of betrayal in order to maintain a necessary attachment. This preliminary study reports on the relations between self-reports of betrayal trauma experiences and borderline personality characteristics in a college sample. Using multiple regression, betrayal was significantly associated with BPD characteristics. High-betrayal trauma was the largest contributor to borderline traits and medium-betrayal trauma was also a significant predictor. However, traumas of low betrayal were not associated with BPD features. These results stand even after controlling for gender. These findings suggest betrayal may be a key, and yet heretofore unaddressed, feature of borderline personality disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

System justification and the defense of committed relationship ideology.

A consequential ideology in Western society is the uncontested belief that a committed relationship is the most important adult relationship and that almost all people want to marry or seriously couple (DePaulo & Morris, 2005). In the present article, we investigated the extent to which the system justification motive may contribute to the adoption of this ideology. In Studies 1 and 2, we examined whether a heightened motive to maintain the status quo would increase defense of committed relationship values. In Study 3, we examined the reverse association, that is, whether a threat to committed relationship ideology would also affect sociopolitical system endorsement. As past research has found that the justification of political systems depends upon how much these systems are perceived as controlling, in Study 4 we tested whether the defense of the system of committed relationships would also increase when framed as controlling. Results from Studies 1–4 were consistent with our hypotheses, but only for men. In Study 5, using cross-cultural data, we sought to replicate these findings correlationally and probe for a cause of the gender effect. Results from more than 33,000 respondents indicated a relationship (for men) between defense of the sociopolitical system and defense of marriage in countries where the traditional advantages of men over women were most threatened. In Studies 6 and 7, we investigated when this gender difference disappears. Results revealed that when we measured (Study 6) or manipulated (Study 7) personal relationship identity rather than relationship ideology, effects also emerge for women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Yielding, authoritarianism, and authoritarian ideology regarding groups.

This investigation was prompted by Asch's (1952) discussion of the personal and social significance of yielding to group pressure. For the person, yielding requires the inhibition of overt and perhaps implicit responses to objective situational requirements. For the group, malignant processes may arise and develop, unchecked by those members in whom goals of personal security predominate over group goals. In the present study, the view was taken that both meanings of yielding are assigned positive value in two separate ideologies concerning the group-individual relation. One of these is termed "conformity" and the other is "rugged individualism." In the study, group pressure was simulated by announcing bogus group judgments to small groups of Ss whose apparent task was to match one of three lines of variable length with a standard line. Questionnaires were used to measure variables, which were: the ideology of conformity (IC), the ideology of rugged individualism (RI), ethnocentrism (E), and authoritarianism (F). The questionnaires were administered to 91 college students, both day school and evening. It was found that the correlation with the F scale was .48 (P     

Introduction to the special issue on trauma and ethnoracial diversity.

We are delighted to introduce this special issue of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (PT: TRPP) devoted to the intersection of trauma and ethnoracial diversity. Given the growing ethnoracial diversity of the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008) and inasmuch as Americans are becoming more involved with diverse cultures all over the world, trauma-oriented professionals are increasingly called upon to enhance and demonstrate their multicultural competence (American Psychological Association, 2003). Though there is already a robust literature examining trauma-related variables in different ethnic groups (see Pole, Gone, & Kulkarni, 2008 and Pole & Triffleman, 2008 for reviews), there is a need to both promote the advancement of such literature and augment its visibility. This special issue was conceived as one way to meet this need. We sought trauma-related studies that would: (a) illustrate differences among ethnoracial groups; (b) reveal the enormous variation within minority groups; and/or (c) draw attention to questions or issues that are of particular importance to minority groups. We found that the best examples of such studies were themselves diverse not only with respect to the ethnicity of their samples but also in terms of their methodology and focus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological trauma and schizotypal personality disorder.

Two studies examined the relation between psychological trauma and schizotypal symptoms. In Study 1, in which 1,510 adults completed telephone interviews, both childhood maltreatment and the experience of an injury or life-threatening event were significantly associated with schizotypal symptoms. In Study 2, in which 303 adults (oversampled for having elevated levels of schizotypal symptoms) completed extensive in-person assessments, both childhood maltreatment and meeting posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Criterion A were significantly associated with schizotypal symptoms. The links between schizotypal symptoms and at least some forms of psychological trauma could not be fully accounted for by shared variance with antisocial and borderline personality disorders, absorption/dissociation, PTSD symptom severity, family history of psychotic disorder, or signs of neurodevelopmental disturbance (as indexed by minor physical anomalies and inconsistent hand use). Schizotypal symptoms were more strongly associated with childhood maltreatment among men than among women, whereas schizotypal symptoms were more strongly associated with PTSD Criterion A among women than among men. Finally, among men, the association between childhood maltreatment and schizotypal symptoms was moderated by signs of neurodevelopmental disturbance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to group interventions for trauma survivors.

Group interventions for trauma survivors offer cost-efficient opportunities for members to join "fellow strugglers" in coping with trauma-related feelings of alienation and mistrust. For adults, supportive, psychodynamic, and cognitive-behavioral models have been described in the literature, each offering common as well as unique group therapy features. For older children and adolescents, integrated and cognitive-behavioral models are available, and there is general empirical support for the use of group therapy regardless of the model chosen. Group psychological debriefing immediately following trauma exposure may be useful for normalizing reactions, but evidence for its effectiveness in preventing trauma-related psychopathology is lacking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling children with preverbal trauma.

This article is written to argue, based upon analytical premises, that play therapy holds promise as a means of addressing preverbal trauma. Gaensbauer (2002) indicated that the capacity to encode and retain meaningful internal representations of the salient pieces of a traumatic event may be available to children as early as 6 months of age. Play therapy encourages children to symbolically express their feelings through play and create a coherent trauma narrative as a means of gaining mastery over difficult and often disturbing thoughts and feelings. This article's purpose is to educate play therapists about the complexities of preverbal trauma and promising treatment interventions that can be used in play therapy with this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

About this issue: Diversity and convergence in the study of psychological trauma.

In this editorial, the editor discusses the diversity of material in the current issue of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy (PT: TRPP). He addresses questions that were raised by the pieces in this issue including ones as fundamental as what constitutes a psychological trauma. The editors believe that it is extremely important that as many facets of this terrain be examined and represented in the pages of PT: TRPP as possible. Only by continually and actively striving to maintain an inclusive perspective can we hope to work toward evolving a reasonable level of understanding of psychological trauma in all its richness and complexity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)