Alcohol consumption as a self-handicapping strategy.

Two experiments with 128 male undergraduates evaluated the self-handicapping hypothesis that alcohol consumption varies directly with individuals' uncertainty of their ability to perform successfully. In a 2–3 factorial design, Exp I manipulated difficulty of an initial intellectual test (insolvable or solvable), feedback regarding test performance (success or none), and instructions regarding the difficulty of a retest (identical to or harder than the initial test). Ss then received access to an alcoholic beverage (self-handicapping option) and to study materials (performance-enhancing option). The experiment terminated before the retest. Results indicate that when a performance-enhancing option is available, Ss generally do not use alcohol to self-handicap. Exp II omitted the study option and manipulated the test difficulty and retest instruction variables. All Ss received success feedback. Results show that Ss use alcohol to self-handicap when denied access to a performance-enhancing option. With important qualifications, these data support the self-handicapping hypothesis of human drinking behavior. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol consumption as a self-handicapping strategy in women.

Assessed whether women self-handicap with alcohol consumption prior to engaging in a social evaluation task, which may be more relevant to their self-esteem than the intellectual tasks used in past self-handicapping studies on substance use. 113 women (aged 19–32 yrs), who were evaluated as normal drinkers, performed either a solvable or an insolvable social judgment task and then received either success feedback or no feedback. Ss received access to alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages while awaiting a retest. The study terminated before the retest. The self-handicapping hypothesis that noncontingent success would produce relatively greater alcohol consumption was not supported. Regardless of feedback, insolvable test Ss consumed more alcohol than did solvable test Ss. Findings suggest that the hypothesis may be limited as a general model of alcohol consumption in both sexes. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the self-serving function of social anxiety: Shyness as a self-handicapping strategy.

Tested the hypothesis that socially anxious or shy individuals use their anxiety symptoms as a strategy to control attributions made about their performances in social-evaluative settings (i.e., self-handicapping strategies). 70 female and 72 male undergraduates, classified as low and high socially anxious on the basis of the Social Anxiety and Distress Scale, were given role-play tasks in a 3?×?2?×?2 design. It was predicted that trait-socially anxious or shy Ss would report more symptoms of social anxiety in an evaluative setting in which anxiety or shyness could serve as an excuse for poor performance than would Ss in (a) an evaluative setting in which shyness was precluded as an excuse or (b) a nonevaluative setting. It was also predicted that this self-protective pattern of symptom reporting would not occur for Ss who were not trait-socially anxious because these Ss would not commonly use such symptoms as a self-handicapping strategy. Results support these predictions for males but not for females. Sex differences in the strategic use of shyness are discussed in relation to other research on sex differences in the etiology and correlates of social anxiety. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success.

In 2 experiments, college student Ss were instructed to choose between a drug that allegedly interfered with performance and a drug that allegedly enhanced performance. This choice was the main dependent measure of the experiment. The drug choice intervened between work on soluble or insoluble problems and a promised retest on similar problems. In Exp I with 68 males and 43 females, all Ss received success feedback after their initial problem-solving attempts, thus creating one condition in which the success appeared to be accidental (noncontingent on performance) and one in which the success appeared to be contingent on appropriate knowledge. Males in the noncontingent-success condition were alone in preferring the performance-inhibiting drug, presumably because they wished to externalize probable failure on the retest. The predicted effect, however, did not hold for female Ss. Exp II, with 87 Ss, replicated the unique preference shown by males after noncontingent success and showed the critical importance of success feedback. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the self-serving function of an academic wooden leg: Test anxiety as a self-handicapping strategy.

Hypothesized that highly test-anxious Ss would report anxiety symptoms in a pattern that reflected strategic presentation of symptoms. More specifically, it was predicted that greater reported anxiety should result when anxiety was a viable explanation for poor performance on an intelligence test and that lower reported anxiety should result when anxiety was not a viable explanation for poor performance. 117 female undergraduates served as Ss. Analysis of state measures of self-reported anxiety supported these predictions. Further analysis indicated that when anxiety was not a viable explanation for poor test performance, high test-anxious Ss reported reduced effort as an alternative self-protective strategy. Results are discussed in terms of traditional models of symptoms as self-protective strategies, current social psychological models of symptoms, and recent theory and research about the nature and treatment of test anxiety. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bringing history to life: Simulating landmark experiments in psychology.

The course in history of psychology can be challenging for students, many of whom enter it with little background in history and faced with unfamiliar names and concepts. The sheer volume of material can encourage passive memorization unless efforts are made to increase student involvement. As part of a trend toward experiential history, historians of science have begun to supplement their lectures with demonstrations of classic physics experiments as a way to bring the history of science to life. Here, the authors report on computer simulations of five landmark experiments from early experimental psychology in the areas of reaction time, span of attention, and apparent motion. The simulations are designed not only to permit hands-on replication of historically important results but also to reproduce the experimental procedures closely enough that students can gain a feel for the nature of early research and the psychological processes being studied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a developmental psychology of Sehnsucht (life longings): The optimal (utopian) life.

The topic of an optimal or utopian life has received much attention across the humanities and the arts but not in psychology. The German concept of Sehnsucht captures individual and collective thoughts and feelings about one's optimal or utopian life. Sehnsucht (life longings; LLs) is defined as an intense desire for alternative states and realizations of life. Presenting a first effort at capturing this phenomenon, the authors conceptualize LLs as composed of 6 interrelated core characteristics: (a) utopian conceptions of ideal development; (b) sense of incompleteness and imperfection of life; (c) conjoint time focus on the past, present, and future; (d) ambivalent (bittersweet) emotions; (e) reflection and evaluation of one's life; and (f) symbolic richness. Self-report data from 299 adults (19-81 years) support the postulated structure and support predictions regarding the functional role of Sehnsucht. Having LLs was evaluated as providing direction to development and helping to manage life's incompleteness. At the same time, the frequent and intense experience of LLs was associated with lower well-being. When LLs were perceived as controllable, however, this negative association disappeared. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trait self-enhancement as a buffer against potentially traumatic events: A prospective study.

Longitudinal research has associated the disposition toward self-enhancing biases with better adjustment following potentially traumatic events (PTEs). However, self-enhancement was always measured in these studies after the PTE, thus confounding it with exposure. This study used a prospective design that tracked PTEs in college students over a 4-year period using an online checklist (n = 69). Most participants experienced at least 1 PTE, and the mean number of PTEs was 4.40. Trait self-enhancement, measured at the beginning of the study and prior to the PTEs, was associated with reduced distress in both the first and fourth year of college. Participants with greater exposure to PTEs had greater distress in their fourth year; however, individuals high in self-enhancement were relatively unaffected by PTE exposure. High self-enhancement participants were also rated as better copers in anonymous ratings obtained from participants' close friends. Overall, these results offer the first prospective evidence demonstrating that self-enhancement serves as a buffer against the potentially harmful effects of trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of discontinuous career transition: Investigating career transitions necessitated by traumatic life events.

Career researchers have focused on the mechanisms related to career progression. Although less studied, situations in which traumatic life events necessitate a discontinuous career transition are becoming increasingly prevalent. Employing a multiple case study method, we offer a deeper understanding of such transitions by studying an extreme case: soldiers and Marines disabled by wartime combat. Our study highlights obstacles to future employment that are counterintuitive and stem from the discontinuous and traumatic nature of job loss. Effective management of this type of transitioning appears to stem from efforts positioned to formulate a coherent narrative of the traumatic experience and thus to reconstruct foundational assumptions about the world, humanity, and self. These foundational assumptions form the basis for enacting future-orientated career strategies, such that progress toward establishing a new career path is greatest for those who can orientate themselves away from the past (trauma), away from the present (obstacles to a new career), and toward an envisioned future career positioned to confer meaning and purpose through work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal vulnerability, life events, and depressive symptoms: A test of a specific interactional model.

We tested Beck's (1983) hypothesis that depressive symptoms occur when an individual experiences a negative life event that specifically matches the individual's personal motivational vulnerability. Ninety-eight undergraduates completed measures of depression level, recent life events, and sociotropic and autonomous achievement motivations. Consistent with the theory, sociotropy was associated with depression level and also served as a moderator of the relations between depression and frequency of recent negative social events. However, sociotropy also demonstrated nonpredicted interactive effects with negative events categorized a priori as autonomy related. Autonomy was unrelated to depression and showed no evidence of being a vulnerability to any type of life event. The findings generally support the value of examining the role in depression of interactions between personality characteristics and life events, although they do not support the specific matching predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal history data as a predictor of success in service station management.

For a sample of 29 dealers, ratings on 15 aspects of service station management were reduced to a single over-all rating that was used as a criterion against which a personal history blank was item analyzed using a variant of double cross validation. The scoring key was then cross-validated on a new sample of 23 dealers. It was concluded that the unitary criterion was adequate to describe performance, and that 14 of the 39 items in the blank discriminated more successful dealers from less successful, retaining validity on cross-validation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The history of psychology: A neglected area.

"I propose to document the extent of the current neglect of the history of our field, to suggest some of the factors which help to bring about this neglect, to answer certain possible criticisms of devoting one's time to advancing knowledge of our history, and to try to show some positive values to be found by research in our history." During a 20-year period (1938-57) only 12 out of 1207 articles published in the American Journal of Psychology, 13 of 937 articles in the Journal of General Psychology, and 13 of 682 articles in the Psychological Bulletin were historical in nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidentiary pluralism as a strategy for research and evidence-based practice in rehabilitation psychology.

Objective: This article examines the utility of evidentiary pluralism, a research strategy that selects methods in service of content questions, in the context of rehabilitation psychology. Hierarchical views that favor randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) over other evidence are discussed, and RCTs are considered as they intersect with issues in the field. RCTs are vital for establishing treatment efficacy, but whether they are uniformly the best evidence to inform practice is critically evaluated. Conclusions: The authors argue that because treatment is only one of several variables that influence functioning, disability, and participation over time, an expanded set of conceptual and data analytic approaches should be selected in an informed way to support an expanded research agenda in which therapeutic and extratherapeutic influences on rehabilitation processes and outcomes is investigated. The benefits of evidentiary pluralism are considered, including those that help close the gap between the narrower clinical rehabilitation model and a public health disability model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a positive psychology of coping with anticipated events.

Many people appear to be quite resilient to significant stress suggesting that they may possess an orientation to events and life that is resistant to such threats. We propose that one significant aspect of this orientation is the tendency to view adversities as something that can happen to anyone and is reflected in the tendency of people entering uncertain contexts to prepare by imagining a range of possible outcomes, both desired and undesired. This preparatory work facilitates the immediate implementation of effective problem solving and support seeking strategies should the desired outcome seem in doubt. We refer to this orientation as the realistic orientation and review evidence suggesting that such an orientation is associated with realistic—but not unrealistic—optimism and smooth adaptation to adversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol use and type of life events experienced during adolescence.

Measured the incidence of stressful life events among 119 adolescents who had an alcohol abusing parent, were in treatment for alcohol/drug abuse, or had no personal or family history of alcohol abuse. Group scores were compared for 7 types of life events based on the Life Event Checklist (LEC) of M. D. Newcomb et al (see record 1982-20103-001). Adolescents in treatment experienced more deviance and emotional distress events whereas adolescents with an alcoholic parent reported significantly more family-related problems. Results provide evidence for the usefulness of the LEC in clinical populations of adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suicidality and veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury: Precipitating events, protective factors, and prevention strategies.

Objectives: To increase understanding regarding precipitating and preventative factors of suicidal behavior and to highlight past experiences and recommendations regarding services aimed at suicide prevention among Veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Study Design: Qualitative. Participants: Sample of 13 Veterans with a history of TBI, and a history of clinically significant suicidal ideation or behavior. Method: In-person interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using a hermeneutic approach. Results: Shared precipitants noted included loss-of-self post-TBI, cognitive sequelae, and psychiatric and emotional disturbances. Common protective factors noted included social supports, a sense of purpose regarding the future, religion and spirituality, and mental health care. Means of improving care were also identified (e.g., increasing the availability of services and mental health professionals’ knowledge regarding TBI, providing more structured treatment). Conclusions: Findings highlight potential areas of importance in the assessment and treatment of suicidal Veterans with a history of TBI. Recommendations regarding means of improving care are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Faking of a scored life history blank as a function of criterion objectivity.

This study investigated the role of the criterion in determining the transparency of a scoring key. When college students (N = 55) were instructed to fake a life history questionnaire, they were able to do so, but a scoring key empirically derived from a subjective criterion of creativity (ratings) was more transparent than one based upon an objective criterion (patent disclosures). It also appeared that prior exposure to the questionnaire facilitated faking on the former key more than on the latter. Also investigated was the possibility that the difference in transparency was attributable to the subjective key having been biased by a fallacious stereotype. To evaluate this possibility, recruiting interviewers (N = 79) filled out the questionnaire as they thought a creative scientist would. As expected, they selected a greater proportion of the item choices thought to be associated with creativity than of those actually demonstrated to be correlated with creative output. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The self-serving function of hypochondriacal complaints: Physical symptoms as self-handicapping strategies.

Tested the hypothesis that hypochondriacal individuals commonly use reports of physical illness and symptoms as a strategy to control attributions made about their performances in evaluative settings (i.e., self-handicapping strategies). It was predicted that hypochondriacal Ss would report more recent physical illness and complaints and more current physical symptoms in an evaluative setting in which poor health could serve as an alternative explanation for poor performance than would either Ss in an evaluative setting in which poor health was precluded as an excuse or Ss in a nonevaluative setting. 109 undergraduates selected on the basis of their high or low score on the Hypochondriasis scale of the MMPI were administered a short form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and then received either the evaluative or nonevaluative instructions as a rationale for the experiment. It was found that as predicted, results support the self-protective pattern of complaints in hypochondriacal Ss but not in nonhypochondriacal Ss. The self-protective role of hypochondriacal behavior is discussed in relation to theory and research on the nature and treatment of hypochondriasis. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological considerations in participant event monitoring of low-base-rate events in health psychology: Children's injuries as a model.

The present article outlines the advantages of the participant event monitoring methodology for the investigation of unpredictable, low-base-rate events in children. Several methods for assessing the quality of participant event monitoring data are advanced with a data set showing participant event monitoring of children's minor injuries by 61 children and their mothers. Child–mother correspondence and debriefing data suggest good accuracy for frequency estimates. Home- and laboratory-based simulations illustrate the participant event monitors' accuracy for major details. Traditional measures of data quality show good overall coder and test–retest reliability, and cross-observer reports show acceptable estimates of validity for objective aspects of the events and the expected lower estimates for the more subjective aspects. Conceptual and pragmatic difficulties of the method are considered, and suggestions for future research are advanced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)