Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms.

The author investigated whether expressive writing enhances emotional adaptation to a stressful event (graduate entrance exams) by reducing event-related intrusive thoughts or by desensitizing people to such thoughts. Participants in the experimental group, who were instructed to write their deepest thoughts and feelings about the exam, exhibited a significant decline in depressive symptoms from 1 month (Time 1) to 3 days (Time 2) before the exam. Participants in the control group, who wrote about a trivial topic, maintained a relatively high level of depressive symptoms over this same period. Expressive writing did not affect the frequency of intrusive thoughts, but it moderated the impact of intrusive thoughts on depressive symptoms. Specifically, intrusive thoughts at Time 1 were positively related to depressive symptoms at Time 2 in the control group and were unrelated to symptoms in the expressive writing group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of the self-disclosure questionnaire as a measure of counselor effectiveness.

Investigated the concurrent and predictive validity of the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (SDQ) as a measure of counselor effectiveness by examining its relationship to measures of empathy and self-disclosure. 49 students enrolled in a techniques of counseling class served as Ss. Scores on the SDQ and rated scores of actual self-disclosure obtained from a training exercise were collected prior to the beginning of the training program. Pre- and posttraining scores were obtained on 2 measures of empathy: Affective Sensitivity Scale and Empathic Understanding in Interpersonal Processes. Overall, results fail to support both the concurrent and the predictive validity of the SDQ. Absence of predictive validity, however, was not due to lack of gain in skills as scores on both empathy measures increased significantly as a result of training. It was noted, however, that the behavioral measure of actual self-disclosure employed was highly correlated with 1 of the empathy measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and sex roles as predictors of self-disclosure.

Previous research has found that gender differences in reported willingness to self-disclose depend on the intimacy of S's relationship with the target person. The authors tested the hypothesis that this effect is mediated by sex roles and holds only for Ss who have adopted traditional sex roles as measured by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). 216 undergraduates participated. Results do not support the hypothesis, although BSRI scores were related to self-disclosure. Androgynous Ss reported more self-disclosure than all other Ss. Scores on the masculine dimensions of the BSRI predicted disclosure to strangers and acquaintances, but scores on both the masculine and feminine dimensions were needed to predict disclosure to intimate targets. It is suggested that intimate self-disclosures require both assertiveness associated with the traditional masculine role and the sensitivity and expressiveness associated with the traditional feminine role. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressive writing for gay-related stress: Psychosocial benefits and mechanisms underlying improvement.

Objective: This study tested the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention for gay men on outcomes related to psychosocial functioning. Method: Seventy-seven gay male college students (mean age = 20.19 years, SD = 1.99) were randomly assigned to write for 20 min a day for 3 consecutive days about either (a) the most stressful or traumatic gay-related event in their lives or (b) a neutral topic. We tested an exposure-based hypothesis of written emotional expression by asking half of the participants who were assigned to write about gay-related stress to read their previous day’s narrative before writing, whereas the other half did not. Posttest and 3-month follow-up outcomes were assessed with common measures of overall psychological distress, depression, physical health symptoms, and positive and negative affect. Gay-specific social functioning was assessed with measures of gay-related rejection sensitivity, gay-specific self-esteem, and items regarding openness and comfort with one’s sexual orientation. Results: Participants who wrote about gay-related stress, regardless of whether they read their previous day’s writing, reported significantly greater openness with their sexual orientation 3 months following writing than participants who wrote about a neutral topic, F(1, 74) = 6.66, p     

Structured writing about stressful events: Exploring potential psychological mediators of positive health effects.

In a previous study, the authors found that structured writing about stressful events improved symptomatology in 112 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and asthma relative to patients who did not write (J. Smyth, A. Stone, A. Hurewitz, & A. Kaell, 1999). However, little is currently known about the pathways from the intervention to alterations in outcomes. In addition to measuring symptom outcomes after the intervention in the previous study, the authors monitored perceived stress, quality of sleep, affect, substance use, and medication use on a momentary basis for the 7 days prior to writing, during the 3 intervention days, and for the 14 days following the intervention (N?=?105). These variables were tested in a secondary data analysis to determine whether they mediated the effects observed in the J. Smyth, A. Stone, et al. study. No evidence was found supporting mediation, and the mechanism underlying structured writing about stressful events remains unknown. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further evidence on the ego strength scale as a measure of psychological health.

This study was designed to see if the difference between undergraduates and mental patients obtained by Taft (1957) on the ES Scale represents a difference between college and noncollege populations. Therapy and nontherapy groups in a university setting were compared on the ES scale and results similar to that of Taft were obtained. There was also a trend for self-referred counselees to obtain higher scores on the ES scale than those earned by referred counselees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instigation to aggression as a function of self-disclosure and threat to self-esteem.

Examined whether self-disclosure would make a person more vulnerable to personal threat and thus increase instigation to angry aggression. 72 female undergraduates exchanged communications with 4 female confederates showing low or high self-disclosure or a control communication. Ss then commented on the communications, the confederates giving commentaries of neutral, critical, or derogatory tone. Subsequently, Ss had the opportunity to punish the confederate with what they thought were varying degrees of shock. As predicted, after high self-disclosure, Ss used significantly greater levels of shock than Ss in the control and low-self-disclosure groups. Criticism was more clearly effective than derogation in producing aggression. Findings indicate that high self-disclosure, followed by personal threat, is a potent antecedent of angry aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of self-disclosure and mental health in black females

Examined the relationship between self-disclosure and 3 facets of diminished mental health in 23 female Black students at a southeastern college. Ss' responses on a revision of the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire revealed that 2 of these facets, hostility and authoritarianism, were not related to self-disclosure. The 3rd facet, anxiety, did correlate significantly with self-disclosure, but did so in the direction opposite to that predicted from the theory of self-disclosure; high self-disclosure was associated with high anxiety, and no evidence of a curvilinear relationship appeared. Implications of these results for future research and for psychotherapy with Black clients are discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of dispositional empathy and social evaluation in the empathic mediation of helping.

J. S. Coke et al (see record 1980-00984-001) proposed a 2-stage model of empathy-mediated helping, based on emotional arousal and perspective taking. The present study hypothesized that a dispositional factor—individual differences in empathy—and a situational factor—potential evaluation from others (demand)—should be included in the process. 123 female undergraduates received false GSR feedback, indicating that they had either high or low arousal during a broadcast of a person's need for help. In addition, Ss were led to believe that the experimenter either did or did not know their level of arousal (demand vs no demand). Ss' premeasured dispositional empathy (A. Mehrabian and N. Epstein's 1972 empathy scale) constituted the 3rd (continuous) variable. The effect of greater help following high- rather than low-arousal feedback found by Coke et al was replicated. However, this was true only for Ss higher in dispositional empathy in the demand condition. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology's role in the new health care systems: The importance of psychological interventions in primary health care.

Discusses the new health policies of the World Health Organization. It is suggested that these policies are particularly concerned with prevention and health-enhancing life-styles and, therefore, with the role of psychology in primary health care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of dispositional dominance and sex role expectations on leadership behaviors.

In a conceptual replication and extension of E. I. Megargee's (1969) investigation of the influence of sex roles on the expression of trait dominance, 40 same- and 40 mixed-sex dyads of undergraduates were asked to choose a leader and then to interact while performing a gender-neutral task. Ss were selected on the basis of scores on the California Personality Inventory Dominance scale. In each dyad, a high-dominant S was paired with a low-dominant S. Percentages of high-dominant Ss assuming the leadership role were similar to those obtained by Megargee: 73% in same-sex pairs, 90% in mixed-sex dyads in which the male was high dominant, and only 35% in mixed-sex dyads in which the female was high dominant. While performing the task, high-dominant female followers of low-dominant male leaders were generally more dominant in their behaviors than were low-dominant female followers of male leaders. They were also less satisfied than were the latter with their partner and with their position as follower. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of dispositional and situational factors in cognitive interference

Two studies investigated the cross-temporal stability and cross-situational consistency of cognitive interference. In Study 1, 70 college students reported on the intrusive thoughts they experienced during 2 course examinations and a self-reflective task. In Study 2, 55 college athletes reported on intrusive thoughts following 2 course examinations and 2 regular season football games. Major findings were (a) cognitive interference showed both cross-temporal stability and cross-situational consistency, (b) it was predicted by a measure of dispositional intrusive thinking, (c) the link between cognitive interference and dispositional intrusive thinking was not accounted for by indices of depressive symptomatology and trait anxiety, and (d) the degree of cross-situational consistency of cognitive interference and the content of these intrusive thoughts were influenced by situational factors.     

Inspiration as a psychological construct.

Inspiration has received little theoretical or empirical attention within psychology. Inspiration is conceptualized herein as a general construct characterized by evocation, motivation, and transcendence. In Studies 1a and 1b, a trait measure of inspiration was developed and was found to have strong psychometric properties. Studies 2a-2c documented a nomological network consistent with the present conceptualization. Study 3 related inspiration to the holding of U.S. patents. Study 4 linked trait inspiration to daily experiences of inspiration, extended the nomological network to the state level, documented antecedents and consequences, and established incremental validity. This research provides a foundation for further study of inspiration, both as a general construct and in specific content domains (e.g., religion, creativity, interpersonal relations). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remembering as a psychological event.

Suggests a new way of speaking about the psychological events of remembering. The article begins with an overview of the conventional views of remembering, and then outlines an unconventional view of remembering. In the unconventional view a psychological event is essentially an historical event, an event in which its history is entailed, and one whose occurrence is a matter of contextual circumstances. After the analysis of remembering on the basis of this somewhat unconventional premises, the author discusses what this analysis suggests for dealing with problems associated with memories of childhood sexual abuse. In particular, the problem of correspondence between memorial events, as reported in the present, and the event of the past about which the report is made is addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in temporal discounting: The role of dispositional affect and anticipated emotions.

We examined age differences in temporal discounting, the tendency to devalue delayed outcomes relative to immediate ones, with particular emphasis on the role of affective responses. A life-span sample completed an incentive-compatible temporal discounting task involving both monetary gains and losses. Covariates included demographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, personality traits, affective responses, and subjective health. Advanced age was associated with a lower tendency to discount the future, but this effect reached statistical significance only for the discounting of delayed gains. An examination of covariates suggested that age effects were associated with age differences in mental health and affective responses rather than demographic or cognitive variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modality, self-disclosure, and gender as determinants of psychotherapeutic attraction.

Investigated the effects of therapy modality, self-disclosure tendency, and gender of Ss on therapeutic attraction. 80 undergraduates—40 high and 40 low scorers on a modified version of the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire—were asked to rate audiotapes of simulated therapy sessions on several dimensions. Primary results are as follows: (a) High self-disclosers preferred client-centered therapy, whereas low self-disclosers preferred systematic desensitization. (b) Client-centered therapy was perceived as providing a greater opportunity for self-exploration, whereas systematic desensitization was perceived as more effective. (c) Low self-disclosing males and high self-disclosing females rated the therapists as attractive but ineffective. (d) Females were more attracted to systematic desensitization, whereas males were more attracted to client-centered therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived levels of self-disclosure, mental health, and helpfulness of group leaders.

Studied the relationship between therapist self-disclosure, mental health, and helpfulness as perceived by group members and determined if a member's perception of the group leader is a function of the member's own level of self-disclosure and mental health. Data were collected from 6 university encounter groups by using ranks for group member variables and rating scales for perceptions of group leaders. Perceptions of group leader self-disclosure, mental health, and helpfulness were all positively correlated. No differences occurred in the perceptions of group leaders as a result of the members' ranked levels of self-disclosure and mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of retrieval in schizophrenic memory deficit.

To distinguish between information that is unavailable or inaccessible in the schizophrenic's memory store, 48 schizophrenics and 48 normals learned 3 lists of categorized words. The lists were either cued or not cued at recall. Demographic and pretest measures validated the diagnosis of schizophrenia and indicated no significant differences between the experimental groups on age, education, intelligence, or categorizing ability. Results indicate that under conditions where the input did not exceed the limits of immediate memory span, schizophrenic memory deficit could be explained in terms of an "inaccessibility" of items due to a retrieval dysfunction. Under conditions where input exceeded these limits, the recall analysis was suggestive of an "unavailability" of items in the memory store. It is concluded that schizophrenics suffer deficits throughout the information processing system rather than at any specific stage. The locus of breakdown was dependent on the task demands of the experimental situation. (French summary) (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)