The academic job hunt: Is it more frustrating than it has to be?

Discusses the reasons why many new PhD recipients in psychology perceive themselves as failures when they do not obtain research positions. It is argued that research-oriented graduate training in psychology subtly sets its students up for this frustration and increases the likelihood that they will be disappointed upon completion of their education. The failure experience is regarded as unnecessary; reorienting research training programs and emphasizing that scholarship is not the only worthwhile pursuit in psychology are recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internationalism in psychology: We need it now more than ever.

A concern with international cooperation in psychology has been present since the beginnings of psychology as a science. In this article, the author traces the development of international cooperation from the late 19th century to the present day to document the interesting ways in which the forms of collaboration have always been related to the large social and political contexts of which they are a part. This historical material is followed by an autobiographical account of the author's own involvement in cooperative international research to illustrate how such activity can play out. A few selected collaborative enterprises are then described to emphasize the point that psychology stands to benefit enormously from continued international cooperation, especially in times of international conflict such as that being experienced at the present time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-esteem.

Study 1 examined the extent to which stability and level of self-esteem predicted cognitive and emotional reactions to interpersonal feedback. Among high self-esteem individuals, instability was associated with acceptance and positive emotions following positive feedback but to rejection and defensiveness following negative feedback. Among low self-esteem individuals, instability was unrelated to reactions to positive feedback but was related to less defensiveness and greater acceptance of negative feedback. Study 2 examined the extent to which variability and importance of specific self-evaluations were associated with instability of global self-esteem. Discussion focuses on the roles of level and stability of self-esteem in reactions to evaluations on the nature of self-esteem instability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

There's more to colour than meets the eye

Patients with cerebral achromatopsia, a perceptual disorder caused by ventromedial occipital brain damage, can be completely unable to arrange colours in chromatic sequence and fail most conventional tests of colour blindness. A possible explanation for cerebral achromatopsia is that the colour-opponent parvocellular (P) channel has been selectively and totally destroyed at the level of visual cortex, leaving vision to be mediated by the broad-band magnocellular (M) channel. The persistence of normal occipital visually evoked potentials, and preserved sensitivity to isoluminant chromatic gratings indicates that if this hypothesis is correct the destruction must occur beyond the striate cortex. We have shown that an achromatopsic subject can detect chromatic borders and construct shape from colour, and that he can even perceive the apparent direction of motion of a phase shifted isoluminant chromatic grating where perceived direction depends on knowing the sign of the colour diffence, i.e., which colour is which in the stripes. This and other evidence suggests that perhaps only one part of the cortical P channel has been destroyed. Does the critical area involved in achromatopsia correspond to cortical area V4 of monkeys, often implicated in processing wavelength? When Visual Area 4 is totally ablated in monkeys they have only a mild colour discrimination impairment and easily solve the colour ordering and colour selection tasks that an achromatopsic patient finds impossible. However, monkeys with ventromedial damage rostral to Area V4 do perform like achromatopsic patients, suggesting that the role of V4 in the perception of colour is still unclear and that the colour area of the human brain does not correspond to area V4.     

It takes more than information to save energy.

Contributes to the M. L. Dennis et al (see record 1991-08669-001) review of social and behavioral science literature related to the failure to change human behavior on a large scale for energy conservation and environmental protection. It is suggested that behavioral and social scientists can increase corporations' and governments' environmentally protective behavior by helping them develop more effective environmental programs with the information-dissemination approaches reviewed by Dennis et al. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meta-analysis that conceals more than it reveals: Comment on Storm et al. (2010).

Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010) rely on meta-analyses to justify their claim that the evidence for psi is consistent and reliable. They manufacture apparent homogeneity and consistency by eliminating many outliers and combining databases whose combined effect sizes are not significantly different—even though these combined effect sizes consist of arbitrary and meaningless composites. At best, their study provides a recipe for conducting a replicable extrasensory perception experiment. This recipe includes following a design that employs the standard ganzfeld psi methodology and uses “selected” subjects. An experiment, having adequate power and that meets these criteria, has already been conducted and failed to produce evidence for psi. Parapsychology will achieve scientific acceptability only when it provides a positive theory with evidence based on independently replicable evidence. This is something it has yet to achieve after more than a century of trying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of negative emotions on prognosis following myocardial infarction: Is it more than depression?

This study examined the importance of major depression, depressive symptoms, history of major depression, anxiety, anger-in, anger-out, and perceived social support, measured in the hospital after a myocardial infarction (MI), in predicting cardiac events over the subsequent 12 months in a sample of 222 patients. Cardiac events included both recurrences of acute coronary syndromes (unstable angina admissions and survived and nonsurvived MI recurrences) and probable arrhythmic events (survived cardiac arrests and arrhythmic deaths). Major depression, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and history of major depression all significantly predicted cardiac events. Multivariate analyses showed that depressive symptoms, anxiety, and history of major depression each had an impact independent of each other, as well as of measures of cardiac disease severity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

There is more to aptitude than cognitive capacities: Comment.

Comments on the original article "Sex Differences in Intrinsic Aptitude for Mathematics and Science?: A Critical Review," by E. S. Spelke (see record 2005-15840-001). Spelke's critical review is a research-based rebuttal (though implicitly) of Summers's (2005) speech that posited a hypothesis that one of the reasons why women are underrepresented in math, science, and engineering may be sex differences in intrinsic aptitude for mathematics and science. Putting aside the question of whether the empirical evidence was sufficiently reviewed, the way Spelke conceptualized aptitude as a static rather than a dynamic quality (namely, cognitive capacities) rendered her critique of the "differences in intrinsic aptitude" hypothesis less effective in many respects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

AIDS education is more than telling people what not to do

Education is only one of may approaches which may be used to bring about behavioral change. While it is clear that awareness in Africa about AIDS has grown since education campaigns were launched in the late 1980s, significant misunderstandings and misconceptions remain. The author invited seventeen nongovernmental organizations to participate in a review workshop in 1992 with the goal of learning about which communication methods are currently being used in AIDS education programs in Zimbabwe. Talks, lectures, leader controlled discussions, focus groups, drama/role play, posters, stories, and client counseling are being used to teach about AIDS. Little evidence, however, indicates that sexually active individuals within targeted risk groups have changed their behaviors to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. The denial of risk due to traditional beliefs about disease causation stemming from God or other external forces and the tendency to shift the blame for infection to women are cited as causal factors for the lack of behavior modification. Program planners and administrators must reach beyond the vague and diffuse education campaigns implemented thus far. AIDS workers must instead by trained to focus their attention upon the development of effective, targeted interventions involving communities and at-risk subpopulations.     

There's more than one way to measure powder particle size!

The renewed focus on quality in PM manufacturing goes all the way back to the powder, the size of the particles that make it up and their distribution in the powder mix. Sieve systems and laser analysers are commonly used in the industry to characterise powders, but now a Swiss company has come up with yet another alternative…     

The HCFA does it to labs this time. More regs, more confusion, more frustration

Lipetsk town area was ranked according to maximal or minimal actual risk for public health (with consideration of medical and ecologic situation if influenced by technogenic hazards. That ranking enables to suggest municipal measures aimed at protection of population of ecologic hazards.     

Learning socially to eat more of one food than of another.

Young observer rats (Rattus norvegicus) that interacted with a conspecific demonstrator fed a diet with more cinnamon than cocoa subsequently preferred cinnamon-flavored diet to cocoa-flavored diet, whereas observer rats that interacted with a demonstrator fed a diet with more cocoa than cinnamon preferred cocoa-flavored diet to cinnamon-flavored diet. The tendency to eat more of a food when it is a major constituent, rather than a minor one, of the diet of a conspecific may be particularly useful to weaning rats as they learn to compose a nutritionally balanced diet by eating appropriate relative amounts of several different foods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An anti-digoxin monoclonal antibody seems to express more than one functional paratope

An anti-digoxin monoclonal antibody (mAb 4G3) has been produced and characterized with respect to its fine specificity and affinity. In an independent series of experiments anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody (mAb 7G9) was selected which reacted with the antigen-binding center of an anti-human chorionic gonadotropin monoclonal antibody (anti-hCG mAb 1B10). In detailed studies on its binding characteristics it has been shown that mAb 4G3 binds to an anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody mAb 7G9 in solution. Western blotting experiments showed that mAb 4G3 reacted against antiidiotypic antibody under non-reducing conditions, only. Moreover, mAb 4G3 has been shown to express self-binding properties. Absorption with saturating amounts of its specific hapten, i.e. digoxin, did not change the binding of mAb 4G3 to anti-idiotypic antibody and its self-binding ability. It is speculated on the basis of these data that mAb 4G3 possesses more than one functional paratope.     

Epistemology is more than method: A reply to Yanchar and Kristensen.

Responds to S. C. Yanchar and K. B. Kristensen's (see record 1997-02285-001) comments on L. T. Hoshmand and J. Martin's (see record 1995-28533-001) proposal for a naturalistic epistemological approach. Further clarification of the proposal is provided and implications for the development of a theory of method and issues of communal evaluation and intelligibility are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's more than interpreting an interpretation: Response to Stolorow (2002).

The author responds to Stolorow's (2002) contention that the latter's emphasis on the patient's giving meaning to interpretations is "rather similar" to the author's views on therapeutic action set forth in a recent paper (Summers, 2001). The author finds a clear difference between the 2 positions given that the latter requires transitional space for the creation of new ways of being and relating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)