Development tendencies of chemical metallurgy in Europe

Development tendencies of chemical metallurgy in Europe are mainly determined by requirements of energy saving, quality improvement, simplification of processes, and environmental protection. To fullfil these requirements, research and development is directed a) immediately into production and customers demands, b) into new processes and materials, c) into the enlargement of our scientific knowledge. At three examples, namely the development of line pipe and deep drawing steels for a), the development of smelting reduction for b), and fundamental research in process kinetics for c), contributions of chemical metallurgy are described and some goals for the future mentioned.     

Enhancing the prediction of self-handicapping.

Levels of test anxiety, Type A and Type B coronary-prone behavior, fear of failure, and covert self-esteem were studied as predictors of self-handicapping performance attributions for college women who were placed in either a high- (N?=?49) or low- (N?=?49) evaluative test or task situation. We hypothesized that test anxiety, Type A or Type B level, and their interaction would account for reliable variance in the prediction of self-handicapping. However, we also theorized that underlying high fear of failure and low covert self-esteem would explain the self-handicapping claims of test-anxious and Type A subjects. The results indicated that only high levels of test anxiety and high levels of covert self-esteem were related to women's self-handicapping attributions. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive self-presentation: Beyond self-handicapping.

An experiment was conducted to examine the notion that depressives' responses would reflect a protective self-presentation style (M. G. Hill et al, 1986), the underlying goal of which would be the avoidance of future performance demands and potential losses in self-esteem. In this study, depressed and nondepressed Ss were asked to perform a relatively simple visual–motor task. Half of the depressed and half of the nondepressed Ss were told that if they were successful at the task, they would be asked to perform a 2nd similar task. The remaining Ss were given no such expectation of future performance. We predicted and found that depressed compared with nondepressed Ss strategically failed at the task when presented with the possibility of future performance and further losses in esteem. Moreover, this strategic failure was associated with some costs; depressed, future performance expectancy Ss experienced more discomfort or negative affect as a result of their performance. The relationship between this depressive self-presentation and self-handicapping strategies is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

The role of uncertain self-esteem in self-handicapping.

Evaluated the hypothesis posited by E. E. Jones and S. Berglas (see record 1980-25668-001) that some individuals confronted with an intellectual evaluation use a lack of preparation as a self-handicapping strategy. Sex and both level and certainty of self-esteem were examined with regard to the self-handicapping strategy of lack of effort. 54 female and 54 male undergraduates were divided into certain and uncertain and low and high self-esteem groups based on their scores on a self-esteem/certainty index. Ss were led to believe that the experiment was designed to update local norms for a nonverbal test of intellectual ability. After Ss' level of state anxiety was assessed with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, they were instructed in the benefits of practicing for the evaluation. Subsequently, Ss' state anxiety and preparatory efforts (the primary dependent variables) were measured. Ss' practice, self-protective attributions, and related affect supported a self-handicapping interpretation for uncertain males but not for uncertain females. Uncertain males practiced less than certain males and uncertain females, suggesting that the uncertain males may have been attempting to sever the ability–performance link on the upcoming evaluation following failure and/or to augment ability attributions if they had had a successful test experience. Where self-handicapping is concerned, it may not be how much sense of personal worth an individual has but how firmly the individual senses that personal worth is the key. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An impression management interpretation of the self-handicapping strategy.

Explored the impression-management underpinnings of the self-handicapping strategy of S. Berglas and E. E. Jones (see record 1979-05889-001). 64 male undergraduates were given success feedback after completing soluble or insoluble analogies. While anticipating a 2nd test, Ss were allowed to choose between drugs that would enhance or encumber their performance. Ss who had worked on insoluble problems chose the debilitating drug, but only when the experimenter (E) witnessed the choice. They were most likely to choose the debilitating drug when the E was present and when they believed that the E would have access to their score on the anticipated 2nd test. The data are cautiously interpreted as consistent with an impression management view of self-handicapping. The authors suggest that although it appears that self-handicapping is an impression management strategy at least under some circumstances, the exact nature of the strategy needs further specification. (28 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)     

The psychopathology of suicidal tendencies

Suicidality should not, in consideration of the present studies and the experience gained by the author, be considered a disease 'sui generis', but rather a symptom only. The etiopathogenesis of "nonpsychotic" suicidality is discussed with particular reference to the psychopathology thereof. Acts of suicide are most often part of "lasting affective reactions". In a certain number of cases suicidality is the symptom of an emotional disturbance or functional nervous disease resulting from psychic maldevelopment, which is usually characterized by a relatively small number of general symptoms and where conscious acts are impaired by unconscious conflicts.     

Drug abuse and suicidal tendencies

Among the psychotic symptoms in juvenile drug-consumers one can find autonomous, i.e. drug-independent developments, whose connection with the drug-abuse is to be assessed in differing ways. A beginning psychosis can be modified in its actual symptoms by drug-consumption. On the other hand one must consider the manifestation of a latent psychosis or purely symptomatic psychosis, which, in its symptoms, can hardly be distinguished from schizophrenia. Finally drug-induced personality-changes can develop together with secondary psychotic symptoms. Psychotic symptoms are determined and influenced in a varying degree by drugs. Both after short drug-consumption and after a longer drug-anamnesis with polytoxicomanic symptoms psychotic syndromes can be discovered. Even the initial psychotic symptoms can hint at an adverse development and a bad prognosis. Sometimes the drug-experiences conceal the autonomous development of the psychosis, which, as a rule, shows predominantly schizophrenic symptoms. In addition to a quick change of the actual symptoms, acute states of confusion and depressive-suicidal syndromes, flash-back and horror-trip phenomena, closely connected with the psychotic experience, and a schizophrenic colouring of affective psychoses can be found as frequently drug-induced modifications of the psychotic symptoms. Furthermore one finds an increase of symptoms and of the psychotic episodes in the case of psychoses of the schizophrenic variety which have already begun. Grave personality changes with psychotic symptoms after chronic drug-abuse can cause differential-diagnostic difficulties.     

Benefits of self-handicapping in sport: A field study of university athletes.

Individuals who engage in self-handicapping arrange unfavorable circumstances for their important performances so as to maintain esteem in case of failure, or enhance esteem in case of success. A field study of 15 university swimmers and 14 wrestlers examined potential costs and benefits of this strategy. Self-reports of preparation, anxiety, performance, and flow experiences were obtained repeatedly during competitions over 4 mo. Scale scores identified athletes' predisposition to self-handicap. The higher athletes scored on trait self-handicapping, the poorer practice and nutrition they reported overall and before important events. Nonetheless, athletes' dispositional self-handicapping scores were positively related to performance and self-reports of optimal experience in competitions. Benefits associated with self-handicapping thus appeared to outweigh costs for participants in university-level competitive sport. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociative tendencies and dissociative disorders.

Although dissociative disorders are relatively rare, dissociative experiences are rather common in everyday life. Dissociative tendencies appear to be modestly related to other dimensions of personality, such as hypnotizability, absorption, fantasy proneness, and some facets of openness to experience. These dispositional variables may constitute diatheses, or risk factors, for dissociative psychopathology, but more complex models relating personality to psychopathology may be more appropriate. The dissociative disorders raise fundamental questions about the nature of self and identity and the role of consciousness and autobiographical memory in the continuity of personality. (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)     

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 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)     

Dissociative tendencies and facilitated emotional processing.

Dissociation is a process linked to lapses of attention, history of abuse or trauma, compromised emotional memory, and a disintegrated sense of self. It is theorized that dissociation stems from avoiding emotional information, especially negative emotion, to protect a fragile psyche. The present study tested whether or not dissociaters do actually avoid processing emotion by asking groups scoring high or low on the Dissociative Experiences Scale to judge the affective valence of several types of emotional stimuli. Manipulations of valence, modality (pictures or words), task complexity, and personal relevance lead to results suggesting that dissociation is linked to facilitated rather than deficient emotional processing. Our results are consistent with a theory that sensitivity to emotional material may be a contributing factor in subsequent dissociation to avoid further elaboration of upsetting emotion in these individuals. The findings for dissociation further exemplify the influence of individual differences in the link between cognition and emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonrandom tendencies in interpolating between end-points.

6 Ss' estimates of the position within a 2-4 mm. interval were analyzed and found to be nonrandomly distributed among the decimals of the interval, even though the original data were uniformly distributed. Each S was highly consistent in his pattern of decimal selection over time. The patterns for different Ss were remarkably similar; decimals near the end-points of the interval were chosen at the expense of those in the interior of the interval. The position of the end-points was largely responsible for the nonrandom selection observed, for the numbers "preferred" could be altered by altering the end-points. The S's knowing of this phenomenon had some effect on the magnitude of the tendency, but did not eliminate it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consequences of self-handicapping: Effects on coping, academic performance, and adjustment.

Self-handicappers erect impediments to performance to protect their self-esteem. The impediments may interfere with the ability to do well and, as such, may result in poor adjustment. Using a longitudinal design, the present studies examined prospective effects of self-handicapping on coping, academic performance, and several adjustment-related variables (e.g., self-esteem). It was found that, compared to low self-handicappers, high self-handicappers reported higher usage of coping strategies implying withdrawal and negative focus. High self-handicappers performed less well academically, an effect that was mediated in part by poor study habits. Finally, high self-handicapping resulted in poorer adjustment over time, and poorer adjustment resulted in higher self-handicapping over time. These relations are consistent with the idea of a vicious cycle in which self-handicapping and poor adjustment reinforce one another. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing cultural and individual learning tendencies.

Comments on the article by R. G. Tweed and D. R. Lehman (2001) which stated that a Confucian-Socratic framework provides a structure for analyzing culture-influenced aspects of academic learning. In this article, Tweed and Lehman argued that these ancient exemplars model approaches to learning continue to differentiate students within a modern Canadian postsecondary context. Specifically, it is argued that Chinese cultural influence increases the likelihood that a student will report Confucian learning beliefs and behaviors and that Western cultural influence increases the likelihood that a student will report Socratic learning beliefs and behaviors. The authors of this commentary believe that although Tweed and Lehman presented a thorough and thoughtful review of cultural differences and set the stage for the enhancement of teaching at the postsecondary level, there is disconnect between the framework and external educational theory. The use of a cultural level of analysis vs an individual level of analysis somewhat diluted the potential contribution of their ideas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

医学生自我妨碍与自我效能感、成就目标定向的研究

采用自我妨碍问卷、一般自我效能感量表和成就目标定向量表测查医学生的自我妨碍与成就目标定向、自我效能感之间的关系.结果表明,医学研究生自我妨碍倾向低于本科生,城市医学生自我妨碍倾向明显高于农村和城镇医学生;医学生自我妨碍与自我效能感、成就目标定向均存在显著相关;成就目标定向和自我效能感对医学生的自我妨碍有显著预测作用,其中成绩回避目标定向对医学生自我妨碍有显著的正向预测作用,自我效能感对自我妨碍呈负向预测作用.结合研究结果,相应地提出了在教育方面的建议.