Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting.

People are generally unaware of the operation of the system of cognitive mechanisms that ameliorate their experience of negative affect (the psychological immune system), and thus they tend to overestimate the duration of their affective reactions to negative events. This tendency was demonstrated in 6 studies in which participants overestimated the duration of their affective reactions to the dissolution of a romantic relationship, the failure to achieve tenure, an electoral defeat, negative personality feedback, an account of a child's death, and rejection by a prospective employer. Participants failed to distinguish between situations in which their psychological immune systems would and would not be likely to operate and mistakenly predicted overly and equally enduring affective reactions in both instances. The present experiments suggest that people neglect the psychological immune system when making affective forecasts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female preschoolers' perceptions of affective responses and interpersonal behavior in videotaped episodes.

Constructed an empathy measure to test whether 3- and 4-yr-old children can perceive affective states as indicated by H. Borke (see record 1972-00686-001). 8 filmed episodes had congruous and incongruous stimulus features-4 episodes represented incongruity and 4 represented parallel congruous episodes where positive or negative affect was matched to the appropriate positive or negative interpersonal behavior. 48 female 2-5 yr old preschoolers were divided into high and average mental age groups and were asked to tell the story about each episode. Findings reveal that on the congruous episodes, there was a significant main effect of Mental Age for reasons for affective responses, for affective responses, and for intrapersonal behavior; however, this main effect was only significant for the latter 2 measures on incongruous episodes. Ss scored significantly higher on the congruous than on the incongruous episodes. There was no significant main effect of Chronological Age for any measure. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness: Cognitive and affective criteria.

Undergraduates' evaluations of teaching were validated against both cognitive and affective criteria of effective instruction. Ss randomly enrolled in 1 of 31 sections of a course in computer programming. They completed a pretest, evaluated teaching at the middle and end of the course, and completed a standardized final examination. Sections did not differ significantly on pretest measures of ability and interest. Sections of Ss who, on the average, rated their instructors more favorably also did better on the final examination, felt better able to apply course materials, and were more inclined to pursue the subject further. End-of-term ratings correlated more highly with each of the criteria than did the midterm ratings. Finally, although both cognitive and affective criteria of effective teaching were correlated with different components of S ratings, the cognitive and affective criteria were not correlated with each other. This indicates the importance of considering multiple criteria in the evaluation of effective teaching. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial recall by schizophrenic and affective patients during and after psychotic episodes.

Eight schizophrenics (mean age 27.3 yrs), 8 depressed patients (mean age 33.1 yrs), and 8 normal controls (mean age 27 yrs) completed the MMPI and were asked to recall short word strings in both the presence and absence of distraction. Results show a differential cognitive deficit among schizophrenics both before and after a general improvement in their level of adjustment. That is, despite an overall improvement in their accuracy of recall prior to discharge, their performance continued to be impaired relative to depressed and normal Ss on the words presented in the 1st serial position. A tendency toward greater distractibility among schizophrenics failed to reach statistical significance at both points of assessment. Further substantiation of such stable forms of cognitive impairment may facilitate the identification of individuals who are vulnerable to the development of schizophrenia and may shed light on the adjustment problems that many chronic patients continue to experience after discharge from the hospital. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cerebral outcome after extracorporeal circulation. Comparison between prospective and retrospective evaluations

The cerebral outcome of 100 consecutive patients who had cardiac valvular replacement was evaluated by comparing the results of prospective neurological examination with retrospective data. The latter showed that the overall prevalence of cerebral abnormalities was 6% (4% among survivors) up to ten days postoperatively and 9% thereafter. This contrasts with the 35% (37% among survivors) obtained by careful neurological investigations that showed five patients with residual signs one year after operation. Electroencephalographic and neuropsychological studies disclosed additional patients who had subclinical involvement. The results question the reportedly ever-falling cerebral complication values claimed particularly in retrospective studies and reflect what is missed when using rough clinical criteria. There is no justification in overlooking slight clinical or even subclinical dysfunction, since the elimination of them is the only acceptable criterion of cerebral safety in cardiac operations.     

Bipolar affective disorder. A retrospective study of 158 patients in a well-defined geographical region

A cohort of 158 patients was identified from 723 patients admitted in 1990 or treated as outpatients in 1991 for affective disorders in three university hospitals in Copenhagen, covering a well-defined catchment area. The cohort was subclassified for seasonal pattern according to DSM-III-R. Meteorological data of temperature, hours of sunshine, rainfall and wind-velocity expressed as mean values/month were obtained from the Institute of Meteorology in Copenhagen. There was no relationship between the annual dis- tribution of affective episodes and meteorological data, neither in the total cohort nor in the subgroup of patients with seasonal patterns The present study does not support the hypothesis that a relation exists between start of a new episode and the season or climatic condition.     

Burkholderia cepacia bacteremia: a retrospective analysis of 70 episodes

Burkholderia cepacia, a widespread gram-negative environmental bacillus associated with nosocomial infections, is considered to be of relatively low virulence and rarely to cause invasive disease. We retrospectively analyzed the risk factors, clinical manifestations, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and prognostic factors of B. cepacia bacteremia cases. From 1982 through 1995, 70 episodes of bacteremia due to B. cepacia occurred in 52 patients at the National Taiwan University Hospital. The overall case fatality rate was 11%. Sixty-four episodes were nosocomial infections. The common predisposing conditions were stay in an intensive care unit (61%) and invasive procedures, including urinary catheter (54%), intravenous catheter (70%), and intubation (57%). Three episodes involved polymicrobial bacteremia. In 41 episodes in which the infectious focus was identified, the respiratory tract was the most common portal of entry (17/41) followed by intravascular catheters (11/41). Most strains tested were susceptible to ceftazidime (95%), piperacillin (93%), minocycline (85%), and cefotaxime (82%); but most were resistant to aminoglycosides, tetracycline, carbenicillin, and ticarcillin. For empirical therapy of B. cepacia bacteremia, ceftazidime or piperacillin should be the drug of choice.     

Fitness evaluations: A retrospective study of clinical, criminal, and sociodemographic characteristics.

Conducted a retrospective study of 470 patients remanded for fitness-to-stand-trial evaluations, using diagnostic judgments, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) data, and criminal and sociodemographic variables. Fitness opinions rendered to the court by a pool of 10 staff psychiatrists constituted the dependent variable. Univariate analyses demonstrated differences between fit and unfit Ss on the basis of race, age, primary diagnosis, and history of substance abuse. Stepwise discriminant analyses revealed that sociodemographic characteristics (race, age, sex) could predict fitness with 71% accuracy. Results are discussed with respect to potential biases in current assessment practices and clinical judgments of fitness to stand trial. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-experienced vulnerability, prodromic symptoms and coping strategies before schizophrenic and affective episodes

For the first time, the present study explores self-experienced vulnerability, prodromal symptoms and coping strategies preceding schizophrenic and affective episodes. 33 schizophrenic and 29 depressive patients were assessed retrospectively for preepisodic alterations by means of the "Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms- BSABS" after complete recovery from the acute episode. 97% of the schizophrenic and 93% of the depressive patients showed preepisodic alterations. In the schizophrenic group the first alteration occurred with a median of 10 weeks and in the depressive group with a median of 18 weeks before the onset of the acute episode. With regard to self-experienced vulnerability depressive cases were significantly less tolerant to stress, i.e work under time pressure or unusual, unexpected requirements. With regard to prodromal symptoms schizophrenics showed significantly more often interpersonal irritation and certain perception and thought disturbances, whereas depressive patients reported more often adynamia and certain disturbances of proprioception. 73% of the schizophrenic patients and 90% of the depressive patients reacted to early symptoms with coping strategies. The preepisodic alterations in schizophrenic patients could be described in terms of mild psychotic productivity, early symptoms of depressive patients could be described as a mild depressive syndrome. Prospective studies are necessary to show if assessment of mild psychotic productivity could be used for early diagnosis and early intervention in schizophrenia.     

Comparing prospective and retrospective evaluations of temporomandibular disorders after orthognathic surgery

The authors conducted a study to document agreement between prospective examinations performed by trained clinical trial examiners and retrospective surgical chart reviews in identifying signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders, or TMD. Only a small fraction of the signs and symptoms identified by clinical trial examiners were documented in the surgical charts. Studies relying on retrospective chart reviews may seriously underestimate signs and symptoms of TMD.     

Exploitation or neglect.

A comparison of lengths of stay for alcoholism treatment in nonpublic and public hospitals indicates that the ratio of median stay was greater in nonpublic hospitals (2:1). While 3 explanations are possible, these results support W. R. Miller and H. K. Hester's (see record 1986-28253-001) contention that financial considerations play a dominant role in patient treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical assessment of affective instability: Comparing EMA indices, questionnaire reports, and retrospective recall.

Traditional self-report measures of psychopathology may be influenced by a variety of recall biases. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) reduces these biases by assessing individuals’ experiences as they occur in their natural environments. This study examines the discrepancy between trait questionnaire, retrospective report, and EMA measures of affective instability in psychiatric outpatients either with a borderline personality diagnosis (n = 58) or with a current episode of major depressive disorder or dysthymia (n = 42). The authors examined the agreement of 3 trait measures of affective instability—the Affective Instability subscale of the Personality Assessment Inventory–Borderline Features scale (L. C. Morey, 1991), the Affect Intensity Measure (R. J. Larsen, E. Diener, & R. Emmons, 1986), and the Affect Lability Scales (P. D. Harvey, B. R. Greenberg, & M. R. Serper, 1989)—and 1 retrospective mood recall task with EMA indices of mood and mood instability. Results indicate only modest to moderate agreement between momentary and questionnaire assessments of trait affective instability; agreement between recalled mood changes and EMA indices was poor. Implications for clinical research and practice and possible applications of EMA methodology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional episodes in visual perception.

Is one's temporal perception of the world truly as seamless as it appears? This article presents a computationally motivated theory suggesting that visual attention samples information from temporal episodes (episodic simultaneous type/serial token model; Wyble, Bowman, & Nieuwenstein, 2009). Breaks between these episodes are punctuated by periods of suppressed attention, better known as the attentional blink (Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992). We test predictions from this model and demonstrate that participants were able to report more letters from a sequence of 4 targets presented in a dense temporal cluster than from a sequence of 4 targets interleaved with nontargets. However, this superior report accuracy comes at a cost in impaired temporal order perception. Further experiments explore the dynamics of multiple episodes and the boundary conditions that trigger episodic breaks. Finally, we contrast the importance of attentional control, limited resources, and memory capacity constructs in the model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Agency repair of academic neglect.

Suggests that training in various aspects of professional psychology has received little attention from universities, despite increasing professionalization and despite increasing strains that have resulted from these activities. A seminar concerning aspects of professional psychology is discussed. The topics include the American Psychological Association, training, ethics, legal aspects, and relations with others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Break Expectancy in Duration Discrimination.

Effects of break expectancy, observed previously in time production, were examined in 3 experiments using a discrimination paradigm. Participants classified a tone as being short or long. Location and duration of breaks in tone presentation were varied. Proportion of short responses increased as the break occurred later in the duration to be estimated in all experiments. With a higher number of break locations covering a wider range of location values, functions relating proportion of short responses to location were sigmoid and tended to flatten at extreme values of location. The authors conclude that attentional time-sharing elicited by break expectancy induces loss in accumulation of temporal information, but its effect on discrimination depends on the accumulation outcome relative to a decisional criterion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and coping in stressful episodes.

15 depressed and 72 nondepressed middle-aged persons were repeatedly assessed over a 1-yr period with respect to the thoughts and actions they used in coping in specific stressful episodes. Depressed persons tended to appraise situations as requiring more information in order for them to act, but they were less likely to appraise situations as requiring their acceptance. Overall, the coping of depressed persons was characterized by seeking emotional and informational support and by wishful thinking, but they did not differ from nondepressed persons in amount of problem-focused coping or self-blame. Results are generally inconsistent with the learned helplessness model of depression and highlight the need to examine interpersonal aspects of depression. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neutralization of affective concepts in schizophrenia.

Reports experimental data from schizophrenic and nonpsychotic Ss which provide reasonably strong support for the hypothesis that invalidation of affective judgments of schizophrenics leads them to neutralize their judgments. Data suggest that neutralization may be an important phenomenon in schizophrenic conceptual processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direction of affective influence in psychotherapy.

Administered a structured response questionnaire to 45 patient-therapist pairs after each of a series of individual psychotherapy sessions in which feelings experienced by each during the session were reported. Causal analyses of nonexperimental data suggested that for relatively inexperienced therapists, the patients' positive feelings were a sufficient condition for the therapists' positive feelings. The reverse was the case for more experienced therapists. For negative feelings, however, therapists' feelings of uncertainty and apprehension were generally a sufficient condition for the patient to experience dysphoric affect. Extremely positive or negative affective experiences of either participant tended to preclude and be precluded by opposite experiences in the other. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Covariation neglect among novice investors.

In 4 experiments, undergraduates made hypothetical investment choices. In Experiment 1, participants paid more attention to the volatility of individual assets than to the volatility of aggregated portfolios. The results of Experiment 2 show that most participants diversified even when this increased risk because of covariation between the returns of individual assets. In Experiment 3, nearly half of those who seemingly attempted to minimize risk diversified even when this increased risk. These results indicate that novice investors neglect covariation when diversifying across investment alternatives. Experiment 4 established that naive diversification follows from motivation to minimize risk and showed that covariation neglect was not significantly reduced by informing participants about how covariation affects portfolio risk but was reduced by making participants systematically calculate aggregate returns for diversified portfolios. In order to counteract naive diversification, novice investors need to be better informed about the rationale underlying recommendations to diversify. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)