Impact of dynamic 3D transoesophageal echocardiography in the assessment of atrial septal defects and occlusion by the double-umbrella device (CardioSEAL)

Previous research has supported theoretical claims that dichotomous thinking may be a risk factor for suicide. However, the concept of dichotomous thinking is vague, and thus far, no measures of it have been developed. This study developed a coding scheme useful on Thematic Aperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) protocols and applicable to other verbal productions to refine the concept of dichotomous thinking and to assess its utility as a predictor of suicidality. Suicidal patients had a significantly elevated rate of a narrowly defined type of dichotomous thinking involving diametric or polarized possibilities. However, suicidal and nonsuicidal patients did not differ on weaker forms of dichotomous thinking involving nonexclusive or nonbinary alternatives. Suicidal patients produced shorter TAT stories than nonsuicidal patients, supporting other findings in the literature that suicidal patients tend to be cognitively and affectively "shut down." Traditionally designated "suicide cards" also yielded shorter stories but did not elicit higher rates of dichotomous thinking.     

Military psychology in the United States of America.

"Between World War I and World War II, there was almost no interest of American psychologists in military problems, perhaps because there was almost no interest of the military in gaining the assistance of psychologists." The 1948 APA Directory identifies 98 psychologists as working for the Departments of Defense, Army, Air Force, or Navy. "This represents about 2% of the 5,047 members of the APA at that time. In the 1957 APA Directory, I have counted 729 psychologists who are listed as working for agencies of the military departments." This represents "almost 5% of the 15,000 members listed in the 1957 APA Directory." Various branches of military psychology within the Army, the Navy, and the Air Forces are indicated "to give appropriate emphasis to the great diversity of uses to which psychologists are put and to the consequently great variety of projects these agencies must, by their very titles and associations, engender." It also provides a statement "about how military psychology is organized within the Armed Forces in the States." The roles of the psychologist in military personnel management and in weapons development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating their own private and public: the male homosexual life space in a Nordic city during high modernity

In this article I describe the male homosexual life space in a Nordic city during the decades around the Second World War. It consisted almost entirely of outdoor places such as parks, public conveniencies, and streets. It included, in Delph's (1978) words, not only erotic, but also cultural and social oases, fostering an extensive and varied social life and a growing community. Most of this outdoor space was invisible to those other than the participants. It had its own differentiation of, and meanings for, "public" and "private." A poor economy, overcrowding, and the classical modern city helped shape the location and design of the male homosexual life space, as did the participation of many men who did not look upon themselves as "homosexual." During this period, and especially after the Second World War, this life space began to change in a direction pointing towards that of today, that is, towards less outdoor life and more life in homes and semipublic indoor spaces. Better economy, the rise of the welfare state, and diminished overcrowding furthered this movement. Among other things, these changes stimulated the withdrawal of men who did not see themselves as "homosexual." The transformation of the city into the spread out, suburbanized city, with segregation of various functions, contributed to the development, as did the obstruction of parks and toilets as meeting places by public authorities. The law reform of 1944, which decriminalized homosexual erotic acts between adults, was also of importance.     

Career development: the key questions

Capturing stories of a culture is important to its life blood. The following career stories of a sample of our colleagues describe the many and interesting journeys to advanced practice roles they have explored through their careers.     

Spontaneous monitoring and regulation of learning: A comparison of successful and less successful fifth graders.

16 Ss, representing the least successful and the most successful students in a typical 5th-grade class, were asked to read and study stories that varied in the degree to which they made sense relative to participants' prior knowledge. For example, a story that made sense included, "The tall boy played basketball." A story that made less sense included, "The hungry boy took a nap." For both groups, cued recall test scores (e.g., "What did the hungry boy do?") were substantially higher for stories that made sense than for stories that did not. Successful students spontaneously monitored as they read and studied; they were aware of having difficulty learning the less sensible stories, and they could explain why they were having trouble. Less successful students did not rate difficulty accurately and seemed unaware of the manipulation. When allowed unlimited study time, successful students spontaneously regulated learning, that is, they chose to study difficult stories more than easy stories. Less successful students studied equally for both. When prompted, less successful students were able to distinguish between stories, but they did not do so spontaneously. Results suggest that many students perform below their potential, in part because they do not spontaneously monitor and regulate their learning. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and the realization of creative potential.

Rank has written of 3 phases "in man's winning his own individuality and in realizing his own creative potential." Sometimes Rank wrote of these as 3 types of persons—the adapted type, the neurotic type, and the creative type. 3 samples of architects were studied: I. Highly Creative Architects. II. Architects with "at least 2 yr. of work experience and association" with one of the architects qualified for sample I. III. Architects, none of whom had ever worked with any of the nominated highly creative architects. The mean creativity ratings for the 3 groups are 5.46, 4.25, and 3.54 respectively. "The differences are in the expected direction and are statistically highly significant." Rank's ideas about the constructive formation of personality and creative development are discussed. What is "most impressive about Architects I is the degree to which they have actualized their creative potentialities. Architects III… appear to have incorporated into their egos, and into their images… the more conventional standards of society and of their profession. Arichitects II, by and large less creative than Architects I but more creative than Architects III, show an overlapping of traits with both of the other groups." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial microaggressions in the life experience of Black Americans.

Racial microaggressions cause considerable psychological distress among Black Americans and are manifested in nearly all interracial encounters. They set in motion energy-depleting attempts to determine whether incidents were racially motivated. Reactions can be classified into 4 major themes: healthy paranoia, sanity check, empowering and validating self, and rescuing offenders. Microaggressions result in high degrees of stress for Blacks because of denigrating messages: "You do not belong," "You are abnormal," "You are intellectually inferior," "You cannot be trusted," and "You are all the same." Feelings of powerlessness, invisibility, forced compliance and loss of integrity, and pressure to represent one's group are some of the consequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental investigations of species-specific behavior.

"I have come to question the logical defensibility of any concept of a comparative psychology. My doubts stem in part from the conviction that Homo sapiens is, in some ways, a truly unique species." A highly developed learning capacity is a distinctive characteristic of the human species. 2 desiderata seem obvious to build a "comparative science of behavior": (a) behavior selected for examination should be "natural" to the species and (b) the kinds of behavior chosen for analysis should be as widely distributed as possible, phylogenetically speaking. Major headings are: Species-Specific Behavior, Plan of Attack, Determinants of Behavior (Historical Determinants, Indirect Environmental Determinants, Direct Environmental Determinants, Organismic Determinants), and Conclusions. The proposed "broadening of our orientation would facilitate and encourage rich interspecific comparisons and thus give rise to a truly comparative body of knowledge pertaining to behavior." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Drama therapy and storymaking in special education.

Reviews the book, Drama therapy and storymaking in special education by Paula Crimmens (2006). This book is a resource for therapists, teachers, and paraprofessionals--anyone working with those children deemed to have "special needs." The book is divided into short chapters that are written in an informal, first person narrative style. The bulk of the book consists of chapters that focus on a particular theme or behavior, such as "helping others," "dealing with change," and "trickery and stealing." For each of these focus areas, Crimmens includes the texts of three or four relevant stories from a wide variety of cultures, and then "ideas for the story," which include thematically related games, visual art, character creation, and segments of simple dramatization. The book provides specific source material and activities that the author has successfully utilized in classroom settings. Both the stories and drama exercises that follow them address issues that are often more pronounced in children with various special needs. Although not earth shattering or revolutionary, this book will generate excitement in those practitioners who are looking for new ways to work with their students and clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Women and group psychotherapy.

Reviews the book, Women and group psychotherapy by Betsy DeChant (see record 1996-98407-000). In the introduction to this book, Editor Betsy DeChant describes the "myth of the cave." This myth is based on the concept that from the beginning of time, men and women have had radically different modes of expression and communication. Women invented spoken language and men, written language. But because women's language was not seen as equal to men's, women have had to learn the male's format for telling their story and gaining respect. The author uses 523 pages of "men's language" to describe a process that, if we trust this myth, is inherently female, but was usurped for generations by the male-constructed creation of psychotherapy. The book has 18 chapters together with commentaries. It is divided into three sections: Section I, Philosophical Perspective on the Feminist Approach, Section II, Theoretical Perspectives on the Treatment of Women in Groups; and Section III covers Guidelines for the Therapist: Leadership and Training Issues. To read this book from start to finish, one must have patience and a serious academic bent. The busy clinician will not find a "quick fix" and must be prepared to read selectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counterfactual and Prefactual Conditionals.

We consider reasoning about prefactual possibilities in the future, for example, "if I were to win the lottery next year I would buy a yacht" and counterfactual possibilities, for example, "if I had won the lottery last year, I would have bought a yacht." People may reason about indicative conditionals, for example, "if I won the lottery I bought a yacht" by keeping in mind a few true possibilities, for example, "I won the lottery and I bought a yacht." They understand counterfactuals by keeping in mind two possibilities, the conjecture, "I won the lottery and I bought a yacht" and the presupposed facts, "I did not win the lottery and I did not buy a yacht." We report the results of three experiments on prefactuals that examine what people judge them to imply, the possibilities they judge to be consistent with them, and the inferences they judge to follow from them. The results show that reasoners keep a single possibility in mind to understand a prefactual. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suicide, life course, and life story

This article explores how a life-course perspective and narrative methodology can be used to study risk factors for late-life suicide. A life-course approach to aging and suicide requires consideration of age as both social and personal construction. "On-" and "off-time" events and their impact on adjustment are used to illustrate these social and personal constructions. Cohort, period, and historical events have potentially profound effects on risk for suicide, yet the study of these effects is difficult because they are so often confounded in longitudinal study. Lifelong personality characteristics that are not life-threatening in earlier life may be of greater risk in later life depending on life circumstances such as physical dependencies. A life-story or narrative approach offers an alternative method for incorporating these complicated factors when studying late-life suicide. The psychological autopsy can be considered a type of "narrative" used by various individuals to gain understanding about a suicide.     

Thematic Apperception Test method for the differentiation of families of schizophrenics, delinquents, and "normals."

Assessed the dimension of Parent * Child interactional behavior from 240 TAT stories told by parents of 10 schizophrenics, 10 delinquents, and 10 "normals." A modified content analysis was applied to stories dealing with parent-child plots. Common underlying factors contributing to similar story qualities were abstracted into higher order classes of story behavior. 3 modal behavior categories were defined: personally involved, child-centered, flexible interactions (A), impersonally involved, superficial interactions (B), and overinvolved, parent-centered interactions (C). Blind rating of the stories by Categories A, B, and C significantly and reliably differentiated the 3 parental groups. Blind rating of a separate series of TAT stories told by 20 mothers of schizophrenic children and 20 mothers of normal children using the National Institute of Mental Health method significantly differentiated the 2 parental groups. Processes that may have determined the different patterns of narrated Parent-Child interactions are considered. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues in the study of obedience: A reply to Baumrind.

A procedure devised for studying obedience in the context of a learning experiment involves the S being told to give increasingly severe electric shocks to another person; shock level is stepped up to the level marked "Danger: Severe Shock." "The purpose of the experiment is to see how far the naive S will proceed before he refuses to comply with the E." Baumrind has expressed concern for the welfare of Ss who served in the experiment and wondered whether adequate measures were taken to protect the participants and also questions the adequacy of the experimental design. The criticisms are answered. "By their statements and actions, S indicated that they had learned a good deal, and many felt gratified to have taken part in scientific research they considered to be of significance. The Ss themselves strongly endorse the experiment, and indicate satisfaction at having participated." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relevance of Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia for the psychological study of happiness.

According to the ethical system of eudaimonism, a philosophy that predates Aristotle, individuals have a responsibility to recognize and live in accordance with their daimon or "true self." The daimon refers to the potentialities of each person, the realization of which represents the greatest fulfillment in living of which each is capable. The daimon is an ideal in the sense of being an excellence, a perfection toward which one strives and, hence, it can give meaning and direction to one's life. Eudaimonia, then, is activity in accordance with one's daimon. This is what is considered worth having in life. Since Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics is concerned with the proper ends of human functioning, he rejects the view of eudaimonia as a subjective state equivalent to, or similar to, hedonic enjoyment. But if psychologists are to be able to make productive use of the Aristotle's conception of eudaimonia, it must be rendered in a form more congenial to the field. In pursuing this goal, I have found it necessary to take several significant departures from the Aristotelian perspective, while I have endeavored to remain true to Aristotle's ethical objectives. The most important of these departures is to consider eudaimonia to have a subjective component embodying the experiences that flow from efforts to live in truth to one's daimon by striving to develop one's aptitudes and talents for purposes deemed worth having in life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sharing wisdom: Ethnic minority supervisor perspectives.

We offer this special issue in an effort to fill the gap in the literature regarding ethnic minority supervisor processes. We dedicate this issue to the ethnic minority psychologist pioneers who have brought tremendous life experience to their work as supervisors, who can reflect on their strategies, lessons learned, You will find three types of articles in this issue. The narratives speak to the personal journeys of psychologists and how their stories inform the practice of supervision. The theoretical offerings highlight the need to think creatively and with an integrative mind when applying extant literature to supervision involving supervisors of color. Finally, one qualitative research article demonstrates that although there are more people of color supervisors in the field, there is still a need to educate them on cultural competency in supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol on memory.

Ss wrote TAT stories at 3 points during social drinking in an experimental condition (with alcoholic beverages = wet, N = 18), or in a control condition (dry, N = 17). On the next day Ss were asked to describe the TAT pictures and to reproduce the stories they had written before. Several measures of recall were developed. Results showed: (a) A linear decrease in memory as a function of alcohol consumption. (b) No decrease in memory for stories written immediately before drinking. (c) An improvement for the dry group in the recall of stories written late as compared with early. (d) An attenuation of stable individual differences in memory in the wet condition. (e) Selective forgetting due to the presence of "physical sex" in the original stories, when these were written after drinking; also, selective forgetting of pictures which elicited such stories. (f) Selective remembering of stories with "physical sex" from some dry administrations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)