For better or worse? Coregulation of couples’ cortisol levels and mood states.

Although a majority of adults live with a close relationship partner, little is known about whether and how partners’ momentary affect and physiology covary, or “coregulate.” This study used a dyadic multilevel modeling approach to explore the coregulation of spouses’ mood states and cortisol levels in 30 married couples who sampled saliva and reported on mood states 4 times per day for 3 days. For both husbands and wives, own cortisol level was positively associated with partner’s cortisol level, even after sampling time was controlled. For wives, marital satisfaction weakened the strength of this effect. Partner’s negative mood was positively associated with own negative mood for both husbands and wives. Marital satisfaction fully moderated this effect, reducing the strength of the association between one’s own and one’s partner’s negative mood states. Spouses’ positive moods were not correlated. As expected, within-couple coregulation coefficients were stronger when mood and cortisol were sampled in the early morning and evening, when spouses were together at home, than during the workday. The results suggest that spouses’ fluctuations in negative mood and cortisol levels are linked over several days and that marital satisfaction may buffer spouses from their partners’ negative mood or stress state. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Near-death experiences: Out of body and out of mind?

Comments on the original article, Implications of near-death experiences for a post-materialist psychology, by B. Greyson (see record 2010-03251-005). Greyson (2010) has argued that complex consciousness (i.e., near-death experiences, or NDEs) under conditions such as cardiac arrest and general anesthesia challenge “materialist reductionism” and require a revised psychology anchored in 21st-century quantum physics that includes consciousness in its conceptual formulation. Unfortunately, Greyson fails to specify how quantum mechanics or a holistic approach can (a) enlighten our understanding of NDEs and (b) pave a foundation for a “new scientific conceptualization of the interface between mind and brain (Greyson, 2010, p. 43).” We agree with Greyson that NDEs are fascinating phenomena, and we further recognize that quantum mechanics undergirds chemistry, and so surely plays some as-yet- undefined role in mental processes. However, we sharply disagree that it is necessary to “expand models of the mind” on the basis of quantum mechanics “before we can progress in our understanding of consciousness and the brain (Greyson, 2010, p. 43).” We do not wish to duel with Greyson regarding if and when the brain is “completely disabled” during NDEs, but instead argue that the future is bright for understanding NDEs in terms of the everyday workings of the brain, and suggest important avenues of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trick or treat?: uneven understanding of mind and emotion and executive dysfunction in "hard-to-manage" preschoolers

It is widely recognised that impaired social relations are characteristic of school-aged children with behavioural disorders, and predict a poor long-term outcome (Parker & Asher, 1987). However, little is known about the early antecedents of social impairment in behaviourally disturbed children. The aim of the present study was to explore three areas of potential dysfunction in younger children: theory of mind, emotion understanding, and executive function. Forty preschoolers, rated by their parents on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1994) as "hard to manage" (H2M) were compared with a control group on a set of: (1) theory of mind tasks (including an emotion prediction task involving either a nice or a nasty surprise); (2) emotion understanding stories (that required affective perspective-taking skills as well as situational understanding); and (3) simple executive function tasks (adapted for preschoolers, and tapping inhibitory control, attentional set-shifting, and working memory). Small but significant group differences were found in all three cognitive domains. In particular, hard-to-manage preschoolers showed poor understanding of emotion and executive control, poor prediction or recall of a false belief, and better understanding of the belief-dependency of emotion in the context of a trick than a treat. Moreover, executive function was associated with performance on the theory of mind tasks for the hard-to-manage group alone, suggesting both direct and indirect links between executive dysfunction and disruptive behaviour.     

Perception and acceptance of technological and environmental risks: why are poor countries less concerned?

The research has been aimed at answering two questions: (1) What factors impact perception and acceptance of technological and environmental hazards? (2) Why are rich societies involved more in protecting their environment and health than poor societies? Data has been collected from representative samples of two countries--Poland and Sweden. The results indicate that (1) contrary to earlier findings, the inverse relations between perceived benefits and dangers of hazards has not been observed, (2) acceptance of a risk has been mostly influenced by perceived benefits, (3) rejection of a risk has been mostly influenced by its perceived harmful consequences. Concerning the second question, it has been found that: (1) perceived hazard's danger and benefit is not the only factor that impacts its acceptance, and (2) a broader economic context can impact acceptance (tolerance) of hazards. It has been found that being aware of high dangers and not very high benefits of hazardous activities, Poles still have accepted them. Thus, Poles seem to follow an old proverb: "When one does not have what one likes, one has to like what one has."     

Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review.

Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new look at children’s understanding of mind and emotion: The case of prayer.

Multiple methods were used to examine children’s awareness of connections between emotion and prayer. Four-, 6-, and 8-year-olds and adults (N = 100) predicted whether people would pray when feeling different emotions, explained why characters in different situations decided to pray, and predicted whether characters’ emotions would change after praying. Four- and 6-year-olds exclusively judged that positive emotions motivate prayer, whereas 8-year-olds and adults most often predicted that negative emotions would cause people to pray and that praying could improve emotions. There was also a significant increase between 4 and 8 years in explaining prayer as motivated by need for assistance, for thanksgiving, and for conversation, as well as for explaining postprayer emotions in relation to God or prayer. Religious background predicted individual differences in reasoning only for 4-year-olds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ombudspersons or peers? The effect of third-party expertise and recommendations on negotiation.

Despite the prevalence of ombudspersons (also called ombudsmen or ombuds) in organizations, little empirical research has examined their effectiveness in mediating workplace conflicts. In this laboratory study, the influence of these expert third parties was modeled. Specifically, the effects of mediator expertise and the content of the mediator's recommendations on disputants' perceptions and behavior were examined. Results showed that disputant offers remained inelastic when peers made recommendations, regardless of recommendation quality. However, the recommendations of expert third parties significantly influenced disputants' offers. Disputants reduced their offers when experts made unintegrative recommendations, and they kept their offers high when experts gave integrative-compromise recommendations. The implications of these findings for conflict-management research and organizational dispute resolution are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibitory effects of repeating color and shape: Inhibition of return or repetition blindness?

There is a current debate regarding whether attention is influenced by stimulus attributes other than location. The present article replicates and extends previous findings that repeating the nonspatial attribute of color leads to a delay in target detection (M. B. Law, J. Pratt, & R. A. Abrams, 1995). Repetition disadvantage effects were found for the stimulus attributes of both color and shape, as well as for location. However, the nonspatial repetition disadvantage disappeared if the stimuli were presented in peripheral locations (Experiments 3a, 3b, and 4) or the cue was presented for 50 ms (Experiment 6). Moreover, the magnitude of the repetition disadvantage tended to decline as the cue–target stimulus-onset asynchrony increased (Experiments 5a, 5b, and 6). These results suggest that a repetition blindness mechanism may underlie the repetition disadvantage effects of nonspatial features, rather than an inhibition of return mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Payment or repayment? The problem of private practice.

"From Freud on, it has been recognized that there is always a 'masochistic element' in neurotic and functionally psychotic individuals… . We need to be very sure that, in the fees which are charged for that otherwise doubtful service known as psychotherapy, we do not fall into the trap of merely gratifying this need for punishment on the part of the patient… . We need to be very certain… that 'therapy' does not become merely a form of expiation, much as electrically induced convulsions or hospitalization (with its overtones of imprisonment) does for others, who cannot afford 'psychotherapy."' The greatest weakness and defect of private practice "lies precisely in the fact that it offers as treatment what, in reality, is the very essence of the disease itself, namely continued privacy and personal withdrawal. Now we are coming to see that the way to feel better is to be better, in the ethical and interpersonal sense of the term." The neurotic's insecurity "stems from real guilt, which can be satisfactorily resolved only by radical openness and restitution." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and selective attention: an issue of complexity or multiple mechanisms?

Previous studies have shown age-associated deficits in selective attention that vary as a function of task demands. The present study was conducted to dissociate the effect of task complexity on age-related performance differences from qualitative differences in cognitive demands. Twenty-four young and 24 older adults were administered two versions of the Stroop Test (Hartley, 1993). The Color-Block version required identifying the color of a box while ignoring the name of a color printed either above or below the box. The Color-Word version required naming the color of a word while ignoring the semantic meaning of the word (a color name). Each version of the task included a two- and four-color choice condition as a manipulation of task complexity. Old and young adults performed comparably on the Color-Block Task, but older adults were significantly impaired on both conditions of the Color-Word Task, particularly in the four-choice condition. Results suggest age-related differences in the distinct attentional processes demanded by each task are not attributable to general slowing.     

Cognitive complexity and cognitive-affective integration: Related or separate domains of adult development?

This study used a latent variable approach to describe two broad domains of adult development and their interrelations. One domain was cognitive complexity, defined by crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence, and reflective cognition; the other domain was cognitive-affective integration, operationalized in terms of integrated and defensive coping. It was hypothesized that these 2 domains are related to each other and that they imply different developmental correlates. Structural relations among the latent variables supported a model in which integrated coping showed positive relations with crystallized intelligence and reflective cognition, whereas defensive coping showed negative relations to these cognitive factors. Age and education were significant predictors of the cognitive complexity factors, whereas evaluations of the climate in one's current family and family of origin were related to the factors of cognitive-affective integration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women's experiences of treatment of depression: Medicalization or empowerment?

An interview study was conducted in which women's experiences of diagnosis and treatment for depression were explored. Nine women (aged 19–66 yrs) who had been diagnosed by a physician participated in the study. Topics explored in the interview included how women came to be diagnosed as depressed, how treatment was experienced, how they understood the causes of their depression, and how being diagnosed had affected their view of themselves and their futures. Analysis involved a thematic approach guided by the topics addressed in the interview. The women's accounts also were analyzed with respect to the themes of medicalization and empowerment. All of the participants gave medicalized accounts of their depressive experiences, which were characterized by biomedical explanations and identification of anti-depressant drugs as beneficial in alleviating their distress. Based on this analysis of the women's accounts, it is concluded that a medicalized understanding and treatment of women's depressive experiences cannot readily co-exist with personal empowerment. Suggestions are made for developing strategies for treatment of women's depressive experiences that offer the benefits of medicalization without precluding the possibility of personal empowerment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasoning rats or associative animals? A common-element analysis of the effects of additive and subadditive pretraining on blocking.

Beckers, Miller, De Houwer, and Urushihara (2006) described the results of 3 blocking experiments conducted with rats. Beckers et al. concluded that the results of these experiments cannot be accounted for with existing theories of associative learning, and argued, instead, that the results were a consequence of the rats engaging in a process akin to effortful reasoning. Simulations of the Rescorla and Wagner (1972) theory of learning presented here challenge this conclusion by providing an alternative, associative, explanation for the results presented by Beckers et al. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling and psychotherapy: Split personality or siamese twins?

Psychotherapy is a process "implemented by interview techniques which seeks to alter the client's receptor or response system in such a way that healthy behavior will occur in situations where unhealthy behavior has been typical." An attempt will be made "to describe a kind of nonpathological emotional distress that is clearly the special province of the counseling psychologist." We "see psychotherapy and at least one type of counseling, psychological discordance reduction, as Siamese twins. These processes are two distinct but closely related entities that share some vital concerns. Perhaps one of both of these twins have split personalities, but the distinction between them is not delusional." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy integration and integrative psychotherapy: Process or product?

From rather early in the development of the psychotherapy integration movement, there were implicit tensions between alternative understandings of the concept of psychotherapy integration and of its boundaries and aims. These tensions have been healthy and productive rather than divisive, sparking different models and different kinds of integrative efforts, but it is nonetheless important to be clear that they are tensions that persist rather than tensions that have been “resolved.” In this paper, I discuss some of the history of these competing views, some of the ways that they have been given voice, and some of the possible future directions for the psychotherapy integration movement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tonal centers and expectancy: Facilitation or inhibition of chords at the top of the harmonic hierarchy?

Harmonic priming studies have shown that a musical context with its tonal center influences target chord processing. In comparison with targets following baseline contexts, which do not establish a specific tonal center, processing is facilitated for a strongly related target functioning as the tonic, but inhibited for unrelated (out-of-key) and less related (subdominant) targets. This study investigated cost and benefit patterns for the processing of the 3 most important chords of the harmonic hierarchy. Response time patterns reflected the chords' ranking: Processing was fastest for the tonic, followed by the dominant, and then the subdominant. The comparison with baseline contexts replicated the benefit of processing for tonic targets (Experiments 1 and 3) and the cost of processing for subdominant targets (Experiment 3), while dominant targets were situated at baseline level (Experiments 1 to 3). Findings indicate that listeners implicitly understand fine differences in tonal stabilities and confirm the special status of the tonic being the most expected and solely facilitated chord at the end of a tonal context. Findings are discussed with references to sensory and cognitive approaches of music perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing alternative explanations of behavior: Correction or integration?

Three experiments investigated how activation of knowledge about situational forces affects discounting in dispositional inference tasks. Each experiment varied a different knowledge activation factor—salience, accessibility, or specificity of situational information. In addition, all 3 experiments varied situational demands and cognitive load. The results showed that cognitive load eliminated discounting when situational information was low in salience, accessibility, or specificity. However, when situational information was more salient, accessible, or specific, it produced strong discounting effects even when perceivers were under cognitive load. These results are discussed in terms of correction and integration models of dispositional inferences from behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Origin of laparoscopy: coincidence or surgical interdisciplinary thought?

The history of laparoscopy illustrates the interaction between the many areas of medicine and technology; in fact, the development of that technique is a cumulative effort of internists, gynecologists, and surgeons. At the beginning of our century, however, neither group was particularly open to the idea of scholarly exchange. In this respect, an early pioneer of laparoscopy, Georg Kelling (1866-1945) of Dresden and the story surrounding the invention of the laparoscopy are interesting exceptions. Although Kelling regarded himself a surgeon, he devoted a great deal of energy to the development of "nonsurgical" methods of treatment. He spent a great part of his life determining stomach capacity, constructing a semiflexible tube endoscope (straightened after the insertion), and attempting to alleviate gastrointestinal bleeding by means of high-pressure pneumoperitoneum (lufttamponade). To observe the effects of insufflation on abdominal organs, Kelling introduced a cystoscope into the abdominal cavity. In fact, the invention of "celioscopy" or laparoscopy (1901) can be called a synthesis of Kelling's work with insufflation and his fascination with endoscopy.     

Are affective events richly recollected or simply familiar? The experience and process of recognizing feelings past.

The author used the remember/know paradigm and the dual process recognition model of A. P. Yonelinas, N. E. A. Kroll, I. Dobbins, M. Lazzara, and R. T. Knight (1998) to study the states of awareness accompanying recognition of affective images and the processes of recollection and familiarity that may underlie them. Results from all experiments showed that (a) negative stimuli tended to be remembered, whereas positive stimuli tended to be known; (b) recollection, but not familiarity, was boosted for negative or highly arousing and, to a lesser extent, positive stimuli; and (c) across experiments, variations in depth of encoding did not influence these patterns. These data suggest that greater recollection for affective events leads them to be more richly experienced in memory, and they are consistent with the idea that the states of remembering and knowing are experientially exclusive, whereas the processes underlying them are functionally independent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)