Daily interpersonal experiences, context, and alcohol consumption: crying in your beer and toasting good times

The authors explored a multidimensional view of drinking, whereby social and solitary drinking represent distinct behaviors associated with positive and negative experiences, respectively. Using daily diary methodology and multilevel analytic strategy, the authors examined, over 30 days, the within-person association of negative and positive experiences and alcohol consumption in different contexts and focused on interpersonal experiences. On days with more negative interpersonal experiences, participants engaged in more solitary drinking (i.e., drinking at home and alone), whereas on days with more positive interpersonal experiences they drank more in social contexts. The authors also demonstrated that individuals high on neuroticism drank more in solitary contexts on days with more negative interpersonal experiences, relative to those with lower neuroticism. These findings lend support to models linking daily drinking motivation and context-dependent drinking behavior.     

Male Melancholia, Identity-Loss, and Religion

This essay posits a relationship between male melancholia, defined as a complicated form of grief that resists compensatory consolation, and experiences of identity-loss. I draw especially from pastoral psychologist Donald Capps’s views on male melancholia. Concurring with Capps’s claim that melancholic men seek relief from melancholia in religion, I also draw from the psychology of Erik H. Erikson to add this emphasis: that both the roots of melancholia and subsequent experiences of melancholic loss link with experiences of perceived threats to or loss of one’s identity. I also suggest how religious rituals may ameliorate melancholia.     

Working Memory,Cerebellum, and Creativity

There is little doubt that career experiences contribute to scientific achievement; however this relationship has yet to be thoroughly investigated in terms the effects on scientific creativity. In this study, a historiometric approach was used to examine 3 areas of adult career experiences common to scientific achievement. In doing so, prior theoretical work was used to identify career experiences relevant to scientific achievement, and 3 theoretical models were proposed to account for these experiences—adversity, collaborations, and work strategies. Biographies of eminent scientists were then content coded and analyzed. The results indicated that the adversity model did not predict scientific creativity. However, the work strategies model and, to some degree, the collaborations model showed some promise in understanding the development of creative potential in scientists. The nature of the significant relationships among the model components and scientific creativity are discussed in addition to their implications for the development of the creative potential of scientists.     

Meditation has stronger relationships with mindfulness,kundalini, and mystical experiences than yoga or prayer

Contemplative practices can have profound effects on mindfulness and on physical and sensory and mystical experiences. Individuals who self-reported meditation, yoga, contemplative prayer, or a combination of practices and their patterns of practice were compared for mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences. The results suggest that the amount of practice but not the pattern and social conditions of practice influences mindfulness and possibly mystical experiences. Meditation, yoga, contemplative prayer, or a combination of practices all were found to be associated with enhancements of mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences, but meditation had particularly strong associations and may be the basis of the associations of yoga and prayer with these outcomes. The results further suggest that the primary association of contemplative practices is with the real time awareness and appreciation of sensory and perceptual experiences which may be the intermediary between disparate practices and mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences.     

A Comparative Study on Storytelling Perceptions of Chinese,Vietnamese, American,and German Education Students

The study compared the perceptions of adults from four countries about storytelling. Americans (N = 153), Germans (N = 163), Chinese (N = 324), and Vietnamese (N = 356) completed a survey. Americans' scores on measures of storytelling experiences were the highest overall. Americans and Germans reported having significantly more childhood experiences of storytelling than the Chinese and Vietnamese. Vietnamese reported that storytelling experiences have impacted their resilience and propensity to use storytelling for teaching more than Chinese and Germans. Practical implications are that educators should investigate their students' stance on storytelling so they may leverage culturally responsive literacy practices.     

Socioenvironmental experiences,self-esteem,and emotional/behavioral problems in early adolescence

Tested the role of self-esteem as a mediator of relationships between socioenvironmental experiences and emotional/behavioral problems using a sample of 215 young adolescents (Grades 7–9). Socioenvironmental experiences were assessed using self-report questionnaire measures of social support and major and minor stressful events. Self-esteem was assessed using a self-report questionnaire, an interview, and a parent-report questionnaire. Emotional/behavioral problems were assessed using self-report, parent-report and teacherreport questionnaires. Utilizing structural equation modeling, the data were used to test a model in which self-esteem mediated the relationship between socioenvironmental experiences and emotional/behavioral problems. The hypothesized model provided a reasonably good fit to the data (normed fit index=.90). However, an alternative model which also allowed for direct effects of socioenvironmental experiences on emotional/behavioral problems produced a significant improvement in model fit. In this model, socio-environmental experiences had significant effects on emotional problems via both direct effects and indirect effects that indicated a mediating role for self-esteem. Only direct effects of socioenvironmental experiences were evident for behavioral problems. This research was supported by a grant to the first author from the University of Missouri Research Board. Thanks are due to the students, staff, and parents of the Columbia Public Schools, Columbia, Missouri, for their participation in and support of this research project.     

The Neuropsychology of Aesthetic, Spiritual, and Mystical States

An analysis of the underlying neurophysiology of aesthetics and religiousexperience allows for the development of an Aesthetic-Religious Continuum. This continuumpertains to the variety of creative and spiritual experiences available to human beings. This mayalso lead to an understanding of the neurophysiological mechanism underlying both"positive" and "negative" aesthetics. An analysis of this continuumallows for the ability to understand the neurophenomenological aspects of a variety of humanexperiences ranging from relatively simple aesthetic experiences to profound spiritual and unitarystates such as those obtained during meditation. However, it may be possible through aneuropsychological analysis to determine the similarities that exist across such experiences.Thus, certain parts of the brain may be functioning in similar ways during different experiences.It may be the case that the specific neuropsychological components of a given experience maydepend on the strength of the affectual response of the person and the ability to mark suchexperiences as significant. Further, even though similar structures may be functioning duringdifferent experiences, their inhibitory and excitatory interactions may be different. Finally, byconsidering the Aesthetic-Religious Continuum, we may eventually arrive at a betterunderstanding of how we experience and define reality.     

Cognitive resources, valence, and memory retrieval of emotional events in older adults

In 2 studies with older adults, the authors investigated the effect of executive attention resources on the retrieval of emotional public events. Participants completed a battery of working memory tasks, as a measure of executive attention, and a battery of tasks assessing memory, as well as subjective experiences associated with the retrieval of remote public events. Participants also rated the valence of each public event story. The group-rated valence of the public event stories predicted retrieval and the quality of experiences associated with them, such that emotionally arousing events elicited the highest memory rates and the richest experiences. Furthermore, positive public events elicited the highest memory rates. Executive attention moderated only the relationship between event valence and how participants' associated memories are experienced at retrieval, such that superior executive attention resources predicted richer experiences associated with positive relative to neutral and negative stories. The current results extend previous findings on the effects of aging on emotion regulation, suggesting that cognitive control resources modulate subjective experiences associated with retrieved memories for remote real life events, but not memory retrieval itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Aggressive Experiences and Aggressiveness: Relationship to Ethnicity,Gender, and Age1

This study assessed the relationship of experiences as a target and an instigator of aggression to ethnicity, gender, age, and scores on the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire in a sample of 363 university students. Anglos reported experiencing more aggression in their lifetime than Hispanics as both target and aggressor, but there were no interactions between ethnicity and gender. Males had experienced more aggression than females both over a lifetime and in the last month; they also scored significantly higher on scales of physical and verbal aggression. Respondent age was negatively correlated with experiences of aggression in the last month and with aggression questionnaire scale scores. The results are consistent with a social learning account of aggression as influenced by both individual experiences and culture.     

Gender differences in emotional experiences across childhood,romantic relationship,and self-defining memories

The aim of the present study is to examine the gender differences in emotional experiences across three different types of autobiographical memory. A total of 612 undergraduate students from Izmir, Turkey, were asked to recall a memory either from childhood, from romantic relationships, or from self-defining experiences. A gender difference was found in the intensity of anxiety, sadness, and pride for romantic relationship memories. Men had higher scores on emotional distancing than women in self-defining memories. With regard to emotional valance, women’s feelings were less positive than men’s feelings when remembering childhood and romantic relationship experiences, whereas they were more positive than men’s feelings when remembering self-defining experiences. The findings support the notion that gender differences in emotional experiences during the autobiographical recollection of personal life events vary across different memory types.     

Couples,Counter-Transference and Constant Error

SUMMARY

Comments on the author's experiences of counter-transference and the relationship of those experiences to her own personality, as an example of the phenomenon of Constant Error. Illustrative material from two cases.     

Relationships between work values,socio-educational and work experiences,and vocational aspirations of 6th, 9th, 10th,and 12th graders

Using a cross-sectional design and canonical regression analysis, the differential relationships between work values and social, educational, and occupational experiences and aspirations were examined for boys and girls in grades 6, 9, 10, and 12. Support was found for predicted differences in work-values correlates across grades and between sexes. The experiences and aspirations studied generally correlated positively with an intrinsic value pattern for girls rather than boys. Discussion focuses on possible determinants of sex-related differences in the patterning and correlates of work values.     

Intersection of race,gender, and nationality in teaching about race and racism

Teaching about race and racism is important in social work education, yet at times it can present perplexing experiences for some faculty members. Using the concept of intersectionality, this paper presents a narrative on my experience of teaching race and racism as a Black, female professor from the Caribbean. Examples of my pedagogical responses during these experiences are presented.     

Representationalism,perceptual distortion and the limits of phenomenal concepts

This paper replies to objections from perceptual distortion (blur, perspective, double vision, etc.) against the representationalist thesis that the phenomenal characters of experiences supervene on their intentional contents. It has been argued that some pairs of distorted and undistorted experiences share contents without sharing phenomenal characters, which is incompatible with the supervenience thesis. In reply, I suggest that such cases are not counterexamples to the representationalist thesis because the contents of distorted experiences are always impoverished in some way compared to those of normal experiences. This can be shown by considering limit cases of perceptual distortion, for example, maximally blurry experiences, which manifestly lack details present in clear experiences. I argue that since there is no reasonable way to draw the line between distorted experiences that have degraded content and distorted experiences that do not, we should allow that an increase in distortion is always accompanied by a degradation in content. I also discuss the prospects for a positive account of the contents specific to distorted experiences. I argue that the prospects for such an account are dim, but that this is due to limitations of our phenomenal concepts, not to the falsity of the representationalist thesis.     

Attachment and God representations among lay Catholics, priests, and religious: a matched comparison study based on the Adult Attachment Interview

Based on the idea that believers' perceived relationships with God develop from their attachment-related experiences with primary caregivers, the authors explored the quality of such experiences and their representations among individuals who differed in likelihood of experiencing a principal attachment to God. Using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), they compared attachment-related experiences and representations in a group of 30 Catholic priests and religious with a matched group of lay Catholics and with the worldwide normal distribution of AAI classifications. They found an overrepresentation of secure-autonomous states regarding attachment among those more likely to experience a principal attachment to God (i.e., the priests and religious) compared with the other groups and an underrepresentation of unresolved-disorganized states in the two groups of Catholics compared with the worldwide normal distribution. Key findings also included links between secure-autonomous states regarding attachment and estimated experiences with loving or nonrejecting parents on the one hand and loving God imagery on the other. These results extend the literature on religion from an attachment perspective and support the idea that generalized working models derived from attachment experiences with parents are reflected in believers' perceptions of God.     

Early adolescents' experiences with, and views of, Barbie

There has been a great deal of debate over the influence of Barbie dolls on girls' developing self-concept and body image. Two qualitative studies were conducted to gather information about early adolescents' experiences with, and perspectives on, the controversial toy. In Study 1, focus groups with twenty 6th-grade girls suggested that they have ambiguous feelings toward the doll and the feminine sexualized image it represents. Study 2 gathered essay responses from fifty 7th- and 8th-grade boys and girls regarding their experiences with, and opinions on, Barbie dolls. Participants reported both positive and negative feelings toward the doll and its influence on girls' development.     

Integrating expectations,experiences, and psychological contract violations: A longitudinal study of new professionals

This research investigated the relationships among pre‐entry expectations, post‐entry experiences and psychological contract violations. The goal was to clarify the conceptual distinctions between the constructs and to test their differential impact on job satisfaction. In a national longitudinal study, 235 final‐year occupational therapy students were surveyed immediately prior to entering the profession and again 14 months later. Post‐entry experiences regarding supervision were found to predict psychological contract violation. Post‐entry experiences and psychological contract violations were found to jointly predict job satisfaction, with psychological contract violations demonstrating the stronger relationship. Pre‐entry expectations were positively correlated with job satisfaction, but this relationship was fully mediated by post‐entry experiences. Met expectations, as measured by an interaction between pre‐entry expectations and post‐entry experiences, was not a predictor of psychological contract violation. Nor did met expectations predict job satisfaction after controlling for contract violations. The findings reinforce a positive relationship between job satisfaction and turnover. These findings support the use of separate and commensurate measures of pre‐entry expectations and post‐entry experiences, and the integration of all three constructs in models of job satisfaction.     

Wanting, having, and needing: integrating motive disposition theory and self-determination theory

Four studies explored the motivational and experiential dynamics of psychological needs, applying both self-determination theory and motive disposition theory. In all 4 studies, motive dispositions toward achievement and affiliation ("wanting" particular experiences) predicted corresponding feelings of competence and relatedness ("having" those experiences). Competence and relatedness in turn predicted well-being, again indicating that these 2 experiences may really be "needed." Illuminating how wanting gets to having, in Studies 2 and 3, participants reported greater self-concordance for motive-congruent goals, which, in longitudinal Study 3, predicted greater attainment of those goals and thus enhanced well-being. Study 4 replicated selected earlier results using an implicit as well as an explicit motive disposition measure. Supporting the presumed universality of competence and relatedness needs, in no studies did motive dispositions moderate the effects of corresponding need-satisfaction on well-being. Discussion focuses on a "sequential process" model of psychological needs that views needs as both motives that instigate and outcomes that reward behavior.     

Claims of Near-Death Experiences, Gestalt Resistance Processes, and Measures of Optimal Functioning

The present study investigated the relationship between claims of near-death experiences (NDEs) and measures of self-actualization, Gestalt resistance processes, transfluence, mystical experiences, and claims of peak life experiences in a sample of 155 individuals. As hypothesized, I found significant positive correlations between the claims of NDEs and transfluence and mystical experiences. I found no significant correlations between claims of NDEs and the seven Gestalt resistances, suggesting that NDErs are neither more nor less resistant than nonNDErs. I also found no significant relationship between claims of NDEs and self-actualization or claims of peak life experiences.     

Schizotypy and mental health amongst poets, visual artists, and mathematicians

Many researchers have found evidence of an association between creativity and the predisposition to mental illness. However, a number of questions remain unanswered. First, it is not clear whether healthy creatives have a milder loading on schizotypal traits than people who suffer serious psychopathology, or whether they have an equal loading, but other mediating characteristics. Second, most of the existing research has concentrated on artistic creativity, and the position of other creative domains is not yet clear. The present study compares schizotypy profiles using the O-LIFE inventory in a large sample of poets, artists, mathematicians, the general population, and psychiatric patients. Poets and artists have levels of unusual experiences that are higher than controls, and as high as schizophrenia patients. However, they are relatively low on the dimension of introvertive anhedonia. Mathematicians are lower than controls on unusual experiences. The results suggest that artistic creatives and psychiatric patients share a tendency to unusual ideas and experiences, but creative groups are distinguished by the absence of anhedonia and avolition. Moreover, different domains of creativity require different cognitive profiles, with poetry and art associated with divergent thinking, schizophrenia and affective disorder, and mathematics associated with convergent thinking and autism.