The Social Adjustment of Delinquents Who are Unable to Inhibit old Automatic Perceptual Responses

Summary

This study explored rumor transmission as a function of the anxiety of the group exposed to that rumor. Four eight-member groups which were designated either as high anxiety or low anxiety on the basis of scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were presented with a rumor through a sociometrically selected individual. Issues relevant to the groups, with basic similarities across all four groups, were selected as the rumors. That these topics were equally important to the individuals involved is testified to by the fact that importance rating on these issues at the conclusion of the study did not differ significantly among the groups. As predicted, the groups that were high anxious when confronted with a rumor of importance transmitted that rumor throughout that group with a higher frequency than did the groups of low anxious members when confronted with an issue of importance. A model of rumor transmission dependent upon anxiety was proposed.     

谣言传播的情境、内容、传播者与受众特征及相关认知神经科学研究

什么样的谣言更容易获取信任、得到传播？面对谣言,为何有人理性批判,有人则毫不犹豫地点“赞”、转发？这是大众和研究者们共同关注的问题。本文主要从情境、内容特征、传播者与受众特征这三个维度论述了影响谣言传播的因素。从情境特征来看,谣言在模糊且具有潜在威胁的情境中更易传播,封闭的舆论场也助长了谣言传播;从内容特征来看,包含适当情绪内容、针对特定对象的谣言更易得到传播;从传播者与受众特征来看,一方面,可靠消息源会增强人们的传播意愿;另一方面,受众的认知局限、人格特质、动机、价值观等,均可能造成认知偏差或歪曲,助长谣言传播。以往研究多采用问卷调查法,今后需要更多严格控制变量的实验研究,从行为和神经层面深入探讨谣言传播的机制。最后,社交媒体数据采集与分析技术的发展,尤其是计算传播学等交叉学科的发展,为谣言传播研究提供了新的思路和方法。     

谣言传播的影响因素及动机机制研究述评

谣言是指一种据称真实但未经证实的普遍流传的说法。谣言会通过社会成员之间的信息传递而影响公众的态度和行为。谣言在传播过程中,既受到个体水平上的认知和情绪变量的影响,也受到群体变量及情境变量的影响。个体传播谣言的心理动机包括寻求事实、关系提升和自我提升。谣言在突发公共事件（自然灾害、事故灾难、公共卫生事件、社会安全事件等）中具有很大的破坏性,在群体性事件中谣言的传播、扩散会使矛盾更加激化,冲突进一步升级。未来的研究需要进一步探查影响谣言传播的群体因素,从群体动力学的角度探究谣言传播的心理机制,并考虑谣言在突发社会事件中传播的特征。     

Anxiety and Asthma Symptoms in Urban Adolescents with Asthma: The Mediating Role of Illness Perceptions

Twenty to 40% of adolescents with asthma experience significant symptoms of anxiety. This study examined the mediational role of illness perceptions in the relationship between anxiety and asthma symptoms in adolescents. One hundred fifty-one urban adolescents (ages 11–18) with asthma completed measures of illness perceptions, and anxiety and asthma symptoms. Using the Baron and Kenny approach and Sobel tests, we examined whether illness perceptions mediated the anxiety-asthma symptom relationship. Three illness perceptions significantly mediated the relationship between anxiety and asthma symptoms, z = 1.97–2.13, p < .05; adjusted R ² = 0.42–0.51, p < .05. Greater anxiety symptoms were associated with perceptions that asthma negatively impacted one’s life and emotions and was difficult to control. These negative illness perceptions were, in turn, related to greater asthma symptoms. Illness perceptions helped explain the anxiety-asthma symptoms link in adolescents. Results suggest that targeting illness perceptions in adolescents with asthma and anxiety may help reduce asthma symptoms.     

Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on prenatal stress,anxiety and depression

Low well-being is common among Chinese pregnant women but few effective interventions currently exist to improve prenatal stress and negative emotions. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been proved to be effective in reducing stress and rarely studies were focused on Chinese pregnant women. The aim of the current paper is to investigate the effects of 8-week MBSR on prenatal stress, anxiety and depression among Chinese pregnant women. A sample of 66 pregnant women randomly allocated into either the MBSR group (n=34) or the control group (n=32). Participants in the MBSR group received a group 8-week, 90-min each time intervention. The results found a significant interaction between time and condition for prenatal stress (F=45.51, p<0.001, η ²=0.427), anxiety (F=19.30, p<0.001, η ²=0.240), while depression showed no time-by-group interaction (F=0.29, p=0.589, η ²=0.005). As for the sub-scale of state anxiety, while there was only no time effect (F=3.68, p=0.060, η ²=0.057). The findings of this study preliminary indicated effects of the MBSR intervention on self-reported prenatal stress and anxiety in comparison to a treatment-as-usual control. Effect on depression was not observed may due to the low level of depression of participants. This study provides preliminary evidence that MBSR is suitable for Chinese pregnant women and be effective in decreasing prenatal stress, anxiety.     

Sleep problems,anxiety and cognitive style in school‐aged children

The associations between sleep problems, anxiety, anxiety sensitivity and attributional style were examined in self‐report data from 79 children aged 8–11 years. Total anxiety score was associated with different types of sleep problems (bedtime resistance, sleep anxiety and nightmares). Conversely, total sleep problem score was associated with different sub‐scales of anxiety (from r(78) = 0.15, p = NS to r(79) = 0.47, p < 0.01). Symptoms of anxiety correlated significantly with anxiety sensitivity, but not with attributional style. After controlling for other symptoms of anxiety, school phobias (Beta = 0.26, p < 0.05), the mental incapacitation concerns scale of anxiety sensitivity (Beta = 0.26, p < 0.05), and attributional style (Beta = −0.31, p < 0.01, R² = 0.45) predicted sleep problems. These results suggest that anxiety is associated with a range of sleep problems, and that sleep problems are associated with different types of anxiety. Furthermore, certain cognitive styles are associated with both anxiety and sleep problems and may be good candidates for further research into the association between sleep problems and anxiety in children. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Troubling Consequences of Online Political Rumoring

Fear that the Internet promotes harmful political rumoring is merited but not for reasons originally anticipated. Although the network accelerates and widens rumor circulation, on the whole, it does not increase recipient credulity. E‐mail, however, which fosters informal political communication within existing social networks, poses a unique threat to factual political knowledge. A national telephone survey conducted immediately after the 2008 U.S. presidential election provides evidence that aggregate Internet use promotes exposure to both rumors and their rebuttals, but that the total effect on rumor beliefs is negligible. More troublingly, the data demonstrate that rumors e‐mailed to friends/family are more likely to be believed and shared with others and that these patterns of circulation and belief exhibit strong political biases.     

Ferreting Facts or Fashioning Fallacies? Factors in Rumor Accuracy

In some situations, rumors come to reflect reality quite well and in others they become fantastic. Why? This article summarizes research on rumor accuracy. It considers rumors as unverified statements in circulation, and rumor discussion as serving group sensemaking and threat-management functions. It also explores a complementary view of rumors as memes: adaptive statements that survive or die out. Conceptualizations of rumor accuracy, methods of investigation, prospects for future social psychological study, and accuracy rates are examined. The Percolation Model of rumor accuracy is reviewed: rumor distortions and errors that occur in part because of cognitive limitations and perceptual biases are either compounded by relationship- or self-oriented aims and a circumscribed ability to test the rumor, or countervailed by accuracy motivation, message checking, and veracity checking; rumor activity hastens these processes. The multivariate, interactive, and dynamical systems nature of rumor accuracy phenomena is highlighted. The implications of this research for social epistemics are discussed.     

Growing Up Perfect: Perfectionism,Problematic Internet Use,and Career Indecision in Emerging Adults

Among emerging adults who are career indecisive, perfectionism and problematic Internet use (PIU) are underdeveloped areas of inquiry. The authors examined the relationship between perfectionism and PIU to measure their contributions to career indecision. The full model was significant, yielding an R² of .46 (p < .0001). PIU accounted for the majority of variance in career indecision (adjusted R² = .32). Career indecision was also related to maladaptive but not adaptive perfectionism. Counseling implications are discussed.     

Ethnicity of Defendants and Jurors as Influences on Jury Decisions1

To assess the influence of ethnicity on jury decisions, 480 subjects viewed a videotaped trial of an Anglo or Hispanic defendant. Anglo or Hispanic majority 6-person juries deliberated until a unanimous verdict was reached. The juries that convicted the defendant were asked to determine sentence length and to provide a probation/ parole recommendation. Anglo majority juries convicted the defendant significantly more (M= 79%) than did the Hispanic majority juries (M= 52%), x²= 5.45, p < 0.02. No main effect of defendant ethnicity was obtained, but there was an interaction between the defendant and the jury's ethnicity, x²= 5.41, p < 0.02. Anglo majority juries were more lenient with the Anglo defendant, but the Hispanic majority juries did not differ in their conviction rates. No significant effects were obtained for sentence length. Differences in probation/parole recommendations were a function of jury ethnicity, F(l, 15) = 4.74, p < 0.05. Anglos were more likely to recommend that the defendant serve the full term of the sentence. These results are interpreted in terms of stereotyping and are discussed regarding their implications for a defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial.     

Socioeconomic and sociocultural determinants of psychological distress and quality of life among patients with psoriasis in a selected multi-ethnic Malaysian population

Patients with psoriasis may have increased risk of psychological comorbidities. This cross-sectional study aimed at determining associations between sociocultural and socioeconomic factors with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) scores and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores. Adult patients with psoriasis were recruited from a Dermatology outpatient clinic via convenience sampling. Interviews were conducted regarding socio-demographic factors and willing subjects were requested to complete the DASS and DLQI questionnaires. The Pearson χ² test, Fisher’s exact test and multivariate logistic regression were used for statistical analysis to determine independent predictors of depression, anxiety, stress and severe impairment of quality of life. Unadjusted analysis revealed that depression was associated with Indian ethnicity (p = .041) and severe impairment of quality of life was associated with Indian ethnicity (p = .032), higher education (p = .013), higher income (p = .042), and employment status (p = .014). Multivariate analysis revealed that Indian ethnicity was a predictor of depression (p = .024). For stress, tertiary level of education (p = .020) was an independent risk factor while a higher monthly income was a protective factor (p = .042). The ethnic Indians and Malays were significantly more likely than the ethnic Chinese to suffer reduced quality of life (p = .001 and p = .006 respectively) and subjects with tertiary education were more likely to have severe impairment of quality of life (p = .002). Our study was unique in determining sociocultural influences on psychological complications of psoriasis in a South East Asian population. This has provided invaluable insight into factors predictive of adverse effects of psoriasis on psychological distress and quality of life in our patient population. Future studies should devise interventions to specifically target at risk groups in the development of strategies to reduce morbidity associated with psoriasis.     

Locus of control,anxiety, and depression in infertile patients

This study aimed to examine the relationship of locus of control (LoC) with anxiety and depression disorders, applying multivariate statistical techniques to control for the effects of demographic/fertility variables. This cross-sectional study included 312 infertile patients in a referral fertility center in Tehran, Iran via convenience sampling. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Levenson’s Locus of Control Scale were administered to all participants. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions were used to identify factors associated with anxiety and depression. After controlling for demographic/fertility variables, hierarchical regression analyses showed that internal LoC was negatively associated with anxiety (β = –.213, p < .001) and depression (β = –.269, p < .001). Powerful others subscale was positively associated with anxiety (β = .176, p < .001), but there was no significant relationship between this subscale and depression (β = .047, p = .467). The findings of this study merit the understanding of the role of demographic/fertility characteristics and LoC orientations in anxiety and depression of infertile patients to identify beforehand those patients who might be at risk of experiencing high anxiety and depression and in need of support.     

Rumor and Prediction: Making Sense (but Losing Dollars) in the Stock Market

It is proposed that by making sense of unpredictable price movements, rumors spawn anti-regressive predictions and adversely affect trading decisions despite investor denigration of rumors. Two experimental stock market simulations investigated these ideas. Subjects were presented with news (Study 1) and published and unpublished rumors (Study 2) while participating in a computerized investment game. As compared with controls, all manipulations caused departures from a profitable buy-low-sell-high (tracking) trading strategy despite strong differences in rated credibility between types of information source. Subjects claimed that rumor sources were non-credible and that they were not influenced by rumors in trading decisions; nevertheless they traded on rumors as though they were news. Results integrate rumor theory with the psychology of prediction, extend the corpus of rumor literature to behavior, and highlight the sense-making function of rumor in situations filled with uncertainty.     

Religious Orientation and Ethnic Identity as Predictors of Religious Coping Among Bereaved Individuals

Religious orientation and ethnic identity inform the religious coping process, but research on this topic is scarce. The authors collected data on these constructs from a sample (N = 319) of bereaved adults. A canonical correlation analysis showed that individuals who engage in traditional spiritual practices and strive to achieve ordinary and transcendental spiritual goals are more likely to engage in positive religious coping (Wilks's Λ = .36, R_c² = .62, p < .001). Also, a multiple regression analysis revealed that individuals with higher levels of ethnic identity development are more likely to engage in positive religious coping (β = .12, t < .05). Finally, a discriminant analysis indicated that ethnic identity and a conservative religious orientation discriminated between Whites and ethnic minority individuals, Wilks's Λ = .71, χ²(4, N = 204) = 70.10, p < .001, R_c² = .26. The authors encourage counselors to strengthen their multicultural and spiritual competencies to provide effective services to a culturally and religiously diverse clientele.     

Rumination as a transdiagnostic factor in depression and anxiety

The high rate of comorbidity among mental disorders has driven a search for factors associated with the development of multiple types of psychopathology, referred to as transdiagnostic factors. Rumination is involved in the etiology and maintenance of major depression, and recent evidence implicates rumination in the development of anxiety. The extent to which rumination is a transdiagnostic factor that accounts for the co-occurrence of symptoms of depression and anxiety, however, has not previously been examined. We investigated whether rumination explained the concurrent and prospective associations between symptoms of depression and anxiety in two longitudinal studies: one of adolescents (N = 1065) and one of adults (N = 1317). Rumination was a full mediator of the concurrent association between symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents (z = 6.7, p < .001) and was a partial mediator of this association in adults (z = 5.6, p < .001). In prospective analyses in the adolescent sample, baseline depressive symptoms predicted increases in anxiety, and rumination fully mediated this association (z = 5.26, p < .001). In adults, baseline depression predicted increases in anxiety and baseline anxiety predicted increases in depression; rumination fully mediated both of these associations (z = 2.35, p = .019 and z = 5.10, p < .001, respectively). These findings highlight the importance of targeting rumination in transdiagnostic treatment approaches for emotional disorders.     

Study of Sexual Concordance in Men and Women with Different Typologies of Adherence to the Sexual Double Standard

Background/ObjectiveSexual concordance (i.e., relationship between genital response and subjective sexual arousal) is higher in men than in women. Among the factors that could explain this difference would be the sexual double standard (SDS). Sexual concordance is examined by SDS typologies of adherence (egalitarian, man-favorable, and woman-favorable).MethodDuring exposure to a film with sexual content, genital response (penile circumference/vaginal pulse amplitude) and self-reported sexual arousal were recorded in 104 young adults (42 men and 62 women), distributed into SDS typologies of adherence on the basis of their scores on the Sexual Double Standard Scale.ResultsSexual concordance was obtained in men and women with egalitarian and man-favorable typology. Subjective sexual arousal explained a significant percentage of the variance in genital response in the egalitarian typology (men: R² = .32, p < .01; women: R² = .19, p < .05) and man-favorable typology (men: R² = .21, p < .05; women: R² = .23, p < .05).ConclusionsAgreement between genital responsiveness and subjective sexual arousal depends on DES adherence typology.     

Psychophysiological correlates of organizational change and threat of unemployment among police inspectors

The study examined psychosocial work-conditions and physiological reactions among thirty-six police inspectors (median age 45 years, 81% males) who participated in a reorganization. At this time, subjects were threatened by unemployment and had to reapply for their positions in a new police district. Data were collected during the reorganization and at three years follow-up, by means of questionnaires (Stress Profile) and blood samples. The blood samples were used to determine serum levels of gammaglutamyltransferase (GGT), glucose, lipids, prolactin, testosterone and cortisol. The results show a positive association betweenworry about employment and symptoms ofburnout during the reorganization. Mean scores for the Stress Profile sub-scalesworry about employment (p<.01) andwork-load (p<.05) decreased between measurements but an impairment inrelationships with management was noticed (p<.05). No significant changes were observed in terms of self-rated health complaints. Significant decreases in total cholesterol (p<.0001), LDL-cholesterol (p<.0001), LDL/HDL-ratio (p<.01), prolactin (p<.0001), as well as increases in testosterone (p<.01) and cortisol (p<.001) were observed for the whole sample. Glucose decreased with marginal significance (<.07). Controlling for age and gender, multivariate regression analyses showed that subjects who reported deteriorations insatisfaction with work manifested the most modest decreases in prolactin (p<.05). Also, the decrease in glucose was larger for subjects who experienced impairments in,satisfaction with work (p<.05), information (p<.05), task-oriented leadership, (p<.05), andrespect and dignity (p<.05). Subjects who perceived deteriorations in theethical and moral standards of the organization increased their cortisol level to a lower degree than their counterparts (p<.05). Favorable changes in employment status and psychosocial work environment seem to be related to improved physiological functioning.     

Altruism in adolescents and young adults: validation of an instrument to measure generative altruism with structural equation modeling

Aim of this study was to develop and test a research instrument to measure generative and functional altruism in adolescents/young adults. In an anonymous questionnaire survey using standardised questionnaires, 873 students were recruited in academic high schools and professional schools. The 7-item Generative Altruism Scale (GALS), which includes affective and behavioural elements, correlated with relevant external measures that correspond with the underlying construct. Confirmatory factor analysis proved an acceptable model fit with characteristics of χ² [df = 14, N = 846] = 129.946, p < .001, CFI = .91, AIC = 157.946, and SRMR = .048. Female and male students differed significantly with respect to altruism scores (F = 25.5; p < .0001). The GALS could be used for empirical studies analysing the connection between altruism and the development of ethical values and prosocial behaviour. Particularly, compassion as an intrinsic motivator could be fostered in appropriate education programmes.     

Monitoring stress among internal medicine residents: an experience-driven,practical and short measure

Residents experience severely high levels of stress, depression and burnout, leading to perceived medical errors, as well as to symptoms of impairment, such as chronic anger, cognitive impairment, suicidal behavior and substance abuse. Because research has not yet provided a psychometrically robust population-specific tool to measure the level of stress of medicine residents, we aimed at building and validating such a measure. Using an inductive scale development approach, a short, pragmatic measure was built, based on the interviews of 17 medicine residents. The Internal Medicine Residency Stress Scale (IMRSS) was then administered in a sample of 259 internal medicine residents (199 females, 60 males, M_Age = 25.6) along with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Satisfaction With Life Scale and Ways of Coping Checklist. The IMRSS showed satisfactory internal reliability (Cronbach’s α = .86), adequate structural validity – studied through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (χ²/df = 2.51, CFI = .94; SRMR = .037, RMSEA = .076) – and good criterion validity – the IMRSS was notably strongly correlated with emotional exhaustion (r = .64; p < .001) and anxiety (r = .57; p < .001). Because of its short length and robust psychometric qualities, the use of the IMRSS is recommended to quickly and frequently assess and monitor stress among internal medicine residents.