Unconscious Responses to Threatening Pictures: Interactive Effect of Trait Anxiety and Social Desirability on Skin Conductance Responses

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of trait anxiety and social desirability on skin conductance responses (SCRs) following exposure to masked and unmasked pictures in a non‐clinical sample. The most prominent results were found with regard to masked pictures (i.e. subliminal). Higher levels of social desirability were associated with a decrease in SCRs to masked threat pictures (relative to neutral), whereas elevated levels of trait anxiety were associated with an increase in SCRs. This latter effect, however, was mainly seen among participants who simultaneously scored low on social desirability. These results were discussed in terms of trait anxiety (combined with lower social desirability scores) being associated with (i) enhanced autonomic responses to threatening information most evident at a pre‐attentive level, that (ii) may potentially be a vulnerability marker for anxiety disturbances.     

心理学研究本土文化取向的理论与实践

经由本地化研究建立本土心理学的呼声,自20世纪80年代以来,在两岸三地即已时有所闻．惟对“本土”或“本地化”的概念并不明确。到90年代末期台湾部分心理学家提出三地论的概念^[3],认为港、台、大陆三地因长期隔离,社会形态各异,故而主张三地华人社会的心理学者应各自建立自己的本土心理学(台湾本土心理学、大陆本土心理学、香港本土心理学)。此种纯以地区为前提的心理学研究取向有待商榷．原因是如将心理学视为研究人性特质的科学。并将心理与行为视为人性特质的表徽。显而易见的是,影响心理与行为的文化因素大于地区因素。基于此义．本文提出采用心理学研究本土文化取向的建议．并试从心理学思想的演变中分析探讨此一建议的合理性。一得之愚尚请学界先进批评指教。     

From Theory of Rhetoric to the Practice of Language Use: The Case of Appeals to Ethos Elements

In their book Commitment in Dialogue, Walton and Krabbe claim that formal dialogue systems for conversational argumentation are “not very realistic and not easy to apply”. This difficulty may make argumentation theory less well adapted to be employed to describe or analyse actual argumentation practice. On the other hand, the empirical study of real-life arguments may miss or ignore insights of more than the two millennia of the development of philosophy of language, rhetoric, and argumentation theory. In this paper, we propose a novel methodology for adapting such theories to serve as applicable tools in the study of argumentation phenomena. Our approach is both theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded in large-scale corpus analysis. The area of interest are appeals to ethos, the character of the speaker, building upon Aristotle’s rhetoric. Ethotic techniques are used to influence the hearers through the communication, where speakers might establish, but also emphasise, weaken or undermine their own or others’ credibility and trustworthiness. Specifically, we apply our method to Aristotelian theory of ethos elements which identifies practical wisdom, moral virtue and goodwill as components of speakers’ character, which can be supported or attacked. The challenges we identified in this case and the solutions we proposed allow us to formulate general guidelines of how to exploit rich theoretical frameworks to the analysis of the practice of language use.

     

The Use of Consultation in Psychological Practice: Ethical,Legal, and Clinical Considerations

The importance of consulting with other professionals to maintain acceptable standards of care is well documented in many health care professions. However, evidence indicates that many psychologists fail to utilize consultation when needed, and that consultation use varies along dimensions such as the education and training of the consultee, the type of setting, number of years in practice, and proximity to available consultants. In this article, we review the research on the use of consultation by psychologists as well as other health care professionals. We discuss the clinical, ethical, and legal implications of seeking consultation as a professional psychologist. Finally, a detailed and practical model for the regular use of consultation is given to improve the routine use of consultation in clinical practice.     

Psychological Contracts and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Employee Responses to Transactional and Relational Breach

Purpose  

This study extends the research on counterproductive work behavior (CWB) by examining the psychological contract breaches that trigger employee CWB. Specifically, we explored the relationship between transactional and relational contract breach and five forms of CWB (abuse, production deviance, sabotage, theft, and withdrawal). Further, we considered the role of situational and individual factors that mitigate CWB engagement and examined the moderating effects of organizational policies meant to deter CWB and personality (conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability).     

Parent Proneness to Shame and the Use of Psychological Control

We examined the link between parent proneness to shame and two forms of psychological control, overprotection and critical/rejecting behavior, in parents of preschoolers. Because shame is self-condemning, proneness to shame affects intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning. We hypothesized that parents’ emotion-regulatory responses to shame would increase the likelihood of psychological control: anxiety by leading to overprotection mediated by a worrisome approach to the child, and anger/hostility by leading to critical/rejecting parenting mediated by negative reactivity to the child. Participants were 198 mother-father pairs with a child 3.6 to 4.5 years of age. Overprotective and critical/rejecting parenting were assessed using both self and spouse reports of parenting practices. In addition, parents completed measures of proneness to shame, worrisome overconcern about the child, and negative reactivity to the child. Structural equation modeling yielded results that supported mediation by negative approach to the child for mothers’ and fathers’ critical/rejecting behavior. For fathers but not mothers, shame was indirectly associated with overprotective parenting through worrisome approach to the child. Parents’ proneness to shame may be an important factor leading to the use of psychological control.     

The Relation of Psychopathic Characteristics and Anxiety in Noncriminals: Physiological and Cognitive Responses to Guided Imagery

In response to a paucity of research examining the phenomenology of psychopathy among nonforensic samples, the present study explored the relations among psychopathic traits, self-reported anxiety, and physiological reactivity to experimental stimuli. Undergraduate students with no history of criminal behavior listened to four audiotaped vignettes designed to elicit affective responses. Imagery and anxiety ratings, as well as physiological indices supported the utility of the experimental manipulation. Consistent with data obtained among forensic samples, participants with greater psychopathic characteristics exhibited electrodermal hyporeactivity in response to guided imagery. However, inconsistent with previous findings, hyporeactivity was primarily related to high emotional detachment rather than elevated levels of deviant behavior. Results also suggested certain psychopathic qualities (emotional detachment) may be more associated with somatic and trait anxiety than other characteristics (deviant behavior), although anxiety did not moderate the effects of psychopathic characteristics on physiological responding. Theoretical implications are addressed, including the possible generalizability of psychophysiological models of diagnosed psychopaths to individuals with more benign psychopathic characteristics.     

Bad Drives Psychological Reactions, but Good Propels Behavior: Responses to Honesty and Deception

ABSTRACT— Research across disciplines suggests that bad is stronger than good and that individuals punish deception more than they reward honesty. However, methodological issues in previous research limit the latter conclusion. Three experiments resolved these issues and consistently found the opposite pattern: Individuals rewarded honesty more frequently and intensely than they punished deception. Experiment 2 extended these counterintuitive findings by revealing a divergence between evaluation and behavior: Evaluative reactions to deception were stronger than those to honesty, but behavioral intentions in response to honesty were stronger than those in response to deception. In addition, individuals wanted to avoid deceivers more than they wanted to approach honest actors. Experiment 3 found that punishment, but not reward, frequencies were sensitive to costs. Moderated-mediation tests revealed the role of different psychological mechanisms: Negative affect drove punishments, whereas perceived trustworthiness drove rewards. Overall, bad appears to be stronger than good in influencing psychological reactions, but good seems to be stronger than bad in influencing behavior.     

The Relationship of Skill Level and Age to the Use of Imagery by Golfers

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship of an objective measure of skill level, golf handicap, and age to the use of imagery. Five different functions of imagery were assessed through the Sport Imagery Questionnaire: cognitive specific, cognitive general, motivational specific, motivational general-arousal, and motivational general-mastery. Pearson correlations indicated handicap was significantly related to all five functions of imagery, while age was significantly related to the cognitive specific, cognitive general, and motivational general-mastery functions. As handicap decreased there was a corresponding increase in imagery use. As age increased there was a corresponding decrease in imagery use. Five hierarchical regressions were performed and handicap predicted the use of all five functions of imagery. The addition of age to the regression equations significantly added to the prediction of the cognitive functions of imagery use. Also, the interaction between handicap and age had a significant effect on the use of motivational general-mastery imagery.     

Connecting Theory to Practice: Karl Barth, Capability Theory and Psychiatric Social Work

This paper explores linkages between theory and practice in psychiatric social work, specifically between Karl Barth’s theology of social justice, Martha Nussbaum’s capability theory, and an innovative component in psychiatric services called the decision support center. The decision support center is itself a multi-component system that not only aims at improving and enhancing psychiatric medication consultations, but, in so doing, also serves broader sociopolitical ends. Four congruent themes in Barth’s and Nussbaum’s theories are discussed and applied.     

Extending the Theory of Realistic Conflict to Competition in Institutional Settings: Intergroup Status and Outcome

Abstract

The authors analyzed the extent to which the Theory of Realistic Conflict can be extended to institutional settings in which groups are not actively involved in decisions but are passive targets of decisions taken by an institutional authority (the rector). A negative interdependence between the in-group (psychology) and a high- or low-status out-group (engineering versus nursing) was established by an institutional authority (the rector). The competition (induced by the rector) was beneficial (an increase in the budget previously invested in the faculty) or detrimental (a decrease in the budget) for the in-group. The results confirmed that competition affects mutual attitudes, images, and behaviors of groups even if the groups are passive targets of decisions that the institutional authority makes. Moreover, competition—regardless of whether beneficial or detrimental—deteriorated images of and attitudes toward high-status out-groups. In contrast, competition improved images and opinions about low-status out-groups, but only in the loss condition.     

Rethinking Care Theory: The Practice of Caring and the Obligation to Care

Care theorists have made significant gains over the past twenty‐five years in establishing caring as a viable moral and political concept. Nonetheless, the concept of caring remains underdeveloped as a basis for a moral and political philosophy, and there is no fully developed account of our moral obligation to care. This article advances thinking about caring by developing a definition of caring and a theory of obligation to care sufficient to ground a general moral and political philosophy.     

Psychological and Social Ramifications of Battering: Observations Leading to a Counseling Methodology for Victims of Domestic Violence

This article offers a profile of men who batter, a set of the common characteristics observed among victims and an analysis of the destructive forces that keep the victims captive.     

An Experimental Examination of the Effects of Sex and Masculinity/Femininity on Psychological, Physiological, and Behavioral Responses During Communication Situations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of biological sex and masculinity/femininity on physiological (blink and heart rates), emotional (anxiety and mood), and behavioral responses (behavioral ratings of communication skills) during communication situations. Participants were 46 students in a Japanese university. They were categorized into 3 gender types—androgynous, stereotypical, and cross-gender on the Masculinity–Humanity–Femininity Scale (Ito, 1978) and the Social Skills Inventory (Riggio, 1986). The communication situations consisted of 2 experimental tasks (question-asking and self-introduction in front of a video camera). These two tasks were conducted in both Japanese and English. The results suggested that the cross-gender-type participants (feminine men and masculine women) showed increased blink and heart rates. For the behavioral ratings, the cross-gender type and the androgynous gender type were judged to have better communication skills than the stereotypical gender type. There was no significant difference in emotional responses among groups. The interaction of biological sex and masculinity/femininity may be associated with interpersonal adjustment and its stress responses.     

Investigating Individual Differences in a Serial Choice Reaction Time Task: Use of Auditory Feedback and Analysis of Responses Surrounding Errors

Subjects (N = 78) performed a visual four-choice reaction time (RT) task, either with or without immediate trial-by-trial feedback, in which RT (but not accuracy) was indicated by the pitch of an auditory tone. For each feedback condition, half of the subjects (the high AH4 group) scored more than 50% on the AH4 test of fluid intelligence (Heim, 1968), whereas the remaining half (the low AH4 group) scored less than 50%. It was predicted that if low AH4 subjects were slow because they were poor at monitoring RT, they would benefit more from feedback than high AH4 subjects would. This was not supported by the data: There was some beneficial effect of feedback on RT, but only for the high AH4 group. A second possibility was that individual differences would be apparent in processes such as detecting errors and controlling RT from trial to trial. From analyses of error rates, RT distributions, and particularly sequences of responses before and after errors, there was no evidence of qualitative differences in performance between the high and low AH4 groups. It is concluded that individual differences in this task are largely determined by information-processing rate rather than by factors such as the ability to detect errors or to monitor and control RT.