Dissimilarity and attraction: when difference makes a difference.

Students in 93 university classes described themselves and their instructors on personality tests measuring traits relevant (ascendancy and personal relations) and irrelevant (sociability and cautiousness) to teaching skill. Dissimilarity (instructor being higher than student) on relevant trait dimensions was hypothesized to be instrumental for student satisfaction with an instructor's role performance. When students were classified as similar or dissimilar to their instructors on the personality dimensions, those most attracted to their instructors were those dissimilar on relevant (but not irrelevant) traits. The dissimilarity finding was not an artifact of differences in skill of instructor nor of differences in students' perceptions of their instructors' traits. A three-dimensional system was devised to specify when similarity and dissimilarity should promote attraction.     

Violence brief interventions: A rapid review

Provision of a Violence Brief Intervention (VBI) to young men undergoing treatment for a violent injury may represent a teachable moment for the prevention of future interpersonal violence in Scotland. Prior to intervention design, a rapid review of the research literature was necessary to examine existing programmes. After title and abstract screening, eight distinct VBIs were identified from full texts. Whilst none of the programmes were a perfect match for our intervention goals, they did demonstrate the potential effectiveness of brief interventions for violence prevention at both cognitive and behavioural levels. Key themes of successful interventions included brief motivational interviewing as an effective method of engaging with at-risk participants and encouraging change, the utility of social norms approaches for correcting peer norm misperceptions, the usefulness of working with victims of violence in medical settings (particularly oral and maxillofacial surgeries), the importance of addressing the role of alcohol after violent injury, the advantages of a computer-therapist hybrid model of delivery, and the need for adequate follow-up evaluation as part of a randomised control trial. This information has been used to design a VBI which is currently under evaluation.     

Fixation positions after skipping saccades: A single space makes a large difference

During reading, saccadic eye movements are generated to shift words into the center of the visual field for lexical processing. Recently, Krügel and Engbert (Vision Research 50:1532?C1539, 2010) demonstrated that within-word fixation positions are largely shifted to the left after skipped words. However, explanations of the origin of this effect cannot be drawn from normal reading data alone. Here we show that the large effect of skipped words on the distribution of within-word fixation positions is primarily based on rather subtle differences in the low-level visual information acquired before saccades. Using arrangements of ??x?? letter strings, we reproduced the effect of skipped character strings in a highly controlled single-saccade task. Our results demonstrate that the effect of skipped words in reading is the signature of a general visuomotor phenomenon. Moreover, our findings extend beyond the scope of the widely accepted range-error model, which posits that within-word fixation positions in reading depend solely on the distances of target words. We expect that our results will provide critical boundary conditions for the development of visuomotor models of saccade planning during reading.     

Developmental changes in inspection time: what a difference a year makes

This paper provides a partial replication and extension of a classic longitudinal study by Nettelbeck and Wilson [J. Exp. Child Psychol. 40 (1985) 1] that compared the relative influence of maturation and task experience on developmental changes in inspection time (IT). In the study reported in this paper 226 children aged between 6 and 9 were tested on an IT task in Year 1 and immediately retested to assess the importance of task familiarity. They were also retested 1 year and 2 years later. Counter to Nettelbeck and Wilson's conclusion, analyses of these data comparing the relative difference made by age maturation and by task experience revealed that task experience has a much bigger effect on children's IT than maturation. The implications of this for wider theoretical interpretations of the relationship between IT and development are discussed.     

Performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals: when uncertainty makes a difference

Performance-avoidance goals (the desire to avoid performing more poorly than others do) have been shown to have consistently deleterious effects on performance but the effects of performance-approach goals (trying to outperform others) are more complex. Two studies examine uncertainty as a moderator of the effect of performance-approach goals on performance. Experiment 1 shows that manipulated performance-approach goals lead to better performance than do performance-avoidance goals in the absence of uncertainty about performance but when participants learn that a coactor disagreed with them about problem solutions, creating uncertainty, performance-approach goals do not differ from performance-avoidance goals in their effect on performance. Experiment 2 shows that uncertainty also moderates the effects of self-set performance-approach goals. Moreover, the same dynamic occurs with another kind of uncertainty: negative competence feedback.     

Color makes a difference: two-dimensional object naming in literate and illiterate subjects

Previous work has shown that illiterate subjects are better at naming two-dimensional representations of real objects when presented as colored photos as compared to black and white drawings. This raises the question if color or textural details selectively improve object recognition and naming in illiterate compared to literate subjects. In this study, we investigated whether the surface texture and/or color of objects is used to access stored object knowledge in illiterate subjects. A group of illiterate subjects and a matched literate control group were compared on an immediate object naming task with four conditions: color and black and white (i.e., grey-scaled) photos, as well as color and black and white (i.e., grey-scaled) drawings of common everyday objects. The results show that illiterate subjects perform significantly better when the stimuli are colored and this effect is independent of the photographic detail. In addition, there were significant differences between the literacy groups in the black and white condition for both drawings and photos. These results suggest that color object information contributes to object recognition. This effect was particularly prominent in the illiterate group.     

Structural equation models for interchangeable dyads: being the same makes a difference

Structural equation modeling (SEM) offers a flexible method for studying the patterns of interdependence in partners' behavior, which lie at the heart of interactions and relationships. Although SEM has been applied to the study of distinguishable dyads, in which partners are distinguishable by type, such as male and female, it has rarely been applied to the study of interchangeable dyads, such as male-male or female-female pairs. The authors integrate a wide range of dyadic interdependence models--including actor-partner interdependence models, mutual-influence models, and common-fate or dyadic personality models--into an SEM framework for use with interchangeable dyads. The authors also address the use of latent variables at both the dyadic and individual levels, whereby substantive relationships in these models can be corrected for errors of measurement. Furthermore, the authors discuss the conceptual underpinnings of dyadic models and give examples of their application.     

Preventing depression: A review of cognitive-behavioral and family interventions

Depression is one of the most common psychological disorders. It is associated with tremendous costs in terms of suffering, decrease in productivity, and loss of life. For many individuals, depression is a disorder that will recur throughout life. Recent findings suggest that the prevalence of depression is on the rise, particularly in young people. Clearly, depression prevention is an important goal. Can depression be prevented? In this article we review research on interventions designed to prevent episodes and symptoms of unipolar depression in adults and children. Our review focuses specifically on cognitive-behavioral and family interventions. We discuss what researchers have learned about the prevention of depression and conclude with recommendations for future investigations.     

Dissimulation and the sex difference in self-assessed fears: a brief note.

Since the publication of the first findings with a Fear Survey Schedule over five decades ago, there have been no published studies examining the extent of overlap of factorially-derived robust dimensions of irrational fears with social desirability or dissimulation. Due to measurement problems associated with the use of individual fear items or general fear measures, the findings reported to date are relatively meaningless. In the present study, community volunteers were administered the Fear Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Lie scale, the correlation between both measures determined, and the influence of the Lie scores on the sex difference in self-assessed fears examined. Neither in males nor in females were Agoraphobic and Social fears significantly correlated with dissimulation. Significant associations reflecting small effect sizes were obtained in both samples between Blood-injury fears and Lie scores. Only the sex difference in Blood-injury fears was meaningfully affected by dissimulation: the usual finding of higher mean scores for females was obtained only after controlling for the influence of Lie scores. The importance of taking the research and practical implications of the findings with respect to the Blood-injury fears dimension seriously, despite the small magnitudes of the relevant data, was emphasized, as was the need for further studies in this area.     

The family check-up: a pilot study of a brief intervention to improve family functioning in adults

Many barriers exist for families seeking appropriate treatment for family problems. In an effort to minimize some of these barriers, we developed the Family Check-Up, a brief two-session family intervention. The Family Check-Up is based on the Drinker's Check-Up and consists of assessment, feedback, discussion, and goal setting. The purpose of the intervention is to help families identify and become motivated to make needed changes in any aspect of their family functioning. We conducted an open pilot trial of the Family Check-Up with 32 families. Our data suggest that the Family Check-Up (1) is sought out by the target audience, namely those with family problems; (2) is sought out by people with elevated depression symptoms or a history of treatment for depression or anxiety; (3) is feasible to conduct; (4) is acceptable to families; and (5) may be associated with changes in family functioning and depression symptoms over time. These results suggest that further research, particularly a randomized clinical trial, is warranted.     

Predictors of subjective age before and after cataract surgery: conscientiousness makes a difference

This study contributes to research on subjective age by examining the interplay of felt age with health, functional limitations, and personality. Individuals undergoing cataract surgery (N=134; 38 to 92 years of age) provided data for an assessment period of 6 weeks surrounding their scheduled surgery. Conscientiousness and repeated measurements of health indicators, functional limitations, and felt age were included in the analyses. Results indicated that functional limitations may be more important to the construction of felt age than their underlying health-related causes. Moreover, conscientious participants felt younger before and after surgery. Their functional status was less dependent on health than the functional status of less conscientious participants. This moderator effect is discussed along with health-related pathways leading to felt age.     

Motor imagery in spinal cord injury patients: Moving makes the difference

Both real action control and execution and motor imagery abilities require knowledge of the spatial location of body parts, in other words efference copy information and feedbacks from the sensory system (Frith et al., 2000, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci., 355, 1771). Spinal cord injuries induce severe motor disability, due to a damage of the descending motor pathways (Cramer et al., 2007, Exp. Brain. Res., 177, 233). Patients' motor imagery competences are variably reported as either normal or defective (Decety & Boisson, 1990, Eur. Arch. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci., 240, 39; Lacourse et al., 1999, Behav. Brain Sci., 104, 73). We explored biomechanical constraint effects in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients, as they are considered the most reliable indexes of motor imagery abilities (Parsons, 1987b, Cogn. Psychol., 19, 178). Sixteen spinal cord injuries patients and 16 neurologically unimpaired subjects have been administered with (1) the Hand Laterality Task (HLT), in which subjects were asked to judge the laterality of a rotated hand; and (2) the Mirror Letter Discrimination Task (MLD), in which subjects were asked to judge if a rotated character was in its correct upright position or mirror‐reversed form. Our patients did not present the effect of stimulus orientation, neither did they show any effect related to biomechanical constraints. Based on these data, the hypothesis is that SCI patients' performance may be ascribed to the use of a different strategy to solve the tasks, based on memory rather than on mental rotation.     

Hiring family therapists for a research project via videotaped interviews: A brief report

The authors describe an interview procedure devised for use in hiring therapists for a research and demonstration project in which the employers viewed videotaped interviews of applicants responding to a standard set of questions posed by an on-site researcher/interviewer. The approach is considered potentially useful for agencies to use in hiring therapists with a systemic orientation.     

When mitigation evidence makes a difference: effects of psychological mitigating evidence on sentencing decisions in capital trials

Little empirical research has addressed the effects of psychological or psychosocial evidence on sentencing decisions. The present study found that death-qualified mock jurors were more likely to sentence a defendant to death without mitigating evidence than in a case with mitigating evidence present. Mock jurors were less likely to assign a death sentence in cases that contained one of the following types of mitigating evidence: The defendant was (i) diagnosed with schizophrenia, not medicated, and suffered from severe delusions and hallucinations, (ii) drug addicted and high at the time of the murder, (iii) diagnosed as borderline mentally retarded during childhood, or (iv) severely physically and verbally abused by his parents during childhood.     

Client experiences of counselling and treatment interventions: A qualitative study of family views of family therapy

The case is made that personal experience and social life are inherently meaningful. The presence of meaning in human affairs requires all participants to develop interpretive skills if they are to understand what is happening. Researching social life is greatly helped by methods which acknowledge the hermeneutical quality of interpersonal experience. The use of qualitative research methods to investigate all aspects of counselling is therefore highly appropriate. To illustrate the use of qualitative research designs and methods of analysis, a study of family members' views of family therapy is briefly described.     

The process of enabling change: a study of therapist interventions in family therapy

We describe the application of discursive analysis to the task of researching family therapy process. Through the analysis of a central theme in two family therapy treatments, we found that individual family members move to using a wider range of discourses on the central theme by the end of therapy. Using the example of one family's therapy sessions, we examine how the therapist contributes to the new meanings and views that emerge, and present our analysis of the therapists' interventions in relation to the 'production' of these alternative meanings. It is argued that discourse analysis can fruitfully be applied to family therapy process research and could contribute to theoretical concepts of change and therapeutic competence.     

Nontherapy family research and change in families: a brief clinical research communication.

This is the second interim report of an exploratory, prospective study of psychiatrically “nonlabeled” family interaction. The project focuses primarily on whole-family interaction as it progresses through time.     

The MCMI and DSM-III: a brief rejoinder to Million (1985)

Millon (1985) presented eight criticisms of the article by Widiger, Williams, Spitzer, and Frances (1985) on the MCMI as a measure of DSM-III. This article is a brief rejoinder. The major point we wish to make is that one should be cautious in interpreting the MCMI as a measure of DSM-III disorders because there has not yet been any research published on the relationship between the MCMI and DSM-III. We believe this position has not been refuted by Millon's critique.