Increasing willingness to experience obsessions: acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-session Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for OCD intervention in a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline, across-participants design. Results on self-reported compulsions showed that the intervention produced clinically significant reductions in compulsions by the end of treatment for all participants, with results maintained at 3-month follow-up. Self-monitoring was supported with similar decreases in scores on standardized measures of OCD. Positive changes in anxiety and depression were found for all participants as well as expected process changes in the form of decreased experiential avoidance, believability of obsessions, and need to respond to obsessions. All participants found the treatment to be highly acceptable. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

关于“宗教与文化关系”问题的思考

近年来,关于＂宗教与文化关系＂问题的讨论引起人们的关注和议论,宗教文化的内涵是什么、怎样认识宗教与文化的关系、执政党如何对待和处理宗教与文化的关系问题……对这一涉及宗教工作的重要理论问题,还需要进一步从马克思主义宗教观角度进行较为深入系统的基础性研究。     

Escalating commitment to a relationship: The sexual harassment trap

Divergent perceptions of sexual harassment were explored in a case of a perpetrator's gradual sexual advancements and a target's escalating commitment to their relationship. Participants were 60 male and 60 female undergraduate students from a private midwestern university. Approximately 7% were minority members. Males and females interpreted the male perpetrator's actions differently, particularly when the female target made prior commitments to a friendly relationship. Specifically, males' ratings of sexual harassment decreased when the female target participated in increasingly informal, friendly interactions. Females ratings remained relatively constant despite the target's reactions. Attributions and reactions to the harassment also were influenced. Interestingly, as the target's commitment increased, both males and females reported a lower likelihood that the target would seek help.This study was part of the second author's master's thesis at Drake University. An earlier version of the study was presented at the 6th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, St. Louis, Missouri, April 1991. The authors would like to thank John Binning, Michael Ford, William Klipec, Paula Radefeld, and LaVerne Rogers for their contributions to this research.     

Adolescents' self-efficacy to communicate about sex: its role in condom attitudes, commitment, and use

This study examined whether and how self-efficacy to communicate with parents and peers about sex relate to sexually experienced adolescent males' and females' (N= 144, 112) condom attitudes, intentions, and use. Results showed that males who reported greater self-efficacy to communicate with parents used condoms more frequently; and both males and females who can communicate with peers used condoms more frequently. Self-efficacy to communicate with peers was related to more positive condom attitudes, which in turn were associated with greater condom commitment and use. Greater ability to communicate with parents was also related to greater condom commitment and use among males. These results suggest the importance of designing interventions that give adolescents the skills they need to feel efficacious in their ability to communicate about sex and contraception.     

心理契约、工作满意度与组织承诺关系

深入研究心理契约、工作满意度与组织承诺关系,将对组织变革中的人力资源管理具有重要理论和实践价值。本文首先回顾心理契约、工作满意度和组织承诺的概念,其次对心理契约、工作满意度和组织承诺之间的关系做一简单总结,最后提出对人力资源管理实践的启示。     

Structural and moral commitment among same-sex couples: relationship duration, religiosity, and parental status.

This study examined ecological predictors of structural and moral commitment among cohabiting same-sex couples. Structural commitment was operationalized as the execution of legal documents, and moral commitment was operationalized as having a commitment ceremony. The authors tested 2 logistic regression models using a subsample of Rainbow Illinois survey respondents. First, the execution of legal documents was examined using the entire subsample (n=190). Because antigay victimization may sensitize individuals to the importance of legal protection, actual and feared victimization were hypothesized to predict legalization. These hypotheses were not supported. However, relationship duration, a control variable, did predict legalization. The authors then used data only from those individuals who had executed a legal document (n=150) to determine those who also reported a commitment ceremony (Model 2). Parental status, religiosity, involvement with a supportive congregation, and an interaction between gender and parental status were hypothesized to predict ritualization. Only religiosity and parental status emerged as significant. Results from this study demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between legalization and ritualization. Further, they extend knowledge about how same-sex couple commitment is shaped by noncouple factors, such as time, individual religiosity, and parental status.     

Jealousy and commitment: Perceived threat and the effect of relationship alternatives

Most research on jealousy has focused on the correlation between one psychological factor and jealousy. In contrast, the current work examined how the link between relationship commitment and jealousy depends on the interplay of two situational factors: attractiveness of relationship alternatives and receiving threatening information about the self and the romantic relationship. In two studies, participants completed measures of relationship commitment for their current relationship and then received feedback that manipulated their perceptions of relationship alternatives (Study 1) or their perceptions of relationship compatibility (Study 2). Participants' jealousy was assessed by their responses to a mildly threatening relationship situation (Studies 1 and 2) and on a jealousy scale (Study 2). Study 1 showed that those in more committed relationships experienced greater jealousy when they were induced to consider having unattractive relationship alternatives. Study 2 showed that those with greater relationship commitment reported more jealousy when they received negative information about their relationship compatibility. Implications for how threat plays a causal role in experiencing jealousy are discussed.     

Thinking about thinking: Causal,evaluative and finalistic cognitions about social situations

The present article is concerned with first considerations and data for a theory of social cognitions. A taxonomy of social cognitions is suggested comprising three classes: causal, evaluative and finalistic thinking. These classes are subdivided according to the social perspective taken, i.e. self-directed versus other-directed thinking. The situational preconditions of these social cognition classes are studied in different social episodes each comprising either positive or negative, expected or unexpected events. The results show that the most reasoning about a situation occurs when it is an important private episode with an unexpected and affectively negatively experienced event. The data concerning the natural occurrence of the three cognition classes is interpreted as providing suggestions of their functional meaning: The functions of the three classes of social cognitions are labelled ‘information integration’ (self-directed evaluative thinking), ‘action planning’ (self-directed finalistic thinking and other-directed causal thinking), ‘control of negative feelings’ (self-directed causal, and finalistic thinking) and ‘understanding’ (other-directed finalistic and evaluative thinking and self-directed causal thinking).     

Former partners and new rivals as threats to a relationship: Infidelity type,gender, and commitment as factors related to distress and forgiveness

The overall aim of this study was to examine differences in responses to relationship infidelity when the infidelity involves a former romantic partner as opposed to a new rival. Participants indicated, for either sexual or emotional infidelity, whether they would be more upset if their partner were involved with a former partner or a new person, and whether they would be forgiving. Men and women saw the former partner as a greater threat when the infidelity was sexual. However, for emotional infidelity, only women selected the former partner more frequently. Ratings of the degree of distress and likelihood of forgiveness followed a similar pattern. For women, measures of relationship commitment were related to distress and forgiveness. For men, these measures were related to forgiveness only. The gender differences in distress may be related to differences between men and women in beliefs about the importance of commitment.     

Consciousness,Power and sacrifice: Conversations with Marie-Louise von Franz

Marie-Louise von Franz has long been regarded as one of the leading thinkers in the world of Jungian psychology. In this wide-ranging conversation, which took place in her home at Kusnacht, Switzerland, she discusses some trends in current-day spiritual movements within the broader context of the historical evolution of consciousness in religion and psychology. Her message is particularly appropriate for those who are working toward the resolution of conflict between nations, as well as for anyone who is on an inner path of Self development.     

Personality differentiation and prediction of persistence in physical science and engineering

Discriminant analyses techniques were applied to freshmen California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and Holland Vocational Interest Inventory (VPI) data for 914 male students and were used to predict curricular membership after two years of university education. The results suggest that those who persist in physical science, engineering or other curriculum are significantly discriminable from one another on the basis of freshman personality data, and that these personality variables show reasonable predictive stability when applied to a cross validation sample. Physical scientists appear to be markedly differentiated from engineers or others along an introspection-intellectual versus social conventional dimension. The predictive power of CPI and VPI personality variables while statistically exceeding chance is considerably less than that previously reported for ability or interest measures.     

Status, race, and money: the impact of racial hierarchy on willingness to pay

A deeply entrenched status hierarchy in the United States classifies African Americans as lower status than Caucasians. Concurrently, African Americans face marketplace discrimination; they are treated as inferior and poor. Because having money and spending money signify status, we explored whether African Americans might elevate their willingness to pay for products in order to fulfill status needs. In Studies 1 and 2, explicit activation of the race concept led some African Americans to pay more than they would otherwise pay and also more than Caucasians. Individual differences in perceived status disadvantage and racial identification moderated this result. In Study 3, when race was salient, an overt status threat (inferior treatment in a purchasing context) similarly led African Americans, but not Caucasians, to pay more than they would otherwise pay. This research illustrates how African Americans whose status is threatened use spending as a way to assert status.     

Marginalized relationships: the impact of social disapproval on romantic relationship commitment

Little research has examined the effects of prejudice and discrimination on people's romantic relationships. The authors explored whether belonging to a socially devalued relationship affects consequential relational phenomena. Within the framework of the Investment Model, the authors (a) tested the association between perceived relationship marginalization and relationship commitment, (b) compared investment levels of individuals involved in marginalized versus nonmarginalized relationships, and (c) explored ways in which couples may compensate for decreased investments to maintain high commitment. Consistent with hypotheses, marginalization was a significant negative predictor of commitment. Moreover, individuals in marginalized relationships invested significantly less than individuals in nonmarginalized relationships. Despite investing less, marginalized relationship partners were significantly more committed than were their nonmarginalized counterparts. Thus, marginalized partners appeared to compensate for their reduced investments, with evidence suggesting that compensation occurs via reduced perception of relationship alternatives rather than via increased perception of relationship satisfaction.     

Expectancy Accessibility, Alcohol Expectancies, and Intentions to Consume Alcohol

Drug use tends to correlate more strongly with positive expectancies than with negative expectancies. The expectancy-accessibility model provides one explanation for this disparity. This model suggests that the association between positive expectancies of a drug's effects and intentions to use the drug are larger because positive expectancies are often more accessible in memory. Previous work supports the model for positive expectancies and intentions to use smokeless tobacco. Positive expectancies correlated significantly with intentions to use smokeless tobacco only when they were primed in memory. The current study attempted to extend these findings to alcohol consumption. Positive expectancies correlated significantly with intentions to drink when they were primed in memory, as the model predicts. Nevertheless, positive expectancies also correlated significantly with intentions when negative expectancies were primed. In addition, negative expectancies were not associated with intentions to drink, regardless of priming condition. These latter results are not consistent with the model. These findings suggest that the expectancy-accessibility model may be limited.     

Identification and the commitment shift: accounting for gender differences in relationship illusions

Previous work revealed gender differences in relationship illusions. Women, and not men, perceived their dating partners more favorably than their partners' self-perceptions. In two studies, the authors replicated these findings and showed they are moderated by relationship commitment but not by relationship satisfaction. Dating men low in commitment devalued their partners' virtues, whereas those high in commitment exaggerated their partners' virtues compared to their partners' self-perceptions. In contrast, dating women showed relationship illusions irrespective of their commitment. In Study 2, similar results were obtained with relationship-specific identification. Moreover, men's commitment mediated the effect of identification with the relationship. This suggests that gender differences in relationship identities exist at a general level and that men need to identify with and then commit to a specific relationship before they exhibit pro-relationship thinking, which women exhibit as general dispositions.