Self‐Determination Theory as a Framework for Understanding Road Rage1

The present study examined relations between motivational orientations, driving anger, and aggressive driving behaviors. It was hypothesized that the tendency to regulate behavior according to contingencies and pressures (controlled orientation), as opposed to interest and choice (autonomy orientation), would be associated with experiencing more driving anger and in turn driving more aggressively. Data from 109 college students were examined. As hypothesized, (a) controlled orientation was associated with feeling more driving anger as a result of other drivers' actions; (b) controlled orientation was associated with more aggressive driving behaviors and more traffic citations; (c) the relation between controlled orientation and aggressive driving was mediated by driving anger; and (d) self‐esteem and social anxiety did not account for the results of motivational orientations.     

Social Cognitive Theory as a Framework to Explain Intentions to Practice Healthy Eating Behaviors1

Our focus in this study was the observed gap between informed awareness and the intention to act. We used elements of social cognitive theory to develop a theoretical model of six psychosocial factors hypothesized to influence the intention to adopt healthy eating behaviors. Survey data from 490 white-collar employees were analyzed using a Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) program and a stacked model. The overall fit of the model to one half of the data was excellent, x² (6, 237) = 3.79, p= 0.71, and the model was successfully replicated with the second half of the data x² (28, 249) = 28.68, p= 0.43. Our model suggests that self-efficacy expectations (a) partially depend on the perceived likelihood of an outcome; (b) act as a conduit for the effects of media, disincentives, and outcome expectancy; and (c) have powerful direct influences on intentions. As expected, outcome expectancy adds little to the prediction of intentions.     

Catholic Social Teaching as a Framework for Research Ethics

The importance of having ethical oversight in research that is carried out on humans is well established. Research ethics, which is mainly influenced by a biomedical ethical framework, aims to ensure that the well-being and the rights of research participants are upheld and that any potential risks and harms are reduced. However, research is also considered to be a social activity with social effects. Therefore the principles of Catholic Social Teaching as a framework for research ethics may be significant. This paper outlines those principles and demonstrates how these principles may be used for: (1) reflecting ethically on research (i.e. before the project begins), (2) judging a research ethics proposal (i.e. the ethical review) and (3) providing guidelines for action in research (i.e. the implementation of the research project).     

Chronic Childhood Peer Rejection is Associated with Heightened Neural Responses to Social Exclusion During Adolescence

This functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study examined subjective and neural responses to social exclusion in adolescents (age 12–15) who either had a stable accepted (n?=?27; 14 males) or a chronic rejected (n?=?19; 12 males) status among peers from age 6 to 12. Both groups of adolescents reported similar increases in distress after being excluded in a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball), but adolescents with a history of chronic peer rejection showed higher activity in brain regions previously linked to the detection of, and the distress caused by, social exclusion. Specifically, compared with stably accepted adolescents, chronically rejected adolescents displayed: 1) higher activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during social exclusion and 2) higher activity in the dACC and anterior prefrontal cortex when they were incidentally excluded in a social interaction in which they were overall included. These findings demonstrate that chronic childhood peer rejection is associated with heightened neural responses to social exclusion during adolescence, which has implications for understanding the processes through which peer rejection may lead to adverse effects on mental health over time.     

Thwarting the Need to Belong: Understanding the Interpersonal and Inner Effects of Social Exclusion

The need to belong is a powerful motivational basis for interpersonal behavior, and it is thwarted by social exclusion and rejection. Laboratory work has uncovered a destructive set of consequences of being socially excluded, such as increased aggressiveness and reduced helpfulness toward new targets. Rejected persons do, however, exhibit a cautious interest in finding new friends. Theory and intuition associate social exclusion with emotional distress, but laboratory research finds instead that the first response is a reduced sensitivity to pain and an emotional insensitivity that hampers empathy and may contribute to a variety of interpersonal behaviors. Self-regulation and intelligent thought are also impaired as a direct result of being rejected.     

From Mind Perception to Mental Connection: Synchrony as a Mechanism for Social Understanding

Connecting deeply with another mind is as enigmatic as it is fulfilling. Why people “click” with some people but not others is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. However, researchers from psychology and neuroscience are converging on a likely physiological basis for connection – neural synchrony (entrainment). Here, we review research on the necessary precursors for interpersonal synchrony: the ability to detect a mind and resonate with its outputs. Further, We describe potential mechanisms for the development of synchrony between two minds. We then consider recent neuroimaging and behavioral evidence for the adaptive benefits of synchrony, including neural efficiency and the release of a reward signal that promotes future social interaction. In nature, neural synchrony yields behavioral synchrony. Humans use behavioral synchrony to promote neural synchrony, and thus, social bonding. This reverse‐engineering of social connection is an important innovation likely underlying this distinctively human capacity to create large‐scale social coordination and cohesion.     

Toward a General Theory of Understanding. Schutzian Theory as Proto-hermeneutics

This paper aims to explore the relations between Schutzian theory and hermeneutics. After presenting the connections between hermeneutic thought and Schutz’s work from a historical point of view, it will argue that despite its significant differences from hermeneutic theory, Schutzian theory can be utilized as a kind of proto-hermeneutics. By now, the heterogeneous movement of the interpretive social sciences has reached an established position, but with their growing reliance on the impulses coming from philosophical hermeneutics, the latent problem comes to the foreground: the former demand for an action-theoretical grounding has faded away. Currently, action theory itself is no more dominated by the work of interpretively minded authors, but by the theories of rational choice. This results in a false opposition between the explanatory models, which base their arguments on historical, cultural, and linguistic factors, and those, which focus on the plane of the decisions of individuals. Bypassing the objectivism present in both the rational choice approach and hermeneutics, Schutz’s pragmatic theory of the life-world, originating from both interpretive and pragmatic intellectual influences, may be useful to overcome this opposition, and can serve as a proto-hermeneutical point of departure: that is, as a theory which cannot alone take over the duty of hermeneutics, but which can complement hermeneutics on a fundamental level.     

Fan Behavior and Lifespan Development Theory: Explaining Para-social and Social Attachment to Celebrities

The theories of Levinson (1986 Am Psychol 41(1):3?C13) and Erikson (1959 Identity and the life cycle. WW Norton and Co, New York, 1968 Youth and crisis. WW Norton and Co, New York), Bandura??s (1986 Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs) Social Cognitive Theory, and the ethological attachment theories of Bowlby (1969 Attachment and loss, Vol. 1, attachment. Hogarth, London), and Ainsworth (1978 Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale) are used in a discussion of the para-social and social relationships that fans have with celebrities. Fans?? attachments to celebrities play primary and secondary roles in the developmental stages of adulthood and transitions between those stages. Celebrities are role models for adults, and attachment develops in much the same way it develops in face-to-face relationships, e.g. through proximity and familiarity with the face, voice, and manner of the celebrity. Included are examples from the fan research of the author. One conclusion is that fan attachments are often part of the normal course of adult development in the areas of identity, intimacy, and generativity. Additionally, application of Levinson??s concept of stage transitions suggested that this might be a time when relationships with celebrities are more likely to begin.     

Contributions of Attachment Research to Understanding Dissociative Attunement

This discussion elaborates the author’s use of attachment theory and research to understanding Susan’s clinical process (see Jacobs, this issue). I have delineated different patterns of attachment, its precursors in infancy, both in infant parent interactions and in parent’s state of mind with respect to attachment. I also link this to how dissociative process can be embedded in a combination of infant disorganization and trauma. I think that clinical applications of the ideas Jacobs and I subscribe to add a great deal to understanding how unformulated experiences with a frightened and frightening parent can lead to a person’s vulnerability to developing dissociative responses to later trauma. The dialogic nature of infant parent attachment experiences can further enrich an understanding of how certain transference–countertransference enactments are manifestations of certain kinds of procedural or relational knowing. In this way, clinicians can further understand the possibilities for psychic transformation as embedded in bearing that which was experienced but which cannot yet be known.     

Social Exclusion and the Desire to Reconnect

People have a fundamental need to belong that, when satisfied, is linked to a variety of indicators of well‐being. The current article discusses what happens when social relationships go awry, namely through social exclusion. It seeks to resolve discrepancies in the literature by proposing that responses to social exclusion depend primarily on the prospect of social acceptance. When people feel socially excluded, they want to regain acceptance and thus may respond in ways that can help them do so. When the possibility of acceptance is not forthcoming, however, socially excluded people become selfish and antisocial. Evidence for this pattern was found at behavioral, cognitive, and biological levels. The motivation to gain acceptance may drive people to engage in negative health behaviors, such as smoking. Thus, excluded people demonstrate sensitivity to possible social acceptance, but they can exude an air of selfishness and hostility when there is no possibility of satisfying their need to belong.     

Understanding Interdisciplinary Collaborations as Social Networks

The dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration invite further investigation if we are to make this endeavour more rewarding and productive. We are using social network analysis to track the development of a new interdisciplinary collaboration on complex interventions to improve population health. It involves nineteen scholars across four countries. We report the Baseline network of formal relationships among the scholars, along with the impact of the collaboration on these relationships in the first 18 months. We observed statistically significant increases in the density of six types of relationship networks: citing publications by other members of the collaboration, email contact, meeting with each other (outside of the formal annual meeting), visiting one another's institution, submitting research grants together and working on research projects together. The initial strategic role in the network of key 'gate keepers' has not altered substantially (betweenness centralization of the networks), but reciprocity has increased, that is, people are more likely to cite those who have cited them and work together. Increased collaboration is also reflected in the rise in number of subgroups over time and the increase in the average number of subgroup memberships. Use of social network analysis to understand the dynamics of interdisciplinary collaborations is a relatively new field. It invites reflection about what the optimal network structures for interdisciplinary collaborations would look like.     

Applying the Chaos Theory of Careers as a Framework for College Career Centers

The chaos theory of careers (CTC; Pryor & Bright, 2011 ) has emerged as a career development theory to describe the reality of career development and account for the changing nature of work in the 21st century. Integrating CTC into a coherent framework accessible to practitioners is an ongoing process. In recent years, CTC has gained traction within some college career centers. Although techniques and interventions have been discussed to address some of the primary issues, no overarching framework has been conceptualized. This article proposes a model to conceptualize CTC in an accessible framework for college career centers, students, and beyond.     

Application of Attachment Theory to Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy

Equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP) is a form of animal-assisted therapy used to treat human psychological problems that employs horses in and around the natural surroundings of the stables. Despite the increasing number of professionals and organizations that offer this innovative therapy, EFP lacks a firm theoretical and research base. This paper aims to reveal how attachment theory can inform and enrich theory and practice of EFP. It explores the fit between central features of EFP and several of the primary concepts of attachment-based psychotherapy, such as: secure base and haven of safety through the provision of a holding environment, affect mirroring, mentalizing and reflective functioning, and non-verbal communication and body experience. This work is composed of definitions of these concepts, their application to human–horse context and EFP, and interpretation in light of potential therapeutic (transformative) processes.     

A Social Ecological Conceptual Framework for Understanding Adolescent Health Literacy in the Health Education Classroom

With the rising concern over chronic health conditions and their prevention and management, health literacy is emerging as an important public health issue. As with the development of other forms of literacy, the ability for students to be able to access, understand, evaluate and communicate health information is a skill best developed during their years of public schooling. Health education curricula offer one approach to develop health literacy, yet little is known about its influence on neither students nor their experiences within an educational context. In this article, we describe our experience applying a social ecological model to investigating the implementation of a health education curriculum in four high schools in British Columbia, Canada. We used the model to guide a conceptual understanding of health literacy, develop research questions, select data collection strategies, and interpret the findings. Reflections and recommendations for using the model are offered.     

Gang Affiliation as a Measure of Social Structure in Social Structure Social Learning Theory

The current study seeks to evaluate the use of gang membership as a measure of social structure in social structure social learning theory. The Evaluation of Gang Resistance Education and Training Program in the United States, 1995–1999 dataset was used with structural equation modeling to test if inclusion of gang membership as a social structure variable was a better predictor of deviance than social learning elements alone. The analysis suggests that gang membership will have an impact on the mechanisms of social learning, supporting the use of gang membership as a measure of social structure.     

A Learning Theory Approach to Attachment Theory: Exploring Clinical Applications

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - Although clinicians typically acknowledge the importance of insecure attachment as one factor that can contribute to children’s psychopathology,...     

A Bivariate Generalized Linear Item Response Theory Modeling Framework to the Analysis of Responses and Response Times

A generalized linear modeling framework to the analysis of responses and response times is outlined. In this framework, referred to as bivariate generalized linear item response theory (B-GLIRT), separate generalized linear measurement models are specified for the responses and the response times that are subsequently linked by cross-relations. The cross-relations can take various forms. Here, we focus on cross-relations with a linear or interaction term for ability tests, and cross-relations with a curvilinear term for personality tests. In addition, we discuss how popular existing models from the psychometric literature are special cases in the B-GLIRT framework depending on restrictions in the cross-relation. This allows us to compare existing models conceptually and empirically. We discuss various extensions of the traditional models motivated by practical problems. We also illustrate the applicability of our approach using various real data examples, including data on personality and cognitive ability.     

Critical Race Theory as a Decisional Framework for the Ethical Counseling of African American Clients

The authors introduce critical race theory as a decisional framework for ethical counseling, with a focus on racial disparities when working particularly with African American clients. The authors provide a fictional case example that explains how this framework can be implemented when conducting cross‐cultural counseling with African American clients. Implications for counselors are provided.