Self-destructiveness and manic-depressive tendencies

In a sample of 72 undergraduates, scores on Thalbourne, et al.'s measure of manic and depressive tendencies were associated with those on one of general self-destructive tendencies.     

Alcohol-related motivational tendencies in hazardous drinkers: assessing implicit response tendencies using the modified-IAT

This study examined the utility of an implicit measure of cognitive associations, the Implicit Association Test (IAT; ), to assess alcohol-related approach dispositions. Forty-seven hazardous drinkers completed a modified IAT procedure that assessed the relation between alcohol and behavioral categories (i.e., approach and avoid). Participants completed a series of individual difference measures before an alcohol cue exposure task in which they anticipated alcohol consumption. Results indicate that the modified IAT is associated with binge drinking episodes, perceived difficulty controlling alcohol use, and appetitive responses to alcohol cues. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential value of this measure to assess alcohol-related memory associations among those whose alcohol use puts them at risk for harm.     

Taste,traits, and tendencies

Philosophical Studies - Many experiential properties are naturally understood as dispositions such that e.g. a cake tastes good to you iff you are disposed to get gustatory pleasure when you eat...     

Dissociative tendencies and facilitated emotional processing

Dissociation is a process linked to lapses of attention, history of abuse or trauma, compromised emotional memory, and a disintegrated sense of self. It is theorized that dissociation stems from avoiding emotional information, especially negative emotion, to protect a fragile psyche. The present study tested whether or not dissociaters do actually avoid processing emotion by asking groups scoring high or low on the Dissociative Experiences Scale to judge the affective valence of several types of emotional stimuli. Manipulations of valence, modality (pictures or words), task complexity, and personal relevance lead to results suggesting that dissociation is linked to facilitated rather than deficient emotional processing. Our results are consistent with a theory that sensitivity to emotional material may be a contributing factor in subsequent dissociation to avoid further elaboration of upsetting emotion in these individuals. The findings for dissociation further exemplify the influence of individual differences in the link between cognition and emotion.     

Suicidal tendencies and ego identity in adolescence

Studies distinguishing between adolescent suicide attempters and others usually deal with demographic, physiological, or familial contributing factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between ego identity development and suicidal inclinations at adolescence. The main hypothesis was that ego identity formation at adolescence may serve as a "buffering" force by providing stability, continuity, meaningfulness, social recognition, commitment, and inner strength against suicidal attempts. Two groups of adolescents, a suicidal group (n = 10) recruited from mental health clinics and a normative group (n = 30), were matched for intelligence, demographic variables, and socioeconomic status. The Adolescent Ego Identity Scale (AEIS; Tzuriel, 1984) and the Israeli Index of Potential Suicide (IIPS) based on Zung's (1974) scale were administered to both groups. The results indicated that the normative group scored significantly higher than did the suicidal group on all but one of the AEIS factors and lower on the IIPS. A MANOVA carried out on ego identity factors revealed a significant overall difference between the two groups. Univariate analyses indicated that most of the ego identity factors differentiated between the two groups. Negative correlations between AEIS and IIPS were found in both groups, especially between total AEIS score and IIPS in the normative group (r = -.89, p less than .001). The findings in general confirm the "buffering" force hypothesis. These preliminary results are discussed in regard to theoretical and preventive aspects.     

Neoplatonic tendencies in Russian philosophy

The Absolute is a basic and fundamental issue for philosophy as such. I present different concepts of the Absolute (substantialism, energetism, escapism, methodologism). We can say that contemporary European philosophy “orphaned” the neo-Platonic tradition. Thereafter Russian philosophy developed in an intensive and turbulent as well as relatively uniform fashion, in view of the well-established Neo-Platonist context. This makes Russian philosophy not only part of a lasting universally acknowledged tradition; not only has Russian philosophy continued to develop currents of thought abandoned by modern European philosophiers, but it is also heir to a philosophical tradition of particular quality and value in the universal history of thought.     

Manic-depressive tendencies, suicidality, and perfectionism

In a sample of 82 college students, depression scores, but not manic scores, were associated with both perfectionism and imposter scores.     

Marx and the spiritual dimension

Marx and the spiritual dimension     

Schizophrenic tendencies and memory deficits in normals

The report tests the hypothesis that normals who exhibit schizophrenic tendencies are likely to show verbal-memory deficits of the types observed in schizophrenics. Thirty-four middle-aged men were tested using the MMPI 2–7–8 schizophrenic-tendency scales, the Sorting Consistency Task and the Physical Anhedonia Scale. The dependent variables were four memory tests selected on the basis of their known discriminating power and their relevance. The results showed the Schizophrenia (8) and Psychasthenia (7) scales of MMPI, and the Sorting Consistency Task effectively detected memory deficits in normals. When partialling out intelligence, as a measure of general current cognitive functioning, it appeared that one of the deficits reflecting encoding difficulty disappeared. This suggests that normal ‘high-risk’ subjects for schizophrenia show a ‘generalized deficit’, which affects memory in addition to a ‘differential deficit’ in retention. Though tentative, the results can be taken as an indication that ‘high-risk’ subjects indeed show memory deficits and that detecting these deficits requires relatively sensitive tools.     

Action tendencies and characteristics of environmental risks

It is assumed that the mental representation of the causal structure of environmental risks, i.e., the type of cause and the type of potential consequence, determines which sort of action tendencies are formed. We propose a model of risk evaluation that includes consequentialist and deontological judgments as well as specific emotions as mediators of action tendencies. Four hundred participants took part in an experiment which presented scenario information about environmental risks. The scenarios differed with respect to (a) causation (human vs. natural cause; single vs. aggregate causation), (b) consequence (harm to self vs. harm to other people vs. harm to nature), and (c) geographical distance (proximate vs. distant). Participants indicated how much they preferred each of 31 prospective behaviors. Factor analyses yielded five types of action tendencies: help, aggression, escape, political action, and self-focus. The causal structure of the risks was systematically related to action tendencies, e.g., environmental risks that are caused by humans, and in particular those caused by a single human agent, elicit aggressive action tendencies. The findings conform that the perceived causal structure of a specific risk determines whether the focus is upon consequentialist or deontological judgments, which, in turn, elicit specific types of action tendency, mediated by emotions.