Misinformation and memory: the creation of new memories

Misleading information presented after an event can lead people to erroneous reports of that misinformation. Different process histories can be responsible for the same erroneous report in different people. We argue that the relative proportion of times that the different process histories are responsible for erroneous reporting will depend on the conditions of acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information. Given the conditions typical of most misinformation experiments, it appears that misinformation acceptance plays a major role, memory impairment plays some role, and pure guessing plays little or no role. Moreover, we argue that misinformation acceptance has not received the appreciation that it deserves as a phenomenon worthy of our sustained investigation. It may not tell us anything about impairment of memories, but it does tell us something about the creation of new memories.     

Grief and Recovery: The Prevalence of Grief and Loss in Substance Abuse Treatment

Grief from various losses can underlie the process of recovery from substance abuse disorders. This study identified losses that clients encountered prior to abusing substances, losses that occurred as a result of addiction, and losses that occurred upon entering treatment.     

Genetic Library: Grief and Bereavement

As genetic counselors, we frequently encounter families that have experienced a significant loss, be it a pregnancy, a child, or a parent. The purpose of this Genetic Library is to introduce genetic counselors to some of the research that is currently being conducted in the areas of grief and bereavement support, as well as end-of-life care. Of course, it is impossible to capture the richness of these articles in one or two paragraphs. We therefore encourage interested genetic counselors to request and review the full version of these papers.     

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Perinatal Grief

Perinatal loss, typically defined as fetal death beyond 20 weeks gestation through infant death 1-month postpartum, is a potentially traumatizing experience for parents occurring in approximately 1% of births in the United States. Although many women recover, 15% to 25% have enduring grief-related symptomatology and functional impairment. Perinatal grief is a unique bereavement experience, but clinical resources for detecting and treating severe perinatal grief are rare and interventions are largely without empirical support. We developed and pilot tested a cognitive-behavioral intervention targeting the psychological and behavioral sequelae of perinatal bereavement. To initially evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of the intervention, 5 women who suffered a perinatal loss were randomized to a 2-week, 4-week, or 6-week baseline period in a multiple-baseline single-case experimental design. In most cases, after the respective baseline periods, there was a steady decline in reported grief symptoms. These gains were largely maintained at a 6-week follow-up assessment. This study provides initial evidence in support of future research and clinical efforts tailoring cognitive behavioral interventions to meet the specific needs of women who experience perinatal loss.     

Grief and attachment

Loss and grief are universal phenomena with serious potential psychological and physical consequences. Loss results in various reactions that have been identified in a variety of ways. Attachment theory provides a conceptual scheme to understand these processes and consequences. Clergy are in a strategic position to respond to loss, and attachment theory helps inform pastoral intervention. Several program and research issues are posed that emerge from the author's clinical experience.     

The Loss and Grief in Immigration: Pastoral Care for Immigrants

Immigration is common in this increasingly globalized world. Immigration is a psycho-social-geographical transition that involves a series of losses and changes, most of them obvious and expected, but some of them hidden and unexpected. Immigration also involves changes in one’s identity, as inner change tries to match outer change. The original story of immigration—by Abraham in the Bible—highlights some of the issues immigrants typically confront. A survey of Taiwanese immigrants in San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada illustrates some of the most troubling of these issues. Congregations, particularly bicultural congregations, are especially well-equipped to minister to the needs of the newly immigrated. Pastors need to be sensitive to the issues and needs of immigrants in a world where we are all foreigners in one sense or another.     

Disenfranchised Grief Following a Traumatic Birth

Following a “failed” birth plan, some women experience trauma. Because most of these women do end up with a healthy baby, their support system does not necessarily support the sadness felt at the loss of the dream birth experience, leading to disenfranchised grief. Comments on a Facebook post linked to an essay from the Scary Mommy website were examined. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching categories of comments: (a) grief is disenfranchised by others through nonlosses and one-upping; (b) other posters expressed camaraderie for the loss of a dream birth, expressing empathy; and, (c) conditional support.     

Suicide Bereavement and Complicated Grief: Experiential Avoidance as a Mediating Mechanism

In the wake of increased interest in the specific features of suicide bereavement, the current study examines (a) the association between suicide bereavement and complicated grief and (b) the mediating effect of experiential avoidance on the association between suicide bereavement and complicated grief. The tests revealed a significant indirect effect of suicide bereavement on complicated grief through experiential avoidance. This finding suggests that traumatic characteristics of suicide bereavement may inhibit the grieving process by increasing experiential avoidance and emphasizing a cognitive approach for complicated grief of people who have lost their loved one to death by suicide.     

Entrepreneurs and evolutionary biology: The relationship between testosterone and new venture creation

Biological evolutionary processes select for heritable behaviors providing a survival and reproductive advantage. Accordingly, how we behave is, at least in part, affected by the evolutionary history of our species. This research uses evolutionary psychology as the theoretical perspective for exploring the relationship between a heritable biological characteristic (testosterone level) and an important business behavior (new venture creation). Data were collected from 31 MBA students with significant prior involvement in new venture creation and from 79 other student subjects with no new venture start-up experience. Consistent with evolutionary psychological theory, the biological (testosterone level) effect upon behavior (new venture creation) is partially mediated by the psychological (risk propensity).