Five domains of interpersonal competence in peer relationships

In three studies we investigated the utility of distinguishing among different domains of interpersonal competence in college students' peer relationships. In Study 1 we developed a questionnaire to assess five dimensions of competence: initiating relationships, self-disclosure, asserting displeasure with others' actions, providing emotional support, and managing interpersonal conflicts. Initial validation evidence was gathered. We found that self-perceptions of competence varied as a function of sex of subject, sex of interaction partner, and competence domain. In Study 2 we found moderate levels of agreement between ratings of competence by subjects and their roommates. Interpersonal competence scores were also related in predictable ways to subject and roommate reports of masculinity and femininity, social self-esteem, loneliness, and social desirability. In Study 3 we obtained ratings of subjects' competence from their close friends and new acquaintances. Relationship satisfaction among new acquaintances was predicted best by initiation competence, whereas satisfaction in friendships was most strongly related to emotional support competence. The findings provide strong evidence of the usefulness of distinguishing among domains of interpersonal competence.     

The Early Neuropsychological and Behavioral Characteristics of Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) represent a constellation of disorders that may be overlooked or misdiagnosed, despite being fairly common presenile neurodegenerative diseases. Although the cognitive disorder can be difficult to document, particularly early in the dementia course, neuropsychological evaluation can assist in the diagnosis. Neuropsychologists are in an excellent position to draw from related disciplines like personality theory and social psychology to better assess the types of changes that characterize the prodromal and early phases of the disease. This review summarizes the current state of the field in the diagnosis of FTLD and discusses the emerging role of neuropsychology in elucidating the brain organization of complex processes including empathy, behavioral control and inhibition, reward systems, appetitive behaviors, emotional regulation, and goal-orientation. As this review underscores, frontotemporal dementia remains a powerful model for studying brain–behavior relationships.     

Resistance in treatment as a means of avoiding inner conflict

It is not commonly known that, in his eighties, Michael Fordham sought the help of Donald Meltzer in what Dr Meltzer described as ‘more a weekly supervision of dreams than an analysis’. Dr Fordham is said to have commented that it was ‘a weekly supervision of my inner world - and you can't get closer to psychoanalysis than that’ He was greatly helped by these ‘supervisions’ and at the end of their work together, Meltzer suggested that Fordham wrote his memoirs. This resulted in The Making of an Analyst: Michael Fordham, published in 1993.

This fascinating account of Fordham's life and work contains much of interest about his personal development. He talks with candour about his confusions and passions in what is at times a surprisingly revealing manner. In particular Fordham talks openly about his closest relationships and how they affected him. The book was published, as he wanted it to be, after careful discussion with James Astor and Karl Figlio.

We are pleased to be able to publish the following contribution from Dr Meltzer about the book which he prompted. It is a mixture of personal responses on reading the book and memories of the man.     

Application of Sustainable Habitat: What is the Appropriation and Utilisation of Equipment After Energy‐Saving Renovations in Social Housing?

To reduce energy consumption, technical equipment alone is not sufficient. Adjustment of behaviours so that equipment is used appropriately is also necessary. Numerous studies have shown how difficult it is to change behaviours and how many factors are involved. The aim of this study is to identify the psychosocial factors facilitating or inhibiting energy‐saving behaviours in the appropriation of energy‐saving equipment by residents. Forty‐one semi‐directive interviews were conducted with tenants of terraced houses (12 people) and flats (29 people) located in the same residential area in a French city. The blocks of flats and terraced houses are managed by a proprietor of social housing. The results of a categorical content analysis highlight the importance of the relationship between tenants and proprietor and tenants' low motivation concerning the energy‐saving renovations. Consequently, we argue for the importance of favouring active participation by tenants in order to promote acceptance and appropriation of the new equipment. Furthermore, both the social and physical contexts of residents must be taken into account and energy saving must be integrated into other types of environmental behaviours in the neighbourhood in order to improve coherence and credibility. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Traditional Explanation for Resistance Versus Attitude Accessibility

This investigation compared the traditional explanation for the way inoculation confers resistance to influence with an alternative rationale for resistance based on attitude accessibility. Four hundred forty‐three participants took part in the investigation in four phases spanning 54 days. The combined multiple regression and structural equation modeling results suggest that the traditional and alternative explanations for the way that inoculation confers resistance involve separate processes; counterarguing and accessibility appear to be distinct tracks en route to resistance, but the two explanations also are overlapping processes in which elicited threat plays an integral role.     

Mixtures of conditional mean- and covariance-structure models

Models and parameters of finite mixtures of multivariate normal densities conditional on regressor variables are specified and estimated. We consider mixtures of multivariate normals where the expected value for each component depends on possibly nonnormal regressor variables. The expected values and covariance matrices of the mixture components are parameterized using conditional mean- and covariance-structures. We discuss the construction of the likelihood function, estimation of the mixture model with regressors using three different EM algorithms, estimation of the asymptotic covariance matrix of parameters and testing for the number of mixture components. In addition to simulation studies, data on food preferences are analyzed.The authors are grateful to Donald B. Rubin and Michael E. Sobel for critical reading of a first draft of this paper and to three anonymous reviewers ofPsychometrika for their helpful comments and suggestions. The research of the first and the third author was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Extending fields of work

The aim of this paper is to describe some acute responses to the suicide of a parent, through the account of the analytic psychotherapy of a latency child who found the body of his dead father. The acute traumatic responses of the child show that the perceptual apparatus, time and space are subverted, while the functioning of the contact barrier is deeply damaged. The importance of the environment in facilitating the first stages of the mourning process is stressed as well as the pre-traumatic personality structure. Both the Bionian model of preconception and the post-Jungian notion of archetype, revisited in terms of an unsaturated predisposition, are considered from a theoretical point of view. Preconceptions and archetypal dispositions to survive traumatic events are very important to the therapeutic outcome, along with the opportunity to start the treatment as early as possible after the traumatic event. This is particularly relevant in relation to the latency period, in terms of the capacity to contemplate the effects of the drives. The importance of allowing the child to work through all the stages of mourning is also considered, particularly rage, protest and hostile fantasies towards the lost object. The clinical material is structured as a narrative in an attempt to evoke the emotional climate experienced during the sessions as well as the state of mind of the child. The narrative is a secondary elaborated account with condensation and displacement at its core, like in dream work. Events, filtered through the analyst's state of self, are reported by lending the first person to the child in the narrative reconstruction.