The circumplex structure of interpersonal sensitivities

Previous research on aversive interpersonal behavior has provided limited links between interpersonal sensitivities and comprehensive models of personality and social behavior. Study 1 (N = 1,336) of this article demonstrated that interpersonal sensitivities can be mapped onto the interpersonal circumplex and that people generally find others' behavior that is least similar to their own generally most aversive. In Study 2 (N = 299), a broader array of correlates with interpersonal sensitivities was investigated, and results again suggested that interpersonal opposites are generally perceived as most aversive. Study 3 (N = 315) specified romantic, platonic, or nonclose relationships and again found this pattern. Conceptualizing sensitivities with the interpersonal circumplex model permits investigators to distinguish general from specific kinds of sensitivity, allows for tests of the convergent and discriminant validity of interpersonal sensitivities, and integrates sensitivities into a well-established nomological net composed of multiple constructs relevant to social behavior and interpersonal dysfunction.     

Is Evidence Able to Persuade Physicians to Discuss Spirituality with Patients?

Patients believe that spirituality informs health; frequently, they wish to share their beliefs with physicians. Although a large number of physicians believe it their responsibility to be aware of patient beliefs, many do not address spirituality because they do not believe it their role to do so. These physicians would perhaps feel differently if presented with evidence that associated spirituality with positive health outcomes. This national sample of family medicine residents were asked if, presented with evidence that spirituality was associated with improved outcomes, they would be more likely to initiate discussions of spirituality with patients. To varying degrees, most residents agreed that they would be more willing to initiate spirituality discussions if presented with good evidence. Geographic region of training, religious preference, and Spiritual Well-Being Scale quartile predicted both strength of agreement and whether a resident would be as responsive to spirituality oriented research as to investigations of traditional therapeutic modalities. Although residents indicated that they would be more responsive to publications on traditional medical therapies, familiarity with the spirituality literature as part of a residency educational curriculum may help break down barriers to addressing this issue with patients.     

The feels good theory of pleasure

Most philosophers since Sidgwick have thought that the various forms of pleasure differ so radically that one cannot find a common, distinctive feeling among them. This is known as the heterogeneity problem. To get around this problem, the motivational theory of pleasure suggests that what makes an experience one of pleasure is our reaction to it, not something internal to the experience. I argue that the motivational theory is wrong, and not only wrong, but backwards. The heterogeneity problem is the principal source of motivation for this, otherwise, highly counterintuitive theory. I intend to show that the heterogeneity problem is not a genuine problem and that a more straightforward theory of pleasure is forthcoming. I argue that the various experiences that we call “pleasures” all feel good.     

Cognitive Deficits and Positively Biased Self-Perceptions in Children with ADHD

This study examined the relation between cognitive deficits and positive bias in a sample of 272 children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; 7–12 years old). Results indicated that children with ADHD with and without biased self-perceptions exhibit differences in specific cognitive deficits (executive processes, working memory, broad attention, and cognitive fluency) compared to each other and to control children. Further, specific cognitive deficits emerged as partial mediators of the relation between ADHD diagnostic status and positive bias. Interestingly, some differences in results emerged based on the domain considered (academic, social, behavioral competence). Results lend initial support to the role of cognitive deficits in the positive bias of some children with ADHD. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.     

Static and dynamic visual information about the size and passability of an aperture

The role of static eyeheight-scaled information in perceiving the passability of and guiding locomotion through apertures is well established. However, eyeheight-scaled information is not the only source of visual information about size and passability. In this study we tested the sufficiency of two other sources of information, both of which are available only to moving observers (ie are dynamic) and specify aperture size in intrinsic body-scaled units. The experiment was conducted in an immersive virtual environment that was monocularly viewed through a head-mounted display. Subjects walked through narrow openings between obstacles, rotating their shoulders as necessary, while head and shoulder position were tracked. The task was performed in three virtual environments that differed in terms of the availability of eyeheight-scaled information and the two dynamic sources of information. Analyses focused on the timing and amplitude of shoulder rotation as subjects walked through apertures, as well as walking speed and the number of collisions. Subjects successfully timed and appropriately scaled the amplitude of shoulder rotation to fit through apertures in all three conditions. These findings suggest that visual information other than eyeheight-scaled information can be used to guide locomotion through apertures.     

The Thatcher effect in biological motion

We demonstrate the Thatcher effect in biological-motion displays and show that it is primarily a result of the moving, and not static, cues in the display.     

Participation bias among suicidal adults in a randomized controlled trial

Although individuals who attempt suicide have poor compliance rates with treatment recommendations, the nature and degree of participation bias in clinical treatment research among these individuals is virtually unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine participation bias by comparing the demographic and diagnostic characteristics of adult suicide attempters who participated in a randomized controlled trial to a sample of nonparticipants. Results indicated that males and individuals with a diagnosis of substance abuse or dependence were more likely to be participants in the randomized controlled trial. The implications of these findings for suicide intervention research are discussed.     

Modeling stability and change in borderline personality disorder symptoms using the revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales-Big Five (IASR-B5)

Personality disorders have been defined as "stable over time." However, research now supports marked change in the symptoms of these disorders and significant individual variability in the trajectories across time. Using the Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders (Lenzenweger, 2006), we explore the ability of the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales--Big Five (IASR-B5; Trapnell & Wiggins, 1990) to predict individual variation in initial value and rate of change in borderline personality disorder symptoms. The dimensions of the IASR-B5 predict variability in initial symptoms and rates of change. Interaction effects emerged between Dominance and Conscientiousness, Love and Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness and Neuroticism in predicting initial symptoms; and between Dominance and Love and Love and Neuroticism in predicting rates of change, suggesting that the effects of broad domains of personality are not merely additive but conditional on each other.     

VIRTUE AS MASTERY IN EARLY CONFUCIANISM

This essay explores the interrelation of skills and virtues. I first trace one line of analysis from Aristotle to Alasdair MacIntyre, which argues that there is a categorical difference between skills and virtues, in their ends and intrinsic character. This familiar distinction is fine in certain respects but still importantly misleading. Virtue in general, and also some particular virtues such as ritual propriety and practical wisdom, are not just exercised in practical contexts, but are in fact partially constituted by the mastery of certain skills. This has implications for moral psychology, specifically how we might understand the acquisition of virtue, as well as its very nature. To try to make this claim plausible I analyze two case studies from early Confucianism: treatment of ritual propriety as a cardinal virtue, and Mencius's less carefully integrated treatment of excellence at moral discernment. I conclude by revisiting the question of the relations between skill and virtue, and exploring a few of the difficulties implied by my account of early Confucian ethics.