Changing beliefs and memories through dream interpretation

Autobiographical memory is malleable, but how much can we change people's beliefs and memories about the past? We approached this question with a method designed to supply subjects with a highly personalized suggestion about what probably happened in their childhood. In the current study, one group of subjects (the ‘Dream’ subjects) had their dreams interpreted to indicate that they had experienced a critical childhood event (e.g. being harassed by a bully) before the age of 3. Relative to control subjects who did not receive personalized suggestion, the Dream subjects were more likely to increase their belief that they had the critical experience, and approximately half of these also produced concrete memory reports. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for autobiographical memory, and also for psychotherapy practice. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Treating Insecure Attachment in Group Therapy: Attachment Theory Meets Modern Psychoanalytic Technique

Attachment theory is a comprehensive, empirically supported theory of emotional, relational, and neurophysiological development. Modern psychoanalysis is a theory of technique that addresses early psychological deficits and conflicts considered beyond the reach of traditional psychoanalysis. Both orientations have influenced the theory and practice of group psychotherapy and emphasize personality maturation as a treatment goal. This paper explores their potential synergies when treating preoedipal, insecurely attached emotional states, disrupted emotional self-regulation, and impaired mentalization. Theoretical and technical applications are suggested that may enhance the treatment of disordered attachment in group psychotherapy. By addressing insecure attachment as resistance, modern psychoanalytic techniques may engage the emotional substrates of the attachment process to facilitate the expansion of relational capacities, mentalization, self-regulation, the differentiation of self/other representations, and epistemic trust.     

Self-Doubt Effects Depend on Beliefs about Ability: Experimental Evidence

Past research has shown negative effects of chronic self-doubt on psychological and performance outcomes. Recent correlational evidence suggests that incremental beliefs about ability ameliorate certain self-doubt effects. The current research examines whether these correlational findings are robust when subjected to experimental testing. In Experiment 1, we manipulated beliefs about ability (incremental vs. entity) and demonstrated that changing beliefs about ability altered responses to self-doubt. For individuals primed with entity beliefs, higher self-doubt was associated with greater nervousness and poorer anagram performance; for individuals primed with incremental beliefs, self-doubt had no significant effects. Experiment 2 was a 2 (manipulated belief: incremental vs. entity) × 2 (self-doubt: doubt induction vs. control) factorial design. The result showed that self-doubt induction lowered self-esteem relative to control when people were primed with entity beliefs but did not affect self-esteem when incremental beliefs were primed. However, Experiment 1 results on affect and performance were not replicated in Experiment 2. Thus, although we provide some causal evidence that inducing individuals to adopt an ability-is-malleable mindset reduces the negative effects of self-doubt, further experimental work is required to study the moderating role of mindsets for self-doubt effects.     

Correction to: Rational social and political polarization

Philosophical Studies - In the original publication of the article, the Acknowledgement section was inadvertently not included. The Acknowledgement is given in this Correction.     

Changes in meaning in life across the course of psychodynamic psychotherapy

Using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), we studied Presence and Search for meaning for 34 adult clients in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Clients completed the MLQ and Outcome Questionnaire (OQ) before intake and after every eight sessions. Variance in Presence scores was mostly attributable to clients; variance in Search scores was mostly attributable to clients and therapists. Clients initially high in Presence decreased and then increased back to initial levels; clients initially low in Presence increased and then decreased back to initial levels. Clients initially low in Search increased and then leveled off; clients initially high in Search decreased and then leveled off. In lagged cross panel analyses, when clients decreased in psychological distress during one eight-week time period, they increased in Presence during the next eight-week time period; when they increased in psychological distress during one eight-week time period, they increased in search in the next time period. Excerpts from post-therapy interviews illustrate the process of working with meaning in life in psychotherapy. Implications for practice and training are discussed.     

Laterality of the frontal aslant tract (FAT) explains externalizing behaviors through its association with executive function

We investigated the development of a recently identified white matter pathway, the frontal aslant tract (FAT) and its association with executive function and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 129 neurotypical male and female human children ranging in age from 7 months to 19 years. We found that the FAT could be tracked in 92% of those children, and that the pathway showed age‐related differences into adulthood. The change in white matter microstructure was very rapid until about 6 years, and then plateaued, only to show age‐related increases again after the age of 11 years. In a subset of those children (5–18 years; n = 70), left laterality of the microstructural properties of the FAT was associated with greater attention problems as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). However, this relationship was fully mediated by higher executive dysfunction as measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). This relationship was specific to the FAT—we found no relationship between laterality of a control pathway, or of the white matter of the brain in general, and attention and executive function. These findings suggest that the degree to which the developing brain favors a right lateralized structural dominance of the FAT is directly associated with executive function and attention. This novel finding provides a new potential structural biomarker to assess attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and associated executive dysfunction during development.     

Do emotion-induced blindness and the attentional blink share underlying mechanisms? An event-related potential study of emotionally-arousing words

When two targets are presented within approximately 500 ms of each other in the context of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), participants’ ability to report the second target is reduced compared to when the targets are presented further apart in time. This phenomenon is known as the attentional blink (AB). The AB is increased in magnitude when the first target is emotionally arousing. Emotionally arousing stimuli can also capture attention and create an AB-like effect even when these stimuli are presented as to-be-ignored distractor items in a single-target RSVP task. This phenomenon is known as emotion-induced blindness (EIB). The phenomenological similarity in the behavioral results associated with the AB with an emotional T1 and EIB suggest that these effects may result from similar underlying mechanisms – a hypothesis that we tested using event-related electrical brain potentials (ERPs). Behavioral results replicated those reported previously, demonstrating an enhanced AB following an emotionally arousing target and a clear EIB effect. In both paradigms highly arousing taboo/sexual words resulted in an increased early posterior negativity (EPN) component that has been suggested to represent early semantic activation and selection for further processing in working memory. In both paradigms taboo/sexual words also produced an increased late positive potential (LPP) component that has been suggested to represent consolidation of a stimulus in working memory. Therefore, ERP results provide evidence that the EIB and emotion-enhanced AB effects share a common underlying mechanism.     

Workload,Risks, and Goal Framing as Antecedents of Shortcut Behaviors

Purpose

Shortcut behaviors are methods of completing a task that require less time than typical or standard procedures. These behaviors carry the benefit of increasing efficiency, yet can also carry risks (e.g., of an accident). The purpose of this research is to understand the reasons individuals engage in shortcut behaviors, even when doing so is known to be risky.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We present two laboratory studies (N = 121 and N = 144) in which participants performed an air traffic control simulation. Participants could improve efficiency by taking shortcuts; that is, by sending aircraft off the prescribed flight paths. This design allowed for direct and unobtrusive observation of shortcut behaviors.

Findings

Individuals who were told that efficiency was an obligation tended to believe that shortcut behaviors had utility for managing high workloads, even when the risks associated with shortcuts were high. Downstream, utility perceptions were positively related to actual shortcut behavior.

Implications

Although communicating risks may be used to help individuals balance the “pros” and “cons” of shortcut behaviors, goal framing is also important. Subtle cues indicating that efficiency is an obligation can lead to elevated perceptions of the utility of shortcut behaviors, even when knowing that engaging in shortcut behaviors is very risky.

Originality/Value

Past research has provided limited insights into the reasons individuals sometimes engage in shortcut behaviors even when doing so is known to be risky. The current research speaks to this issue by identifying workload and obligation framing as antecedents of the decision to take shortcuts.