Effect of manipulating the risetime of an acoustic stimulus on two protective reflexes: cardiac defense and motor startle

Effect of manipulating the risetime of an acoustic stimulus on two protective reflexes: cardiac defense and motor startle. The risetime is a parametric characteristic of the eliciting stimulus frequently used to differentiate among psychophysiological reflexes. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of manipulating the risetime of an acoustic stimulus on two protective reflexes: cardiac defense and motor startle. 100 participants underwent a psychophysiological reactivity test to five presentations of an intense acoustic stimulus (105 dB white noise) under one of five risetime conditions: 0, 24, 48, 96, and 240 ms. Total energy of the stimulus was controlled by increasing the base duration of the stimulus (1000 ms) by one third of the risetime. Results showed that risetime significantly affected motor startle but not cardiac defense. Startle amplitude decreased linearly with increasing risetime after 24 ms. On the other hand, repetition of the stimulus significantly affected cardiac defense but not motor startle. These results question the traditional differentiation between startle and defense based on risetime.     

The state of the psychological contract and its relation with employees' psychological health

In the present paper the role of the state of the psychological contract to predict psychological health results is studied in a sample of 385 employees of different Spanish companies. Results indicate that the state of the psychological contract significantly predicts life satisfaction, work-family conflict and well-being beyond the prediction produced by the content of the psychological contract. In addition, trust and fairness, two dimensions of the state of psychological contract, all together contribute to explain these psychological health variables adding value to the role as predictor of fulfillment of the psychological contract. The results support the approach argued by Guest and colleagues.     

Relation between resilience and personality traits: The role of hopelessness and age

Resilience refers to the process by which individuals use the ability to cope with challenges to successfully adapt to adverse situations, inclining towards the future and hope. The main aim of this study was to analyze the relation between resilience, personality traits, and hopelessness. Furthermore, we conducted comparisons between two age groups: young and older adults. The sample comprised 439 Spanish participants (66.7% women; M = 43.73, SD = 26.41; age range = 18–98 years). The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, NEO-Five Factor Inventory, and Beck Hopelessness Scale were used to measure the main study variables. The results revealed a negative relation between resilience and neuroticism, and a positive association with the other personality traits. Additionally, levels of resilience were found to be negatively related to hopelessness. The group of older adults showed significantly lower resilience levels than the young adults, although age was not a significant predictor of resilience. Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and hopelessness were the only predictors of resilience for the current study. This work contributes to the study of resilience and related factors, by attempting to understand the role of resilience and resistance to risk and how individuals tackle challenges over time, with important implications for mental health.     

Mindfulness and social identity: Predicting well-being in a high-stress environment

Social identity processes and mindfulness are two important predictors of well-being. Yet, to date, these predictors have been studied independently, within separate research fields. This paper aims to provide an initial integration of these two research fields. Our research was conducted in a context characterized by multiple chronic stressors: A maximum security prison in Kenya. In particular, two studies measured social identification with a mindfulness group and dispositional mindfulness. We investigated the effects of these constructs on three well-being measures: mental well-being, resilience (Studies 1 & 2), and reduction of substance use (Study 2). Our results, replicated across two studies (Study 1: N = 82, Study 2: N = 145), revealed that both social identification with the mindfulness group and mindfulness predicted psychological outcomes. Social identification explained variance in mental well-being and resilience in addition to the variance explained by mindfulness. Study 2 additionally showed that both identification and mindfulness were positively related to a reduction in substance use. However, when examined together, social identification held all the explanatory power, and mindfulness was no longer a significant predictor. From the overall results, we argue that social identity processes can be fruitfully combined with mindfulness in well-being programs delivered in high-stress environments such as prisons. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

A comparison of implicit memory tests in schizophrenic patients and normal controls

The objective of the current study was to compare the performance of schizophrenic patients and normal controls on implicit memory tests. Two neuropsychological tasks were administered to 29 patients and normal participant samples. The implicit tests were: Word fragment completion and Word production from semantic categories. The priming score was the variable of interest. Priming effects are obtained in normal subjects and schizophrenia patients, regardless of the implicit test used. However, a dissociation in priming between normal and patient groups was observed, depending on the test used. For word fragment test, priming was identical between the two groups. However, for word production, priming obtained in schizophrenics was lower than priming in normal controls. Results confirm a dissociation effect in implicit memory tests. These results could be explained in the context of the Roediger and Blaxton (1987) distinction between data-driven and conceptually-driven processing. This evidence suggests that a complete neuropsychological assessment of memory in schizophrenia should include different kinds of implicit memory tests (procedural, perceptual, and conceptual tasks).     

Are there limits to scientists’ obligations to seek and engage dissenters?

Dissent is thought to play a valuable role in science, so that scientific communities ought to create opportunities for receiving critical feedback and take dissenting views seriously. There is concern, however, that some dissent does more harm than good. Dissent on climate change and evolutionary theory, for example, has confused the public, created doubt about existing consensus, derailed public policy, and forced scientists to devote resources to respond. Are there limits to the extent to which scientific communities have obligations to seek and engage dissenting views? We consider the two main criteria that have been offered for what constitutes “normatively appropriate dissent” or the sort of dissent that ought to have the opportunity to be heard and taken seriously. Many have argued that dissenters must (1) engage in uptake of criticism against their own views and (2) share some standards for theory appraisal. We argue these criteria ultimately are unsuccessful.     

PSYCHOLOGY AND LITERATURE: THE QUESTION OF READING OTHERWISE

By making literature the partner of a dialogue with psychology, with the aim of better understanding the psyche, psychoanalysis has truly altered our way of understanding the literary phenomenon. Thus, Freud resorted to literature in an attempt to validate his theories. At the same time, though, in striving for "natural" scientific status, he shifted the emphasis away from any possible deep comprehension of the literature. However, psychoanalysis, trying to delve deeper into literature, has elaborated a whole theory regarding the literary meaning that is still prevalent today. In this paper, the author examines the Freudian conception of literature that points beyond the intrapsychic and moves towards intersubjectivity.     

The influence of decision task and deliberation style on the verdict of the juries

The influence of decision task and deliberation style on the verdict of the juries. In the Kameda's Deliberation Style Model the emission of verdicts of responsibility when the deliberation style of the juries (elemental/compound) and the type of decision task (disjunctive/conjunctive) are jointly manipulated, is favoured in certain conditions. Given the consequences that these approaches could have in real judicial processes, this model is analyzed using a manslaughter crime under the Spanish judicial context conditions (nine members juries and seven or five members majorities emitting a verdict of guilty or not guilty, respectively). The obtained results indicated a better operation of the model when a conjunctive decision task was demanded.     

Gender,Dependency and Guilt in Intimate Relationship Conflict Among Spanish Couples

Conflict is inherent to all types of interpersonal relationships. The interdependence that characterizes romantic relationships is related to the way that men and women perceive intimate partner conflict. The emotion of guilt also plays an important role in the perception of conflict. In the present research we study how, in a conflictive situation, dependency in the relationship is related to guilt in men and women. A total of 116 young Spaniards (half men and half women) were exposed to a plausible conflict situation with their partners. Fifty-eight were undergraduate Psychology students who came to the laboratory with their partners (also mainly college students). The perceived seriousness of the conflict was manipulated, and the study explored how this perception affected the emotion of guilt. We also analyzed the effect of dependency on the intensity of experienced guilt. Results showed that women with high dependency felt guiltier than women with low dependency in high-conflict situations.     

Discourse-based emotional consistency modulates early and middle components of event-related potentials

In this study, participants read stories describing emotional episodes with either a positive or negative valence (Experiment 1). Following each story, participants were exposed to short sentences referring to the protagonist, and the event-related potential (ERP) for each sentence's last word was recorded. Some sentences described the protagonist's emotion, either consistent or inconsistent with the story; others were neutral; and others involved a semantically anomalous word. Inconsistent emotions were found to elicit larger N100/P200 and N400 than consistent emotions. However, when participants were exposed to the same critical sentences in a control experiment (Experiment 2) in which the stories had been removed, emotional consistency effects disappeared in all ERP components, demonstrating that these effects were discourse-level phenomena. By contrast, the ordinary N400 effect for locally anomalous words in the sentence was obtained both with and without story context. In conclusion, reading stories describing events with emotional significance determines strong and very early anticipations of an emotional word.