Unprovoked aggression: effects of psychopathic traits and sadism

Psychopathic individuals engage in the most violent and cold-blooded acts of aggression. In the laboratory, psychopathy traits have been linked to the commission of unprovoked aggression. The purpose of this study was to assess affective motives that may underlie the relationship between psychopathy and unprovoked aggression. One hundred thirty-seven men viewed a series of photographs depicting violent imagery, completed a lexical decision task designed to assess state affect, and competed in a laboratory-based aggression paradigm. Results indicated that participants who responded faster to happiness words after viewing violent imagery (i.e., sadistic) were significantly more likely to engage in unprovoked aggression. Additionally, Factor 1 psychopathy (emotional detachment) predicted increased probability of unprovoked aggression; however, this relationship was not mediated by sadism. Rather, Factor 1 and sadism each independently predicted unprovoked aggression. The implications of the present data suggest that the type of violence evinced may inform the risk for perpetration of future acts. That is, the individual who demonstrates unprovoked violence may be more likely to employ aggressive tactics across situational contexts than the individual who demonstrates only impulsive acts of hostile/reactive aggression.     

A Problem with Discretizing Vale–Maurelli in Simulation Studies

Psychometrika - Previous influential simulation studies investigate the effect of underlying non-normality in ordinal data using the Vale–Maurelli (VM) simulation method. We show that...     

Declarative memory consolidation: mechanisms acting during human sleep

Of late, an increasing number of studies have shown a strong relationship between sleep and memory. Here we summarize a series of our own studies in humans supporting a beneficial influence of slow-wave sleep (SWS) on declarative memory formation, and try to identify some mechanisms that might underlie this influence. Specifically, these experiments show that declarative memory benefits mainly from sleep periods dominated by SWS, whereas there is no consistent benefit of this memory from periods rich in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A main mechanism of declarative memory formation is believed to be the reactivation of newly acquired memory representations in hippocampal networks that stimulates a transfer and integration of these representations into neocortical neuronal networks. Consistent with this model, spindle activity and slow oscillation-related EEG coherence increase during early sleep after intense declarative learning in humans, signs that together point toward a neocortical reprocessing of the learned material. In addition, sleep seems to provide an optimal milieu for declarative memory reprocessing and consolidation by reducing cholinergic activation and the cortisol feedback to the hippocampus during SWS.     

Tangible pictures: viewpoint effects and linear perspective in visually impaired people

Perception of raised-line pictures in blindfolded-sighted, congenitally blind, late-blind, and low-vision subjects was studied in a series of experiments. The major aim of the study was to examine the value of perspective drawings for haptic pictures and visually impaired individuals. In experiment 1, subjects felt two wooden boards joined at 45 degrees, 90 degrees, or 135 degrees, and were instructed to pick the correct perspective drawing from among four choices. The first experiment on perspective found a significant effect of visual status, with much higher performance by the low-vision subjects. Mean performance for the congenitally blind subjects was not significantly different from that of the late-blind and blindfolded-sighted subjects. In a further experiment, blindfolded subjects drew tangible pictures of three-dimensional (3-D) geometric solids, and then engaged in a matching task. Counter to expectations, performance was not impaired for the 3-D drawings as compared with the frontal viewpoints. Subjects were also especially fast and more accurate when matching top views. Experiment 5 showed that top views were easiest for all of the visually impaired subjects, including those who were congenitally blind. Experiment 5 yielded higher performance for 3-D than frontal viewpoints. The results of all of the experiments were consistent with the idea that visual experience is not necessary for understanding perspective drawings of geometrical objects.     

The externalist challenge to conceptual engineering

Unlike conceptual analysis, conceptual engineering does not aim to identify the content that our current concepts do have, but the content which these concepts should have. For this method to show the results that its practitioners typically aim for, being able to change meanings seems to be a crucial presupposition. However, certain branches of semantic externalism raise doubts about whether this presupposition can be met. To the extent that meanings are determined by external factors such as causal histories or microphysical structures, it seems that they cannot be changed intentionally. This paper gives an extended discussion of this ‘externalist challenge’. Pace Herman Cappelen’s recent take on this issue, it argues that the viability of conceptual engineering crucially depends on our ability to bring about meaning change. Furthermore, it argues that, contrary to first appearance, causal theories of reference do allow for a sufficient degree of meaning control. To this purpose, it argues that there is a sense of what is called ‘collective long-range control’, and that popular versions of the causal theory of reference imply that people have this kind of control over meanings.

     

The Ebbs and Flows: Stresses of Sandwich Generation Caregivers

The term sandwich generation describes individuals who are caught between the competing demands of caring for at least one dependent child and one or more aging parents. Of the approximate 8.1 million caregivers in Canada, 28 % were considered “sandwiched”. Similar trends were found in the United States, with 15 % of middle-aged adults being sandwiched financially. Currently, little is known about the unique experiences of those providing care at both ends of the generational ladder. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to explore the lived experiences of two married sandwich generation caregivers through the use of a case study. A married male and female who were caring for two dependent children and three aging parents each completed two one-on-one interviews with the researcher. The aging parents had varying ailments and needs, and thus the level of care required for each senior fluctuated. Several salient themes emerged from the data, but the following will be the focus of this paper: (1) Ebbs and Flows and (2) Stresses of Being Sandwiched. Notably, the participants’ discussed how their lived experience differed depending on their current situation, as was also evident when the two interviews were compared. During difficult times, the participants’ faced a number of challenges which will be discussed within the paper. As such, future research being conducted with this population should be conducted at multiple time points in order to fully capture the dynamic lived experiences of sandwich generation caregivers.     

Gender differences in salivary alpha-amylase and attentional bias towards negative facial expressions following acute stress induction

This study investigated gender differences in two key processes involved in anxiety, arousal and attentional bias towards threat. Arousal was assessed using salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a biomarker of noradrenergic arousal and attention bias using a dot-probe task. Twenty-nine women and 27 men completed the dot-probe task and provided saliva samples before and after a stress induction [cold pressor stress (CPS) test]. Women displayed a significant increase in arousal (sAA) following the stressor compared to men, who displayed a significant reduction in arousal. Reaction time data revealed a significant avoidance of threat in women at baseline, but a significant change to an attention bias towards threat following the stressor. Men did not significantly respond to the stressor in terms of attentional bias. These findings suggest that women are more reactive to a stressor than men, and display an initial avoidance response to threat, but an attentional bias towards threat following stress.     

Those speedos become them: the role of self-objectification in gay and heterosexual men's body image

Objectification Theory proposes that membership in sexually objectifying Western societies gradually socializes women to adopt an observer's perspective on their physical self. This leads to negative consequences, including body shame and restricted eating behavior. The authors extend this framework to investigate a subgroup of men, namely gay men, who also exist in a subculture that emphasizes and values physical appearance. Study 1 investigated trait differences in self-objectification and body image among gay and heterosexual men. Analyses indicated that gay men scored higher on self-objectification, body shame, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness. In Study 2, the authors experimentally manipulated state self-objectification and found that for gay men, increasing state self-objectification resulted in greater body shame and dissatisfaction and more restrained eating. Together, these results offer strong support to Objectification Theory as a useful framework from within which to view the experience of gay men.     

Visual attention: of features and transparent surfaces

A recent report by Wannig et al. demonstrated the effects of selectively attending to individual surfaces in transparent motion patterns on neurons in the middle temporal area of awake, behaving monkeys. The study illustrates a highly adaptive and flexible attentional modulation of sensory responses.     

Die Psychotherapieausbildung aus Sicht der Lehrkräfte

Background

A survey was carried out to ask the trainers and supervisors about their appraisal of the quality of the psychotherapy training and about ways to improve it 10 years after the inception of the “German psychotherapy law”.

Methods

Training institutes provided e-mail addresses and other contact information from over 5,000 trainers. The questioning was carried out mainly by on-line questionnaires and 2,196 data sets were used for analysis.

Results

Trainers showed overall satisfaction with the components of psychotherapy training and the skills of the training candidates. More knowledge transfer in the fields of therapy techniques and case studies and more cooperation with other professional groups were suggested. Trainers acknowledged redundancies between professional training and university studies and observed a heterogeneity of trainees, however, these were mostly considered helpful. Only half of the trainers were subject to evaluation of their work.

Conclusions

The quality of psychotherapy training could be improved by stronger emphasis on practical knowledge. Structural changes should be made to take the problem of redundancies and heterogeneities into account. Regular and continuous evaluation of the training should become an integral part of professional training and the results should have consequences.