Incorporating family therapy into asthma group intervention: a randomized waitlist-controlled trial

Asthma psychoeducational programs have been found to be effective in terms of symptom-related outcome. They are mostly illness-focused, and pay minimal attention to systemic/familial factors. This study evaluated a novel asthma psychoeducation program that adopted a parallel group design and incorporated family therapy. A randomized waitlist-controlled crossover clinical trial design was adopted. Children with stable asthma and their parents were recruited from a pediatric chest clinic. Outcome measures included, for the patients: exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), spirometry, and adjustment to asthma; and for the parents: perceived efficacy in asthma management, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale anxiety subscale, Body Mind Spirit Well-being Inventory emotion subscale, and Short Form 12 health-related quality of life scale. Forty-six patients participated in the study. Attrition rates were 13.0% and 26.0% for the active and control groups, respectively. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant decrease in airway inflammation, as indicated by eNO levels, and an increase in patient's adjustment to asthma and parents' perceived efficacy in asthma management. Serial trend analysis revealed that most psychosocial measures continued to progress steadily after intervention. Significant improvements in both symptom-related measures and mental health and relationship measures were observed. The findings supported the value of incorporating family therapy into asthma psychoeducation programs.     

A dimensional model of personality disorder: incorporating DSM Cluster A characteristics

The authors articulate an expanded dimensional model of personality pathology to better account for symptoms of DSM-defined Cluster A personality disorders. Two hundred forty participants (98 first-degree relatives of probands with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, 92 community control participants, and 50 first-degree relatives of probands with bipolar disorder) completed a dimensional personality pathology questionnaire, a measure of schizotypal characteristics, and Chapman measures of psychosis proneness. Scales from all questionnaires were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation. A 5-factor structure of personality pathology emerged from the analyses, with Peculiarity forming an additional factor to the common 4-factor structure of personality pathology (consisting of Introversion, Emotional Dysregulation, Antagonism, and Compulsivity). These results support a 5-factor dimensional model of personality pathology that better accounts for phenomena encompassed by the Cluster A personality disorders in DSM-IV-TR (4th ed., text revised; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This study has implications for the consideration of a dimensional model of personality disorder in DSM-V by offering a more comprehensive structural model that builds on previous work in this area.     

Effects of role models from films on short-term ratings of intent, interest, and self-assessment of ability by high school youth: a study of gender-stereotyped academic subjects

The effects of cinematic female role models on self-confidence in own abilities, interest, and academic elective intents of secondary school pupils were analyzed in two studies. In Study 1 the participants (N = 283) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. Each group watched a film after which they completed a questionnaire. In Film 1 the lead female character demonstrated conventional female characteristics and was discernibly untalented in mathematics and the natural sciences, in Film 2 the lead female character did not exhibit conventional female characteristics and was gifted in mathematics and the natural sciences, and in Film 3 the lead female character was typically female and gifted in mathematics and the natural sciences. Film 3, in which the lead female character not only contradicted the stereotype of women not being gifted at mathematics and the natural sciences but also should not have elicited subtyping processes, turned out to be effective among girls with High prior interest and boys in general. In contrast, this film had unexpected effects among girls with Low prior interest. Instead of showing, as expected, merely weaker effects than those found for the other groups, this role model even had a deterrent effect on girls with Low prior interest. In Study 2 (N = 55) an investigation assessed whether Film 3 could exercise a similarly positive effect on female pupils with Low prior interest were a female role model to depict constructive coping with difficulties in mathematics and the natural sciences prior to the presentation of the film. Results show this is possible.     

Classifying emotion: a developmental account

The aim of this paper is to propose a systematic classification of emotions which can also characterize their nature. The first challenge we address is the submission of clear criteria for a theory of emotions that determine which mental phenomena are emotions and which are not. We suggest that emotions as a subclass of mental states are determined by their functional roles. The second and main challenge is the presentation of a classification and theory of emotions that can account for all existing varieties. We argue that we must classify emotions according to four developmental stages: 1. pre-emotions as unfocussed expressive emotion states, 2. basic emotions, 3. primary cognitive emotions, and 4. secondary cognitive emotions. We suggest four types of basic emotions (fear, anger, joy and sadness) which are systematically differentiated into a diversity of more complex emotions during emotional development. The classification distinguishes between basic and non-basic emotions and our multi-factorial account considers cognitive, experiential, physiological and behavioral parameters as relevant for constituting an emotion. However, each emotion type is constituted by a typical pattern according to which some features may be more significant than others. Emotions differ strongly where these patterns of features are concerned, while their essential functional roles are the same. We argue that emotions form a unified ontological category that is coherent and can be well defined by their characteristic functional roles. Our account of emotions is supported by data from developmental psychology, neurobiology, evolutionary biology and sociology.     

Discrimination of possible and impossible objects in infancy

Adults can use pictorial depth cues to infer three-dimensional structure in two-dimensional depictions of objects. The age at which infants respond to the same kinds of visual information has not been determined, and theories about the underlying developmental mechanisms remain controversial. In this study, we used a visual habituation/novelty-preference procedure to assess the ability of 4-month-old infants to discriminate between two-dimensional depictions of structurally possible and impossible objects. Results indicate that young infants are sensitive to junction structures and interposition cues associated with pictorial depth and can detect inconsistent relationships among these cues that render an object impossible. Our results provide important insights into the development of mechanisms for processing pictorial depth cues that allow adults to extract three-dimensional structure from pictures of objects.     

Mechanisms of modal and amodal interpolation

P. J. Kellman and T. F. Shipley (1992) and P. J. Kellman, P. Garrigan, and T. F. Shipley (2005) suggested that completion of partly occluded objects and illusory objects involve the same or similar mechanisms at critical stages of contour interpolation. B. L. Anderson, M. Singh, and R. W. Fleming and B. L. Anderson (2007) presented a number of arguments against this view. The author analyzes 3 of these arguments, as well as B. L. Anderson's ecological justification for believing that these mechanisms must be very different, and suggests that their conclusions are unwarranted. The author also outlines a model consistent with the identity hypothesis and with recent physiological evidence, including a quantitative proposal for contour interpolation strength. The model suggests that V1 and V2 receive from higher visual areas feedback that modulates their responses to stimuli eliciting modal completion, amodal completion, and collinear contour facilitation. The model qualitatively explains the unstable percepts evoked by various recently devised stimuli.     

Comparative judgments with missing information: a regression and process tracing analysis

We had participants decide which one of two applicants was better qualified for a scholarship. They also judged the difference between them (comparative judgment). The applicants were described by features (grades) in different subjects (dimensions). The grades on some dimensions were missing (unique dimensions) for an alternative while all the grades were available on other dimensions (common dimensions). In a conventional regression analysis, we found that decision makers gave more weight to dimensions when they were common than when they were unique. However, this commensurability effect was limited to medium important dimensions and did not apply to dimensions of high or low importance. We also observed how participants retrieved information for the choice alternatives and analysed how importance and commensurability are reflected in the processing prior to the decision. Features on more important or common dimensions were inspected earlier than features on less important or unique dimensions. Participants preferred dimensional transitions and inspected features on unique dimensions longer than their common counterparts. This finding suggested that participants used inferences when features were missing. We propose an outline of a decision heuristic to describe decision making with missing information.     

Developmental and genetic determinants of leadership role occupancy among women

The genetic and developmental influences on leadership role occupancy were investigated using a sample of 178 fraternal and 214 identical female twins. Two general developmental factors were identified, one involving formal work experiences and the other a family experiences factor hypothesized to influence whether women move into positions of leadership in organizations. Results indicated that 32% of the variance in leadership role occupancy was associated with heritability. The 2 developmental factors also showed significant correlations with leadership role occupancy. However, after genetic factors were partialed out, only the work experience factor was significantly related to leadership role occupancy. Results are discussed in terms of prior life events and experiences that may trigger leadership development and the limitations of this study.