Bortner type A scores and basic emotions: aggression, distrustful, depression, and gregarious

We examined the correlations between scores on Bortner's scale and measures of aggression, distrustful, gregarious, and depression in 1,084 employees. Prospectively over 2 yr. we investigated the relationship of Type A behavior with cardiac mortality. Subjects classified as Type A had higher mean ratings on measures of aggression and distrustful than did persons classified as Type B. Mortality was lower in patients classified as reporting Type A behavior (12%) than in the patients classified as reporting Type B behavior (22%).     

Rumination as a common mechanism relating depressive risk factors to depression

Rumination was examined as a potential common mechanism linking risk factors with depression. Initially nondepressed individuals (N = 137) were assessed for presence of a ruminative response style and 4 other hypothesized risk factors for depression. They were followed for 2.5 years. Negative cognitive styles, self-criticism, dependency, neediness, and history of past depression were all significantly associated with rumination. Rumination mediated the predictive relationships of all risk factors except dependency with the number of prospective Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) major depressive episodes (MDEs; definite and subthreshold) during the follow-up period. In contrast, private self-consciousness did not mediate any relationships between risk factors and subsequent MDEs. Thus, rumination, as a special kind of self-focus, may act as a general proximal mechanism through which other vulnerability factors affect depression.     

Does parochial cooperation exist in childhood and adolescence? A meta-analysis

Although previous meta-analytic evidence supports the existence of parochialism in cooperation among adults, the extent to which children and adolescents are more willing to incur a personal cost to benefit ingroups, compared to outgroups, is not yet clear. We provide the first meta-analysis on the existence and magnitude of parochialism in cooperation among pre-adults. Based on 20 experimental economics studies (k = 69, N = 5268, age = 3–19, 12 countries, published 2008–2019), a multilevel meta-analytic model revealed a small overall effect size indicating that children and adolescents were more cooperative towards ingroups (d = 0.22, 95% CI [0.07, 0.38]). A series of single-moderator analyses tested for the following conditions: participant age and sex; game type ([mini-]dictator game, prisoner's dilemma, public goods dilemma, trust game, ultimatum game); outcome interdependence; membership manipulation (between- vs. within-subjects); group type (natural vs. experimental); reward type (monetary vs. non-monetary); and country of the participant. Parochial cooperation did not vary with participants' age. Parochialism was larger in non-interdependent (dictator-type) compared to interdependent (bargaining and social dilemma) games. There were no moderating effects of group type, membership manipulation or reward type. To provide more data on how parochialism develops, primary studies should report age ranges more precisely and use more restricted age groups.     

A mixed-model for psychoanalytic education*

Abstract

If psychoanalysis is to avoid total marginalization, something has to be changed in the way future generations are prepared for working with patients and doing research. Reformation of psychoanalytic education may easily be the crucial issue when it comes to the survival of psychoanalysis. Its current organizational scheme has been criticized for various reasons, and various models of its structure have been proposed. I advocate a model that would combine the best features of the university education (training in clinical skills together with philosophy of science and research methodology) with personal analysis as part of psychoanalytic institutes. Although universities can remedy some of the problems of psychoanalytic institutions, they cannot contain the subjective experience of being analyzed.     

A randomized controlled pilot trial of acceptance and commitment training (ACT) for preventing stress-related ill health among future nurses

Background: Levels of stress and burnout increase during nursing education. This development has consequences for nursing students' health, learning, competence, and interest in quality issues in health care. Design: In a randomized controlled pilot trial with a sample of 113 nursing students the effect of an intervention using techniques from acceptance and commitment training (ACT) to prevent the development of stress and burnout was evaluated. Method: The 6 × 2-hour program was compared to standard treatment (reflection seminars) post-intervention and at a three-month follow-up using longitudinal analysis of mean response profiles. Mechanisms of change were investigated using a baseline-post intervention two-mediator model. Results: The intervention resulted in increased mindful awareness and decreased experiential avoidance, as well as decreased perceived stress and burnout. Levels of mindful awareness and perceived stress were sustained at follow-up. The proposed mechanisms of change were partly supported by the data. Conclusion: This study shows that techniques from ACT might have the potential to contribute to preventing the development of stress and burnout during nursing education. However, additional studies are needed to validate these results.     

The Mentalization Scale (MentS): A Self-Report Measure for the Assessment of Mentalizing Capacity

The psychometric properties of a new 28-item self-report measure of mentalization, the Mentalization Scale (MentS), were examined in 2 studies: with a sample of employed adults and university students (N₁ = 288 + 278) and with a sample of persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and matched controls (N₂ = 62 + 62). Besides the MentS, both studies employed measures of attachment and the Big Five; Study 1 also included assessments of empathy and emotional intelligence. MentS whole-scale internal consistency was good in the community and acceptable in the clinical sample (α = .84 and .75, respectively). A principal components analysis of Study 1 data yielded 3 interpretable factors, or subscales: Self-Related Mentalization (MentS-S), Other-Related Mentalization (MentS-O), and Motivation to Mentalize (MentS-M). These showed acceptable reliabilities (α = .74–.79), except for MentS-M in the clinical sample (α = .60). MentS scores further exhibited a coherent pattern of correlations with cognate constructs and the Big Five, relating positively to empathy, trait and ability emotional intelligence, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness, and negatively to attachment avoidance and anxiety, and neuroticism. Persons with BPD scored significantly lower on MentS total and MentS-S. The proposed scale is thus deemed suitable for quick, yet meaningful, assessments of mentalization in both individual differences research and clinical contexts.     

Color opponency in synaesthetic experiences

Grapheme-color synaesthesia is a rare condition in which perception of a letter or a digit is associated with concurrent perception of a color. Synaesthetes report that these color experiences are vivid and realistic. We used a Stroop task to show that synaesthetically induced color, like real color, is processed in color-opponent channels (red-green or blue-yellow). Synaesthetic color produced maximal interference with the perception and naming of the real color of a grapheme if the real color was opponent to the synaesthetic color. Interference was reduced considerably if the synaesthetic and real colors engaged different color channels (e.g., synaesthetic blue and real red). No dependence on color opponency was found for semantic conflicts between shape and color (e.g., a blue lemon). Thus, the neural representation of synaesthetic colors closely resembles that of real colors. This suggests involvement of early stages of visual processing in color synaesthesia and explains the vivid and realistic nature of synaesthetic experiences.