“Heaven and Hell on Earth” A critical discourse analysis of religious terms in Norwegian autobiographies describing personal experience of mental health problems

This article explores the use of religious terms in six Norwegian autobiographies written between 1925 and 2005 by people who themselves have been patients in the mental health services. Through a critical discourse analysis, we discuss the functions of religious discourse in the texts and its position in contrast to the medical discourse predominant in today's mental health services. It was found that religious (predominantly Christian) terms were used to varying degrees in all autobiographies as a means to capture the immensity and inherent ambivalence characteristic of mental health problems. Despite the “medical turn” in professional mental health discourse, there is no clear evidence of a decrease in the use of religious terms from the oldest to the most recent text. We propose that professional mental health workers to a larger extent take into account the religious dimension in therapy, and reflect on its larger historical and sociocultural context.     

The Effects of Emotionality on Concept Formation

The effects of three levels of cognitive tuning (transmission, reception, and no-set) on the free recall of clustered and unclustered word lists were investigated with the use of three ratio measures: proportion of words correctly recalled, number of runs of clusters out of the number of possible runs, and number of clusters utilized over the number of words recalled. Subjects included 99 female undergraduates enrolled in an introductory psychology course. The results supported a cognitive structure as opposed to a motivational interpretation of the tuning set phenomenon. Receivers, being tuned for sorting information into broad categories, recalled a greater number of words, scored lower on the ratio of runs, and used smaller ratios of clusters to words than transmitters who tuned in cognitive structures designed to process discrete bits of information.     

Evaluating a Brief Scale Measuring Psychological Climate for Sexual Harassment

We evaluated the measurement properties of the psychological climate for sexual harassment (PCSH) questionnaire with data from women officers (n?=?311) in the Swedish Armed Forces. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a two-factor solution assessing risks and seriousness/actions associated with sexual harassment episodes described the underlying pattern of correlations among items. Correlational and regression analyses showed that ratings of perceived intolerance for sexual harassment were associated with high ratings of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and (positive) mental health; and decreased ratings of psychological distress. We discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of our findings for future research.     

The development of hazard perception: Dissociation of visual orientation and hazard processing

Eye movements are a key behavior for visual information processing in traffic situations and for vehicle control. Previous research showed that effective ways of eye guidance are related to better hazard perception skills. Furthermore, hazard perception is reported to be faster for experienced drivers as compared to novice drivers. However, little is known whether this difference can be attributed to the development of visual orientation, or hazard processing. In the present study, we compared eye movements of 20 inexperienced and 20 experienced drivers in a hazard perception task. We separately measured (a) the interval between the onset of a static hazard scene and the first fixation on a potential hazard, and (b) the interval between the first fixation on a potential hazard and the final response. While overall RT was faster for experienced compared to inexperienced drivers, the scanning patterns revealed that this difference was due to faster processing after the initial fixation on the hazard, whereas scene scanning times until the initial fixation on the hazard did not differ between groups.     

Counter‐Interrogation Strategies when Anticipating Questions on Intentions

The present experimental study adds to the emerging line of psycholegal research focusing on true and false intentions. It is the first to examine mock suspects' (N = 120) counter‐interrogation strategies in investigative interviews in which they anticipate questions on their intentions. As planning is an inherent part of many intentions, mock suspects were, in addition to questions on their intentions, asked a set of questions that pertained to the planning phase in which they formed their intentions. Besides ratings of the anticipation and difficulty of the questions, participants were asked to provide their principal strategy for being perceived as truthful. Both truth tellers and liars perceived the questions on the planning phase as significantly more unanticipated than the questions on their intentions. Furthermore, liars perceived the questions on the planning phase as more difficult to answer than did truth tellers. Liars and truth tellers differed with respect to their principal strategy employed for being perceived as truthful. Liars' most commonly used strategy was to stick to the cover story, whereas truth tellers' most common strategy was to be honest. The results are discussed in relation to the unanticipated questions approach and psychological concepts such as the illusion of transparency. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Computerized Testing in Neurobehavioural Toxicology

Cet article décrit quelques-uns des avantages que peut procurer l'informatisation du testing par rapport à l'administration manuelle traditionnelle. On dresse une liste des principales batteries de tests informatisées utilisées dans le champ de la toxicologie comportementale. Les conséquences éventuelles des progrès réalisés dans le software et le hardware sont traitées. On parle aussi de l'absence relative de guides théoriques pour l'élaboration de tests en toxicologie comportementale et l'on présente enfin des recommandations pour le développement à venir et I'utilisation de batteries de tests neurocomportementaux informatisées.
This paper discusses some of the advantages that may be gained from using computerized performance testing, as compared to traditional manual testing. A list of the major computerized test batteries used in the field of behavioural toxicology is presented, and possible implications of advances in computer hardware and software are discussed. The implications of the relative lack of theoretical guidelines for the development of tests within behavioural toxicology are discussed, and recommendations for the future development and use of computerized neurobehavioural test batteries are also presented.     

Psychometric evaluation and further validation of the Hagedoorn et al. modified EVLN measure

The aim of the present study was to evaluate and further validate a modified Exit, Voice, Loyalty and Neglect (EVLN) instrument (Hagedoorn, Van Yperen, Van de Vliert & Buunk, 1999), in a Swedish sample (n= 792). To test the underlying scaling assumptions, the convergent and divergent validity, a multitrait/multi-item analysis was conducted and factor analyses were used to evaluate the factor structure. The concurrent validity was tested by using the modified EVLN instrument as predictor and three different forms of justice as criteria in the analysis. The criterion-related validity was tested and an association between exit behavioral response and actual exit behavior was found (predictive validity). The results showed that the instrument may be considered to be a valid measure with the exception of the aggressive voice scale.