Clark and Hatfield's evidence of women's low receptivity to male strangers' sexual offers revisited

Although frequently cited, there has been no published scientific replication of Clark and Hatfield's (1989) and Clark's (1990) findings concerning women's low receptivity to male strangers' offers of casual sex. Consistently across three identically designed naturalistic experiments (aggregated N = 144), these authors reported a 0% acceptance rate by women. The present research analyzed an informal "real-life" journalistic project (N= 100) initiated by an Austrian magazine, in which results indicated a 6.1% acceptance rate (95% CI: 2.8-12.6%) for a complete stranger offering women immediate sexual involvement. Various contextual differences, such as setting, subjects' age and attractiveness, and age differences between requestor and receiver, probably contributed to the observed difference in outcome between the journalistic project and the original experiments. The present findings point to the importance of contextual effects in naturalistic investigations of women's receptivity to sexual offers.     

Positive effects of subclinical depression in prospective memory and ongoing tasks in young and old adults

Results reported in the literature show that depression can have either negative or neutral effects on prospective memory (PM). The goal of the present study was to broaden the analysis of depression-related effects on PM, with regard to the possibility that subclinical depression may have positive influence on PM. A total of 120 participants from four groups (young/old, subclinically depressed/non-depressed) completed event- and time-based PM tasks embedded in the linear orders task or stories task, respectively. In the event-based PM task no effects of depression were found, whereas depressed participants were more accurate in the time-based PM task, where higher monitoring during the last minute of the task was observed. It was also found that depressed participants built a mental model in the linear orders task more accurately than controls. Results of the present study are discussed with reference to the analytical rumination hypothesis.     

Wohlbefinden,Burn-out und Ressourcen bei Psychotherapeuten

Background

Well-being and its correlates have rarely been investigated in psychotherapists. Results from research on other occupational groups have shown that subjective and work-related well-being are both associated with performance and motivation as well as with mental and physical health. Therefore, personal and job-related resources of practicing psychotherapists were investigated in this study in order to assess their associations with well-being.

Method

A total of 771 psychotherapists filled in an online questionnaire including questions concerning well-being (WHO-Five Well-being Index, WBI-5), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), and personal (Psychological Capital Questionnaire, PCQ) as well as job-related (Dutch Questionnaire on Work Experience, VBBA) resources.

Outcomes

Of the participants 45?% reported that they were suffering from high emotional exhaustion. Over 30?% reported a reduced subjective well-being, while more extensive professional experience was associated with better well-being. Psychotherapists reported optimism and hope to be the most important personal resources, whereas opportunities for personal and professional development were the most important job-related resources.

Conclusions

The study identified personal and job-related resources which may be relevant for different aspects of well-being in psychotherapists.     

Counterfactual closeness and predicted affect

Empirical research on counterfactual thinking has found a closeness effect: people report higher negative affect if an actual outcome is close to a better counterfactual outcome. However, it remains unclear what actually is a “close” miss. In three experiments that manipulate close counterfactuals, closeness effects were found only when closeness was unambiguously defined either with respect to a contrasted alternative, or with respect to a categorical boundary. In a real task people failed to report greater negative affect when encountering a close numerical miss, while they predicted greater negative affect hypothetically. These results show that counterfactual closeness effects on affect depend on closeness being accessible and unambiguously defined.     

Disentangling executive functions and memory processes in event‐based prospective remembering after brain damage: A neuropsychological study

Successful prospective remembering (PR) comprises at least two components: one retrospective component that refers to the encoding and retrieval of the content of the intention and a second prospective component that involves the retrieval of the intended action at the appropriate moment. Whereas the retrospective component is very similar to memory skills like learning and retention of new information, the prospective component is thought to rely mainly on executive function. Head injuries can disturb PR during both of these stages. To disentangle the relative impact of executive functions and retrospective memory processes on PR we embedded a PR task in a 2‐back verbal working memory paradigm. Fifty‐six neurological patients with brain damage of various aetiologies were divided pre‐experimentally into four groups on the basis of their delayed recall Index in the Wechsler Memory Scale‐Revised (WMS‐R, indicating absence or presence of deficits in retrospective memory functions) and their age‐corrected score in the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS, indicating absence or presence of deficits in executive functions). Additionally, 19 controls matched for age and education were examined. We found that patients with deficits in executive functions detected fewer cues than any other group irrespective of their retrospective memory performance. However, eight patients with severe anterograde memory deficits could retain neither the intention nor its content. Thus, intactness of the retrospective component seems to be a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for successful prospective remembering. For the execution of the intended action itself executive functions play a critical role.     

How to design an electronic memory aid for brain‐injured patients: Considerations on the basis of a model of prospective memory

There has been an enormous development in the field of electronic memory aids, such as mobile phones, organizers, or combinations of both. Nevertheless, these devices have hardly been useful in the neuropsychological therapy of memory‐impaired patients so far. The model of prospective remembering by Ellis (1996) is used as theoretical background in order to (1) analyse patients' needs concerning electronic memory aids, (2) evaluate the usefulness of electronic memory aids for patients described in the literature, as well as of two commercially available electronic memory aids, and (3) derive conclusions concerning demands on how to design a memory aid suitable for patients. While most of the devices designed for patients improve their reliability by compensating for lack of self‐initiated retrieval, most of them are not able to compensate for problems during execution or evaluation. Commercially available memory devices have the advantage of being available to everybody, but they can only support mildly impaired patients. Patients with more severe deficits, however, need a more suitable interface in order to facilitate data entry. In addition, interactive chains of actions should be implemented in order to support execution and evaluation of future intentions. MEMOS, a system in development that tries to realize these demands, is presented.     

Bulimiebehandlung im stationären und teilstationären Setting

While treatment guidelines for outpatient psychotherapy for bulimia nervosa are known, it is hard to find published concepts for inpatient or day clinic settings. We will describe a treatment program developed in Freiburg/Germany, which integrates symptomoriented, cognitive-behavioral elements into a psychodynamic concept. The program presented can be seen as an example. For implementation at other clinics, it should be adapted to their special context and structure.     

Antecedents and consequences of autonomy- and dependency-oriented help toward refugees

We tested antecedents (paternalistic beliefs; Study 1) and consequences (social change potential; Study 2) of autonomy- and dependency-oriented help and developed scales assessing paternalistic beliefs and both forms of help. In Study 1 (N = 143 Germans), we focused on paternalistic beliefs as an antagonist to social change and a key distinguishing variable between engagement in both forms of help. As expected, paternalistic beliefs were positively related to dependency-oriented help, mediated by concern for a positive national moral image, but negatively related to autonomy-oriented help, mediated by perceived competence of refugees. In Study 2, both refugees (N = 80) and Germans (N = 94) perceived autonomy-oriented help to have more potential for social change than dependency-oriented help.     

How to keep children safe in traffic: find the daredevils early

Crossing the street in front of oncoming vehicles poses serious danger to young children. But is each young pedestrian similarly at risk? The authors aimed to identify children who are particularly prone to making risky and potentially harmful crossing decisions. They used a simple game involving risk to classify 5- to 6-year-olds as risk takers or risk avoiders. Children classified as risk takers made more crossing decisions at a busy 1-way street than risk avoiders, tolerated shorter time intervals between initiation of the crossing decision and arrival of the next vehicle, and were more likely to cause a (hypothetical) accident. Finally, they made decisions more quickly than risk avoiders. The authors discuss the implication of these results for traffic safety programs.     

Using a Self-Management Intervention to Increase Compliance in Children With ASD

This two-study series examined the effectiveness of self-management in increase compliance with parental requests. Three boys diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their parents participated. The intervention involved self-monitoring combined with parent-delivered reinforcement. A multiple baseline design was used. The intervention was successful in increasing rates of compliance and reducing problem behavior in training and generalization settings with each participant. Social validity was high and treatment integrity data indicated that the intervention could be readily implemented by parents. Study 2 also provided evidence of a strong treatment effect for the self-management beyond a small effect for effective instructional delivery.