Comorbidity of specific and generalized social anxiety in Spanish adolescents

The comorbidity of the social anxiety disorder, including the specific and generalized subtypes, and other psychopathological problems in adolescents is explored. For this purpose, 961 Spanish young people were evaluated (mean age = 15.63 years) by means of various self-reports that measure sociodemographical variables, competences and clinical indexes. Those with social anxiety were divided into two groups: specific and generalized. The results indicated that the adolescents with social anxiety had a higher percentage of comorbidity in the indexes that refer to anxiety and avoidance in social situations, than did the young people with other psychopathologies. The group of generalized social anxiety had a higher percentage of comorbidity than the specific social anxiety group in the majority of the clinical problems measured by the YSR/11-18 and MMPI-A. Only in eleven of the evaluated clinical indexes was the difference in comorbidity between the two groups of social anxiety significant, and the percentage of comorbidity was lower in the first group.     

Charismatic leadership and organizational outcomes: The mediating role of employees' work-group identification

This research examines the degree of employees' identification with the work-group as a function of charismatic leadership (e.g., Conger & Kanungo, 1998 1998) and the mediating role of work-group identification (Van Knippenberg & Van Shie, 2000 2000) in the relationship between charismatic style and different work outcomes. Thus, the general aim was to analyse leadership and work outcomes as they are associated to social identification processes, referring both to recent developments of charismatic leadership models and to the recent developments of the social identity analysis applied to the workplace (see Abrams & Hogg, 2001 2001). Two field surveys were conducted using 200 Italian public and private sector employees (two different working organizations). Two questionnaires were designed in order to collect data. They included different measures of charismatic leadership derived by the literature (e.g., the Conger-Kanungo Charismatic Leadership Questionnaire; Conger & Kanungo, 1994 1994, 1998 1998, for Study 2), a scale to assess the degree of identification with the work-group (Van Knippenberg & Van Shie, 2000 2000), and some scales to measure the different outcomes considered (e.g., Brown and Leigh's effort measure, 1996 1996; Mobley's turnover intention measure, 1977 1977). As predicted, results of Study 1 revealed that charismatic leadership was positively related to work-group identification, and employees' work effort was positively related to work-group identification. Work-group identification also mediates relationship between charismatic leadership and work effort. Results of Study 2 replicated the positive association between charismatic leadership and employees' work-group identification; work-group identification is also associated with their job involvement, job satisfaction, performance, and turnover intention. The same mediating role of work-group identification between charismatic leadership and the criteria mentioned above was found. Underlying mechanisms as well as implications are discussed.     

The supervisory field and projective identification1

Taking as their starting point the Baranger and Baranger model of the ‘psychoanalytic field’, the authors extend the notion of intersubjectivity in the analytic relationship to the supervision process. They use a practical example of a supervision to show the development of what they term the ‘supervisory field’, formed from the superimposition of the two fields of analyst‐patient and supervisor‐supervisee. They emphasize the interplay of projective identifications with objects emanating from the inner world of the patient that are relived in the analytic relationship and transposed to the supervisory field. They believe that the concept of the ‘supervisory field’ contributes to a deeper understanding of the unconscious processes occurring in the mind of analysand, supervisee and supervisor during supervision, particularly regarding the identification, comprehension and resolution of persistent disturbances in the supervisory process.     

Clinical Implications and Methodological Challenges in the Study of the Neuropsychological Correlates of Cannabis,Stimulant, and Opioid Abuse

Chronic consumption of several drugs of abuse (cannabis, stimulants, opioids) has been associated with the presence of neuropsychological impairments in a broad range of functions. Nevertheless, in recent years neuropsychological research on substance abuse has focused on the study of impairments in the executive functions linked to the prefrontal cortex and their influence on the personality, cognitions, and behaviors of the substance abusers. The aim of our review is, first, to summarize the main neuropsychological impairments shown by classic studies, as well as these new discoveries in executive functioning; second, to consider the mediating role of neuropsychological status on treatment outcomes and analyze the impact of these impairments in clinical practice with drug addicts; and third, to review the principal methodological challenges associated with research in the field of the neuropsychology of substance abuse. We also highlight the convenience of intervening in those functions most relevant to the abusers' persistence in consumption and risk of relapse.     

Comparative and categorical spatial judgments in the monkey: “high” and “low”

Adult human subjects can classify the height of an object as belonging to either of the high or low categories by utilizing an abstract concept of midline that divides the vertical dimension into two halves. Children lack this abstract concept of midline, do not have a sense that these categories are directional opposites, and their categorical and comparative usages of high(er) or low(er) are restricted to the corresponding poles. We investigated the abilities of a rhesus monkey to perform categorical judgments in space. We were also interested in the presence of the congruity effect (a decrease in response time when the objects compared are closer to the category pole) in the monkey. The presence of this phenomenon in the monkey would allow us to relate the behavior of the animal to the two major competing hypotheses that have been suggested to explain the congruity effect in humans: the analog and semantic models. The monkey was trained in delayed match-to-sample tasks in which it had to categorize objects as belonging to either a high or low category. The monkey was able to generate an abstract notion of midline in a fashion similar to that of adult human subjects. The congruity effect was also present in the monkey. These findings, taken together with the notion that monkeys are not considered to think in propositional terms, may favor an analog comparison model in the monkey.     

Groups as epistemic providers: need for closure and the unfolding of group-centrism

Theory and research are presented relating the need for cognitive closure to major facets of group behavior. It is suggested that a high need for closure, whether it is based on members' disposition or the situation, contributes to the emergence of a behavioral syndrome describable as group-centrism--a pattern that includes pressures to opinion uniformity, encouragement of autocratic leadership, in-group favoritism, rejection of deviates, resistance to change, conservatism, and the perpetuation of group norms. These theoretical predictions are borne out by laboratory and field research in diverse settings.     

Individual difference variables,affective differentiation,and the structures of affect

Methodological arguments are usually invoked to explain variations in the structure of affect. Using self-rated affect from Italian samples (N=600), we show that individual difference variables related to affective differentiation can moderate the observed structure. Indices of circumplexity and congruence coefficients to the hypothesized target were used to quantify the observed structures. Results did not support the circumplex model as a universal structure. A circular structure with axes of activation and valence was approximated only among more affectively differentiated groups: students and respondents with high scores on Openness to Feelings and measures of negative emotionality. A different structure, with unipolar Positive Affect and Negative Affect factors, was observed among adults and respondents with low Openness to Feelings and negative emotionality. The observed structure of affect will depend in part on the nature of the sample studied.     

Transfer of specific contextual functions to novel conditional discriminations

Three adolescents and 4 children participated in studies designed to examine contextually controlled conditional discrimination performance. In Study 1, participants selected Comparison B1 in the presence one stimulus (A1) and Comparison B2 in the presence of another stimulus (A2) using a matching-to-sample procedure. Next, contextual stimuli X1 or X2 were presented, such that in the presence of X1, selection of B1 given A1 and selection of B2 given A2 were reinforced; and in the presence of X2, selection of B2 given A1 and selection of B1 given A2 were reinforced. Then, new conditional discriminations were taught with Stimuli E and F. When the contextual Stimuli X1 and X2 were presented, participants selected the same comparisons as previously established in the EF relations in the presence of X1, but the opposite comparison as in the EF relations in the presence of X2. The results then were replicated with new Stimuli G and H. In Study 2, a new conditional discrimination, CD, was taught. Then, four combinations of two-element samples--C1 and D1, C2 and D2, C1 and D2, or C2 and D1--were presented with X1 and X2 as comparisons. Five of 6 participants selected X1 in the presence of C1 and D1 or C2 and D2, and selected X2 in the presence of C1 and D2 or C2 and D1. Finally, in Study 3, two new discriminations IJ and JK were taught. Then, the transitive IK relations were tested with X1 and X2 as contextual stimuli. The 4 participants selected K1 in the presence of I1 and K2 in the presence of I2 when the contextual stimulus was X1--demonstrating class formation--and selected the other comparisons when the contextual stimulus was X2. These results suggest that the contextual control functions of X1 and X2 transferred even to relations that had not been directly taught. These results extend those demonstrating generalized contextual control by showing transfer of functions of the contextual stimuli in transitivity tests and when the former contextual stimuli were presented as comparisons.     

Contextual interference in learning precision skills

This research studied the effect of different organisations of practice (blocked and random) on the learning of three different types of throwing. 35 male students practiced three precise throws for 3 wk. Initially the subjects were separated into two groups who trained under different conditions of practice (blocked and random). All subjects improved significantly from initial performance, with both blocked practice and random practice. At the end of acquisition no differences were found between the groups. No significant differences were found on retention tests carried out 48 hr., 4 wk., and 8 wk. after the training period.