Channeling identity: A study of storytelling in conversations between introverted and extraverted friends

This narrative study examined the process of personal storytelling between college-age friends who were similarly introverted or extraverted. Participants were 19 introverted and 20 extraverted same-sex pairs (49% female) who had been friends for an average of 18 months. Stories emerged spontaneously during 10-min catch-up conversations. Extraverted friends more often told stories that changed the topic, and more often co-constructed story plots. Introverted friends more often told stories that were embedded in a developing theme, and constructed story plots solo. With regard to content, extraverted friends told stories about romance more so than introverted friends, whose stories more often concerned family/hometown, and older events. The findings suggest that the traits of extraversion and introversion channel the identity-making process.     

Neuroaffective processing in criminal psychopaths: brain event-related potentials reveal task-specific anomalies

This study aimed to confirm neuroaffective processing deficits in psychopaths by measuring late brain event-related potential (ERP) components and behavior in groups of psychopathic and nonpsychopathic inmates of a Singaporean prison while they performed two tasks. In a Categorization task, affective stimuli were task-relevant and required focused attention, while in a Vigilance task, affective pictures were presented in the background while participants discriminated vertical from oblique lines. Psychopaths showed differences in late positive ERPs that were sensitive to affective stimulus properties (valence and arousal) in the Categorization, but not in the Vigilance task, suggesting that only under conditions of focused attention did psychopaths show a neuroaffective processing deficit. In the Categorization task, psychopaths also showed a significantly larger prefrontal negative ERP (N350) whose amplitude correlated positively with the behavioral facet of psychopathy. In the Vigilance task, psychopaths both missed more targets and showed significantly smaller target-evoked parietal ERPs when viewing arousing pictures, suggesting their attentional focus was disrupted by the affective background.     

The role of women's self‐injury support‐groups: a grounded theory

Research evidence suggests that services are struggling to adequately address the increasing incidence of self‐injury and the needs of women who self‐injure, while national self‐injury support‐groups across the UK appear to be growing in number. Despite their reported value, evidence regarding the role of self‐injury support‐groups in women's management of their self‐injury is lacking although government policy and official guidelines are advocating the incorporation of support‐groups into self‐injury services. Seven semi‐structured interviews were conducted and analysed using Grounded Theory to investigate the role of three UK self‐injury support‐groups in women's management of self‐injury and associated difficulties. Empowerment‐as‐process emerged as the core theme of self‐injury support‐groups, mediated through experiences of belonging, sharing, autonomy, positive feeling and change. Findings are discussed in relation to relevant theory and research, followed by critical evaluation and implications of the study. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

I'm outgoing and she's reserved: the reciprocal dynamics of personality in close friendships in young adulthood

Close college-age friendships provide differential opportunities for reinforcing dispositional tendencies and fostering accommodation or change. This finding was obtained from a cross-sectional study of 66 pairs of same-sex college-age friends (58% female). Each pair of friends was extreme and either very similar or different with regard to extraversion-introversion. Interviews with each friend were analyzed for references to each other's role in various friendship domains, including the setting of the friendship and position with regard to chatting, disclosing, expressing opinions about peers, and energizing the friendship. Matched friends mutually reinforced each other's similar dispositional tendencies. Friends with contrasting personalities showed patterns of personality accommodation as well as complementary reinforcement. Implications are discussed for embedding reciprocal theories of personality development in close friendships.     

Experiential and rational processing styles,emotional intelligence and wellbeing

This research examined a model specifying precursors of emotional intelligence and subjective wellbeing. The model proposes that experiential and rational processing styles influence level of trait emotional intelligence, which in turn influences subjective wellbeing. One hundred and fifty‐four adult Australian participants completed measures of preference for rational and experiential processing, trait emotional intelligence, and indicators of subjective wellbeing (affect and life satisfaction). Structural equation path analysis identified a model for predicting wellbeing. Preference for experiential and rational processing both significantly predicted higher levels of emotional intelligence, which in turn predicted greater subjective wellbeing. Emotional intelligence fully mediated the effect of rational processing on wellbeing, and partially mediated the effect of experiential processing.     

Introduction to Stephen G. West's Murray Award Address

I am honored to introduce Stephen G. West, the winner of the Henry A. Murray Award for Outstanding Contributions to Personology and the Study of Human Lives. Steve's contributions as a methodologist and statistician are appreciated by anyone who has struggled with complex interactions and unusual research designs. These empirical innovations have contributed enormously to broadening and deepening the kinds of data that can be used to study personality. Perhaps less apparent, but crucial in his selection for this award, is Steve's leadership in diversifying the field of personality psychology. In his capacity as editor of the Journal of Personality in the 1980s and early 1990s, Steve effectively shepherded personology into the mainstream of personality research. Also important was Steve's willingness not only to mentor his own graduate students, but to rescue a considerable number of strays. In his generativity and inclusiveness, Steve has effectively elevated the field of personality and the persons within it.     

Gendered Reminiscence Practices and Self-Definition in Late Adolescence

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the emotional construction of life-threatening events (LTEs) that were chosen as self-defining by late adolescents. European American college students (41 women, 25 men) whose average age was 19 were selected from a larger sample (n = 139) because they reported at least 1 LTE among 3 self-defining memories. Memory narratives were elicited with a questionnaire (Singer & Moffitt, 1991–1992) and coded for emotional position. As expected, tough, action-packed positions were more prevalent in men's narratives, and compassionate positions were more prevalent in women's narratives. Unexpectedly, narratives that emphasized one's own vulnerability (fear or sadness) were equally prevalent for men and women, and women's emotional discourse was more conditional upon type of event, i.e., deaths vs. assaults. Findings provide the most explicit evidence to date that some gendered reminiscence practices found in prior studies of children are reflected in late adolescents' self-defining reminiscences. Implications are also discussed for a more situated understanding of gendered reminiscence pratices and for theories of identity development.     

When differences matter: intergroup distinctiveness and the evaluation of impostors

The present study examined the effect of intergroup distinctiveness and group membership on evaluations of impostors. We predicted that ingroup members would be harsher than outgroup members on an impostor and that perceptions of intergroup distinctiveness would further moderate these evaluations. Specifically, we tested the social identity theory prediction that low intergroup distinctiveness would lead to greater derogation of the impostor (the ‘reactive distinctiveness’ hypothesis) against the self‐categorization hypothesis that high intergroup distinctiveness would instigate more derogation of an impostor (the ‘reflective distinctiveness’ hypothesis). In this study, vegetarians (ingroup members) and meat eaters (outgroup members) were presented with a target claiming to be vegetarian, but caught indulging in a meat dish. We found that ingroup members derogated the impostor more and felt less pleased about discovering the impostor behaviour than did outgroup members. In line with the reflective distinctiveness hypothesis, the heightened derogation displayed by ingroup members only emerged when intergroup distinctiveness was high, an effect that was mediated by ratings of group identification. The discussion focuses on the different responses intergroup distinctiveness may evoke. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beginning Christian–Muslim Dialogue in Western Sydney: Context and Practice

This article is the initial paper of a longer project that aims to chart the progress of Christian–Muslim dialogue in western Sydney, Australia. The first part provides the context for aspects of Muslim settlement, organization and practice in Australia. Following a brief overview of interfaith dialogue, the second part offers an exposition and analysis of the objectives and motivation of the three organizers of Christian–Muslim dialogue in the west of Sydney, and assesses the initial outcomes of the dialogues. The style of the exposition is discursive, allowing the voices of the organizers to be heard. The analysis is offered under the rubrics of inter-cultural diversity and interfaith dialogue. No validation of the organizers' perceptions against those of the participants is attempted.

It is shown that the organizers' instinct to promote dialogue interaction on the human and social level attracted a great deal of interest from a wide audience. The structure employed for the gatherings was recognized by politicians and community leaders as an effective model for wider community-building exercises. Difficulties identified include responding to resistance to the dialogues, and deepening the dialogue experience for participants. The selection of the appropriate audience, format and forum for future gatherings is crucial to the ongoing success of the project.     

Perinatal indicators of sudden infant death syndrome: A study of 34 Rhode Island Cases

Pre- and perinatal characteristics of 34 victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) were compared with those controls matched for sex, race, birthdate, and hospital. Data were collected retrospectively from hospital records. Factors which reliably differentiated the SIDS group from controls included low birth-weight, short second stage of labor, fewer years of maternal schooling, and maternal anemia during pregnancy. The constellation of findings was interpreted as reflecting the interaction of physiological predispositions and environmental “setting conditions”, culminating in sudden and unexpected death. The efficacy of a previously established SIDS risk scale was assessed for these cases. Some issues concerning prediction of outcome from perinatal variables are discussed.