The Temporal Dimension of Social Episodes: Position Effect in Time Judgments of Unfilled Intervals

An experiment was conducted to test the prediction, derived from field theory, that unfilled intervals at the core of a social episode (in-process) are perceived to last longer than unfilled intervals at the beginning (preprocess) or toward the end of the social episode (postprocess). As expected, individuals who judged in-process unfilled intervals overestimated their duration and judged them to last longer than individuals who judged preprocess or postprocess unfilled intervals. Moreover, this finding was observed in both immediate and delayed time duration estimates, and the overestimation effect for in-process intervals was stronger in the remote than in the immediate estimates. Relations to prior research on delays in services and implications for the management of services are discussed.     

On models with variable universe

In this paper some parts of the model theory for logics based on generalised Kripke semantics are developed. Löwenheim-Skolem theorems and some applications of ultraproduct constructions for generalised Kripke models with variable universe are investigated using similar theorems of the model theory for classical logic. The results are generalizations of the theorems of [4].     

Cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members: The role of group size, status, and power

Four studies examined cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members. We predicted and found that minority members were more cognitively preoccupied with their group membership and experienced less positive affect as a consequence of their group membership than majority members. The first experiment established these effects with numerical minority and majority groups. The second experiment ruled out status as an explanatory variable, and the third experiment uncovered the role of power in the differential cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members. The final field study substantiated the ecological robustness of the experimental findings and provided further evidence for the role of power. The interrelation of status and power is discussed as well as the phenomenology of being a minority member.     

On the determination of autistoid organizations in non-autistic adults

Psychogenic autistic phenomena occurring in non-autistic adults are being increasingly discussed in the psychoanalytical literature. The author endeavours to determine autistoid organizations, which are understood to be a particular form of pathological retreat. Together with the use of autistic objects, two-dimensional levelling out, the failure of unconscious communication, and of projective identification, a characteristic of these retreats is that they are meant to afford protection against paranoid-schizoid fears of the external and unintegrated states of the internal world. The formation of such autistic reactions should be sought not only in traumatic separations and the inadequate containment of primary objects, but also in constitutional weakening. Intolerance accompanying projective identification and damage to primal fantasies/preconceptions are discussed. In conclusion, a clinical illustration with autistoid and hypochondriacal retreats clarifies some of the aspects discussed.     

Kosteneffektivität ambulanter Psychotherapie

Background

There is a lack of cost-effectiveness analyses (CEA) of psychotherapeutic treatments.

Material and methods

Cost-effectiveness analysis was applied to a sub-sample of 122 psychotherapy outpatients who participated in a large longitudinal study on outpatient psychotherapy (TRANS-OP study). Participants received either psychodynamic psychotherapy (PD, n=69) or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT, n=53). Effectiveness (change in symptomatic impairment over 2 years) was assessed via the German version of the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2). Direct health care costs during a 2-year period (psychotherapy and other health care utilizations) were obtained from health insurance claims. Cost-effectiveness analysis methods included incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) and the net benefit regression approach.

Results

Cost-effectiveness analyses showed no significant differences between the two treatments, neither head-to-head, nor with regard to advantages in certain subgroups of psychotherapy outpatients. A slight dominance of CBT in costs was not maintained after controlling for covariates.

Conclusion

Provided that pivotal covariates such as treatment need are taken into account, cost-effectiveness analyses can contribute to a more equitable distribution of psychotherapeutic resources.     

Designing Selection Systems for Medicine: The importance of balancing predictive and political validity in high‐stakes selection contexts

Selection into medical education and training is a high‐stakes process. A key unanswered issue is the effectiveness of measuring noncognitive predictors via both low‐fidelity and high‐fidelity selection approaches in this high‐stakes context. We review studies investigating the effectiveness of multiple selection instruments in terms of predictive validity, incremental validity, and applicant reactions in both entry‐level and advanced‐level medical selection. Our results show that the situational judgment test (SJT) is the best single predictor of performance, operationalized in multiple ways. In addition, the low‐fidelity SJT has incremental predictive power over cognitively oriented tests, and high‐fidelity assessment center (AC) exercises add incremental validity over the low‐fidelity (and less costly) selection methods. Concerning applicant reactions, results show that overall, the selection system is positively received. However, the method with the highest predictive validity – the SJT – received comparatively lower face validity ratings which may present a ‘justice dilemma’ for employers. Furthermore, various other stakeholders have a political interest in the selection methods used (e.g., government, the regulators and trade unions).     

Voicing One’s Ideas: Intragroup Respect as an Antecedent of Assertive Behavior

In this research, we tested equality-based respect from ingroup members as a social antecedent of positive assertiveness (i.e., voicing one’s opinions) and group performance. A pretest with employees at the workplace supported that the variables of interest were indeed correlated. The main experimental study then confirmed that participants who had received high as compared with low intragroup respect displayed more assertive behavior and yielded higher group performance in dyadic intragroup discussions. In contrast, high intergroup respect (i.e., from outgroup members) lowered assertiveness and performance levels in intergroup interactions relative to low respect. We discuss implications for social interactions and discourses.     

Bidimensional regression: assessing the configural similarity and accuracy of cognitive maps and other two-dimensional data sets

Bidimensional regression is a method for comparing the degree of resemblance between 2 planar configurations of points and, more generally, for assessing the nature of the geometry (Euclidean and non-Euclidean) between 2-dimensional independent and dependent variables. For example, it can assess the similarity between location estimates from different tasks or participant groups, measure the fidelity between cognitive maps and actual locations, and provide parameters for psychological process models. The authors detail the formal similarity between uni- and bidimensional regression, provide computational methods and a new index of spatial distortion, outline the advantages of bidimensional regression over other techniques, and provide guidelines for its use. The authors conclude by describing substantive areas in psychology for which the method would be appropriate and uniquely illuminating.