Identity: recent findings and clinical implications

After a review of foundational contributions to the concept of identity, including Erikson's, the author discusses the research methods and findings of the Personality Disorders Institute of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University regarding the concepts of normal identity and identity diffusion, toward an elucidation of the psychopathology of personality disorders--their etiology, diagnosis, and treatment. The application of an object relations theory model to analyze the development of identity clarifies the relationship of individual identity with the social and cultural frame that influences identity formation and may amplify the effects of pathological identity development. Detailed excerpts are presented from a diagnostic structural interview at the Personality Disorders Institute.     

SSL: a theory of how people learn to select strategies

The assumption that people possess a repertoire of strategies to solve the inference problems they face has been raised repeatedly. However, a computational model specifying how people select strategies from their repertoire is still lacking. The proposed strategy selection learning (SSL) theory predicts a strategy selection process on the basis of reinforcement learning. The theory assumes that individuals develop subjective expectations for the strategies they have and select strategies proportional to their expectations, which are then updated on the basis of subsequent experience. The learning assumption was supported in 4 experimental studies. Participants substantially improved their inferences through feedback. In all 4 studies, the best-performing strategy from the participants' repertoires most accurately predicted the inferences after sufficient learning opportunities. When testing SSL against 3 models representing extensions of SSL and against an exemplar model assuming a memory-based inference process, the authors found that SSL predicted the inferences most accurately.     

The utility of psychological testing in assessing emotional damages in personal injury litigation

Psychological testing and assessment instruments frequently play a small but important role when psychologists assist the courts as emotional damage experts in personal injury matters. However, examiners frequently, if sometimes inadvertently, mislead the court with test interpretations that are based on clinical rather than forensic populations and that fail to appreciate the lack of robustness of clinical measures in this forensic context. Whereas published computerized interpretations repeatedly remind experts that personality test results should only be used as a method to generate hypotheses about the examinee that are to be subjected to further investigation and consideration, experts all too often inform the courts of test interpretations as if the test results were measures of clinical constructs rather than plaintiffs' self-reports of symptoms.     

An evaluation of response allocations to concurrently available slot machine simulations

Gambling behavior often involves making choices between concurrently available game options. With regard to slot machine gambling, multiple games allow for choices to be made with respect to which game to play. The authors of the present study used a slot machine simulation created in Visual Basic. NET to examine gambling preference. The specific question addressed was whether gamblers prefer a smaller payout more often (averaging around every 10 spins) over a larger payout less often (averaging around every 50 spins). Two types of reinforcement were examined during the study: frequency of payouts and the amount of credits won. The results indicate that participants had a preference for a slot machine with the more frequent payout as opposed to one with more intermittent payout. These results support existing literature on theories of choice and provide a step toward understanding human gambling behavior.     

Eyewitness decisions in simultaneous and sequential lineups: A dual-process signal detection theory analysis

Many eyewitness researchers have argued for the application of a sequential alternative to the traditional simultaneous lineup, given its role in decreasing false identifications of innocent suspects (sequential superiority effect). However, Ebbesen and Flowe (2002) have recently noted that sequential lineups may merely bring about a shift in response criterion, having no effect on discrimination accuracy. We explored this claim, using a method that allows signal detection theory measures to be collected from eyewitnesses. In three experiments, lineup type was factorially combined with conditions expected to influence response criterion and/or discrimination accuracy. Results were consistent with signal detection theory predictions, including that of a conservative criterion shift with the sequential presentation of lineups. In a fourth experiment, we explored the phenomenological basis for the criterion shift, using the remember-know-guess procedure. In accord with previous research, the criterion shift in sequential lineups was associated with a reduction in familiarity-based responding. It is proposed that the relative similarity between lineup members may create a context in which fluency-based processing is facilitated to a greater extent when lineup members are presented simultaneously.     

Hegel und die Anf?nge der Nihilismus-diskussion

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Auditory Distraction by Meaningless Irrelevant Speech: A Developmental Study

The irrelevant sound effect (ISE) typically refers to a disruptive effect of a to‐be‐ignored sound in serial recall tasks, where lists of visually presented items (digits and letters) must be recalled in serial order. Although extensively studied in adults, studies on developmental aspects of the ISE are scarce. The present study aims to increase our understanding of developmental changes of auditory distraction in children beyond serial recall. Two tasks (i.e., word categorization and evaluation of simple mathematical equations) were designed to test retrieval from semantic memory. Proportion correct and reaction times (adjusted for speed–accuracy tradeoff) were measured in 8–9 and 12–13‐year‐olds. Results revealed a developmental change in the susceptibility to auditory distraction. Whereas older children were not affected by background sounds, younger children showed impairment in both proportion correct and adjusted reaction times. Overall, results suggest that attention distraction and immature attention control mechanisms contribute to ISEs in young children. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New developments in transference focused psychotherapy

This paper will summarize recent clinical developments in the treatment of borderline patients at the Personality Disorders Institute at Cornell. The experiences under review will include the careful, ongoing monitoring of developments in the patient's life outside the sessions, and their consideration in diagnosing affective dominance during the hours. Other issues include the discussion of a ‘second chance’ approach to contract violations; the assessment and concern with the patient's assumption of responsibility for himself; the contradictions between actual behavior patterns and life goals, and between personality potentials and present functioning; the technical implications of particular constellations of regressive narcissistic features; drug dependence and antisocial behavior; and life goals and treatment goals.     

A topographical map approach to representing treatment efficacy: a focus on positive psychology interventions

A recent meta-analysis by Bolier et al. indicated that positive psychology interventions have overall small to moderate effects on well-being, but results were quite heterogeneous across intervention trials. Such meta-analytic research helps condense information on the efficacy of a broad psychosocial intervention by averaging across many effects; however, such global averages may provide limited navigational guidance for selecting among specific interventions. Here, we introduce a novel method for displaying qualitative and quantitative information on the efficacy of interventions using a topographical map approach. As an initial prototype for demonstrating this method, we mapped 50 positive psychology interventions targeting well-being (as captured in the Bolier et al. [2013] meta-analysis, [Bolier, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G. J., Riper, H., Smit, F., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC Public Health, 13, 83]). Each intervention domain/subdomain was mapped according to its average effect size (indexed by vertical elevation), number of studies providing effect sizes (indexed by horizontal area), and therapist/client burden (indexed by shading). The geographical placement of intervention domains/subdomains was determined by their conceptual proximity, allowing viewers to gauge the general conceptual “direction” in which promising intervention effects can be found. The resulting graphical displays revealed several prominent features of the well-being intervention “landscape,” such as more strongly and uniformly positive effects of future-focused interventions (including, goal-pursuit and optimism training) compared to past/present-focused ones.