Post-traumatic growth and optimism as outcomes of an internet-based intervention for complicated grief

This explorative study examines the effects of an internet-based cognitive-behavioural therapy for complicated grief on post-traumatic growth and optimism. The study is part of a larger randomized controlled trial described in Wagner, Knaevelsrud, and Maercker (2006). The patients were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (n = 26) or a waiting list control condition (n = 25). The internet-based intervention consisted of exposure to bereavement cues, cognitive reappraisal exercises, and a module on integration and restoration. A short form of the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), and measures of complicated grief and psychopathological outcomes were administered. Results indicate that post-traumatic growth increased in the treatment group. No treatment effect was found for optimism. These findings contribute to the growing literature on personal growth in psychotherapy.     

The origin and mission of Material Religion

Beginning its sixth year of publication, Material Religion is an interdisciplinary journal that seeks to gather the best work from around the world engaged in materializing the study of religions. The editors welcome original scholarship on any religion and from any period in human history that treats material objects and practices as primary evidence and engages in critical reflection on the cultural construction of materiality. In this article the editors reflect on the formation and format of the journal, the force and direction of its articles and other features, the question of what constitutes the material culture of religion, and finally the role of materiality in the current study of religions. Along the way, the editors consider new theories and concerns that have been taken up in the journal's pages and address the range of disciplines and interests that are represented in the different departments of the journal.     

Cause or effect: What matters? How 12‐month‐old infants learn to categorize artifacts

This paper investigates the role of cause and effect relations for infants' learning about artifacts. Two experiments tested whether 12‐month‐olds categorized a given set of unfamiliar artifacts according to overall similarity and/or according to part similarity, depending on what kind of video demonstration was presented before the start of the categorization task. In both experiments, the actions performed with objects were accompanied by interesting effects but the causal relation between object‐structure and effects was teased apart. In one video demonstration (Expt 1), the experimenter used the object part to produce some kind of effect in a causally plausible way. In another video demonstration (Expt 2), the experimenter performed similar actions with the same objects as in Expt 1, followed by the same effects as before. Importantly, however, no plausible cause–effect relation was provided this time. Only infants participating in Expt 1 categorized the set of unfamiliar objects according to part similarity. This finding suggests that 12‐month‐olds attend to the causal relation between specific object parts and their functional use when categorizing artifacts, rather than merely associating form‐characteristics with an interesting effect.     

Anxiety,depression, and health-related quality of life in aging people living with HIV compared to diabetes patients and patients with minor health conditions: a longitudinal study

HIV infection has evolved from a fatal to a treatable condition, leading to an increase in the rate of elderly People Living with HIV (PLWH). However, little is known about the psychosocial burden of elderly PLWH. Thus, the aim of this longitudinal multi-center cohort study was to investigate whether elderly PLWH experience more anxiety and depression and reduced health related quality of life (HRQOL) compared to elderly patients with other chronic conditions. PLWH were compared to diabetes patients (DM) and patients with minor health conditions (MHC), e.g. patients with hypertension or allergic conditions. All patients were over 50 years old. Anxiety and depression (HADS) as well as HRQOL (SF-36) were assessed at baseline and after 12 months. 218 PLWH, 249 DM and 254 MHC were included. At baseline, the study groups did not differ in anxiety, depression, and physical HRQOL. However, PLWH indicated lower mental HRQOL than DM and MHC patients (p = 0.001). We did not obtain any moderating effects showing a differential effect of patient characteristics on anxiety, depression, and HRQOL in the three patient groups. At follow-up, the level of anxiety, depression, and HRQOL did not change significantly. The prevalence of anxiety ranged between 27 and 35%, and that of depression between 17 and 28%. Thus, the results of our investigation tentatively suggest that the psychosocial adaptation to HIV among elderly PLWH resembles those of other chronic diseases. There may be some subtle impairments, though, as PLWH experienced lower mental HRQOL.     

Economic Predictors of Differences in Interview Faking Between Countries: Economic Inequality Matters,Not the State of Economy

Many companies recruit employees from different parts of the globe, and faking behavior by potential employees is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It seems that applicants from some countries are more prone to faking compared to others, but the reasons for these differences are largely unexplored. This study relates country-level economic variables to faking behavior in hiring processes. In a cross-national study across 20 countries, participants (N = 3,839) reported their faking behavior in their last job interview. This study used the random response technique (RRT) to ensure participants’ anonymity and to foster honest answers regarding faking behavior. Results indicate that general economic indicators (gross domestic product per capita [GDP] and unemployment rate) show negligible correlations with faking across the countries, whereas economic inequality is positively related to the extent of applicant faking to a substantial extent. These findings imply that people are sensitive to inequality within countries and that inequality relates to faking, because inequality might actuate other psychological processes (e.g., envy) which in turn increase the probability for unethical behavior in many forms.     

A Multi-Level Approach to Direct and Indirect Relationships between Organizational Voice Climate,Team Manager Openness,Implicit Voice Theories,and Silence

Employee silence impedes sustainable organizational development, and it can conceal harm for internal and external stakeholders. Established approaches to overcoming silence in organizations draw on the assumption that employees withhold their views based on deliberate elaborations on the effectiveness and risks they associate with voice. Our research aims at complementing these approaches. Applying an information processing approach to culture and using implicit voice theories (IVTs; i.e., taken-for-granted beliefs about when and why speaking up at work is risky or inappropriate) as an example, we introduce a model proposing ways through which shared implicit knowledge structures emerge in teams and organizations, and how they affect motives to remain silent. We examine parts of the model with a sample of 696 employees nested in 129 teams and 67 organizations. Our findings show that IVTs can be shared at the team and organizational level, that shared IVTs explain variance in silence motives above and beyond perceptions of organizational climate and manager openness at the team and organization level, and that IVTs function as a mediator between team manager openness and silence motives. In sum, our findings point at shared IVTs as a way to conceptualize underlying basic assumptions of cultures of silence.     

Religious conversion among high security hospital patients: a qualitative analysis of patients’ accounts and experiences on changing faith

Research has shown the importance of religion in recovery from mental illness. Previous studies have investigated why individuals change faith during custody in prison, but there has been no research to date on religious conversion in forensic-psychiatric hospitals. The aim of this study was to understand the experience of religious conversion among patients detained in a UK secure hospital. Thirteen patients who had converted their religion were interviewed and the resultant data were analysed using thematic analysis. Three superordinate themes (“reasons for changing faith”, “benefits of having a new faith” and “difficulties with practising a faith”), incorporating eight subordinate themes, emerged. Understanding patients’ reasons for religious conversion is important for the treatment and support not merely of these individuals, but more broadly with patients in forensic-psychiatric care.     

Motivational determinants of motor performance: The hidden second task

Summary The present study was designed to test facilitating and debilitating effects of motivational processes on motor behavior. It was predicted that motivational processes have a more pronounced effect on motor performance when control is frequently transferred to attentional mechanisms (i. e., early in the acquisition phase). The results were consistent with this expectation. A strong motive to achieve success and pretreatment designed to enhance achievement motivation were associated with an increase in the quality of performance. A strong tendency to engage in state-oriented cognitive activities, by contrast, (e.g., thinking about the potential threat to one's selfesteem resulting from failure) was associated with poorer performance, It is concluded that experiments on motor behavior in which subjects are instructed to perform a single motor task may actually involve dual-task (or even multiple-task) performance if some part of the subjects' attentional capacity is used for task-irrelevant cognitive activities.     

Coordination in visual working memory

Coordination of mental procedures is considered in terms of control processes (Baddeley, 1989) in visual working memory and appears to be a separable aspect of the demand imposed by cascaded serial processes (Carlson & Lundy, 1992). The main task required subjects to indicate whether symbolically suggested rotations and reflections correctly describe the difference between matrix patterns of filled-in squares within a 3 x 3 grid or between line drawings. Experiments were carried out to show that coordination is a separable component in this transformation task. A marker for coordination is the difference between the time taken to execute two transformations as a whole and the sum of the component transformations in isolation. The separate coordination demand was found in an experiment with matrix patterns mentioned, in an experiment with letter-like line drawings, and also in an experiment that forced subjects to maintain whole-pattern representations. A last experiment checked whether coordination is carried out by an autonomous control unit. There was a self-paced control of serial presentation of transformation symbols instead of a simultaneous presentation of those symbols. This additional external triggering resulted in a substantial decrease in the demand for coordination. Coordination of mental procedures and temporary representations is a fundamental constraint on the use of working-memory processes.