There is more to life stories than memories

Current theories focus on the role of specific memories in organising the life story. However, temporally extended structures of autobiographical memory, like lifetime periods and mini-narratives (here termed chapters), may also play a central role in the organisation of the life story. Here, 30 elderly participants were asked to tell their life story in a free format. The life stories were divided into components and coded as chapters, specific memories, categoric memories, facts, chapters about other people, and autobiographical reasoning categories, i.e., reflections, evaluations, life lessons, and inferences about personality. The results show that chapters were much more common than specific memories in the life stories, indicating that chapters may play a role in the structuring of life stories. The number of chapters and specific memories in the life stories were unrelated, suggesting that the recounting of chapters versus specific memories does not reflect a preferred recall style.     

Rumination is associated with the phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories and future scenarios

In the present studies it was investigated whether rumination was associated with the phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories and future scenarios. In three studies student participants completed questionnaires on rumination and recalled and rated a positive and a negative memory. In Studies 2 and 3 participants also generated and rated a positive and a negative future scenario. Memories were rated on reliving and emotional valence; future scenarios were rated on reliving, emotional valence, and how probable the scenario was. Generally, the results showed that a higher degree of rumination was related to more reliving of negative memories and future scenarios as well as more negative expectations for the future scenarios. These processes may help explain why rumination predicts depression and other types of negative affect.     

Development of a Patient Adherence Scale for Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy

Exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) is an evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For EX/RP to be maximally effective, it is believed that patients must adhere outside of sessions to the procedures they learn in therapy. To date, there is no standard measure of patient EX/RP adherence, despite the importance of accurately assessing EX/RP adherence in both clinical research and practice. This paper describes the development of the Patient EX/RP Adherence Scale (PEAS), which assesses the patient's between-session adherence to the therapist's EX/RP instructions, and presents initial data on the scale's reliability and validity. The scale was designed to focus on the key procedures of EX/RP and to be brief enough to be used at each treatment session. The scale demonstrates excellent interrater reliability and good face and content validity. The usefulness of the scale is considered in the context of being an important tool to researchers trying to understand and improve outcomes of EX/RP for OCD as well as to EX/RP therapists in clinical practice. Future research will need to test the scale's reliability and validity in a larger sample of patients over the course of treatment.     

Personal and parents’ life stories in patients with borderline personality disorder

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) display disturbances in understanding self and others. We examined whether these disturbances extended to how patients described their personal and parents’ life stories and to measures of identity, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Thirty BPD patients and 30 matched control participants described personal and parents’ life stories and completed measures of identity disturbance, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Compared to the controls, patients with BPD described their personal and their parents’ life stories more negatively and with fewer themes of agency and communion fulfillment. Patients and controls showed equally complex reasoning about their personal life stories, but patients displayed less complexity and more self‐other confusion, when reasoning about their parents’ stories. Patients also differed from controls on identity disturbance, alexithymia, and empathy. The results suggest that patients’ storied understanding of themselves and others are disturbed and should be taken into account to better understand BPD.     

Motivation influences the underestimation of cumulative risk

Past research has shown that people typically underestimate the cumulative risk of events. This effect has mainly been interpreted as resulting from the use of cognitive heuristics and judgment strategies, such as availability or anchoring and adjustment. The authors suggest that motivational processes can be an additional force in the generation of cumulative risk estimates. Using an experimental design, Study 1 shows that people underestimate the cumulative risk of infection with sexually transmitted diseases of appealing prospective sexual partners by using risk-irrelevant information for their judgment. Using a correlational design, Study 2 demonstrates that people underestimate the cumulative risk of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease and that commitment to the present partner is directly related to a low cumulative risk estimate as well as indirectly through its effect on the perceived risk of the present partner. Together, the two studies demonstrate that motivation influences the underestimation of cumulative risk.     

Effect of trait and state approach motivation on aggressive inclinations

Research has suggested that individual differences in behavioral approach sensitivity (BAS) are related to state and trait anger [Carver, C. S. (2004). Negative affects deriving from the behavioral approach system. Emotion, 4, 3–22; Harmon-Jones, E. (2003a). Clarifying the emotive functions of asymmetrical frontal cortical activity. Psychophysiology, 40, 838–848; Harmon-Jones, E. (2003b). Anger and the behavioural approach system. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 995–1005]. The present research sought to extend this past work by testing whether individual differences in BAS would relate to aggressive inclinations, particularly when approach motivation was situationally primed. Results supported predictions, and thus suggest, contrary to several perspectives (e.g., [Gray, J. A. (1990). Brain systems that mediate both emotion and cognition. Cognition & Emotion, 4(3), 269–288; Watson, D. (2000). Mood and temperament. New York: Guilford Press]), that BAS is involved in more than just positive emotional experiences and behaviors.     

Appearance-based comments, body dissatisfaction and drive for muscularity in males

This study examined the role of positive and negative appearance-based comments on body dissatisfaction and drive for muscularity among young adult males. The direct and moderating effect of self-esteem were also investigated; and BMI, age, and social desirability were included as covariates. The participants were 214 males aged between 18 and 30 years. More frequent negative comments were associated with higher body dissatisfaction whilst more frequent positive comments were associated with lower body dissatisfaction. However, both frequent negative and positive commentary were associated with higher drive for muscularity. Self-esteem was also associated with both body dissatisfaction and the drive for muscularity, but it did not moderate that influence of either positive or negative messages. Longitudinal research is now needed to determine the directionality of these relationships. Further research is required to establish the contexts in which positive and negative messages are associated with body dissatisfaction and the drive for muscularity.