Are individual differences in appetitive and defensive motivation related? A psychophysiological examination in two samples

Appetitive and defensive motivation account for a good deal of variance in personality and mental health, but whether individual differences in these systems are correlated or orthogonal has not been conclusively established. Previous investigations have generally relied on self-report and have yielded conflicting results. We therefore assessed the relation between psychophysiological indices of appetitive and defensive motivation during elicitation of these motivational states: specifically, frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry during reward anticipation and startle response during anticipation of predictable or unpredictable threat of shock. Results in a sample of psychopathology-free community members (n=63), an independent sample of undergraduates with a range of internalising symptoms (n=64), and the combination of these samples (n=127) revealed that differences in responding to the two tasks were not significantly correlated. Average coefficients approached zero in all three samples (community: .04, undergraduate: ?.01, combined: .06). Implications of these findings for research on normal and abnormal personality are discussed.     

Investigating illocutionary monism

Synthese - Suppose I make an utterance, intending it to be a command. You don’t take it to be one. Must one of us be wrong? In other words, must each utterance have, at most, one...     

The silent voices of research: What can we do to help them speak?1

The authors challenge the legitimacy of making commissioning decisions based solely upon the current outcome research for the psychological treatments. They argue that this outcome data does not represent the treatment needs of the patient who fails to complete a therapy. They call for a shift in the focus of research in order to right this oversight.     

Intimate partner violence exposure predicts PTSD treatment engagement and outcome in cognitive processing therapy

Intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure was examined as a predictor of treatment engagement (i.e., starting and completing therapy) and treatment outcome in 150 women taking part in a dismantling study of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Resick et al., 2008). Results indicate that women in a current intimate relationship with recent IPV (i.e., past year) were less likely to begin treatment relative to women who reported past IPV only or no history of IPV. For women who began treatment, IPV exposure was not predictive of whether or not they completed treatment. Among women who began treatment, the frequency of IPV was associated with treatment outcome such that women who experienced more frequent IPV exhibited larger reductions in PTSD and depression symptoms over the course of treatment, but experienced similar levels of PTSD and depression severity at the 6-month follow-up. Findings highlight the importance of targeting treatment engagement among women who report recent IPV and suggest that women who have experienced frequent IPV respond well to CPT treatment in spite of their IPV experiences.     

The effect of perspective-taking on reasoning about strong and weak belief-relevant arguments

This study investigated whether perspective-taking reduces belief bias independently of argument strength. Belief bias occurs when individuals evaluate belief-consistent arguments more favourably than belief-inconsistent arguments. Undergraduates (n = 93) read arguments that varied with respect to belief-consistency (i.e., belief-consistent or belief-inconsistent) and strength (i.e., strong or weak) about the topic of climate change. After participants read each argument, those in the perspective-taking condition rated the argument's strength from a perspective of a climate scientist and then from their own perspectives, whereas those in the no perspective-taking condition only rated the arguments from their own perspectives. Perspective-taking eliminated belief bias for weak arguments, but not for strong arguments. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.     

Associations Between Sexual Orientation Discrimination and Depression Among Same-Sex Couples: Moderating Effects of Dyadic Coping

Drawing from minority stress theory and the systemic–transactional model, we examined whether perceptions of partner's dyadic coping behavior moderated the association between sexual orientation discrimination stress and symptoms of depression among individuals in a same-sex relationship. Data from 95 same-sex couples revealed that, overall, sexual orientation discrimination stress was positively associated with depressive symptoms; however, perceived partner emotion-focused supportive dyadic coping weakened this association. Specifically, higher sexual orientation discrimination stress was associated with greater depressive symptoms only for individuals perceiving low partner emotion-focused supportive dyadic coping. Implications for researchers and clinicians are presented.     

Suicide by Teenagers in Middle School: A Postvention Team Approach

Volumes have been written (American Association of Suicidology, 1998) and programs have been developed (Befrienders International, 2000) to deal with the prevention of and intervention for teen suicides in middle school. Less prominent is attention to postvention efforts in the aftermath of these acts. The authors describe a child's suicide through the eyes of the school counselor, identify issues unique to teenagers, present symptoms common to presuicidal youth, and suggest a postvention CAPT (counselors, administrators, parents, and teachers)Team Approach.     

Self‐Monitoring and Counseling Skills: Skills‐Based Versus Interpersonal Process Recall Training

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of personality traits of counselors‐in‐training with regard to counseling performance. There were no differences in pretest or posttest scores on the Skilled Counseling Scale (SCS) of high and low self‐monitoring counselors‐in‐training. Skill attainment may have more effect on personality traits than traits have on skill attainment. Both Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) and Skilled Counselor Training Model (SCTM) groups improved their scores on the SCS, but the SCTM group improved significantly more than the IPR group.     

Straw Men,Weak Men,and Hollow Men

Three forms of the straw man fallacy are posed: the straw, weak, and hollow man. Additionally, there can be non-fallacious cases of any of these species of straw man arguments.