The QCAE: a Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy

Empathy has been inconsistently defined and inadequately measured. This research aimed to produce a new and rigorously developed questionnaire. Exploratory (n? = 640) and confirmatory (n? = 318) factor analyses were employed to develop the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). Principal components analysis revealed 5 factors (31 items). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this structure in an independent sample. The hypothesized 2-factor structure (cognitive and affective empathy) was tested and provided the best and most parsimonious fit to the data. Gender differences, convergent validity, and construct validity were examined. The QCAE is a valid tool for assessing cognitive and affective empathy.     

The multifinality constraints effect: how goal multiplicity narrows the means set to a focal end

In the presence of several objectives, goal conflict may be avoided via multifinal means, which advance all of the active goals at once. Because such means observe multiple constraints, they are fewer in number than the unconstrained means to a single goal. Five experimental studies investigated the process of choosing or generating such means for multiple goals. We found that the simultaneous activation of multiple goals restricted the set of acceptable means to ones that benefitted (or at least, did not harm) the entire set of active goals. Two moderators of this phenomenon were identified: (a) the feasibility of identifying multifinal means, which was dependent on the relations between the different active goals, and (b) the enhanced importance of the focal goal, which resulted in the inhibition of its alternatives and the consequent relaxation of multifinality constraints.     

Distress after a single violent crime: how shame-proneness and event-related shame work together as risk factors for post-victimization symptoms

To increase understanding of post-victimization symptom development, the present study investigated the role of shame- and guilt-proneness and event-related shame and guilt as potential risk factors. 35 individuals (M age = 31.7 yr.; 48.5% women), recently victimized by a single event of severe violent crime, were assessed regarding shame- and guilt-proneness, event-related shame and guilt, and post-victimization symptoms. The mediating role of event-related shame was investigated with structural equation modeling (SEM), using bootstrapping. The guilt measures were unrelated to each other and to post-victimization symptoms. The shame measures were highly intercorrelated and were both positively correlated to more severe post-victimization symptom levels. Event-related shame as mediator between shame-proneness and post-victimization symptoms was demonstrated by prevalent significant indirect effects. Both shame measures are potent risk factors for distress after victimization, whereby part of the effect of shame-proneness on post-victimization symptoms is explained by event-related shame.     

Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business students negotiated salary with a confederate and were either told that this was diagnostic of negotiating ability (threat manipulation) or not. Measures of minimum (reservation) and ideal (aspiration) salary goals and regulatory focus were collected. The finding (Kray et al., 2001) that women make lower salary requests than men when under stereotype threat was replicated. Women in the threat condition further reported lower aspiration salary, marginally significantly lower reservation salary and less eagerness/more vigilance than men. Reservation salary mediated the stereotype threat effect, and there was a trend for regulatory focus to mediate the effect. Thus, reservation salary partly explains why women ask for less salary than men under stereotype threat. Female negotiators may benefit from learning that stereotype threat causes sex-differences in motivation.     

The psychological neuroscience of depression: implications for understanding effects of deep brain stimulation

In this article it is suggested that current psychological theories of depression presuppose that this condition will develop as a result of a vicious circle involving negatively biased communication between systems of emotional stress-/alarm-signaling, executive functions and mood regulation. These systems may from a neuroanatomical point of view be located in the limbic system, the orbitofrontal and lateral prefrontal cortex and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA-) axis respectively. The theoretical and practical implications of this model for the understanding of pharmacological treatments of depression are briefly discussed and this theory is related to the catecholamine hypothesis of depression. The model is furthermore discussed in relation to deep brain stimulation (DBS) of treatment resistant major depression. Similarities and differences between this perspective and the one advocated by the "homeostatic theory" of depression are discussed. It is concluded that a topographical psychological theory may offer a useful heuristic in thinking about depression and that it offers several testable predictions about treatments of the disorder.     

Data and phenomena in conceptual modelling

The distinction between data and phenomena introduced by Bogen and Woodward (Philosophical Review 97(3):303–352, 1988) was meant to help accounting for scientific practice, especially in relation with scientific theory testing. Their article and the subsequent discussion is primarily viewed as internal to philosophy of science. We shall argue that the data/phenomena distinction can be used much more broadly in modelling processes in philosophy.     

Desensitization to media violence: links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior

This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content.     

Violent, nonviolent, and substance-related offending over the life course in a cohort of males and females treated for substance misuse as youths

Most studies on adolescent offending heterogeneity are based on general population samples, and few include individuals with substance misuse or look specifically at substance-related offending. It is also unclear how offender subtypes develop after young adulthood or how offending heterogeneity varies between genders. This study aimed to identify subgroups of offending among adolescents with misuse problems and to examine associations with offending in adulthood. The study included 1,992 females and males that consulted a clinic for adolescents with misuse problems between 1968 and 1971. Latent Class Analyses were conducted to identify subgroups based on violent and nonviolent offending before age 20. Participants were then followed until age 50 and reexamined regarding violent, nonviolent, and substance-related crimes. Associations between subgroups before age 20 and subgroups age 21-50 were examined. Before age 20, three subgroups were identified among the females and six among the males. Males were more specialized in their offending and demonstrated higher levels of offending. Results pointed to both stability and decrease of violent and nonviolent offending, and to the emergence of substance-related offending in adulthood in both genders. The connection between substance-related crimes and general delinquency in adulthood among individuals treated for substance misuse suggests that interventions should also address substance misuse for reducing the overall volume of crime. This study also highlights the importance of including females in research on offending heterogeneity.     

A randomized controlled trial of mother–infant psychoanalytic treatment: I. Outcomes on self‐report questionnaires and external ratings

Mother–infant relationship disturbances occur in three domains: maternal distress, infant functional problems, and relationship difficulties. They constitute common clinical problems. In Sweden, they are usually handled by nurses as part of public Child Health Centre care. Severe cases are referred to child psychiatry services. This randomized controlled trial compared two groups of mother–infant dyads in a Stockholm sample. One received only Child Health Centre care (the “CHCC” group) while the other received mother–infant psychoanalytic treatment plus CHCC (the “MIP” group). Eighty dyads of mothers and infants under 1½ years of age where the mothers had serious concerns about themselves in their role as mothers, their infants' well‐being, or the mother–baby relationship were randomly selected for either the MIP or the CHCC group. The primary outcomes were mother‐reported depression, mother‐reported infant functional problems, and interviewer‐based relationship assessments, all at 6 months after joining the project. Secondary outcomes were mother‐reported stress and general psychic distress, externally rated video‐recorded interactions, and the consumption of healthcare at the CHC, again all after 6 months. Intent‐to‐treat analyses of Treatment × Time effects significantly favored MIP treatment for maternal depression, mother–infant relationships, and maternal sensitivity. Effects were nearly significant on maternal stress, but nonsignificant on mother‐reported infant functional problems, general psychic distress, maternal interactive structuring and nonintrusiveness, infant responsiveness and involvement, and healthcare consumption. MIP treatment improved mother–infant relationships and maternal sensitivity and depression, all of which are known to influence child development. If effects persist and are reproduced, MIP treatment holds promise for more widespread use.