Investigation of psycho-physiological interactions between patient and therapist during a psychodynamic therapy and their relation to speech using in terms of entropy analysis using a neural network approach

In the present contribution we investigate in an exemplary single-case study the behavior of psycho-physiological variables in psychotherapy sessions. The values are measured continously during a single session at the same time for both patient and therapist. The analysis of the data is done using an artificial neural network approach for non-linear principal component analysis and faithful data representation/visualization and compression required for subsequent process analysis. The used network (growing self-organizing map, GSOM) thereby uses a kernel smoothing for improved data density estimation. In this way, we are able to generate an entropy model of psycho-physiological variability detecting emotionally instable phases during the therapy process. We relate our finding to results obtained by speech analysis of the therapy sessions according to the cycle model invented by Mergenthaler. Thus, we get preliminary suggestions how psycho-physiological reactions are related to the therapeutic process.     

Comorbidity and Risk Behaviors Among Drug Users Not in Treatment

In a sample of 700 drug users, 64% evidenced comorbidity (i.e., coexisting substance use and psychiatric disorders). Robust relationships between the presence of comorbidity and increased levels of risk behavior, such as needle sharing and trading sex for money, were revealed.     

Onlineberatung und internetbasierte Psychotherapie

The internet has established itself as an everyday medium of communication, whereby patterns for the use of information and services relevant to health can be documented. Therefore also allowing questions regarding the possibilities and limit limitations of internet intervention in clinical psychology and psychotherapy to be also posed. Although specialist discourse is limited to conceptional analysis due to the lack of theoretical concepts and weak empirical data, there is a basis for the realization of a system of net-supported psychological advice and psychotherapy. Our present contribution has the goal of introducing some current exemplary concepts.Furthermore, effects on the therapeutic process and setting will be described and necessary quality criteria clarified.Finally, perspectives on counseling and therapy through the internet will be formulated.The authors conclude that online, counseling will take on an important function in the exchange of information and although useful in the initiation of therapy, will have to be considered separately from online therapy.Both methods – although instrumental in closing gaps within the socio-psychological care-system – can not substitute classical psychotherapy.     

Seeing faces: The role of brand visual processing and social connection in brand liking

This paper investigates how brands—through visuals—can fill a void for consumers experiencing a lack of social connection. Using psychometric measures and mock advertisements with visuals of human faces and non‐faces, Study 1 shows that seeing faces relates to greater brand liking with processing fluency mediating, and individual loneliness and tendency to anthropomorphize moderating the effect. Study 2 replicates findings with other‐race faces corroborating that fluency but not ethnic self‐referencing underlies the effect. Study 3 complements the psychometric measures of Studies 1 and 2 with eye tracking data to demonstrate that fluency correlates with distinct patterns of attention. Study 4 uses actual brand stimuli to show that effects are robust and extend beyond advertisements. Taken together, the findings show that communicating brand names in conjunction with visuals seen by consumers as human faces can increase brand liking.     

From Online Dating to Online Divorce: An Overview of Couple and Family Relationships Shaped Through Digital Media

From the very early stages of initiating relationships to types of post-break-up behaviors, the internet has the potential to play an influential role in all areas of family and particularly couple relationships. This paper examines how ICTs (“information and communication technology”) can shape such relationships. The impact on the various stages of relationships is systematized (relationship development, couple and family formation, separation) with a special focus on intergenerational opportunities and conflicts associated with modern media usage. Against the background of psychological and media communication theories and psychotherapeutic approaches as well as empirical findings the following topics are considered: (1) Initiation of relationships through ICTs (e.g. meet new partners through online dating); (2) Impact of digital media on relationship development and existing partnerships (e.g. new opportunities and internet-related challenges that have to be faced by couples) (3) Influence of ICTs on separations (e.g. online mediation, getting divorced online). In summary, the role of ICTs in new, existing and separated partnerships and families is multifaceted. An outlook on further developments as well as research desiderata is given.     

Cohort differences in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the Seattle Longitudinal Study

Life span researchers have long been interested in how and why fundamental aspects of human ontogeny differ between cohorts of people who have lived through different historical epochs. When examined at the same age, later born cohorts are often cognitively and physically fitter than earlier born cohorts. Less is known, however, about cohort differences in the rate of cognitive aging and if, at the very end of life, pervasive mortality-related processes overshadow and minimize cohort differences. We used data on 5 primary mental abilities from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (Schaie, 2005) to compare both age-related and mortality-related changes between earlier born cohorts (1886-1913) and later born cohorts (1914-1948). Our models covary for several individual and cohort differences in central indicators of life expectancy, education, health, and gender. Age-related growth models corroborate and extend earlier findings by documenting level differences at age 70 of up to 0.50 SD and less steep rates of cognitive aging on all abilities between 50 and 80 years of age favoring the later born cohort. In contrast, mortality-related models provide limited support for positive cohort differences. The later born cohort showed steeper mortality-related declines. We discuss possible reasons why often reported positive secular trends in age-related processes may not generalize to the vulnerable segment of the population that is close to death and suggest routes for further inquiry.     

Profiling active and passive nonrespondents to an organizational survey

In this field study (N = 405) population profiling was introduced to examine general and specific classes of nonresponse (active vs. passive) to a satisfaction survey. The active nonrespondent group (i.e., purposeful nonresponders) was relatively small (approximately 15%). Active nonrespondents, in comparison with respondents, were less satisfied with the entity sponsoring the survey and were less conscientious. Passive nonrespondents (e.g., forgot), who represented the majority of nonrespondents, were attitudinally similar to respondents but differed with regard to personality. Nonresponse bias does not appear to be a substantive concern for satisfaction type variables--the typical core of an organizational survey. If the survey concerns topics strongly related to Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, the respondent sample may not be representative of the population.     

Moody and thin-skinned? The interplay of neuroticism and momentary affect in older romantic couples

Neuroticism is associated with heightened reactivity to social stressors. However, little is known about the micro-processes through which neuroticism shapes – and is shaped by – affective experiences in close relationships. We examine the extent to which momentary affect is coupled with one’s relationship partner, whether the strength of this coupling differs depending on levels of neuroticism, and whether this coupling and partner’s overall level of positive or negative affect prospectively contribute to differential (rank-order) changes in neuroticism. Older couples (N = 82, aged 67–93 years) rated their momentary affect six times per day for one week and provided ratings of trait neuroticism at baseline and 18 months later. Multilevel models revealed that among individuals high in neuroticism, individual positive affect was more closely coupled with partner positive affect compared with individuals low in neuroticism. Moreover, neuroticism decreased over time in those participants who showed a higher degree of coupling with partner positive affect and also had a partner with higher overall positive affect. In contrast, neuroticism increased in individuals whose partner had lower overall positive affect. Similar effects were not observed for negative affect. Our findings highlight how relationship partners contribute to daily affective experiences and longer-term changes in neuroticism.     

Linking Job Work Hours to Women’s Physical Health: The Role of Perceived Unfairness and Household Work Hours

Although the relationship between job work hours and women’s physical health has been examined, limited empirical research examines the family demand conditions that explain this relationship. Given the challenge of integrating work and family demands, we examine the boundary conditions under which job hours relate to women’s physical health by integrating the influences of household work hours, perceived unfairness of division of household labor, and traditional gender ideology. Using a large, multi-national archival dataset, our results show that women working long job hours are more likely to report decreased physical health and that this relationship is moderated by the hours and fairness perceptions of household labor: The lowest physical health was observed at high job hours and high household hours and also when women felt that they did less than their fair share of household labor. However, looking at the slopes of these relationships, the negative relationship between job hours and physical health was stronger when women worked lower household hours or felt that they contributed less than their fair share of household labor—suggesting that maintaining a contribution to household labor might be important for working women. Furthermore, these results suggest that policy and organizational interventions aimed at supporting women’s physical health could take their household labor contributions and fairness perceptions into account when assessing the negative impact of high job work hours.     

Developing multiple identifications through different social interactions at work

The question of how employees’ identifications with various foci at work (e.g., team, supervisor, or profession) develop and how they can be managed actively still remains largely unanswered. This is surprising, given the previously demonstrated benefits of employees’ identifications for organizational outcomes. Building on the social validation framework, we propose that changes in different social interactions (social support and effective feedback from supervisors and co-workers) over time are apt to socially validate different provisional selves and thereby differentially foster identification with the supervisor, the team, and the profession. In a longitudinal study of 212 apprentices, who are newcomers to both the organization and the profession, we test this idea using latent change scores in a structural equation modelling approach. Supporting our hypotheses, we show that changes in social support from supervisors and co-workers are related to changes in supervisor and team identification. Increased feedback from co-workers, but not from supervisors, predicted increased professional identification.