Improvement Strategies in Free-Throw Shooting and Grip-Strength Tasks

Participants performed a free-throw shooting task and a grip-strength task before and after imagery, nonspecific arousal, or no instructions. Imagery improved performance in the free-throw shooting task, which is assumed to have more cognitive components than the grip-strength task. Imagery did not improve performance in the grip-strength task, which is assumed to have fewer cognitive components than the free-throw task. Nonspecific arousal, on the other hand, improved performance in the grip-strength task but not in the free-throw shooting task. Athletic experience, confidence levels, and gender were correlated with actual performance levels in both tasks, but not with improvement. Results are discussed within the transfer-appropriate processing framework.     

CYPRUS TURKISH FAIRY TALES: GLIMPSE OF A HARMONIOUS PAST

On the island of Cyprus, believed to be the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Muslim minority (settled there following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571) and Orthodox Christians (the native majority) lived together in peace for hundreds of years. However, as a result of ethnic conflict in the late 1950s, the Muslim Cypriot Turks established their own political state in the north of the island in 1974, and Cyprus was divided into northern Turkish and southern Greek sections. This paper attempts to examine historical, religious, cultural and psychological aspects of the relationship between these two large groups, prior to recent conflicts, by studying fairy tales told by Turkish Cypriots about a hundred years ago. It is hoped that this paper will encourage similar studies of other communities where different large-group identities live side by side, and that such studies may support their peaceful co-existence.     

Impact of Self-Orientations and Work-Context–Related Variables on the Well-Being of Public- and Private-Sector Turkish Employees

The authors (a) explored the impact of individual differences in self-orientations (i.e., relatedness and individuation) of 383 Turkish public- and private-sector employees on their basic need satisfaction at work and their well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and psychological well-being); (b) considered differences in perceived autonomy- and relatedness-supportiveness of the work contexts; and (c) tested a model in which the relationship between self-orientations and well-being is partially mediated by the perceived supportiveness of the work context and the need satisfaction of employees at work, using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that self-orientations of employees predict their well-being both directly and indirectly through the mediation of perceived supportiveness and need satisfaction provided by the work context, which seem to vary according to sector type.     

Perceptions of Turkish psychiatric inpatients about therapeutic factors of group psychotherapy

Many studies on therapeutic factors in group psychotherapy were done during the 1970s and 1980s, primarily with Western samples, The present study was carried out in a psychiatric inpatient clinic in Turkey. Using Yalom's (1975) therapeutic factor questionnaire administered at discharge, patients rated existential factor, instillation of hope and self-understanding as the most helpful factors and identification as the least helpful. There were significant differences among patients with regard to gender, age, education, comorbid personality disorder, but not with Axis I diagnosis or number of attended sessions. Patients' and psychiatrist's rating showed significant differences. Differences between this Turkish sample and those reported in common Western literature are discussed under the light of relatedness psychology, which is an important concept of cross-cultural psychology.     

Perceived sources and levels of stress,general self-efficacy and coping strategies in clinical dental students

The aims of this study were to identify sources of stress among clinical students and to evaluate the students’ perceived levels of stress, general self-efficacy and effective coping strategies in a private dental school environment. The study group consisted of 130 undergraduate clinical dental students in a Turkish private dental school, during the academic year 2014–2015. The students were surveyed using modified version of the dental environment stress (DES) survey, the perceived stress scale, the general self-efficacy scale (G-SES) and the brief coping scale. Age, sex, year of study, history of psychiatric treatment and factors that affected the choice of dentistry were also recorded. Final year and female clinical dental students, who were found to be the most stressful students, had moderate to high perceived stress scores. Total and ‘Faculty and administration’ related DES scores increased with the year of study. Stressors related to ‘Workload’ and ‘Clinical training’ affected females more than males. G-SES scores were higher in male students and students, who had no history of psychiatric treatment. The most and the least common coping strategies were ‘Planning’ and ‘Substance abuse’, respectively. ‘Religion’ was found to be one of the main coping strategies. Stress factors affecting Turkish clinical dental students studying at private dental school differed from the previously reported stress factors affecting students studying at a governmental dental school. Advanced year and female students experienced more stress than the other students.     

Impact of self-orientations and work-context-related variables on the well-being of public- and private-sector Turkish employees

The authors (a) explored the impact of individual differences in self-orientations (i.e., relatedness and individuation) of 383 Turkish public- and private-sector employees on their basic need satisfaction at work and their well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and psychological well-being); (b) considered differences in perceived autonomy- and relatedness-supportiveness of the work contexts; and (c) tested a model in which the relationship between self-orientations and well-being is partially mediated by the perceived supportiveness of the work context and the need satisfaction of employees at work, using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that self-orientations of employees predict their well-being both directly and indirectly through the mediation of perceived supportiveness and need satisfaction provided by the work context, which seem to vary according to sector type.     

Cognitive control of a simple mental image in patients with obsessive--compulsive disorder

The nature of obsessions has led researchers to try to determine if the main problem in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is impaired inhibitory control. Previous studies report that the effort to suppress is one of the factors that increase the frequency of obsessive thoughts. Based on these results and those of the present study that suggest inferior parietal lobe (IPL) abnormality in OCD and findings of a recent study that reported the importance of the right posterior parietal cortex in cognitive control of a simple mental image, the present cognitive control paradigm study aimed to determine whether there is a difference in brain dynamics between OCD patients and non-obsessive controls while performing tasks that necessitate cognitive control of a simple mental image, and whether the right posterior parietal region is one of the regions in which a difference in activity between the OCD patients and controls would be observed. Functional brain imaging was performed while the participants attempted to suppress, imagine, or manipulate a mental image. The general linear model showed that there was a main effect of group and main effect of task. Accordingly, in all contrasts (suppression minus free-imagination, erasing minus free-imagination, and imagination minus free-imagination), the right IPL, right posterior cingulate cortex, and right superior frontal gyrus activity were lower in the OCD patients than in the healthy controls. These results and the observed correlations between activity levels, and symptom and subjective performance scores are discussed. In conclusion, the results of the present study and those of previous studies suggest that the main problem in OCD might be difficulty activating the right frontoparietal networks during tasks that require cognitive control, which might result in the intrusiveness of obsessive thoughts.     

医学对急性呼吸窘迫综合征（ARDS）的认识

ARDS是一个临床综合征,其特征是炎症性肺水肿,严重的低氧血症,僵硬肺和弥漫性内皮和上皮损伤。既往50年中,特别是SARS在全球暴发以来,对ARDS病因、生理学、组织学和管理上有了重大的进展。然而,尽管围绕ARDS的研究显著增加,依然有许多重要问题亟待解决。     

A Review of Consumer Embarrassment as a Public and Private Emotion

Whether the result of mispronouncing a fancy brand name, miscalculating a tip, purchasing a sensitive product, or stumbling into a product display, embarrassment is an important part of the consumer landscape. Embarrassment has traditionally been considered a social emotion, one that can only be experienced in public. In this paper, we offer a comprehensive review of consumer embarrassment and consider situations in which embarrassment can affect consumer behavior in both public and private contexts. We define embarrassment using this broader conceptualization and outline the transgressions that might trigger embarrassment in consumption contexts. We also discuss the diverse implications of embarrassment for consumer behavior, and review the strategies that both consumers and practitioners can use to mitigate embarrassment and its negative consequences. We hope this framework will stimulate new research on consumer embarrassment in both public and private contexts.