Film-induced negative affect triggers overeating in restrained eaters

We tested the effects of film-induced negative affect (i.e., exposure to a frightening film) in 60 women classified as either restrained or unrestrained eaters on the basis of their responses to the Revised Restraint Scale (Herman & Polivy, 1980). Exposure to the frightening film, in contrast to a neutral film, was associated with increases in anxiety, sadness, and anger. High restraint subjects exposed to the frightening film ate more than did equally restrained subjects exposed to a neutral film or low restraint subjects exposed to either film. Thus, negative affect triggered overeating among restrained eaters. Although unrestrained eaters exposed to the frightening film ate less than those who viewed the neutral film, this difference was not statistically significant. These results suggest that negative affect may prompt overeating in persons who attempt to restrict their caloric intake.     

Peer-group association and adolescent tobacco use

Mosbach & Leventhal (1988) examined the relation of cigarette smoking to peer-group identification in rural Wisconsin adolescents. They found that among dirts (problem-prone youth), regulars (average youth), hot-shots (good social or academic performers), and jocks (athletes), youth most likely to smoke were dirts and hot-shots. We performed a replication with a Southern California cohort and also for use of smokeless tobacco. We hypothesized that jocks would be the main users of smokeless tobacco. We identified the same groups and an additional one, skaters (skateboarders or surfers). As Mosbach & Leventhal found, cigarettes were used most by dirts. Contrary to their results, but consistent with other research, we found that hot-shots were least likely to smoke. Contrary to our prediction, we found that skaters and dirts were more likely to use smokeless tobacco than were jocks. Our data show that both tobacco forms are used by problem-prone youth.     

Depressive personality: reliability, validity, and relation to dysthymia

The reliability and validity of Schneider's (1958) construct of depressive personality was evaluated in a sample of 177 outpatients, who were administered structured diagnostic and family history interviews, an extensive battery of inventories, and a 6-month follow-up assessment. The criteria for depressive personality had moderate to good interrater reliability, internal consistency, and test-retest stability, and the assessment of depressive personality traits was not influenced by patients' clinical states. In addition, preliminary support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the depressive personality construct was obtained. Although there were significant relations between the depressive personality and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. and rev. 3rd ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1980, 1987) diagnoses of dysthymia, the depressive personality was not entirely subsumed by existing mood disorders.     

The nature of aspiration in psychotherapy

This paper underscores the importance of aspiration as an active, progressive striving toward goals. Aspiration is often borne out of new experiences with new objects that differ from the patient's archaic objects. Patients who take inventory of their aspirations start to understand how they consciously and unconsciously work toward or ward off the attainment of goals. Self-discrepancy approaches (e.g., Jacobson, 1964; Schafer, 1967; Blos, 1974; Higgins, 1987) emphasizing the gap between the patient's present self-experience and the ideal self are especially useful in understanding how aspiration is facilitated or stymied. Aspirations may signal shifts in self-esteem. The patient who risks wanting more or wanting to be more has begun to alter the static view of the self. Aspiration facilitates the patient's imaginative, visualizing capacities as he or she focuses on foreseeing future possibilities.     

Phantom cotherapist: Treatment of a suicidal Arab by a Jewish therapist

A case study is presented of the treatment of an Arab coed by a Jewish trainee, and a phantom cotherapist using a modified dialectical therapeutic approach. Its effect on the treatment process and outcome, and on the therapist is discussed.     

Concurrent Use of Cigarettes,Alcohol, and Coffee1

The interrelationships between cigarette, alcohol, and coffee use were examined in 307 U.S. army trainees and 304 U.S. enlisted army personnel. Usage patterns indicated distinct gender differences in this occupational setting. Among women, cigarette use and alcohol consumption were positively correlated; whereas for men, cigarette and coffee use were positively related. For both males and females, alcohol and coffee use were only weakly correlated. As demonstrated in other studies, nonsmokers showed a consistent pattern of abstention from coffee and alcohol or moderate alcohol use.     

Group Commitment and Resource Conservation: Two Field Experiments on Promoting Recycling1

Two experiments evaluated the effect of commitment on paper recycling. Using an ABA design, Experiment 1 asked 24 individuals in a retirement home to sign a 4-week group commitment pledge to recycle paper. During this intervention, the subjects recycled 47% more paper than they had during baseline. They continued to recycle at this level during a 4-week follow-up period, when the group commitment was removed. Experiment 2 evaluated the relative effectiveness of group commitment, individual commitment, and token reinforcers on paper recycling in a college dormitory. The students in all three experimental conditions recycled from three to five times more paper than those in the control group during the 4-week intervention. However, in the 3-week follow-up period, when the treatments were removed, only the individually committed subjects continued to recycle significantly more paper than the controls.     

Children's understanding of private keys in referential communication

A private key is a referential utterance used to inform selectively. The ambiguity of the utterance conceals meaning from nonselected audience members. The purpose of this study was to examine three aspects of children's understanding of the use of private keys. Experiment 1 concerned children's sensitivity to information in the context of utterance (i.e., the common ground). Experiment 2 examined appreciation of audience design and the speaker's intent. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 explored some reasons for children's problems in understanding private keys. The results show that even first graders are sensitive to common ground information and the speaker's intent. However, audience design is troublesome even for second graders in some situations, probably because they fail to assess the knowledge of the audience members. Private keys are important theoretically because they represent an aspect of referential communication involving the uses of ambiguous utterances that have been ignored by developmental researchers.     

Younger and older adolescents' thinking about commitments

One hundred and sixty-three adolescents listed factors they consider or would consider when choosing a career and a romantic partner, and defined "commitment" in an open-ended essay. Male and female ninth graders, twelfth graders, and college juniors, from public and private schools served as subjects. Gender, grade, and type of school differences were found in the types and number of different types of factors listed for the above commitments, but not in the number of factors listed. Conceptions of the nature of commitment became more complex with grade, and differed as a function of gender and of type of school. Females listed more "internal" factors than did males for romantic commitments. Males described commitment more contractually, women more affectively. Older students focused more upon long-term and internal concerns, and defined "commitment" more in terms of cognitive processing and emotional attachment than younger students. Implications for related areas of work are discussed.     

Social Interactions of Obese and Nonobese Women

The stigma associated with obesity is likely to limit the opportunities obese women have to develop social skills. This hypothesis was tested by having obese (n = 15) and nonobese (n = 22) women converse on the telephone with college students who were unaware of the women's weights. Ratings made by judges who listened to the women's contributions to the conversations but who were unaware of their weights showed that obesity was negatively related to judgments about the women's likability, social skills, and physical attractiveness. The telephone partners of obese women rated the women and themselves more negatively than did the partners of nonobese women. Obese and nonobese women generally did not differ in their evaluations of their own and their telephone partners' behavior, and they also did not differ on a measure of social self-esteem. These findings suggest that there are real differences in the social behavior of obese and nonobese women and that these differences affect the impressions formed by those with whom they interact.