Believing in one’s equal rights: Self-respect as a predictor of assertiveness

In the present research self-respect is defined as a person’s ability to see the self as someone who has the same basic rights and dignity as others. Self-respect fills a gap in previous theorizing on the self because unlike other self-concepts it can be linked to assertiveness and claim making. Self-respect was empirically distinguished from self-competence and self-confidence (Study 1) as well as from psychological entitlement, self-esteem and self-acceptance (Study 2). Self-respect predicted assertive responses above and beyond these other self-scales in two correlational studies (Studies 1 and 3) and one experiment (Study 2). As predicted, self-respect was not related to aggressive responses, but psychological entitlement was (Studies 2 and 3). Implications for future research are discussed.     

Symptomattributionsstile bei Hypochondrie

Background

Somatic symptom attributions are of central importance in cognitive-behavioral models of the development, maintenance and treatment of hypochondriasis. However, the mode of symptom attribution has rarely been systematically investigated in these patients. Is a somatic mode of symptom attribution indeed specific for hypochondriasis and furthermore, how strongly is it associated with “doctor shopping”, a typical behavioral consequence of hypochondriasis?

Patients and methods

In this study 88 hypochondriacal, 52 depressive and 52 healthy persons were asked to complete the symptom interpretations questionnaire and several standardized symptom questionnaires. They also took part in two structured clinical interviews for the diagnosis of hypochondriasis and various other psychological disorders according to DSM-IV.

Results

Somatic symptom attributions were associated specifically with hypochondriasis, while normalizing attributions characterized persons with low health anxiety. When examined as predictors in multiple regression models, in particular somatic attributions and the total of somatoform complaints predicted the intensity of health anxiety (R ²?=?0.69) and “doctor shopping” (R ²?=?0.48).

Conclusion

In the cognitive-behavioral treatment of hypochondriasis, patients should be encouraged to test normalizing explanations as alternatives to habitual somatic attributions of somatic disturbances.     

Construction and subjectivity of fantasy

Abstract

De Robertis D, Tricoli ML. Construction and Subjectivity of Fantasy. Int Forum Psychoanal 1997;6: 167-174. Stockholm, ISSN 0803-706X.

The authors point out that in Freud's thought fantasy surpasses ontogeny, becoming history of phylogeny through collective and prehistoric Oedipus. Unlike Freud, who followed a positivistic epistemology, the authors emphasize the individual meanings of fantasy, according to the present constructionistic epistemology.

First, an outline of this point of view is presented. Secondly, a theoretical approach between fantasy and repression-in the light of the concept of “compulsion to know”-is suggested. A clinical vignette follows to illustrate the above mentioned principles.     

Polychronicity and Multitasking: A Diary Study at Work

Polychronicity and multitasking have been described as being indispensible in work today because they enable people to use their time flexibly and effectively. We conducted a diary study among 93 employees during the mornings and evenings of 5 consecutive workdays (n = 418 observations). The study used hierarchical linear modeling with polychronicity and other personal characteristics at the person level, and multitasking behavior along with multitasking opportunities, interruptions, and unplanned work as antecedents, and affective well-being and self-rated performance as outcomes at the day level. We found several relations between antecedents and multitasking, as well as between multitasking and consequences. Polychronicity interacts with these relationships, such that polychronic individuals’ affective well-being and self-rated performance are less affected on days with much multitasking compared to monochronic individuals.     

Interactive coordination of currently depressed inpatient mothers and their infants during the postpartum period

In healthy mother–infant dyads, interactions are characterized by a pattern of matching and mismatching interactive states with quick reparation of mismatches into matches. In contrast, dyads in which mothers have postpartum depression show impaired mother–infant interaction patterns over the first few months of the infant's life. The majority of studies that have examined such interaction patterns have drawn on community samples rather than on depressed inpatient samples of mothers who were in a state of current depression at the time of assessment. To date, no study has investigated specific microanalytic patterns of interactive coordination between depressed German mothers and their infants using the Face‐to‐Face Still‐Face paradigm (FFSF). The primary goal of this study was to evaluate specific patterns of dyadic coordination and the capacity for repairing states of miscoordination in an inpatient sample of postpartum currently depressed mothers and their infants as compared with a healthy control group. A sample of 28 depressed inpatient German mothers and their infants (age range = 1–8 months, M age = 4.06 months) and 34 healthy dyads (range = 1–8 months, M age = 3.89 months) were videotaped while engaging in the FFSF. A focus was placed on the play and reunion episodes. Compared with healthy dyads, dyads with depressed mothers showed less coordination of positive matched states and longer latencies when repairing interactive mismatching states into positive matched states. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Recognition memory strength is predicted by pupillary responses at encoding while fixation patterns distinguish recollection from familiarity

Thirty-five healthy participants incidentally encoded a set of man-made and natural object pictures, while their pupil response and eye movements were recorded. At retrieval, studied and new stimuli were rated as novel, familiar (strong, moderate, or weak), or recollected. We found that both pupil response and fixation patterns at encoding predict later recognition memory strength. The extent of pupillary response accompanying incidental encoding was found to be predictive of subsequent memory. In addition, the number of fixations was also predictive of later recognition memory strength, suggesting that the accumulation of greater visual detail, even for single objects, is critical for the creation of a strong memory. Moreover, fixation patterns at encoding distinguished between recollection and familiarity at retrieval, with more dispersed fixations predicting familiarity and more clustered fixations predicting recollection. These data reveal close links between the autonomic control of pupil responses and eye movement patterns on the one hand and memory encoding on the other. Moreover, the data illustrate quantitative as well as qualitative differences in the incidental visual processing of stimuli, which are differentially predictive of the strength and the kind of memory experienced at recognition.     

Developmental trajectory of number acuity reveals a severe impairment in developmental dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia is a learning disability that affects the acquisition of knowledge about numbers and arithmetic. It is widely assumed that numeracy is rooted on the “number sense”, a core ability to grasp numerical quantities that humans share with other animals and deploy spontaneously at birth. To probe the links between number sense and dyscalculia, we used a psychophysical test to measure the Weber fraction for the numerosity of sets of dots, hereafter called number acuity. We show that number acuity improves with age in typically developing children. In dyscalculics, numerical acuity is severely impaired, with 10-year-old dyscalculics scoring at the level of 5-year-old normally developing children. Moreover, the severity of the number acuity impairment predicts the defective performance on tasks involving the manipulation of symbolic numbers. These results establish for the first time a clear association between dyscalculia and impaired “number sense”, and they may open up new horizons for the early diagnosis and rehabilitation of mathematical learning deficits.     

Perspective taking and cognitive flexibility in the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task

In a study with 79 3-year-olds, we confirm earlier findings that separating the sorting dimensions improve children's performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task. We also demonstrate that the central reason for this facilitation is that the two sorting dimensions are not integral features of a single object. Spatial separation of the sorting dimensions has no additional significant influence. This finding highlights the important role of objects with respect to children's attentional flexibility. Implications for current theories on the DCCS task and for the development of perspective taking and cognitive flexibility are discussed.     

Ideologies of Diversity and Inequality: Predicting Collective Action in Groups Varying in Ethnicity and Immigrant Status

Ideological positions regarding social diversity and status inequality are examined as predictors of people's willingness to engage in collective action. Using social dominance theory and social identity theory, we hypothesized that the relationships between ideology, ethnic identification, and orientation toward collective action will vary depending on the position of one's group. Comparisons were made between four U.S. groups: White natives, White immigrants, Black/Latino natives, and Black/Latino immigrants. Groups differed in their endorsement of social diversity and social inequality, as well as in their orientation toward collective action and their ethnic group identification. For all groups, ethnic identity mediated the link between ideology and collective action, but the valence and magnitude of paths differed as a function of ethnicity and immigrant status. Social diversity was more critical for U.S. immigrants (White and Black/Latino); social inequality accounted for more variance in native-born U.S. groups (although in opposite directions for the two groups).     

Accessing causal relations in semantic memory

Most studies investigating semantic memory have focused on taxonomic or associative relations. Little is known about how other relations, such as causal relations, are represented and accessed. In three experiments, we presented participants with pairs of words one after another, describing events that referred to either a cause (e.g., spark) or an effect (e.g., fire). We manipulated the temporal order of word presentation and the question participants had to respond to. The results revealed that questions referring to the existence of a causal relation are answered faster when the first word refers to a cause and the second word refers to its effect than vice versa. However, no such asymmetry was observed with questions referring to the associative relation. People appear to distinguish the roles of cause and effect when queried specifically about a causal relation, but not when the same information is evaluated for the presence of an associative relation.