Peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance as predictors of posttraumatic stress symptomatology

This study examined whether peritraumatic dissociation serves as a proxy risk factor for experiential avoidance in its relationship with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. One hundred eighty-five trauma survivors completed measures that assessed for peritraumatic dissociation, experiential avoidance, and PTSD symptom severity. The results indicated that peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance were significantly related to PTSD symptomatology at baseline. However, after initial levels of PTSD symptomatology were taken into account, only experiential avoidance was related to PTSD symptoms both 4- and 8-weeks later. These results indicate that peritraumatic dissociation is not a proxy risk factor for experiential avoidance and contributes to the growing body of literature indicating that experiential avoidance is an important factor related to the psychological symptoms experienced by trauma survivors.     

Aging and medical adherence: the use of automatic processes to achieve effortful things

This research examined whether forming detailed implementation plans for achieving a goal improved older adults' adherence to a health behavior. Nondiabetic participants (N = 31) rehearsed, deliberated, or formed implementation intentions to perform home blood glucose monitoring, 4 times daily for 3 weeks. The implementation group performed tests nearly 50% more often than the 2 comparison groups. Results were not attributable to a priori differences in intentions to perform testing. Findings indicate that implementation intentions can facilitate older adults' performance of important medical self-care tasks in naturalistic settings over sustained periods of time and concur with previous research that implicates automatic cognitive processes that do not show age-related decline. These results support the utility of this technique for improving adherence to health behaviors in clinical populations.     

Five year research update (1996-2000): evaluations for competence to stand trial (adjudicative competence)

This article reviews and evaluates publications during 1996-2000 with relevance for assessments of competence to stand trial (also known as adjudicative competence). The review focuses specifically on articles that provide new concepts or data supported by research or case analyses. The studies are reviewed under the following headings: (i) the systemic context of evaluations of adjudicative competence (AC); (ii) conceptual guidelines for AC evaluations; (iii) research on AC assessment methods; (iv) empirical correlates of AC judgments and psycholegal abilities; (v) quality of AC evaluations and reports; (vi) interpretation of AC evaluation data; (vii) issues in AC assessment of special populations (e.g., juveniles, persons with mental retardation, and women); and (viii) treatment to restore competence. Suggestions are offered for further research to advance the quality of clinical evaluations of adjudicative competence.     

Defensive zeal and the uncertain self: what makes you so sure?

In Studies 1-3, undergraduates with high self-esteem (HSEs) reacted to personal uncertainty-threats with compensatory conviction about unrelated issues and aspects of the self. In Study 1 HSEs reacted to salience of personal dilemmas with increased implicit conviction about self-definition. In Study 2 they reacted to the same uncertainty-threat with increased explicit conviction about social issues. In Study 3, HSEs (particularly defensive HSEs, i.e., with low implicit self-esteem; C. H. Jordan, S. J. Spencer, & M. P. Zanna, 2003) reacted to uncertainty about a personal relationship with compensatory conviction about social issues. For HSEs in Study 4, expressing convictions about social issues decreased subjective salience of dilemma-related uncertainties that were not related to the social issues. Compensatory conviction is viewed as a mode of repression, akin to reaction formation, that helps keep unwanted thoughts out of awareness.     

Hemispheric asymmetries for global and local processing as a function of stimulus exposure duration

The experiments assess the relationship between stimulus exposure duration and hemispheric asymmetries for global and local processing. Six durations (27, 40, 53, 67, 80, and 147 ms) were tested in a selective attention task in which hierarchical letterforms were presented unilaterally to the left or right visual field. The results indicated that left hemisphere-local asymmetries were demonstrated more often than right hemisphere-global asymmetries and that asymmetries were most commonly found in the middle range of durations tested. The pattern of results emphasizes the importance of further study into those conditions under which the predicted asymmetries can be reliably demonstrated in healthy individuals.     

Predicting Acculturation Using Career,Family, and Demographic Variables in a Sample of Mexican American Students

The authors examined the relationship of a set of career variables, family cohesion, and demographic variables with the acculturation level of a sample of 176 Mexican American community college students. Multiple regression analyses using a blocked entry method revealed that only the demographic variables related significantly to acculturation. Based upon the zero order correlations, socioeconomic status would appear to account for most of the variance shared by acculturation and a linear combination of the demographic variables.     

Great Expectations: The Negative Consequences of Falling Short1

The present study shows conditions under which a positive stereotypic belief–Asians are good in mathematics–can have negative consequences. Participants graded a poorly performed mathematical assignment that they believed was the work of an Asian or a White target person. Under no accuracy instructions, participants who spent less time grading (unmotivated participants) assigned fewer points to the Asian than the White target. There was no difference in assignment of points to the Asian or the White target when participants were given accuracy instructions or spent more time grading (motivated participants). The findings suggest that group members may experience negative consequences when they fall short of “great expectations” stemming from a positive stereotypic belief about their group.     

Can Perceivers Identify Likelihood to Sexually Harass?

We investigated how men who differ in theirlikelihood to sexually harass (LSH) are perceived bythemselves and others. In Study 1, 36 Caucasian maleparticipants, who were paid for their participation, were videotaped being interviewed by asubordinate female. Participants rated her performanceand then responded to self-report attitudinal andpersonality scales. Higher LSH men reported moretraditional attitudes toward women's roles, a less femininepersonality, and lower competency ratings for the femaleinterviewer. Study 2 investigated whether participantscould differentiate between high and low LSH men from videoclips. Eighty-one male and 76female Caucasian participants, who were fulfilling acourse requirement, rated high LSH men (compared to lowLSH men) as (1) higher in LSH, (2) more masculine, (3) less feminine, and (4) more traditionaltoward women's roles than low LSH men. Implications ofthis ability to detect likelihood to sexually harass arediscussed.     

Perceptions of Parents Whose Work and Parenting Behaviors Deviate from Role Expectations

Perceptions of married parents were investigatedas a function of their gender, and the employment statusof both the parent and her or his spouse following theirchild's birth. College students (91 percent White, 9 percent African American, AsianAmerican and Hispanic) evaluated a briefly describedmarried employed parent on 31 7-point bipolar scalesthat described nurturance behaviors, job performancecharacteristics and stress/overload variables. Each evaluatorrated 1 of 8 parents portrayed as either a mother or afather who, following their infant's birth, eitherworked full-time or reduced her/his work hours, and whose spouse either worked full time or reducedhis/her work hours. Full-time employment, compared topart time employment, (1) enhanced perceptions of theprofessional competence of fathers, but not mothers; and (2)lowered evaluations of nurturance forboth parents, but especially for mothers. Mothers wereperceived as under more stress than fathers.     

Gender Differences in Sado-Masochistic Arousal Among College Students

This paper tests three competing explanationsfor male-female differences in sado-masochistic sexualarousal. The male arousal hypothesis posits that becauseof socialization that emphasizes sexual aggression and experimentation (and thus higher levels ofsexual arousal and activity in all areas), men will bemore aroused by both sadism and masochism than women.The female masochism hypothesis argues that because females are socialized to be passive, they willbe more aroused by masochistic (but not sadistic)activities than males. The convergence hypothesis notesthat male female socialization (and differences in most sexual attitudes and behavior) haveconverged in recent years, and hypothesizes that thesame convergence has taken place in arousal caused bysado-masochistic behavior and fantasy. Using a sample comprised of 320 undergraduate students (69%white, 27% African American, 4% other) from a largeurban university in the Southeast, we found no evidencefor the female masochism hypothesis and only weak evidence for the convergence hypothesis. Thestrongest evidence was for the male arousal hypotheses,with males scoring significantly higher than females onseven of the twelve measures of sado-masochistic arousal, and no differently from females on theremaining five.