Directed forgetting between,but not within,dissociative personality states

To investigate amnesia between identities in dissociative identity disorder (DID), the authors assessed explicit and implicit memory performance on a directed-forgetting task in 12 DID patients who switched from one state to an "amnesic" state between presentation and memory testing. DID patients were instructed either to remember or to forget neutral and emotional words. Besides an overall decrease in explicit memory, patients demonstrated selective forgetting of to-be-forgotten, but not of to-be-remembered words in the amnesic state. Patients did not exhibit any directed forgetting within the same state. Implicit memory was fully preserved across states. Independent of state, patients recalled more emotional than neutral information. These results may extend the conceptualization of memory processes in DID, suggesting an important role for retrieval inhibition.     

Compliance in crisis: Concern,trust and distrustful complacency in the COVID-19 pandemic

Two studies tested a distrustful complacency hypothesis, according to which either concern or political trust would be enough to sustain law-abiding attitudes and compliance with health-protective policies during the COVID-19 pandemic; but the absence of both concern and trust would result in markedly lower support and compliance. Study 1 supported this hypothesis with NatCen nationally representative sample of Great Britain (N = 2413; weighted regression analyses), focussing on law-abiding attitudes. Study 2 (preregistered) replicated these findings with a representative sample (N = 1523) investigating support for COVID-19 policies and compliant behaviour. Participants who were less concerned about the consequences of the pandemic (for themselves and for others) and simultaneously less trustful of the government expressed weaker law-abiding attitudes and reported less compliance with COVID-19 restrictions. These findings have implications for policy and public health strategies in time of crisis.     

Tolerance to drug-induced (poly I:C) natural killer cell activation: congruence with a Pavlovian conditioning model

Two experiments were conducted to assess the role of conditioning factors on the tolerance of drug-induced natural killer (NK) cell activity. A protocol in which mice were given four weekly injections of the immunostimulatory synthetic polynucleotide (poly I:C) paired with a complex environmental stimulus produced a reliable tolerance effect. The sensitivity of the observed tolerance to known decremental conditioning procedures--extinction (Experiment 1) and preexposure to the conditioning stimulus (latent inhibition, Experiment 2)--was investigated. The results indicated that posttreatment exposure to drug-signaling cues (i.e., extinction) significantly reversed tolerance such that NK cell activity was at a level comparable to that for controls receiving the drug for the first time (Experiment 1). In a similar fashion, pretreatment exposure to the drug-signaling cues (CS preexposure) inhibited the development of tolerance (Experiment 2). These results provide initial evidence that nonpharmacological manipulations of drug-signaling environmental cues can affect tolerance to the immunostimulatory effect of poly I:C, as would be expected with a conditioning analysis of such tolerance.     

Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis

The empathy-altruism hypothesis claims that prosocial motivation associated with feeling empathy for a person in need is directed toward the ultimate goal of benefiting that person, not toward some subtle form of self-benefit. We explored two new egoistic alternatives to this hypothesis. The empathy-specific reward hypothesis proposes that the prosocial motivation associated with empathy is directed toward the goal of obtaining social or self-rewards (i.e., praise, honor, and pride). The empathy-specific punishment hypothesis proposes that this motivation is directed toward the goal of avoiding social or self-punishments (i.e., censure, guilt, and shame). Study 1 provided an initial test of the empathy-specific reward hypothesis. Studies 2 through 4 used three procedures to test the empathy-specific punishment hypothesis. In Study 5, a Stroop procedure was used to assess the role of reward-relevant, punishment-relevant, and victim-relevant cognitions in mediating the empathy-helping relationship. Results of these five studies did not support either the empathy-specific reward or the empathy-specific punishment hypothesis. Instead, results of each supported the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Evidence that empathic emotion evokes altruistic motivation continues to mount.     

Comments on the motivational status of self-esteem in social identity and intergroup discrimination

The background and development of motivational hypotheses in social identity theory are examined, revealing two general motives for intergroup discrimination: a desire for cognitive coherence, or good structure; and a need for positive self-esteem. The latter (self-esteem hypothesis: SEH) has received most attention. Both the theoretical and empirical bases of the SEH are largely rooted in research using the minimal group paradigm. However, it remains unclear whether self-esteem is to be considered primarily as a cause or an effect of discrimination. When real social groups are considered the SEH appears to provide only a partial explanation, and a variety of more or less powerful alternative social motives may underlie discriminatory behaviour. We explore some social-structural, individual and interpersonal limits to the SEH, and we call for an awareness of these motives and a re-examination of the good-structure thesis. The SEH, as it stands, provides only a partial contribution to our understanding of the relationship between social identity and discriminatory intergroup behaviour.     

Family work for schizophrenia: some issues for Chinese immigrant families

This paper discusses some specific issues relevant to immigrant Chinese families in the context of family work for schizophrenia. The issues include shame and guilt, isolation and mistrust of officials, the importance of negotiation before details of problem-solving are worked out, high academic ambitions for children, and apparent ‘overprotectiveness’ in the Chinese culture. It is argued that cognitive-behavioural, goal-orientated family work could be adapted well for immigrant Chinese families with a member suffering from schizophrenia. A case study is presented to illustrate how such a family was helped.     

Interrogative suggestibility: The effects of sleep deprivation and relationship with field dependence

Suggestibility (yield) scores on the first Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale were found to correlate significantly with field dependence, as measured by the Finding Embedded Figures Test. Sleep-deprived subjects, while scoring worse on story memory, reaction time, POMS vigour–energetic and POMS confusion than controls, did not show any increase in yielding to suggestive questions. Upon answering the questions again after negative feedback, however, sleep-deprived subjects shifted their responses to questions significantly more than did controls. The results are interpreted in terms of sleep loss increasing the variability of performance.     

Visual word recognition in bilinguals: evidence from masked phonological priming

Bilingual written language representation was investigated with the masked phonological priming paradigm. Pseudohomophonic and control primes of French target words were used to show that Dutch-French bilinguals exhibit the same pattern of phonological and orthographic priming as native French speakers, which suggests that the same processes underlie first-and second-language processing. It was also found that for bilinguals, but not monolinguals, it is possible to prime a target word of the second language with a homophonic stimulus (either word or nonword) of the first language. This interlingual phonological priming effect was of the same size as the intralingual priming effect. Implications for theories of bilingual written language representation and for the interpretation of the masked phonological priming paradigm are discussed.     

Art Media and the Sense Modalities: Tactile Pictures

It is widely assumed that the art media can be individuated with reference to the sense modalities. Different art media are perceived by means of different sense modalities, and this tells us what properties of each medium are aesthetically relevant. The case of pictures appears to fit this principle well, for pictures are deemed purely and paradigmatically visual representations. However, recent psychological studies show that congenitally and early blind people have the ability to interpret and make raised-line drawings through touch. This shows that pictures are not essentially visual representations. The view that pictures are essentially visual follows from influential views of the nature of depiction and of the nature of vision that are mistaken. By rooting out the mistake, we learn something about pictures, something about vision, and something about the doctrine that art media are individuated by the sense modalities.     

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: How well can it measure depressive thinking?

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) was designed to measure patterns of maladaptive thinking held by depressed individuals. Despite its wide use as a research and clinical tool, only a few studies to date were designed to examine its psychometric properties in a clinically depressed population. Moreover, problems of low sample size and limited tests of validity call these findings into question. The present study was designed to examine psychometric properties of the DAS in clinically depressed inpatients and in nondepressed clinical controls. Intertest correlations between the DAS parallel forms and between each form with total test scores ranged from r=.84 to r=.97. Intratest stability coefficients were r=.88 to r=.97. Support for the DAS as a valid measure of dysfunctional cognitions in depressed patients was also indicated. Of those scoring high on the DAS, 73% received an independent RDC diagnosis of clinical depression, while only 36% of those receiving low DAS scores were so diagnosed.