Postdecisional counterfactual thinking by actors and readers

How do individuals think counterfactually about the outcomes of their decisions? Most previous studies have investigated how readers think about fictional stories, rather than how actors think about events they have actually experienced. We assumed that differences in individuals' roles (actor vs. reader) can make different information available, which in turn can affect counterfactual thinking. Hence, we predicted an effect of role on postdecisional counterfactual thinking. Reporting the results of eight studies, we show that readers undo the negative outcome of a story by undoing the protagonist's choice to tackle a given problem, rather than the protagonist's unsuccessful attempt to solve it. But actors who make the same choice and experience the same negative outcome as the protagonist undo this outcome by altering features of the problem. We also show that this effect does not depend on motivational factors. These results contradict current accounts of counterfactual thinking and demonstrate the necessity of investigating the counterfactual thoughts of individuals in varied roles.     

Therapy and the challenge of evil

This paper expresses the author's personal view on the question of evil as considered by psychotherapeutic theories. It challenges the psychotherapeutic tendency to avoid the moral and existential dimensions of evil via the transformative language of psychopathology which allows theorists and practitioners either implicitly or explicitly to rely upon metaphors of disease or immaturity—be it physical or psychic. The author argues that such views are problematic not least because they mimic the separatist attitudes of those persons who have been labelled as evil since both rely upon notions of being 'less than fully human'. Further, taking a perspective that is informed by existential-phenomenological theory, the author highlights the inconsistencies and limitations that arise when the issues surrounding evil are considered from an intrapsychic perspective. As an alternative to this dominant tendency within psychotherapy and psychology, the author presents an inter-psychic viewpoint derived, in part, from the writings of Martin Heidegger and seeks to demonstrate that while such a perspective illuminates further complexities with regard to our understanding of evil, nonetheless, it also provides a more adequate, if disturbing, interpersonally focused viewpoint.     

Orientation sensitivity in the peripheral visual field

Orientation sensitivity in the peripheral visual field has been tested in two tasks: (a) setting horizontal the orientation of a grating at various retinal eccentricities, and (b) matching the orientation of a peripherally viewed grating as close as possible to an oblique reference viewed foveally. Both performances fall off with increasing retinal eccentricity. Magnification of the stimulus optimizes peripheral performance. Peripheral performance, optimized by magnification, varies with retinal eccentricity. It approaches, but does not reach, the foveal value (tested by the same method) at 10 deg of eccentricity, and is much lower at 20 and 30 deg of eccentricity.     

Lexicality and stimulus length effects in Italian dyslexics: role of the overadditivity effect.

The effect of lexicality and stimulus length was studied in 32 third- and fourth-grade Italian dyslexics and in 86 age-matched controls. A visual lexical decision task was used. As proposed by Faust et al. (1999), the results were analyzed in terms of raw reaction time (RT) data and using the z-score transformation to control for the presence of overadditivity effects. In terms of RTs, dyslexics showed a larger difference between words and nonwords (lexicality effect) and between short and long stimuli (length effect) than proficient readers. When data were transformed into z scores, only the group by length interaction remained significant while that with lexicality vanished. This pattern indicates that stimulus length has a specific role in Italian dyslexics' reading deficit; in contrast, slowness in responding to nonwords was not specific but was interpreted as one aspect of dyslexics' general inability to deal with alphabetical material (overadditivity effect).     

Psychosis: New Existential, Systemic, and Cognitive-Behavioral Developments

Until recently, perhaps the major avenues of working with severely disturbed patients have been based upon either organic-chemical or intrapsychic determinants and treatment components. One recent development is an emphasis upon interpsychic and interpersonal factors and determinants in both the understanding and the treatment of extreme psychotic disturbances. Existential, systemic, and cognitive-behavioral conceptualizations and therapies maintain substantial independence of one another. Yet these three share at least two significant commonalities. One is that they each emphasise the interpsychic and interpersonal. A second is this first commonality has led to some exciting new developments in the understanding and treatment of psychosis.     

Primary dendrite arm spacing during transient directional solidification of Al alloys with low redistribution coefficients

Particular analytical expressions based on a curve fitting on numerical results for primary dendritic growth have been proposed in the literature to encompass binary alloy systems whose redistribution coefficient (k ₀) approaches zero. To date, these expressions have not been checked against experimental results of transient solidification. The present study developed a comparative analysis between the theoretical predictions furnished by such expressions and results from transient solidification experiments with low k ₀ aluminum alloys. The analysis has shown that the proposed approach generally describes the primary dendritic spacing during solidification of Al–Sn alloys which are characterized by very low k ₀ values as well as by very large solidification ranges.     

Comorbidity of DSM-IV Personality Disorders in unipolar and bipolar affective disorders: a comparative study

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of Personality Disorders assessed by Structured Clinical Interview for Axis-II in 155 inpatients diagnosed with Unipolar Disorder vs inpatients with Bipolar Disorder (39). The most frequent Axis II diagnoses among Unipolar inpatients were Borderline (31.6%), Dependent (25.2%), and Obsessive-Compulsive (14.2%) Personality Disorders. Among Bipolar inpatients, the most prevalent personality disorders were Borderline (41%), Narcissistic (20.5%), Dependent (12.8%), and Histrionic disorders (10.3%). Using chi squared analysis, few differences in distribution emerged between the two groups: Unipolar patients had more recurrent Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder than Bipolar patients (chi(1)2=6.24, p<.005). Comorbid Narcissistic Personality Disorder was significantly more frequent in the Bipolar than in the Unipolar group (chi(1)2=6.34, P<.01). Considering the three clusters (DSM-IV classification), there was a significant difference between the groups, Cluster C (fearful, avoidant) diagnoses being more frequent in the Unipolar than in the Bipolar group (48.4% vs 20.5%, respectively). Cluster B (dramatic, emotionally erratic) diagnoses were found more frequently in patients with Bipolar Disorders (71.8% vs 45.2% in Unipolar patients, chi(2)2=10.1, p<.006). The differences in the distribution and prevalence of Personality Disorders between the two patient groups are discussed.     

Venlafaxine treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: case reports

About one-third of patients affected by obsessive-compulsive disorder fail to respond to serotonergic drugs and different strategies have been proposed for these resistant cases. This article reports experiences with venlafaxine in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder who did not respond or did not tolerate serotonergic drugs.     

Handedness and hemispheric asymmetry of pattern reversal visual-evoked potentials

Pattern reversal visual-evoked potentials (EP) from temporal leads in the two hemispheres of 26 right-handed (14 right-eye-dominant and 12 left-eye-dominant) and 10 left-handed (left-eye-dominant) adults were recorded. Checkerboard patterns (check sizes: 5.7 and 17 min of arc) at 1 and 8 Hz were reversed. Stimuli (a) subtended 6 degrees of visual field, (b) subtended 1 degree of visual field (foveal condition), and (c) were restricted to the annular portion of the visual field around the fovea (peripheral condition). Larger EP amplitudes in right or left hemisphere in relation to handedness, temporal frequency, and visual field condition were recorded. Eye dominance of dextrals appeared to play a role in determining the hemispheric asymmetry. Previous literature data and present results in relation to the hypothesis of different hemispheric specialization for basic visual information are discussed.     

Comparing Maltreating and Foster Families in Italy

Maltreating and foster families belong to different research areas and have rarely been considered together. This exploratory study compared maltreating and foster families to demonstrate an integrated approach that overcomes the dichotomic view that often separates problematic families from those who have resources. This study had 81 participants: 48 maltreating parents and 33 foster parents and the children who were in foster care. We examined family functioning (FES), adult attachment styles (ASQ) and foster children’s strengths and difficulties (SDQ) in maltreating and foster families to examine the differences and similarities between families. Both types of families had significant differences on the FES and ASQ scales. Maltreating families had a stronger orientation to succeed and a family profile that was more orientated towards independence. Maltreating parents had higher scores on the scale that measured discomfort with closeness than foster families. However, both family types had a high level of confidence. Many foster children had SDQ scores that were in the borderline and problem categories. These components may promote a theoretical view of an integrated model for family and children’s problems that promotes children’s welfare and supports maltreating parents. Practitioners can build on parent’s strengths or protective factors and provide services to address less developed areas.