Trust

Children rely extensively on others' testimony to learn about the world. However, they are not uniformly credulous toward other people. From an early age, children's reliance on testimony is tempered by selective trust in particular informants. Three- and 4-year-olds monitor the accuracy or knowledge of informants, including those that are familiar. They prefer to seek and endorse information provided by someone who has proved accurate in the past rather than someone who has made mistakes or acknowledged ignorance. Future research is likely to pinpoint other heuristics that children use to filter incoming testimony and may reveal more generalized patterns of trust and mistrust among individual children.     

The Impact of Self‐Affirmation on Health Cognition,Health Behaviour and Other Health‐Related Responses: A Narrative Review

There is growing evidence that self‐affirmation – the process of reflecting upon cherished values or attributes – may have implications for health. Postulated effects range from reducing the defensive resistance to unwelcome health‐risk information to ameliorating the physiological response to stress. In this, the first detailed review of the literature on self‐affirmation and health, we summarise what is known. Self‐affirming can increase acceptance of unwelcome health‐risk information, especially among those at greatest risk. Self‐affirmed participants typically also report more intention to change behaviour postmessage. There is evidence that certain effects of self‐affirming may endure. Self‐affirmation has also been shown to have beneficial effects on the response to stress. There is, however, currently only limited evidence of actual health‐behaviour change following self‐affirmation. We discuss reasons for this and consider key research questions for the next phase of research.     

Drogenabhängige Patienten im Maßregelvollzug gemäß § 64 StGB: Verbesserung der Quote erfolgreicher Behandlung durch suchtspezifische Medikation?

In Germany, addicted offenders can be sentenced to compulsory addiction treatment in forensic mental hospital departments (Art. 64 of the penal code). A presupposition to such a sentence is a fair chance of successful treatment and rehabilitation. Commonly, an expert witness is asked by the court to assess this point in the trial. To date, the treatment in forensic mental hospitals aims at total abstinence from any kind of drugs. But in at least half of the cases, a fair chance of successful treatment is no longer seen after a period of therapy. In most cases, these patients are returned to prison. The paper pleads that in offenders addicted to illegal drugs, a drug specific medication – in particular methadone maintenance treatment or naltrexone medication – might be a useful option. The rate of “treatment failure” might be reduced slightly by using this option with some of the patients.     

A Critical Analysis of the Social Advocacy Movement in Counseling

The authors present (a) an overview of the recent literature on social advocacy, (b) results of a deconstructive analysis of the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of this movement, (c) a critical analysis of its role and function in the profession, and (d) a call to the profession. The deconstructive analysis revealed 2 major driving forces and 5 related trends; the critical analysis revealed 9 key areas of consideration. Implications and recommendations are presented.     

Recruiters’ Inferences of Applicant Personality Based on Resume Screening: Do Paper People have a Personality?

Research shows recruiters infer dispositional characteristics from job applicants’ resumes and use these inferences in evaluating applicants’ employability. However, the reliability and validity of these inferences have not been empirically tested. Using data collected from 244 recruiters, we found low levels of estimated interrater reliability when they reviewed entry-level applicants’ resumes and made inferences regarding applicants’ personality traits. Moreover, when recruiters’ inferences of applicant personality were correlated with applicants’ actual Big Five personality scores, results indicated that recruiters’ inferences lacked validity, with the possible exceptions of extraversion and openness to experience. Finally, despite being largely unreliable and invalid, recruiters’ inferences of applicants’ extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness predicted the recruiters’ subsequent employability assessments of the applicants.     

Interkulturelle Aspekte bei der Behandlung somatoformer Störungen

Patients from family-oriented societies have a different perception of pain and different conceptions of healing, which up to now have not been sufficiently appreciated in modern multimodal therapeutic approaches. Inadequate knowledge of anatomy and bodily functions and traditional perceptions of pain (e.g. magic, curses, punishment, etc.) have a substantial influence on diagnostics. The pain experience is regarded holistically in relation to the body, rather than being confined to a particular part of the body. Limited access to psychological complaints often leads to physical complaints. The ailing body is an expression of the social, the economic, the psychological and cultural state of the patient and the history of migration and status in the collective. A multimodal interdisciplinary and culture-sensitive approach is required for effective pain treatment of patients with a tradition-bound background.     

Cannabiskonsum und -missbrauch bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen

After a long time of growth current studies on representative samples of adolescents indicate that the number of adolescent cannabis users in Germany is possibly decreasing. However, it may be presumptuous to expect a similar trend concerning the number of clients with cannabis-related disorders. Even if there is in fact a downward trend which is not yet proven, the rapidly growing number of clients presenting with these disorders in recent years cannot be explained by a similar growth in the number of regular cannabis users. Treatment centres should therefore expect a further inreasing number of especially male adolescents and young adults seeking help for problems related to cannabis use. The development, evaluation and implementation of specific treatment options concerning cannabis use disorders will be increasingly needed in the future. Cognitive-behavioral and motivational interventions have been shown to be evidence-based treatments. The paper describes some promising or already successful treatment approaches and related research projects in Germany.