Effects of Incest in Aging Survivors: Psychopathology and Treatment Issues

Most older people who have been sexually abused in childhood have probably never been treated for the consequences of their destructive experiences. The character pathology and long-term effects of child sexual abuse are described. Parallels were drawn between delayed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder seen in older veterans and World War II victims and later-life onset of posttraumatic psychopathology in aging incest survivors. Special geropsychological treatment issues, such as the appropriateness of explicit inquiry regarding a history of abuse and the role of power, gender, and shame in the psychotherapeutic relationship, are presented. The dilemma of uncovering repressed malignant childhood trauma in aging individuals is discussed. With proper medical and psychological preparation, demanding curative interventions with older survivors may be considered.     

Resisting Everything Except Temptation: Evidence and an Explanation for Domain‐specific Impulsivity

We propose a model of impulsivity that predicts both domain‐general and domain‐specific variance in behaviours that produce short‐term gratification at the expense of long‐term goals and standards. Specifically, we posit that domain‐general impulsivity is explained by domain‐general self‐control strategies and resources, whereas domain‐specific impulsivity is explained by how tempting individuals find various impulsive behaviours, and to a lesser extent, in perceptions of their long‐term harm. Using a novel self‐report measure, factor analyses produced six (non‐exhaustive) domains of impulsive behaviour (Studies 1–2): work, interpersonal relationships, drugs, food, exercise and finances. Domain‐general self‐control explained 40% of the variance in domain‐general impulsive behaviour between individuals, r_effect = .71. Domain‐specific temptation (r_effect = .83) and perceived harm (r_effect = ?.26) explained 40% and 2% of the unique within‐individual variance in impulsive behaviour, respectively (59% together). In Study 3, we recruited individuals in special interest groups (e.g. procrastinators) to confirm that individuals who are especially tempted by behaviours in their target domain are not likely to be more tempted in non‐target domains. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding Sexual Revictimization of Women Through Metaphors: A Qualitative Research

The aim of this study was to contribute to the phenomenological understanding of revictimization through metaphors used by women when describing their revictimization experiences. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 9 women regarding their repeated sexual victimization. Content analysis focused on metaphors used by the women when describing revictimization. Analysis of the metaphors revealed vulnerability in relation to the self and to interpersonal relationships. The metaphors relating to the self are portrayed through images of imprisonment, homelessness, contamination, and disability. Interpersonal relationships are described through the image of boundaries. These metaphors reflect duality: the profound need for security and the perception of boundaries as limiting and confining. Metaphors can be useful as a heuristic instrument for understanding women’s experience of the duality and the contradictions in coping with revictimization, and for intervention.     

Curved movement paths and the Hering illusion: Positions or directions?

When trying to move in a straight line to a target, participants produce movement paths that are slightly (but systematically) curved. Is this because perceived space is curved, or because the direction to the target is systematically misjudged? We used a simple model to investigate whether continuous use of an incorrect judgement of the direction to the target could explain the curvature. The model predicted the asymmetries that were found experimentally when moving across a background of radiating lines (the Hering illusion). The magnitude of the curvature in participants' movements was correlated with their sensitivity to the illusion when judging a moving dot's path, but not with their sensitivity when judging the straightness of a line. We conclude that a misjudgement of direction causes participants to perceive a straight path of a moving dot as curved and to produce curved movement paths.     

The Effect of Boundaries on Space Estimation

C. U. Ariëns Kappers, G. C. Huber, &; E. C. Crosby. The Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System of Vertebrates, Including Man. Two volumes. New York: Macmillan, 1936. Pp. xvii+864; xi+981. $16.00. Reviewed by Morton A. Rubin.     

The Counterintuitive Relationship between Conceptual and Perceptual Similarities and Eyewitness Suggestibility

The tendency to confuse witnessed and suggested information can result in inaccurate eyewitness testimonies and convictions of innocent people. Studies that tested how similarities between witnessed and suggested information affect the tendency to confuse them reached inconsistent results. Here, we claim that there is a more complex and not necessarily linear relationship between similarity and memory distortions. Participants (164) viewed two subsequent stories, which varied in the conceptual and perceptual similarities between them. We found a significant interaction between conceptual and perceptual similarities. When we presented two conceptually different stories, perceptual similarity increased the suggestibility effect compared with perceptual dissimilarity. Conversely, when we presented two conceptually similar stories, perceptual similarity decreased suggestibility compared with perceptual dissimilarity. Accordingly, we suggest that similarity between two events may increase the suggestibility effect. However, counter‐intuitively, once similarity reaches a certain threshold, the coherence level between the events reduces the tendency to confuse them. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marriage at the Summit: Response to the Commentaries

This article serves as a response to the 13 commentaries on the target article, which introduced the suffocation model of marriage in America. This reply has four main sections. First, it presents an elaborated version of the suffocation model that was inspired by the commentaries. Second, it addresses three areas of significant disagreement that emerged as we digested the commentaries. Third, it examines the circumstances under which being instrumental for one's spouse's needs benefits the self. And fourth, it takes strides toward the development of a mathematically formal version of the suffocation model. It concludes with a discussion of the ways in which policymakers, clinicians, and individual Americans can capitalize upon the suffocation model to strengthen marriage and, in doing so, bolster personal well-being.