MMPI-2 scores of patients with insomnia

Although the MMPI-2 has been employed since 1989, to date no study has been reported on its use with patients with insomnia. The MMPI-2 was administered to 104 insomnia patients. The T scores of all the MMPI-2 scales fell below the cut-off score of T = 65. Although the group profile was within the normal range, the percentages of patients who had MMPI-2 scores above T = 65 for each scale indicated that a substantial portion of the insomnia patients obtained elevated scores, particularly in the Hs, D, Hy, and Pt scales. Thus, the results suggest that many of the insomnia patients exhibit psychological distress and would benefit from brief psychological interventions, such as sleep hygiene education and relaxation training. In view of the large number of insomnia patients who obtained abnormal MMPI-2 scores, a psychological measure such as the MMPI-2 remains an important assessment tool in identifying insomnia patients who may need extensive psychotherapeutic intervention.     

Distress after a single violent crime: how shame-proneness and event-related shame work together as risk factors for post-victimization symptoms

To increase understanding of post-victimization symptom development, the present study investigated the role of shame- and guilt-proneness and event-related shame and guilt as potential risk factors. 35 individuals (M age = 31.7 yr.; 48.5% women), recently victimized by a single event of severe violent crime, were assessed regarding shame- and guilt-proneness, event-related shame and guilt, and post-victimization symptoms. The mediating role of event-related shame was investigated with structural equation modeling (SEM), using bootstrapping. The guilt measures were unrelated to each other and to post-victimization symptoms. The shame measures were highly intercorrelated and were both positively correlated to more severe post-victimization symptom levels. Event-related shame as mediator between shame-proneness and post-victimization symptoms was demonstrated by prevalent significant indirect effects. Both shame measures are potent risk factors for distress after victimization, whereby part of the effect of shame-proneness on post-victimization symptoms is explained by event-related shame.     

How emotional pictures influence visuospatial binding in short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease?

The present study examines the prediction that emotion can facilitate short-term memory. Nevertheless, emotion also recruits attention to process information, thereby disrupting short-term memory when tasks involve high attentional resources. In this way, we aimed to determine whether there is a differential influence of emotional information on short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Fourteen patients with mild AD, 14 healthy older participants (NC), and 14 younger adults (YA) performed two tasks. In the first task, involving visual short-term memory, participants were asked to remember a picture among four different pictures (negative or neutral) following a brief delay. The second task, a binding memory task, required the recognition by participants of a picture according to its spatial location. The attentional cost involved was higher than for the first task. The pattern of results showed that visual memory performance was better for negative stimuli than for neutral ones, irrespective of the group. In contrast, binding memory performance was essentially poorer for the location of negative pictures in the NC group, and for the location of both negative and neutral stimuli in the AD group, in comparison to the YA group. Taken together, these results show that emotion has beneficial effects on visual short-term memory in ageing and AD. In contrast, emotion does not improve their performances in the binding condition.     

Impact of Tactile Sensation on Dexterity: A Cross-Sectional Study of Patients With Impaired Hand Function After Stroke

The authors sought to explore the impact of tactile sensation on manual dexterity and the validity of the strength-dexterity test in subjects with chronic impairments after stroke in a cross-sectional study of 24 patients with impaired hand function after stroke. Dexterity was assessed by the strength-dexterity test, Box and Blocks, and Nine-Hole Peg Test, and the ABILHAND questionnaire. Sensation was measured by pinprick, cotton-wool, graphesthesia, and 2-point discrimination tests. Sensation in the paretic hand had strong association with paretic hand performance in the strength-dexterity test and Nine-Hole Peg Test and explained 13% of the variance. Sensation in the nonparetic hand was associated with the results of the ABILHAND questionnaire. Among sensory tests, 2-point discrimination had the strongest association with dexterity tests. No significant correlations between sensation, pinch force, and dexterity tests were found for the nonparetic hand. The strength-dexterity test exhibited strong correlations with the other dexterity measures and with pinch force. There is an association between tactile sensation and dexterous performance in the paretic hand; activity level performance is associated with sensation in the nonparetic hand. The study supports the validity of the strength-dexterity test when applied in subjects in the chronic stage after stroke.     

Are You Really Happy? Children’s Understanding of Real vs. Pretend Emotions

This paper studies children’s capacity to understand that the emotions displayed in pretend play contexts do not necessarily correspond to internal emotions, and that pretend emotions may create false beliefs in an observer. A new approach is taken by asking children about pretend emotions in terms of pretence-reality instead of appearance-reality. A total of 37 four-year-olds and 33 six-year-olds were asked to participate in tasks where they had to pretend an emotion or where they were told stories in which the protagonists pretended an emotion. In each task children were asked: a) if the pretend emotion was real or just pretended and b) if an observer would think that the emotional expression was real or just pretended. Results showed that four-year-olds are capable of understanding that pretend emotions are not necessarily real. Overall, six-year-olds performed better than younger children. Furthermore, both age groups showed difficulty in understanding that pretend emotions might unintentionally mislead an observer. Results are discussed in relation to previous research on children’s ability to understand pretend play and the emotional appearance-reality distinction.     

Effects of A Training Program on Teacher Behavior and Handicapped Children's Self-Concepts

The purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of the revised Utah State University Self-Concept Protocol Program in changing teacher behaviors presumed to be related to pupil self-concept. This program was focused on teachers with handicapped pupils in mainstreamed classrooms (grades 4 through 6). Ten volunteer teachers were trained in the self-concept behaviors as part of an inservice course. Eight additional volunteer teachers served as a no-treatment control group. Program-related teacher behaviors were observed and a pupil self-concept measure was administered before and after the inservice course. Results indicated that, although no changes occurred in program-related behaviors for the control group teachers, experimental group teachers showed significant increases on six of the 12 program-related behaviors. No gains in self-concept were made by handicapped children; however, there was some evidence for differential effectiveness of the program for learning disabled and emotionally handicapped children.     

Correcting Big Five Personality Measurements for Acquiescence: An 18‐Country Cross‐Cultural Study

For groups of persons with low or medium levels of education, Big Five personality scales typically yield scores that poorly replicate the idealized Big Five factor pattern. On the basis of representative samples of German adults, Rammstedt et al. have demonstrated that correcting each person's score for acquiescence eliminates this problem. In the present 18‐country study using large samples representative of each country's adult population, we found that, in all cases, correcting for acquiescence did indeed improve the congruence of factor loadings with an idealized Big Five pattern. However, although this correction led to acceptably high correspondence levels in all countries classified as individualistic, this was not always true for non‐individualistic countries. Possible reasons for this finding are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drug testing in organizations: Applying Horwitz's theory of the effectiveness of social control

Folk crimes, offenses that do not impair the public identity of offenders as respectable, law‐abiding citizens, were studied among a group of New England shellfishermen. Through observation, it was discovered that a pattern of mutual accommodation between enforcers and violators distinguishes folk crime from other violations of the same law. The subjective interpretation of the offenses and accommodation as a reaction is based on considerations of rule intent, logical implications of relevant rules, costs and consequences of rule invocation for enforcers, evaluation of violators’ motives, perceived consequences of violations, and the imputed identity of violators.     

Gender and power in school: On girls' open resistance

Drawing upon a Swedish empirical study of gender and power relations in a 9th-grade classroom, this paper focusses especially on girls' attempts to gain influence in school. Typically, such behaviours are reported to be more frequently exhibited by boys, as is almost all kinds of public classroom participation. In the class reported on here, however, girls are those actively contesting power relations and pursuing their principles. This is done through a process much resembling the idea of a representative democratic model. The features and implications of this process are elaborated in relation to two conflicts taking place in the class.