Self‐Presentational Effects in the Implicit Association Test

Two studies rely on Schlenker and Leary 's (1982) conceptual framework to investigate self‐presentational biases in the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Study 1 shows that under specific conditions, the IAT is indeed sensitive to self‐presentation, especially for high self‐monitors. Study 2 suggests that participants can fake the IAT to appear in a favorable light. Possible process mechanisms are discussed and directions are provided for future research in consumer psychology.     

Effect of catatoxic steroids upon lidocaine intoxication

Various steroids have been shown to influence the activity of psychotropic hormones and drugs. Among these, we distinguish “syntoxic” steroids which act by inhibiting excessive reactions to various agents and “catatoxic” steroids which actually destroy certain toxicants and hormones often through the induction of hepatic microsomal enzymes. Thus, the liver can play a decisive role in psychosomatic interrelations by regulating the blood clearance of agents affecting the nervous system. To illustrate these principles, new observations are presented which show that certain catatoxic steroids offer considerable protection against lidocaine, an anesthetic, analgesic drug. These findings may serve as an example showing how modern research techniques may help us to analyze the possible relationships between the liver and the mind, which were intuitively suspected since Hippocrates created the term “melancholia.”     

The moderating role of self-monitoring on the interpersonal aspects of attitude ambivalence

Extant research has found a relation between holding conflicting attitudes with a familiar person (interpersonal discrepancy) and subjective attitude ambivalence. In 2 studies, we investigated the role of interpersonal discrepancy in the experience of attitude ambivalence as a function of self-monitoring and level of liking of the other person. Building on balance theory, we proposed and found that high (vs. low) self-monitors feel most comfortable when they are in agreement with liked (vs. disliked) others. In Study 1, 80 university students revealed that when the significant other is a parent, high self-monitors feel more subjective ambivalence when there is more interpersonal discrepancy. In Study 2, 37 university students reported their feelings of subjective ambivalence when considering the interpersonal discrepancy between liked (vs. disliked) familiar people. Again, it was high self-monitors who were most susceptible to increased feelings of subjective ambivalence, particularly for discrepancies between their own attitude and the attitude of liked others. Taken together, our 2 studies broaden our understanding of the interpersonal foundations of subjective ambivalence by suggesting that they may depend on personality differences and the nature of the social relationship.     

The legacy of Hans Selye and the origins of stress research: A retrospective 75 years after his landmark brief "Letter" to the Editor(#) of Nature

Hans Selye's single author short letter to Nature (1936, 138(3479):32) inspired a huge and still growing wave of medical research. His experiments with rats led to recognition of the "general adaptation syndrome", later renamed by Selye "stress response": the triad of enlarged adrenal glands, lymph node and thymic atrophy, and gastric erosions/ulcers. Because of the major role of glucocorticoids (named by Selye), he performed extensive structure-activity studies in the 1930s-1940s, resulting in the first rational classification of steroid hormones, e.g. corticoids, testoids/androgens, and folliculoids/estrogens. During those years, he recognized the respective anti- and pro-inflammatory actions of gluco- and mineralocorticoids in animal models, several years before demonstration of anti-rheumatic actions of cortisone and adrenocorticotrophic hormones in patients. Nevertheless, Selye did not receive a Nobel Prize, which was awarded in 1950 to the clinician Hench and the two chemists who isolated and synthesized some of the glucocorticoids. Nonetheless, Selye was internationally recognized as a world authority in endocrinology, steroid chemistry, experimental surgery, and pathology. He wrote over 1500 original and review articles, singly authored 32 books, and trained 40 PhD students, one of whom (Roger Guillemin) won a Nobel Prize for isolating the hypothalamic releasing factors/hormones. Here, we consider the main implications of his first article launching the biological stress concept and the key ideas and problems that occupied him. Selye considered "Stress in heath and disease is medically, sociologically, and philosophically the most meaningful subject for humanity that I can think of".     

Internalised HIV-stigma,loneliness, depressive symptoms and sleep quality in people living with HIV

Objective: People living with HIV (PLWH) commonly report sleep disturbances which are associated with long-term health consequences, including disease progression. PLWH also experience internalised stigma as a result of their HIV status, which can be associated with increased loneliness and depression. Little attention focuses on the impact of these factors on sleep. Therefore, we examined whether internalised HIV-stigma was indirectly related to poorer sleep quality through higher levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms.

Design: 181 PLWH from across the United States completed an online survey.

Main Study Measures: Internalised HIV-stigma was assessed using the HIV-Stigma Scale, loneliness was assessed using the UCLA-Loneliness Scale-Short Form, depressive symptoms were assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Index, and Sleep Quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Results: Internalised HIV-stigma was indirectly associated with poorer global sleep quality and daytime sleep dysfunction through both loneliness and depressive symptoms.

Conclusions: PLWH who experience HIV-related stigma may experience greater feelings of loneliness, which are related to increased depressive symptoms and poorer sleep quality. Interventions focused on improving sleep in PLWH should focus on multiple factors that influence sleep, including psychosocial factors such as stigma, social isolation and depressive symptoms.     

On the Independent Roles of Cognitive & Political Sophistication: Variation Across Attitudinal Objects

People are motivated to maintain consistency between importantly held identities, preferences, and judgments. In political contexts, motivated reasoning can help explain a wide range of political phenomena, including extremism, polarization, and misperceptions. However, recent findings in psychology have challenged this account. These perspectives emphasize the role of cognitive sophistication (e.g., analytical reasoning, numerical literacy) in political attitudes, but differ in terms of whether it is expected to attenuate or exacerbate politically motivated reasoning and belief in conspiracy theories. Yet prior investigations have not examined the relative and independent effects of both political and cognitive sophistication. Using data from two samples, including one sampled to approximate representativeness in the U.S., we demonstrate that both types of sophistication have independent and (at times) countervailing effects on belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and other political attitudes. Our results are critical for theories of cognitive sophistication, political cognition, and attitudes, and the psychology of conspiracy theories.     

Mind, Body, and Spirit: Family Physicians’ Beliefs, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding the Integration of Patient Spirituality into Medical Care

This study used a qualitative approach to explore family physicians’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding the integration of patient spirituality into clinical care. Participants included family medicine residents completing training in the Southwest USA. The qualitative approach drew upon phenomenology and elements of grounded-theory. In-depth interviews were conducted with each participant. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded using grounded-theory techniques. Four main themes regarding physicians’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices were apparent from the analyses; (1) nature of spiritual assessment in practice, (2) experience connecting spirituality and medicine, (3) personal barriers to clinical practice, and (4) reflected strengths of an integrated approach. There was an almost unanimous conviction among respondents that openness to discussing spirituality contributes to better health and physician–patient relationships and addressing spiritual issues requires sensitivity, patience, tolerance for ambiguity, dealing with time constraints, and sensitivity to ones “own spiritual place.” The residents’ voices in this study reflect an awareness of religious diversity, a sensitivity to the degree to which their beliefs differ from those of their patients, and a deep respect for the individual beliefs of their patients. Implications for practice and education are discussed.Michael M. Olson, Ph.D., is a member of the Department of Family Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.M. Kay Sandor, Ph.D., R.N., is in the School of Nursing.Victor Sierpina, M.D., is in the Department of Family Medicine.Harold Vanderpool, Ph.D., Th.M., represents the Institute for Medical Humanities at the university and Patricia Dayao, M.A., is a graduate student there.Funding for this study provided in part by the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Foundation and the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health/John Templeton Foundation. Correspondence to Michael M. Olson, mmolson@utmb.edu.     

Motivation,steady-state,and structural development

Stagner's homeostatic-discrepancy theory integrates a wide range of theory and data concerning the mobilization of energy in human motivation. It does not, however, deal directly with energetic and motivational bases for developmental changes in the level of organization of psychological structures or for the persistence of organisms in pursuing particular paths of individual development despite repeated negative external reinforcement. A broader conceptual model is therefore proposed in which both level and path of structural development are themselves treated as steady states. The homeostatic assumptions of motivational psychology and the structural assumptions of developmental psychology are thus seen as but different aspects of a single set of explanatory assumptions. Stagner's model then becomes that special case in which both level and path of structural development are held constant. The works of Freud, Werner, and Piaget and those of Prigogine, Waddington, and Thom are considered insofar as they bear upon these issues.This work was supported in part by a sabbatical leave grant from Wayne State University and in part by the University of Michigan-Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology. I wish to express my appreciation to Prof. Ross Stagner for his critical comments on his conceptualization of homeostasis as I have discussed it in this paper. His comments resulted in a significant clarification of my understanding of his position on the basic issues involved in this critique. Prof. Joel Ager and Ms. Kathryn Domurath also offered useful suggestions. However, I alone am solely responsible for the contents of this paper and especially for any deficiencies or inaccuracies that still remain.