Depression, Marital Satisfaction and Communication in Couples: Investigating Gender Differences

The correlation between depression and dysfunctional marital interaction is well documented, but only a few studies have examined gender-related differences in marital interaction patterns of couples with a depressed partner. In this paper we examined differences in observed marital communication in a sample of 62 Swiss couples presenting for treatment of depression. There were 16 maritally distressed couples with a depressed wife, 21 maritally nondistressed couples with a depressed wife, 18 maritally distressed couples with a depressed husband, and 7 maritally nondistressed couples with a depressed husband. Marital interaction behavior was found to depend on gender, depression, marital distress, as well as gender of the depressed partner. Our results suggest the need for a gender-sensitive model of the link between marital interaction and depression.     

Best practices for missing data management in counseling psychology

This article urges counseling psychology researchers to recognize and report how missing data are handled, because consumers of research cannot accurately interpret findings without knowing the amount and pattern of missing data or the strategies that were used to handle those data. Patterns of missing data are reviewed, and some of the common strategies for dealing with them are described. The authors provide an illustration in which data were simulated and evaluate 3 methods of handling missing data: mean substitution, multiple imputation, and full information maximum likelihood. Results suggest that mean substitution is a poor method for handling missing data, whereas both multiple imputation and full information maximum likelihood are recommended alternatives to this approach. The authors suggest that researchers fully consider and report the amount and pattern of missing data and the strategy for handling those data in counseling psychology research and that editors advise researchers of this expectation.     

Fitch’s paradox and <Emphasis Type="Italic">ceteris paribus</Emphasis> modalities

The paper attempts to give a solution to the Fitch’s paradox though the strategy of the reformulation of the paradox in temporal logic, and a notion of knowledge which is a kind of ceteris paribus modality. An analogous solution has been offered in a different context to solve the problem of metaphysical determinism.     

A novel study: Investigating the structure of narrative and autobiographical memories

In two experiments we assessed the degree to which memory for events are similar or differ depending on whether they were narrative or autobiographical events. Consistent with previous research on autobiographical memory, memories for events captured the sequential order of events. However, in contrast to autobiographical memory research, ratings of importance did not appear to be related to retrieval speed. An analysis of causal connectivity of the recalled events was significantly related to retrieval speed. Issues of narrative comprehension and memory, autobiographical memory, and their overlap are discussed.     

Adaptation in Visuomanual Tracking Depends on Intact Proprioception

The role of arm proprioception in motor learning was investigated in experiments in which, by moving the arm, subjects followed the motion of a target displayed on a monitor screen. Adaptive capabilities were tested in visuomanual tracking tasks following alterations in the relationship between the observer's actual arm movement and visual feedback of the arm movement given by a cursor motion on the screen. Tracking performance and adaptive changes, measured in terms of spatiotemporal error, tracking trajectory curvature, and spatial gain, were compared in 7 control subjects (CSs) and in 1 deafferented subject (DS). CSs adapted appropriately to altered visuomanual relationships; those changes were present in trials immediately after restoration of normal scaling. In contrast, although the DS modified his tracking strategy from trial to trial according to the altered conditions, he did not show plastic changes in internal visuomanual scaling. Like the results of prismatic adaptation experiments, the present results suggest that arm proprioception contributes to the plastic changes that follow alterations in the scaling of visuomanual gain.     

Changes in Primary Process Thinking of a Prepsychotic Adolescent in Psychotherapy

The main goal of this study was to measure longitudinally change in thought processes and reality testing of a prepsychotic adolescent undergoing psychotherapy. The Holt scoring system for measuring primary process from Rorschach responses was the main measuring instrument. Four Rorschachs were administered over a period of three years. The results of the latter were compared with the clinical ratings of two psychiatrists. While clinical change in response to treatment was slight, there did appear to be a shift from primary to more secondary forms of formal thought processes as determined by the Rorschach.     

Three Factors in L2 Reading Ability: Using Rauding Theory to Reanalyze a Study by Nassaji and Geva

This study investigated whether structured or unstructured questioning strategies, combined with two levels of domain knowledge and text coherence, significantly affect text memory and text learning. Results of this study suggest that high domain knowledge and structured questioning strategies are the most reliable predictors of text memory and text learning. Several main effects favoring high domain knowledge arose on text memory and, to a lesser extent, text learning measures. Significant results involving structured questioning techniques (i.e., signal words and generic question stems) were detected primarily through interaction effects and one main effect. While not always significantly superior, generic question stem participants outperformed their signal word and unguided questioning counterparts on the majority of text memory and text learning variables.     

Toward a Positive Military Psychology

The present study used an informant method of psychiatric assessment to evaluate Saddam Hussein, and these results were compared to a posthumous assessment of Adolf Hitler. Eleven Iraqi adults who lived under Hussein's influence for a median of 24 years completed the Coolidge Axis II Inventory, a measure of 14 personality disorders. The mean consensus among the 11 raters was r = .57. It revealed that Hussein probably reached diagnostic threshold for the sadistic (T score M = 81.0), paranoid (T score M = 79.3), antisocial (T score M = 77.4), and narcissistic (T score M = 74.2) personality disorders. The correlation between the consensus profile for Hussein and a consensus profile of 5 Hitler experts was r = .79, indicating a very strong similarity between the two profiles. It was concluded that Saddam Hussein had many of the same personality disorders or their features as Adolf Hitler, although sadistic features were stronger in Hussein than Hitler. It appeared that a “Big Four” personality disorders constellation emerged for these two dictators, and they were sadistic, antisocial, paranoid, and narcissistic. It was also found that Hussein might have had some traits or features of paranoid schizophrenia. Implications for diplomacy and negotiations with persons with similar personality profiles are proffered.     

‘Be careful,or you'll act corruptly and make a carved image for yourselves,in the form of a figure,the likeness male or female’ (Deut. 4:16): A commentary on Norenzayan's Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict (2013)

Norenzayan's book is an ambitious attempt to integrate recent research from behavioral economics and social psychology, particularly priming studies, into a book about religion. If the account is meant as an explanation of religion or big religion, it does not succeed. If it has more modest aims, namely to describe how surveillance institutions, of which big religion is one important class, can sometimes lead to cooperation and conflict, then it is quite successful in doing so.