The role of autobiographical memory networks in the experience of negative emotions: how our remembered past elicits our current feelings

The present research examined the role of autobiographical memory networks on negative emotional experiences. Results from 2 studies found support for an active but also discriminant role of autobiographical memories and their related networked memories on negative emotions. In addition, in line with self-determination theory, thwarting of the psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness was found to be the critical component of autobiographical memory affecting negative emotional experiences. Study 1 revealed that need thwarting in a specific autobiographical memory network related to the theme of loss was positively associated with depressive negative emotions, but not with other negative emotions. Study 2 showed within a prospective design a differential predictive validity between 2 autobiographical memory networks (an anger-related vs. a guilt-related memory) on situational anger reactivity with respect to unfair treatment. All of these results held after controlling for neuroticism (Studies 1 and 2), self-control (Study 2), and for the valence (Study 1) and emotions (Study 2) found in the measured autobiographical memory network. These findings highlight the ongoing emotional significance of representations of need thwarting in autobiographical memory networks.     

Cultivating the field of psychology. Psychological journals at the turn of the century and beyond

Prominent psychologists, including G. Stanley Hall, James Mark Baldwin, and James McKeen Cattell, cultivated the field of psychological publishing with privately owned and managed journals. Hall's journals, including the American Journal of Psychology and Pedagogical Seminary, reflected his view of psychology as the empirical study of human nature and his support for applied psychology. Baldwin and Cattell's periodicals, including Psychological Review and Psychological Monographs, reflected a narrower scientific and academic view of psychology. Baldwin and Cattell were more successful editors than Hall and strategically linked their journals to the American Psychological Association (APA). The Psychological Review journals were purchased by APA in 1925. The narrower vision represented in these journals may have contributed to applied psychologists' dissatisfaction with APA during the late 1920s and early 1930s.     

Stress and open-office noise

Forty female clerical workers were randomly assigned to a control condition or to 3-hr exposure to low-intensity noise designed to simulate typical open-office noise levels. The simulated open-office noise elevated workers' urinary epinephrine levels, but not their norepinephrine or cortisol levels, and it produced behavioral aftereffects (fewer attempts at unsolvable puzzles) indicative of motivational deficits. Participants were also less likely to make ergonomic, postural adjustments in their computer work station while working under noisy, relative to quiet, conditions. Postural invariance is a risk factor for musculoskeletal disorder. Although participants in the noise condition perceived their work setting as significantly noisier than those working under quiet conditions did, the groups did not differ in perceived stress. Potential health consequences of long-term exposure to low-intensity office noise are discussed.     

Overall self-confidence, self-confidence in mathematics, and sex-role stereotyping in relation to salivary free testosterone in university women

This study investigated in 40 young university women the possible relationships between levels of testosterone and specific measures of overall self-confidence and self-confidence in approaching mathematics. Correlations of -.43 and -.49 with each measure of self-confidence, respectively, and level of testosterone were found in the portion of the sample displaying normal ovulatory function. There was no correlation (r=.02) between the measures of mathematics and overall self-confidence. 19 women did not display normal ovulatory function. The only significant result for the full sample was a significant correlation of -.73 between scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory Masculinity and overall self-confidence. The reasons for the high anovulatory percentage are not clear, nor are the associations which anovulation might have with either hormonal levels or the personality characteristics in question.     

Personality, job level, job stressors, and their interaction as predictors of coping behavior

Hypotheses concerning the relationships among job stressors, job level, personality, and coping responses were investigated in a sample of 305 electrical contracting employees. Coping behaviors were measured with questionnaire items based on interviews conducted with a sample of the subjects. Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E) were the personality variables most strongly related to coping behavior. Overall, more coping variance was explained by personality than by job stressors; however, when the effects of job level and job stressors were combined, they explained more variance in complaining/quitting and seeking social support than did the personality variables. Both work situation and personality seem to be important variables in the choice of coping behaviors. There was no evidence of interactions among personality, stressors, and job level in explaining coping behavior.     

MMPI-A performance of African and Mexican American adolescent first-time offenders

54 African and Mexican American adolescent first-time offenders were examined with the MMPI-A to evaluate ethnic differences. Multivariate analyses by ethnicity and MMPI-A scales (validity, clinical, content, and supplementary scales) were not significant; however, there was a significant univariate difference where African American adolescents scored significantly higher on the Repression scale than the Mexican American group. A greater percentage of within-normal-limits profiles were African American (50%) than Mexican American (25%). Research and clinical implications for using the MMPI-A with these groups are discussed.     

Psychological treatment of secondary insomnia

Psychological treatment of insomnia has focused on primary insomnia (i.e., having a psychological origin). Secondary insomnia, sleep disturbance caused by a psychiatric or medical disorder, although it is more common than primary insomnia, has received very little attention as a result of the belief that it would be refractory to treatment. The present study randomly assigned older adults with secondary insomnia to a treatment group, 4 sessions composed of relaxation and stimulus control, or a no-treatment control group. Self-report assessments conducted at pretreatment, posttreatment, and a 3-month follow-up revealed that treated participants showed significantly greater improvement on wake time during the night, sleep efficiency percentage, and sleep quality rating. The authors hypothesize that treatment success was probably due in part to difficulty in diagnostic discrimination between primary and secondary insomnia.