Sources of Heterogeneity in Schizophrenia: The Role of Neuropsychological Functioning

Although schizophrenia is often characterized as a heterogeneous disorder, efforts to validate stable and meaningful subtypes have met with limited success. Thus, the issue of whether schizophrenia reflects a continuum of severity or a number of discrete subtypes remains controversial. This review evaluates efforts to establish subtypes based upon a model that includes causes, characteristics, and course and outcomes of heterogeneity. Emphasis is placed on empirical classification studies utilizing cognitive tests or symptom rating scales, sometimes in conjunction with neuroimaging procedures. Results of recent cluster analytic studies are reviewed that produced evidence of four or five clusters, varying in level and pattern of performance. Although this research typically generated meaningful subtypes, it was often the case that there was little correspondence between subtyping systems based upon cognitive function and those based upon symptom profile. It was concluded that there may be different mechanisms for producing cognitive and symptomatic heterogeneity, and that diversity in presentations of schizophrenia reflects a combination of continuities in severity of the disorder with a number of meaningful and stable subtypes.     

A social learning therapy programme with an autistic child

Undergraduates were trained in a predominantly operant conditioning therapy aimed at acquiring a measure of control over the behaviour of an autistic child in the setting of a day-care centre. Objective measures of therapist-control prior to therapy showed that the workers initially had no influence whatever on the child. Post-measures indicated that both therapists had achieved a markedly greater degree of control. Controls for mere familiarity and for generalization to workers other than the therapists led to the conclusion that, during the programme, the child had become significantly more responsive to adults in general. The case study material, gleaned from the daily reports by means of which the author monitored the treatment, demonstrated many specific instances of behaviour-change, including the apparent desensitization of various fears. In view of the fact that the treatment setting was far from ideal for this approach, the positive results were regarded as strong support for the suitability of operant conditioning techniques for manipulating psychotic behaviour in children.     

Too Little or Too Much

A dynamic model such as psychoanalysis can explain the rise in narcissism and apparently contradictory hypotheses suggested for the phenomenon. Evolutionary biological, social, and psychological perspectives, and the regulatory processes and self-organizing systems inherent in life itself, all have a role in influencing the nature and levels of narcissism in the culture. Parenthood, itself, can act as a strong counterforce to narcissism, and the concern for self and others, otherwise known as ethics, can prevail. Both parochial self-centered interests and ethical universalistic principles continue to evolve and neither is likely to dominate the society for very long.     

Leader Advancement Motive,Political Skill,Leader Behavior,and Effectiveness: A Moderated Mediation Extension of Socioanalytic Theory

We examine socioanalytic theory from a leadership perspective and extend this research to examine the mediating mechanisms through which leader getting ahead motive and social competence influence leader effectiveness outcomes. A first-stage moderated mediation model was tested and supported, positioning the Leader Motive to Get Ahead × Political Skill interaction as influencing perceived institutional effectiveness and follower satisfaction with one’s leader through leader initiating structure behavior. This research both supports the relevance of socioanalytic theory for predicting leadership outcomes and extends socioanalytic theory to examine a mediating mechanism through which the interaction of the leader getting ahead motive and social competencies affects relevant performance outcomes. Contributions, strengths and limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.     

You detect while I search: examining visual search efficiency in a joint search task

Numerous factors impact attentional allocation, with behaviour being strongly influenced by the interaction between individual intent and our visual environment. Traditionally, visual search efficiency has been studied under solo search conditions. Here, we propose a novel joint search paradigm where one individual controls the visual input available to another individual via a gaze contingent window (e.g., Participant 1 controls the window with their eye movements and Participant 2 – in an adjoining room – sees only stimuli that Participant 1 is fixating and responds to the target accordingly). Pairs of participants completed three blocks of a detection task that required them to: (1) search and detect the target individually, (2) search the display while their partner performed the detection task, or (3) detect while their partner searched. Search was most accurate when the person detecting was doing so for the second time while the person controlling the visual input was doing so for the first time, even when compared to participants with advanced solo or joint task experience (Experiments 2 and 3). Through surrendering control of one’s search strategy, we posit that there is a benefit of a reduced working memory load for the detector resulting in more accurate search. This paradigm creates a counterintuitive speed/accuracy trade-off which combines the heightened ability that comes from task experience (discrimination task) with the slower performance times associated with a novel task (the initial search) to create a potentially more efficient method of visual search.     

Emotion regulation choice: the role of environmental affordances

Which emotion regulation strategy one uses in a given context can have profound affective, cognitive, and social consequences. It is therefore important to understand the determinants of emotion regulation choice. Many prior studies have examined person-specific, internal determinants of emotion regulation choice. Recently, it has become clear that external variables that are properties of the stimulus can also influence emotion regulation choice. In the present research, we consider whether reappraisal affordances, defined as the opportunities for re-interpretation of a stimulus that are inherent in that stimulus, can shape individuals’ emotion regulation choices. We show that reappraisal affordances have stability across people and across time (Study 1), and are confounded with emotional intensity for a standardised set of picture stimuli (Study 2). Since emotional intensity has been shown to drive emotion regulation choice, we construct a context in which emotional intensity is separable from reappraisal affordances (Study 3) and use this context to show that reappraisal affordances powerfully influence emotion regulation choice even when emotional intensity and discrete emotions are taken into account (Study 4).     

Factors associated with antisocial behavior in combat veterans

The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with antisocial behavior in 1,543 Marines who deployed to combat zones in support of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2002–2007. Five factors were associated with antisocial behavior in multivariate analyses: post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, deployment‐related stressors, combat exposure, younger age, and being divorced. PTSD symptoms had a stronger association with antisocial behavior than any other variable. A unique and important finding of this study was the association between deployment‐related stressors and a higher incidence of antisocial behavior. Because deployment‐related stressors are potentially modifiable, the military may be able to address them in concrete ways such as by shortening deployments and improving communication with home. Aggr. Behav. 36:330–337, 2010. Published 2010 by Wiley‐Liss, Inc.