Some Personality Correlates of Business White-Collar Crime

On présente dans cet article les résultats de la première étude transversale européenne portant sur les dimensions de la personnalité en relation avec les délits financiers commis par les cols blancs. Ce travail est un prolongement de la recherche de Collin & Schmidt (1992) sur les délits des cols blancs aux Etats‐Unis. Les données ont été récoltées auprès de 150 cadres en poste dans des sociétés commerciales allemandes et de 76 délinquants en col blanc anciennement cadres. Les répondants ont rempli des échelles papier crayon mesurant l’hédonisme (l’Echelle de Valeurs de Schwartz), le sens des responsabilités (NEO‐FFI), le narcissisme (DSM‐III‐R), la désirabilité sociale (Crowne & Marlowe), et le self‐control comportemental. L’analyse de régression logistique montra que 69% de la variance était commune aux deux groupes. Le délit financier commis par un col blanc dépend du sexe (les hommes sont surreprésentés), d’un faible self‐control comportemental, d’un hédonisme élevé, d’un fort narcissisme et d’un sens des responsabilités affirmé quand la désirabilité sociale est statistiquement contrôlée. Ce résultat concernant le sens des responsabilités est toutefois en contradiction avec l’interprétation que Collins et Schmidt donnent de leurs travaux (1993). On peut supposer que les délinquants en col blanc haut placés combinent malhonnêteté et sens des responsabilités élevé. In this paper the results of the first cross‐sectional study in Europe examining personality correlates of white‐collar crime in business are presented. This study is an extension of Collins and Schmidt's (1993 ) research on white‐collar crime in the United States. The data were obtained from 150 managers currently active in German corporations and 76 white‐collar criminals who formerly held such positions. Participants filled out paper and pencil scales measuring hedonism (Schwartz Value Scale), conscientiousness (NEO‐FFI), narcissism (DSM‐III‐R), social desirability ( Crowne & Marlowe, 1960 ), and behavioral self‐control. The logistic regression analysis accounted for 69 per cent of the variance between the two groups. Business white‐collar crime is predicted by gender (males higher rates than females), low behavioral self‐control, high hedonism, high narcissism, and high conscientiousness after statistically controlling for social desirability. The results concerning conscientiousness, however, contradict the interpretation of findings reported by Collins and Schmidt (1993 ). It is argued here that high‐ranking white‐collar criminals in business combine low integrity with high conscientiousness.     

Stationäre Psychotherapie in der Psychosomatischen Rehabilitation in Deutschland

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Emotional Stroop via Internet among individuals with eating disorders

The present study investigated whether Stroop interference in eating disordered individuals for food - and body-related words, as repeatedly found previously using standard emotional Stroop tasks, would also be demonstrated when using an Internet based emotional Stroop task. Participants were anorexic women (n= 13), bulimic women (n= 20), non-clinically eating disordered women nevertheless over-concerned about eating and body appearance (n= 27) and normal control women (n= 31). Bulimic individuals showed Stroop interference for body-related words whereas anorexic individuals showed Stroop interference for food-related words. The present results thus suggest that administration of the emotional Stroop task is possible via the Internet. Furthermore, it is possible that the time consuming response delivery, relative to previous studies, could lead to Stroop interference only for the most emotionally significant information, in turn, differentiating between the core concerns of anorexic and bulimic individuals.     

Omissions and semantic errors in aphasic naming: is there a link?

Within a discrete two-stage model of lexicalization, semantic errors and errors of omission are assumed to be independent events. In contrast, cascading and interactive models allow for an influence of word form on lexical selection and thus for an inherent relationship in accounting for both error types. A group of 17 aphasic patients was assessed with a naming test controlling for semantic competition of the target items. Semantic errors were more frequent for targets with many competitors than for targets with few competitors while omissions were more frequent when few competitors were available. However, the overall sums of errors in both item groups were comparable. These results imply a common source of both error types and thus speak against a strictly serial model of naming.     

Mortality of geriatric and younger patients with schizophrenia in the community

Little is known about the differences in mortality among non-institutionalized geriatric and younger patients with schizophrenia. In this study long-term mortality and suicidal behavior of all the geriatric (age > or = 65 years), middle-age (age 41-64 years), and young (age 15-40 years) subjects with schizophrenia living in a Chinese rural community were compared. A 10 year follow-up investigation among a 1994 cohort (n = 510) of patients with schizophrenia was conducted in Xinjin County, Chengdu, China. Compared with young subjects, geriatric subjects with schizophrenia were more likely to be female, have more previous physical illness, never accepted treatment, and practice religious (p < or = 0.01). There were no significant differences of suicide attempts among the three groups. Young subjects had a higher rate of suicide (1,033.8 per 100,000 person-years), and geriatric subjects had a higher rate of deaths due to other causes (accident and natural causes) (4,314.2 per 100,000 person-years). Standardized mortality ratios for both suicide and deaths due to other causes were highest in young subjects and the lowest in geriatric subjects. Patients with schizophrenia in all age groups had a marked increase in mortality and suicide. Specific intervention strategies for decreasing mortality and suicide should be developed for patients with schizophrenia in different age groups.     

Psychische Betreuung von Patienten und Angehörigen in der Transplantationsmedizin

During the decision making process and waiting period before organ transplantation patients and their families often suffer from psychological distress. After transplantation a subgroup of patients keeps showing psychological symptoms and also impairments of quality of life. Psychological treatment manuals are often demanded, but are rarely achieved. This study describes the experience with a low frequent (8 sessions/year) therapeutic group for lung transplant candidates. The group, which is based on a cognitive behavioural concept, is lead by a physician (internal medicine), a psychotherapist and a physiotherapist. This therapeutic group has been continuously offered for patients and their caregivers for the past 7 years. About 50% of all patients participated in this program before transplantation, after transplantation only a few patients visited the group sessions. On average 12 patients and 8 caregivers visited each session. One problem for these patients with severe lung-disease was the long distance between patient’s homes and the hospital. This has been the reason for self-help organisations to demand better psychotherapeutic outpatient support for patients and their families before and after organ transplantation.     

The effect of red color on perceived self‐attractiveness

Recent research showed that individuals are perceived as more attractive when presented with the color red. We seek to extend these findings by studying the effects of red color on individuals' perception of self‐attractiveness, rather than the attractiveness of others. Based on the color‐in‐context theory, we hypothesized that individuals would perceive themselves as more attractive under red chromatic conditions. In three experiments, participants were asked to wear a red or a blue shirt and rated their own attractiveness. As expected, participants in the red shirt condition indicated a higher level of self‐attractiveness than participants in the blue condition. Moreover, the results showed that the self‐perception red effect was mediated by the individuals' self‐perceived sexual receptivity and self‐perceived status.     

Rostral anterior cingulate activity generates posterior versus anterior theta activity linked to agentic extraversion

Recent research using the resting electroencephalogram (EEG) showed that posterior versus anterior theta activity (around 4–8 Hz) is consistently associated with agency, reflecting the dopaminergic core of extraversion (i.e., incentive motivation, positive emotion). Neuroimaging studies using various methodologies and experimental paradigms have converged on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a neurophysiological correlate of extraversion. The aim of the present study is integrate these lines of research by testing the hypothesis that posterior versus anterior EEG theta is at least partly based on ACC theta activity. Resting EEG data were analyzed in N = 78 healthy, male participants extremely high or low in agentic extraversion (aE). Using the low-resolution electromagnetic tomography algorithm, we localized the sources of aE-dependent intracerebral theta activity within rostral subdivisions of the ACC. The posterior versus anterior index and theta current density within the rostral ACC were significantly correlated (r = -.52), and both displayed high retest stability across 5 hr and were associated with traits from the aE spectrum. These neurophysiological correlates of aE and their possible functional significance are discussed.     

Internet-based treatment of depression: a randomized controlled trial comparing guided with unguided self-help

Internet-delivered self-help for depression with therapist guidance has shown efficacy in several trials. Results from meta-analyses suggest that guidance is important and that self-help programs without support are less effective. However, there are no direct experimental comparisons between guided and unguided internet-based treatments for depression. The present study compared the benefits of a 10-week web-based unguided self-help treatment with the same intervention complemented with weekly therapist support via e-mail. A waiting-list control group was also included. Seventy-six individuals meeting the diagnostic criteria of major depression or dysthymia were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) was used as the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes included general psychopathology, interpersonal problems, and quality of life. Sixty-nine participants (91%) completed the assessment at posttreatment and 59 (78%) at 6-month follow-up. Results showed significant symptom reductions in both treatment groups compared to the waiting-list control group. At posttreatment, between-group effect sizes on the BDI-II were d = .66 for unguided self-help versus waiting-list and d = 1.14 for guided self-help versus waiting-list controls. In the comparison of the two active treatments, small-to-moderate, but not statistically significant effects in favor of the guided condition were found on all measured dimensions. In both groups, treatment gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. The findings provide evidence that internet-delivered treatments for depression can be effective whether support is added or not. However, all participants were interviewed in a structured diagnostic telephone interview before inclusion, which prohibits conclusions regarding unguided treatments that are without any human contact.