Do “near-death experiences” occur only near death?-revisited

Ten years ago our research on out-of-body experiences suggested that the elements of the near-death experience (NDE) were not necessarily limited to situations in which survival was threatened. A decade of continued study has confirmed that theperception of being near death, independent of the actual reality of the situation, is the key determinant of the classical NDE. From early in life, the infant's dread of catastrophe leads to the elaboration of extensive psychological defenses against the possibility of extinction. The NDE is simultaneously a manifestation of faith and a catalyst for the development of faith.C.F. Menninger Memorial HospitalInstructor at the Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis     

Presidential Scandal and Leadership: A Natural Laboratory Test of the Resiliency of President Clinton's Transformational Leadership During the Impeachment Crisis1

This study examined transformational and charismatic leadership assessments of President Clinton over 4 time periods beginning with his second term, continuing through the scandal of the Monica Lewinsky case and impeachment trial, and ending after he was acquitted. Our findings indicate that as the scandal unfolded, in general his leadership ratings declined among Democrats, Republicans, and “Others” (including Independents). However, his ratings did not decline at the same rate among all groups. They appeared to decline much more steeply with Republicans than with the other 2 groups. We discuss the differences in rates of decline among different factors of transformational leadership and the implications of the study for future research.     

Narcissism, Perfectionism, and Self-Termination from Treatment in Outpatient Cocaine Users

This study examines perfectionism in individuals with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV, Text Revised [American Psychiatric Association, 2000. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Text revision (DSM-TV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association] diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and a coexisting diagnosis of cocaine abuse or dependence. Participating clients were treated in outpatient settings that provided cognitive-behavioral therapy. Clients were administered Hewitt and Flett's (1991b) [Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470] Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale prior to treatment. Scores for dimensions of perfectionism were compared with those obtained from cocaine abusers in treatment with diagnoses of Antisocial Personality or Affective Disorder. Clients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder were characterized by relatively higher levels of other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. Survival analysis suggests that self-termination from treatment by cocaine-abusing clients with a diagnosis of Narcissistic Disorder is related to high levels of other-oriented perfectionism. The clinical implications and limits of this study are discussed.     

Reevaluating the potency of the memory conformity effect

Witnesses sometimes report event details that are acquired solely from another witness. We reevaluated the potency of this memory conformity effect. After viewing a crime video, some participants learned about nonwitnessed details via discussion (dyad group), reading another participant’s report (read group), or watching another version of the video (both-video group). In Experiment 1, these participants often reported nonwitnessed details, but on a source-judgment test most details were attributed primarily to the actual source rather than to the video. In addition, the dyad group was not more likely than the read or both-video groups to report nonwitnessed details. Participants in Experiment 2 were explicitly discouraged from providing details that were remembered from the secondary source only. These postwarning instructions substantially reduced the memory conformity effect, and a dyad group was not more likely than a read group to report nonwitnessed details. Encouraging source monitoring at test can reduce the negative consequences of co-witness collaboration.     

Race-ethnic inequality and psychological distress: depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood

Social inequality is well established in the mental health of race-ethnic groups, but little is known about this disparity from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examined differences in trajectories of depressive symptoms across 4 race-ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) using 3 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Latent trajectory analyses showed race-ethnic variations among both females and males. Stressors were significantly related to depressive symptoms for all study members, but they accounted for symptom trajectories only among Black males and minority females. Persistent differences in trajectories for Blacks and Whites showed parallel slopes that did not converge over time. Neither background characteristics nor social resources (i.e., social support) altered this gap. However, social support represents a potential equalizer of these race-ethnic differences, owing to the ubiquitous nature of its protective effects.     

Fatigue estimation using voice analysis

In the present article, we present a means to remotely and transparently estimate an individual's level of fatigue by quantifying changes in his or her voice characteristics. Using Voice analysis to estimate fatigue is unique from established cognitive measures in a number of ways: (1) speaking is a natural activity requiring no initial training or learning curve, (2) voice recording is a unobtrusive operation allowing the speakers to go about their normal work activities, (3) using telecommunication infrastructure (radio, telephone, etc.) a diffuse set of remote populations can be monitored at a central location, and (4) often, previously recorded voice data are available for post hoc analysis. By quantifying changes in the mathematical coefficients that describe the human speech production process, we were able to demonstrate that for speech sounds requiring a large average air flow, a speaker's voice changes in synchrony with both direct measures of fatigue and with changes predicted by the length of time awake.     

Does Wechsler Intelligence Scale administration and scoring proficiency improve during assessment training?

Studies have found that Wechsler scale administration and scoring proficiency is not easily attained during graduate training. These findings may be related to methodological issues. Using a single-group repeated measures design, this study documents statistically significant, though modest, error reduction on the WAIS-III and WISC-III during a graduate course in assessment. The study design does not permit the isolation of training factors related to error reduction, or assessment of whether error reduction is a function of mere practice. However, the results do indicate that previous study findings of no or inconsistent improvement in scoring proficiency may have been the result of methodological factors. Implications for teaching individual intelligence testing and further research are discussed.     

Repetition proportion biases masked priming of lexical decisions

Although subjects have little or no awareness of masked primes, Bodner and Masson (2001) found that priming of lexical decisions is often enhanced when masked repetition primes occur on a high proportion of trials. We used baseline prime conditions to specify the locus of this repetition proportion (RP) effect. In Experiments 1A and 1B, a .8-RP group showed more priming than did a .2-RP group, and this RP effect was due to both (1) increased facilitation from repetition primes and (2) increased interference from unrelated primes. In Experiment 2, we used the baseline condition to show that subjects are sensitive to RP rather than to the proportion of unrelated primes. Direct comparisons of a given prime condition (repetition, unrelated) across RP conditions were more stable than were comparisons relative to the baseline condition. The increased costs and benefits of repetition priming when RP is higher implicate a context-sensitive mechanism that constrains accounts of masked priming.