Making sense of being fat: A hermeneutic analysis of adults’ explanations for obesity

This hermeneutic‐phenomenological study of individuals enrolled in a hospital weight management clinic is an account and analysis of the experiences of being overweight, dieting and weight cycling through in‐depth life history interviews. Participants explored their earliest recollections involving family attitudes towards food, multiple experiences with dieting and weight cycling and how they explained their weight problems to themselves. Analysis revealed that mealtimes became the arena within which control battles were waged between parent and child; food became associated with control and eating subsequently became a way to gain control over other aspects of life. Eating also became a way to numb the pain associated with child abuse, to substitute for human needs for relationship and belonging and emotional cycles of eating were identified. Insights emergeing from the interview process suggest the value of considering a psychodynamic approach to understanding emotional eating.     

Violations of implicit theories and the sense of prediction and control: implications for motivated person perception

Beginning with the assumption that implicit theories of personality are crucial tools for understanding social behavior, the authors tested the hypothesis that perceivers would process person information that violated their predominant theory in a biased manner. Using an attentional probe paradigm (Experiment 1) and a recognition memory paradigm (Experiment 2), the authors presented entity theorists (who believe that human attributes are fixed) and incremental theorists (who believe that human attributes are malleable) with stereotype-relevant information about a target person that supported or violated their respective theory. Both groups of participants showed evidence of motivated, selective processing only with respect to theory-violating information. In Experiment 3, the authors found that after exposure to theory-violating information, participants felt greater anxiety and worked harder to reestablish their sense of prediction and control mastery. The authors discuss the epistemic functions of implicit theories of personality and the impact of violated assumptions.     

Dissociative symptoms in kleptomania

Many patients with kleptomania report an altered state of consciousness during acts of theft. The purpose of this investigation was to clarify a possible link between dissociation and kleptomania, a disabling disorder whose phenomenology remains understudied. 26 adult outpatients who met DSM-IV criteria for kleptoania were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale and compared to 22 normal controls. The patients with kleptomania had scores that differed significantly from those reported by normal controls. There were no statistically significant differences by sex. Because kleptomania patients seeking treatment with medication may differ from others with kleptomania, further studies are needed.     

The role of historical intuitions in children's and adults' naming of artifacts

It is commonly assumed that artifacts are named solely on the basis of properties they currently possess; in particular, their appearance and function. The experiments presented here explore the alternative proposal that the history of an artifact plays some role in how it is named. In three experiments, children between the ages of 4 and 9 years and adults were presented with familiar artifacts whose appearance and function were then radically altered. Participants were tested as to whether they believed that the modified objects were still members of the artifact kind. Results indicate that object history becomes increasingly important over the course of development.     

Vexatious litigants and unusually persistent complainants and petitioners: from querulous paranoia to querulous behaviour

Querulous paranoia was once of considerable clinical and academic interest in psychiatry. Over the last 40 years, however, it has virtually disappeared from the professional landscape. This decline occurred at the very time that a proliferation of complaint organizations and agencies of accountability were drawing more and more people into asserting their individual rights through the pursuit of claims and grievances. Querulous behaviour, as a result, far from declining, is on the increase, bringing with it suffering for the querulous and disruption to the organizations through which they seek their vision of justice.This article examines querulous behaviour in the vexatious litigant and in abnormally persistent complainants and petitioners. The phenomenological and nosological issues are outlined and the risks of the emergence of threatening and violent behaviour is emphasized. Threats should not be ignored, for a variety of reasons. Approaches to managing querulous behaviour in the courts and the complaint organizations are discussed, together with the utility of individual therapy. Querulous behaviour should once more take its place among the legitimate concerns of mental health professionals. Those caught up in a querulous pursuit of their notion of justice are amenable to management that can ameliorate their suffering and reduce the disruption they create.     

Rebound effects following deliberate thought suppression: does PTSD make a difference?

This study was designed to examine the effects of deliberate suppression of trauma-related thoughts in 44 individuals who were PTSD+ and 26 individuals who were PTSD- following a motor vehicle accident (MVA). In an effort to resolve discrepancies in the literature, the PTSD- group was selected from the same help-seeking population as the patient group. Measures included the percentage of MVA-related thoughts, mood, perceived controllability of thoughts, and physiological arousal (heart rate, skin conductance, and two measures of facial EMG). Contrary to hypothesis, both PTSD+ and PTSD- groups showed a rebound in trauma-related thoughts following deliberate thought suppression. This rebound was associated with increases in negative affect, anxiety, and distress and diminished perceptions of controllability over thoughts. Examination of the physiological measures did not mirror the pattern noted for trauma-related thoughts, although the data suggest that suppression was associated with higher levels of frontalis EMG and possibly, reduced heart rate. The current study indicates that help-seeking individuals who are distressed about their psychological state following a serious MVA will show a rebound in MVA-related thoughts, irrespective of PTSD diagnosis. Implications for the study of thought suppression as a potential maintaining factor for trauma-related problems are discussed, with suggestions for future research.     

The thematic apperception test: toward a standard measure of the big three motives

The application of the Thematic Apperception Test to the assessment of motives has been heralded as an important milestone in personality psychology. However, although this approach is well established, there is at present no standard battery of cues for measuring the Big Three motives (achievement, affiliation, power). Furthermore, the extent to which scoring subcategories contribute to overall motive scores has been neglected. Our research with students and managers examined the effectiveness of picture cues in eliciting motive imagery and the prevalence of scoring subcategories within each motive scoring system. Results from 2 data sets comprising 547 men and women suggested that there were 3 cues that should be retained for future research and that motive scoring systems could be refined through removal of redundant subcategories. Further research is needed to systematically investigate the effectiveness of a standard battery of cues and the validity of revised motive scoring systems.     

Integrating psychological research on girls with feminist activism: a model for building a liberation psychology in the United States

A liberation psychology is needed to bridge the gap between psychology's focus on individual distress and broad social forces that foster such distress. We offer a model for bridging this gap by focusing on a specific area of psychology (psychological research on girls) and a specific social movement (feminist activism). Psychological research on girls and feminist activism share the common goal of improving the lives of girls and women. However, both have fallen short of this goal. This is due, in part, to the weaknesses associated with each endeavor and to the fact that the complementary strengths of each have remained isolated from the other. In this paper, we propose a common language and shared framework to integrate psychological research with feminist activism. First, we review the basic strengths and weaknesses associated with psychological research and feminist activism, with a particular focus on how they are distinct from one another. Second, we provide a taxonomic framework for integrating these two areas on the basis of the stress paradigm, with specific examples provided from our recent reviews of the literature and our own empirical work with adolescent girls. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for future work needed to integrate psychological research on girls with feminist activism toward the goal of building a liberation psychology in the United States.     

Eye movements and problem solving: guiding attention guides thought

Overt visual attention during diagram-based problem solving, as measured by eye movements, has been used in numerous studies to reveal critical aspects of the problem-solving process that traditional measures like solution time and accuracy cannot address. In Experiment 1, we used this methodology to show that particular fixation patterns correlate with success in solving the tumor-and-lasers radiation problem. Given this correlation between attention to a particular diagram feature and problem-solving insight, we investigated participants' cognitive sensitivity to perceptual changes in that diagram feature. In Experiment 2, we found that perceptually highlighting the critical diagram component, identified in Experiment 1, significantly increased the frequency of correct solutions. Taking a situated perspective on cognition, we suggest that environmentally controlled perceptual properties can guide attention and eye movements in ways that assist in developing problem-solving insights that dramatically improve reasoning.