Anxiety-related bias in the classification of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions

High- and low-trait socially anxious individuals classified the emotional expressions of photographic quality continua of interpolated ("morphed") facial images that were derived from combining 6 basic prototype emotional expressions to various degrees, with the 2 adjacent emotions arranged in an emotion hexagon. When fear was 1 of the 2 component emotions, the high-trait group displayed enhanced sensitivity for fear. In a 2nd experiment where a mood manipulation was incorporated, again, the high-trait group exhibited enhanced sensitivity for fear. The low-trait group was sensitive for happiness in the control condition. The mood-manipulated group had increased sensitivity for anger expressions, and trait anxiety did not moderate these effects. Interpretations of the results related to the classification of fearful expressions are discussed.     

A computational account of altered error processing in older age: Dopamine and the error-related negativity

When participants commit errors or receive feedback signaling that they have made an error, a negative brain potential is elicited. According to Holroyd and Coles’s (in press) neurocomputational model of error processing, this error-related negativity (ERN) is elicited when the brain first detects that the consequences of an action are worse than expected. To study age-related changes in error processing, we obtained performance and ERN measures of younger and high-functioning older adults. Experiment 1 demonstrated reduced ERN amplitudes in older adults in the context of otherwise intact brain potentials. This result could not be attributed to uncertainty about the required response in older adults. Experiment 2 revealed impaired performance and reduced response- and feedback-related ERNs of older adults in a probabilistic learning task. These age changes could be simulated by manipulation of a single parameter of the neurocomputational model, this manipulation corresponding to weakened phasic activity of the mesencephalic dopamine system.     

Review of quantity and types of spirituality research in three health care databases (1962-1999): implications for the health care ministry

Using computer technology to identify the term "spiritual," these researchers present results of the 2306 citations and compare five criteria discovered with research reported in four pastoral counseling journals. The authors note the limitations of such a search and the possible implications of the findings for health care ministry.     

An integrated model of group treatment for cancer patients

Considerable evidence suggests that group interventions are a valuable resource for cancer patients, but few conceptual frameworks are available to guide decisions about which approaches might be most useful for which patients at what phases of illness. This article presents an integrative treatment model for group services. It describes different group interventions geared toward patients at different phases of illness to accommodate the shifting needs and concerns that evolve over the course of the disease. Recommendations are offered concerning further research and model development.     

Employee attitude surveys: examining the attitudes of noncompliant employees

Employees (N = 194) from a wide variety of organizations participated in this study aimed at describing the attitudes of individuals who refuse to respond to an employee survey request (noncompliants). Noncompliants, in comparison with those individuals who would comply with the survey request, possessed greater intentions to quit, less organizational commitment, and less satisfaction toward supervisors and their own jobs. Noncompliants also possessed more negative beliefs regarding how their organization handles employee survey data (e.g., does not act on survey data). No significant differences were found for work-related demographic variables, satisfaction with pay, and satisfaction with promotion opportunities. Implications for survey research are discussed along with methods to address nonresponse and noncmpliance.     

Pseudoname learning by German-speaking children with dyslexia: evidence for a phonological learning deficit

In 2 experiments, German-speaking dyslexic children (9-year-olds) showed impaired learning of new phonological forms (pseudonames) in a variety of visual-verbal learning tasks. The dyslexic deficit was also found when phonological retrieval cues were provided and when the to-be-learned pseudonames were presented in spoken as well as printed form. However, the dyslexic children showed no name-learning deficit when short, familiar words were used and they also had no difficulty with immediate repetition of the pseudowords. The dyslexic children's difficulty in learning new phonological forms was associated with pseudoword-repetition and naming-speed deficits assessed at the beginning of school, but not with phonological awareness and visual-motor impairments. We propose that the difficulty in learning new phonological forms may affect reading and spelling acquisition via impaired storage of new phonological forms, which serve as phonological underpinnings of the letter patterns of words or parts of words.     

Stress and alcohol use: a daily process examination of the stressor-vulnerability model

The authors used a daily diary methodology to examine over 60 days how the within-person associations among event stress, alcohol consumption, and desire to drink varied as a function of gender, positive and negative alcohol-outcome expectancies, and avoidant coping in a sample of 88 regular drinkers. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that men who more strongly anticipated positive outcomes or a sense of carelessness from drinking drank relatively more on stressful days compared with low-stress days. Similar results were found predicting desire to drink. Men who anticipated greater impairment from drinking drank relatively less on stressful days. In general, these effects did not hold for women. Little evidence was found for the predicted effects for avoidant coping style, and some results showed that avoidant coping style buffered the exacerbating effects of careless unconcern expectancies.     

Cross-cultural evidence for the fundamental features of extraversion

Psychologists have not determined the defining characteristics of extraversion. In four studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that extraversion facets are linked by reward sensitivity. According to this hypothesis, only facets that reflect reward sensitivity should load on a higher order extraversion factor. This model was tested against a model in which sociability links the facets. The authors also tested the generalizability of the model in a diverse sample of participants from 39 nations, and they tested the model using widely used extraversion scales. Results of all studies indicate that only facets that reflect reward sensitivity load on a higher order extraversion factor and that this factor correlates strongly with pleasant affect. Although sociability is undoubtedly an important part of extraversion, these results suggest that extraverts' sociability may be a by-product of reward sensitivity, rather than the core feature of the trait.     

Invisible support and adjustment to stress

Although there is abundant evidence that perceived availability of support buffers the effects of stressors on mental health, the relatively meager research on support transactions has failed to show an association between actual receipt of support and adjustment to stressors. The authors examined a possible explanation for this inconsistency, that awareness of receiving support entails an emotional cost and that the most effective support is unnoticed by the recipient. Using data from a daily diary study of support provision and receipt in couples, the authors show that many transactions reported by supporters are not reported by recipients. They also show that these invisible support transactions promote adjustment to a major stressor.