Know versus Familiar: Differentiating states of awareness in others’ subjective reports of recognition

In the Remember–Know paradigm whether a Know response is defined as a high-confidence state of certainty or a low-confidence state based on familiarity varies across researchers and can influence participants’ responses. The current experiment was designed to explore differences between the states of Know and Familiar. Participants studied others’ justification statements to “Know” recognition decisions and separated them into two types. Crucially, participants were not provided definitions of Know and Familiar on which to sort the items—their judgements were based solely on the phenomenology described in the justifications. Participants’ sorting decisions were shown to reliably map onto expert classification of Know and Familiar. Post-task questionnaire responses demonstrated that both the level of memory detail and confidence expressed in the justifications were central to how participants categorised the items. In sum, given no instructions to do so, participants classify Familiar and Know according to two dimensions: confidence and amount of information retrieved.     

Identification of scientists making long‐term,high‐impact contributions,with notes on their methods of working

A two decade (1958–1978) study was made of 40 male scientists, including four Nobel Prize winners. Multiple psychological tests were administered, along with interviews and analysis of publication rates and citations. The data yielded two factors that had very high predictive ability for identifying long‐term, high‐impact investigators: a series of five or more high‐impact papers published by the age of 45 accompanied by simultaneous involvement in research in several areas. Scientists meeting these criteria all went on to produce high‐impact papers into their late‐50s and 60s, whereas the other scientists in the study did not. Other factors, such as number of publications, membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and the award of a Nobel Prize were not significantly predictive of continued impact. Thus, previous impact should not be used as a basis for further funding independent of other measures. Methods of working peculiar to long‐term, high‐impact individuals, such as frequent changes in the focus of their research, working on several problems simultaneously, and abhorrence of administrative duties, are also examined in light of Gruber's concept of networks of enterprise. The common preconceptions that a scientist's best work is done by the age of 40 and that productivity and creativity decline necessarily thereafter are shown to be common but unnecessary concomitants of aging. Possible reasons for exceptional cases are discussed.     

“It's My Dream to Work With Olympic Athletes”: Neophyte Sport Psychologists’ Expectations and Initial Experiences Regarding Service Delivery

We examined postgraduate students’ experiences of applied sport psychology (ASP) practice and training. We interviewed 5 female and 2 male (21–45 years of age) MSc students 4 times over 6 months before, during, and after their ASP module. Participants kept diaries for 8 weeks when working with clients. Findings extend previous literature on the pivotal transition from student to inexperienced practitioner. For example, ways that live demonstrations of experts, client experiences, and collegial interactions influenced students’ development were identified. These findings may assist ASP educators and supervisors prepare students for their careers.     

Editorial

Abstract

Happiness and positive moods influence health, and vice versa. A number of social and personality factors influence health directly, for example by affecting health behaviour or the immune system. These factors also affect health indirectly by influencing happiness and moods. These factors include social relationships, exercise and other aspects of leisure, job status and other aspects of work, social class, and several aspects of personality. The evidence on direct and indirect influences of happiness on health is summarised here.     

Young men’s minimisation of their body dissatisfaction

Abstract

Objective: To examine men’s body dissatisfaction qualitatively.

Design: Forty-two British men aged 18–45 years took part in a two-session group intervention across 12 groups. The intervention was designed to improve body dissatisfaction by engaging them in a critique of the appearance ideal through written and behavioural exercises.

Main outcome measures/results: Analysis of the topics discussed during the intervention generated two core themes. Theme 1 showed that, in general, men minimised the existence of their own body dissatisfaction while (somewhat surprisingly) outlining the ubiquity and potency of the appearance ideal for men in general. Theme 2 involved men reporting the problematic impact of body dissatisfaction in their lives (despite earlier minimisation), such as social avoidance, strict eating and supplement regimes, or difficulty in situations where the body was exposed.

Conclusion: The results stress the need to acknowledge that men experience a range of impacts of body dissatisfaction beyond clinical presentations (such as disordered eating) that influence their everyday lives, while also recognising that they tend to minimise this dissatisfaction in conversation. These findings have important implications for advocacy and interventions to improve men’s body dissatisfaction.     

Posttraumatic growth after childbirth: A prospective study

A growing body of research has examined the potential for positive change following challenging and traumatic events, this is known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). Childbirth is a valuable opportunity to extend previous work on PTG as it allows the role of different variables to be considered prospectively. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine correlates of PTG after birth, including sociodemographic and obstetric variables, social support and psychological distress, using a prospective, longitudinal design. A total of 125 women completed questionnaires during their third trimester of pregnancy and 8 weeks after birth. At least a small degree of positive change following childbirth was reported by 47.9% of women; however, average levels of growth were lower than generally reported in other studies. A regression model of age, type of delivery, posttraumatic stress symptoms during pregnancy and general distress after birth significantly predicted 32% of the variance in growth after childbirth. The strongest predictors of growth were operative delivery (β 0.23–0.30) and posttraumatic stress symptoms in pregnancy (β 0.32). These findings emphasise the importance of assessing pre-event characteristics when considering the development of PTG after a challenging event.     

The Assessment of Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder for Workers' Compensation in Emergency Service Personnel

There is considerable debate concerning the diagnosis of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in compensation claims. This study reviewed the quality of the assessment reports prepared by clinicians who evaluated 31 emergency service workers making PTSD‐related compensation claims. Assessments were conducted by 4‐year trained psychologists (39%), psychologists holding a masters degree (36%), and psychiatrists (19%). The assessment reports were evaluated relative to the diagnostic criteria for PTSD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (2000). In the majority of cases (81%), the assessor determined that the emergency service worker had PTSD, but only one report met the minimum standard for that diagnosis. In the majority (65%) of cases the clinician failed to address the possibility of malingering. These data suggest that clinical assessment reports for PTSD frequently fail to meet minimum assessment standards.