Group Therapy for Loss: Attachment,Intersubjectivity, and Healing

Loss is a fundamental human experience that can impact a person’s mental health in diverse ways. While this experience is potentially formative, harmful manifestations can fracture one’s sense of self and undermine relational health. In this article, we present a rationale for process-oriented group therapy focused on healing relational injuries associated with loss. We draw on attachment, self-psychology, intersubjectivity, and Yalom & Leszcz’s (2005) model of group psychotherapy to explore how group processes allow clients to work through losses and relational frustrations in the here-and-now. A case vignette and discussion offer practical insight on the ways in which loss manifests in the room and demonstrate the uniqueness of the group setting for reparative processing.     

Likelihood of attending to the color word modulates Stroop interference

Three experiments investigated whether the Stroop color-naming effect is modulated by the likelihood of a color word capturing visual attention. In Experiment 1, a bar or a neutral word was presented at fixation as a color carrier, along with a color word randomly appearing in either an achromatic color (white in the main experiment, gray in a follow-up) or purple. Reduction of the Stroop effect (known as Stroop dilution) occurred when the color word was achromatic but not (or to a lesser extent) when it was in purple. In Experiment 2, the color of the color word remained constant throughout trial blocks, and Stroop dilution was equally evident when the word was always in purple and when it was always in white. In Experiment 3, a color bar was presented as the color carrier with both a color word and a neutral word. In this case, the Stroop effect was larger when the color word appeared in purple, and smaller when the neutral word appeared in purple, than when neither word did. These results imply that the extent to which processing of a color word occurs is determined by the likelihood of the word capturing attention.     

The Consequences of Completion: How Level of Completion Influences Information Concealment by Decision Makers

Numerous studies have demonstrated that decision makers will allocate additional resources to failing projects if those projects are close to completion, as opposed to far from completion. The present work considers whether high project completion leads to other effects; namely, decision‐maker willingness to conceal negative information about a project. Three studies (1 at the group level, 2 at the individual level; 1 using qualitative data, 2 using quantitative data) established a link between project completion, incremental investment behavior, and the tendency to conceal negative information.     

Me or we? The role of personality and justice as other-centered antecedents to innovative citizenship behaviors within organizations

The present research takes an "other-centered" approach to examining personal and contextual antecedents of taking charge behavior in organizations. Largely consistent with the authors' hypotheses, regression analyses involving data collected from 2 diverse samples containing both coworkers and supervisors demonstrated that the other-centered trait, duty, was positively related to taking charge, whereas the self-centered trait, achievement striving, was negatively related to taking charge. In addition, the authors found that procedural justice at the organizational level was positively related to taking charge when evaluated by a coworker, while both procedural and distributive justice were positively related to taking charge when considered by a supervisor. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Debunking Morality: Lessons from the EAAN Literature

This article explores evolutionary debunking arguments as they arise in metaethics against moral realism and in philosophy of religion against naturalism. Both literatures have independently grappled with the question of which beliefs one may use to respond to a potential defeater. In this article, I show how the literature on the argument against naturalism can help clarify and bring progress to the literature on moral realism with respect to this question. Of note, it will become clear that the objection that the moral realist begs the question, when appealing to the truth of some of her moral beliefs, is unsuccessful.     

Are Machines Gender Neutral? Gender-Stereotypic Responses to Computers With Voices

This study tested whether computers embedded with the most minimal gender cues will evoke gender-based stereotypic responses. Using an experimental paradigm (N = 40) that involved computers with voice output, the study tested 3 gender-based stereotypes under conditions in which all suggestions of gender were removed, with the sole exception of vocal cues. In all 3 cases, gender-stereotypic responses were obtained. Because the experimental manipulation involved no deception regarding the source of the voices. this study presents evidence that the tendency to gender stereotype is extremely powerful, extending even to stereotyping of machines.