A Structural Validation of an Inventory Based on the Abridged Five Factor Circumplex Model (AB5C)

Nineteen upper-middle class, pre-marital, college couples volunteered to participate in a study on interpersonal relationships. Couples received a modified Rorschach, thematic test, Marriage Value Inventory, a sex questionnaire, and an intensive depth interview. A Q sort of 100 personality items was used to assess the Ss. It was hypothesized that couples would show smaller discrepancies than randomized pairs, except for items relating to dominance, dependency, nurturance, exhibitionism, masculinity and femininity, where the reverse was predicted. Results confirmed the homogamy prediction, but only the dependency need was significant of the complementary predictions. Perception scores and expressive behavior are seen as potential adjuncts to questionnaires and inventories in predicting marital choice.     

Improving Experience in Personal Social Systems through Family Constellation Seminars: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

This study examined the efficacy of family constellation seminars (FCSs) on individuals' experience in their personal social systems, especially the experience of belonging, autonomy, accord, and confidence. We conducted a single‐blind, stratified and balanced, randomized controlled trial. Participants were 208 adults (M = 48 years, SD = 10, 79% women) who were randomly allocated either to the intervention group (3‐day FCSs; 64 active participants, 40 observing participants) or to the wait‐list group (64 active participants, 40 observing participants). Change was measured short‐term (2‐week and 4‐month follow‐up) using the Experience In Social Systems Questionnaire, personal domain (EXIS.pers). EXIS.pers is a new outcome measure being applied for the first time in evaluation research. In addition, we used interpersonal scales derived from established measures (Outcome Questionnaire, OQ‐45; Tool for the Evaluation of the Psychotherapeutic Progress, FEP). The average person in the intervention group showed improved experience in personal social systems, as compared with approximately 73% of the wait‐list group after 2 weeks (total score: Cohen's d = .61, p = .000) and 69% of the wait‐list group after 4 months (total score: d = .53, p = .000). The results were confirmed in per‐protocol analyses (n = 191) by the results of the EXIS.pers dimensions (Belonging, Autonomy, Accord, and Confidence) and the interpersonal scales derived from the OQ‐45 and FEP. No adverse events were reported. This RCT provides first evidence that FCSs tend to positively influence participants' experience in their social systems.     

Examining methodological variation in response inhibition: The effects of outcome measures and task characteristics on age-related differences

This study addressed methodological issues common to developmental studies on response inhibition. Age-related differences were investigated using two Stroop-like tasks with different levels of complexity and comparing different outcome measures in a sample of 340 children and adolescents aged 7–15 years. First, speed and accuracy of task performance were examined; the results showing that improvement in speed continued until age 13 in both the basic naming task and the two inhibition tasks. Improvement in accuracy was less consistent and continued until age 9 or 13 years. Second, two different algorithms were employed to control for the effects of basic processes in inhibition tasks. The difference algorithm indicated age-related differences similar to those for speed. The ratio algorithm, however, suggested earlier deceleration of development of response inhibition at 9 or 11 years of age. Factors related to the cognitive requirements and presented stimuli also had an effect on the results. The present findings shed light on the inconsistencies in the developmental studies of response inhibition and demonstrated that the selection of outcome measures and task characteristics are critical because they affect the way development is depicted.     

Einstellungen zu Psychotherapie

In a representative survey 2,129 subjects were questioned about their attitudes towards outpatient psychotherapy. This study was carried out on behalf of the Apotheken Umschau (Pharmacy Review) by the “GfK Nürnberg” (Society for Consumer Research Nuremberg) from January 2012 to February 2012. In the survey also people who had once received or were currently undergoing outpatient psychotherapy took part and these respondents were surveyed about their reasons for seeking treatment and their experiences with outpatient psychotherapy. When available results were compared with the findings from a survey carried out in 2003. The majority of respondents appraised psychotherapy as being essential and helpful in treating mental disorders and as being useful in personal crises. Women were more open-minded about psychotherapy than men; nevertheless 34 % considered that it would be embarrassing if neighbours or friends were aware that they were undergoing psychotherapy. Of the respondents 28 % categorically excluded psychotherapy for themselves, 216 declared that they had undergone psychotherapy and of the latter 83 % judged the psychotherapy to be successful.     

Design considerations for achieving simultaneously high-strength and highly ductile magnesium alloys

A comprehensive scheme of phase configuration optimization in the Mg–Zn–Ca(–Zr) system by thermodynamic simulations and microstructural analyses is presented. A composition window of 0.2–0.4?wt% Ca and 5–6?wt% Zn is defined as optimal for establishing a complex heterogeneous microstructure allowing for enhanced ductility and simultaneously high strength of the material. Literature data analysis and our own results confirm the enhanced performance of alloys from this composition window.     

Relaxation of the elastic strain energy of misfitting inclusions due to diffusion of vacancies

Vacancy diffusion is investigated as a mechanism for relaxation of the elastic strain energy caused by a misfitting inclusion. The kinetics of reduction of the total eigenstrain by the deposition or removal of an atom layer along the interface is derived. The time evolution, as well as an estimate for the characteristic time of the relaxation process, is presented. The relaxation times are compared with recent in situ measurements of stress relaxation times in aluminum with small lead-alloy inclusions after their solidification. Experimentally observed relaxation times and those theoretically predicted agree very well.     

Anticipation boosts forgetting of voluntarily suppressed memories

The role of anticipatory mechanisms in human memory control is poorly understood. Addressing the issue we investigated whether the presence of an anticipatory phase can enhance effects of cognitive control, as they occur during voluntary suppression of episodic memories. Using the Think/No-Think task, participants first learned several face–word associations, and thereafter were asked to either recall (think) or suppress (no-think) the word when provided with the word's face cue. In the one condition participants performed the Think/No-Think task in the presence of an anticipatory phase, giving participants the chance to prepare for memory suppression. In the other condition participants performed the task without such an anticipatory phase. On the final cued recall test participants were asked to recall all of the previously studied words. The results showed stronger forgetting of to-be-suppressed items in the presence than absence of the anticipatory phase. The finding is first evidence for the effectiveness of anticipatory mechanisms in human memory suppression.     

Affordances and the Nature of Perceptual Content

Abstract

According to John McDowell, representational perceptual content is conceptual through and through. This paper criticizes this view by claiming that there is a certain kind of representational and non‐conceptual perceptual content that is sensitive to bodily skills. After a brief introduction to McDowell’s position, Merleau‐Ponty’s notion of body schema and Gibson’s notion of affordance are presented. It is argued that affordances are constitutive of representational perceptual content, and that at least some affordances, the so‐called ‘conditional affordances’, are essentially related to the body schema. This means that the perceptual content depends upon the nature of the body schema. Since the body schema does not pertain to the domain that our conceptual faculties operate upon, it is argued that this kind of perceptual content cannot be conceptual. At least some of that content is representational, yet it cannot feature as non‐demonstrative conceptual content. It is argued that if it features as demonstrative conceptual content, it has to be captured by private concepts. Since McDowell’s theory does not allow for the existence of a private language, it is concluded that at least some representational perceptual content is non‐conceptual.     

Gaze control and recollective experience in face recognition

In two experiments, we examined the relation between gaze control and recollective experience in the context of face recognition. In Experiment 1, participants studied a series of faces, while their eye movements were eliminated either during study or test, or both. Subsequently, they made remember/know judgements for each recognized test face. The preclusion of eye movements impaired explicit recollection without affecting familiarity-based recognition. In Experiment 2, participants examined unfamiliar faces under two study conditions (similarity vs. difference judgements), while their eye movements were registered. Similarity vs. difference judgements produced the opposite effects on remember/know responses, with no systematic effects on eye movements. However, face recollection was related to eye movements, so that remember responses were associated with more frequent refixations than know responses. These findings suggest that saccadic eye movements mediate the nature of recollective experience, and that explicit recollection reflects a greater consistency between study and test fixations than familiarity-based face recognition.     

Is multiple object tracking carried out automatically by an early vision mechanism independent of higher‐order cognition? An individual difference approach

Existing theories of multiple object tracking (MOT) offer different predictions concerning the role of higher level cognitive processes, individual differences, effortful attention and parallel processing in MOT. Pylyshyn's model (1989) argues for an automatic parallel processing mechanism separate from other cognition, whereas alternative models (e.g., Kahneman & Treisman, 1984 or spotlight models) are based on higher level cognition such as spatial short‐term memory and/or effortful attention switching. These predictions were examined in Experiment 1 where identical objects and in Experiment 2 where visually and semantically distinct objects were tracked. Both experiments demonstrated a substantial individual variation in the estimated tracking capacity. Tasks measuring visuospatial short‐term memory and attention switching proved to be significant predictors of MOT. In addition, tracking performance deteriorated as a function of tracking time and set size. Our results are in contrast to Pylyshyn's model. A mechanism with both parallel and serial processing and temporary spatial memory is outlined to accommodate the observed pattern of results.