Using motivational interviewing as a supplement to obesity treatment: a stepped-care approach.

OBJECTIVE: This investigation was designed to improve behavioral weight loss program (BWLP) treatment outcomes by providing stepped care (SC) to individuals experiencing difficulties with weight loss during treatment. SC entails transition to more intensive treatments when less intensive treatments fail to meet treatment goals. In a BWLP, motivational interviewing (MI) may increase participants' motivation toward behavioral change and thus complement the acquisition of behavioral change skills. It was hypothesized that BWLP+SC (MI) participants (i.e., participants who failed to meet weight loss goals and received MI) would demonstrate superior treatment outcomes when compared with BWLP (SC matched) participants (i.e., participants who failed to meet weight loss goals but did not receive MI). DESIGN: Fifty-five obese, sedentary adults were randomly assigned to a BWLP+SC or a BWLP. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in weight, cardiorespiratory fitness, self-reported physical activity, and diet (i.e., calories, percentage daily intake of fat, protein, and carbohydrates) in response to treatment were assessed. RESULTS: Participants significantly decreased their weight, increased physical activity/fitness, and improved dietary intake (ps<.05). BWLP+SC (MI) participants lost more weight and engaged in greater weekly exercise than BWLP (SC matched) participants who did not receive MI (ps<.05). CONCLUSION: For individuals experiencing weight loss difficulties during a BWLP, MI may have considerable promise.     

The comprehension of anomalous sentences: evidence from structural priming

We report three experiments investigating how people process anomalous sentences, in particular those in which the anomaly is associated with the verb. We contrast two accounts for the processing of such anomalous sentences: a syntactic account, in which the representations constructed for anomalous sentences are similar in nature to the ones constructed for well-formed sentences; and a semantic account, in which the representations constructed for anomalous sentences are erroneous, or altogether missing, and interpretation is achieved on the basis of semantic representations instead. To distinguish between these accounts, we used structural priming. First, we ruled out the possibility that anomaly per se influences the magnitude of the priming effect: Prime sentences with morphologically incorrect verbs produced similarly enhanced priming (lexical boost) to sentences with the same correct verbs (Exp. 1). Second, we found that prime sentences with a novel verb (Exp. 2) or a semantically and syntactically incongruent verb (Exp. 3) produced a priming effect, which was the same as that produced by well-formed sentences. In accord with the syntactic account, we conclude that the syntactic representations of anomalous sentences are similar to those constructed for well-formed sentences. Our results furthermore suggest that lexically-independent syntactic information is robust enough to produce well-formed syntactic representations during processing without requiring aid from lexically-based syntactic information.     

The Fabric of Thought: Priming Tactile Properties During Reading Influences Direct Tactile Perception

The present studies examined whether implied tactile properties during language comprehension influence subsequent direct tactile perception, and the specificity of any such effects. Participants read sentences that implicitly conveyed information regarding tactile properties (e.g., Grace tried on a pair of thick corduroy pants while shopping) that were either related or unrelated to fabrics and varied in implied texture (smooth, medium, rough). After reading each sentence, participants then performed an unrelated rating task during which they felt and rated the texture of a presented fabric. Results demonstrated that the texture properties implied in sentences influence direct tactile perception. Specifically, after reading about a smooth or rough texture, subsequent fabric ratings became notably smoother or rougher, respectively. However, we also show that there was some specificity to these effects: Fabric‐related sentences elicited more specific and interactive effects on subsequent ratings. Together, we demonstrate that under certain circumstances, language comprehension can prime tactile representations and affect direct tactile perception. Results are discussed with regard to the nature and scope of multimodal mental simulation during reading.     

Humans and monkeys show similar skill in estimating uncertain outcomes

When information is incomplete but a choice must be made, individuals sometimes can rely on past experiences to help them assess uncertain outcomes in terms of the probabilities of payoffs. Monkeys (Cebus apella) and humans (Homo sapiens) were presented with a test in which they first made quantity judgments between two clear options. Then they made choices in which only one option was visible, and they had to estimate the quantity for the other option. Both species were guided by the past outcomes, as they shifted from selecting the known option to selecting the unknown option at the point at which the known option went from being greater than the average rate of return to being less than the average rate of return. This comparability across species suggests that tallying ongoing average rates of return from repeated choices occurs spontaneously and likely serves an adaptive purpose when dealing with uncertainty in the environment.     

Guilt by association and honor by association: The role of acquired equivalence

Guilt by association and honor by association are two types of judgments that suggest that a negative or positive quality of a person or object can transfer to another person or object, merely by co-occurrence. Most examples have been demonstrated under conditions of direct associations. Here, we provide experimental evidence of guilt by association and honor by association via indirect associations. We show that participants may treat two individuals alike if they have been separately paired with a common event using an acquired-equivalence paradigm. Our findings suggest that association fallacies can be examined using a paradigm originally developed for research with nonhuman animals and based on a representation mediation account.     

Pregnant and Parenting Battered Women Speak Out about their Relationships and Challenges

Domestic violence is one of the leading health risks to women in the United States. Abuse during pregnancy increases the negative health consequences for mothers and their unborn children. This article presents survey and open-ended interview data from participants in an innovative program for pregnant and parenting battered women and examines the health status of mothers and newborns, their experience and perception of both physical and nonphysical abuse, and their challenges to prenatal care.     

THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF STRUCTURAL MEASURES DERIVED FROM REPERTORY GRIDS

This study examined the reliability and validity of measures derived from repertory grids in a limited domain. Twenty primary school teachers were interviewed at three points over a 12-month period, approximately six months apart, resulting in impressive test-retest stability for most measures. The pattern of construct relationships for individual teachers, operationalized as the mean Coefficient of Convergence, was 0.77 over a 12-month interval. Intensity and the percentage variance accounted for by the first factor (PVAFF) of principal component analysis were highly correlated with values ranging between 0.89 and 0.95 at different phases of the study. They also proved to be stable characteristics of the individual with test-retest reliability for Intensity of 0.87, and 0.73 for PVAFF over a 12-month interval.     

Desistance in the Transition to Adulthood: The Roles of Marriage,Military, and Gender

Research is needed on desistance from crime comparatively by gender. This research uses a national longitudinal sample of youth transitioning to adulthood. Drawing on Sampson and Laub's Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control, social bonds found in marriage and military involvement are examined to determine if they decrease delinquency over time. The results for the full sample revealed that marriage but not military involvement led to desistance. However, gender sub-sample analyses further showed military enlistment led females, but not males, to desist from crime. Implications and future research aims are discussed.     

Friendship and Romantic Stressors and Depression in Emerging Adulthood: Mediating and Moderating Roles of Attachment Representations

Although friendships and romantic relationships represent important social relationships during emerging adulthood, problems stemming from these relationships may also pose a threat to emerging adults’ psychological functioning (Collins and Madsen in Handbook of personal relationships. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 191–209, 2006; La Greca and Moore Harrison in J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 34(1): 49–61, 2005). Thus, investigating relational stressors in friendships and romantic relationships is an important step toward understanding emerging adults’ psychological adjustment. This study focused on examining the relationship between relational stressors and depression, and the mediating and moderating roles of relationship-general attachment representations between these constructs. Data were collected from 164 emerging adults attending a Midwestern university. In partial support of our hypotheses, emerging adults’ attachment anxiety mediated the relationship between experiences of friendship and romantic stressors and depression; this result, however, was not found for attachment avoidance. Furthermore, results showed that attachment avoidance and anxiety moderated the relationship between friendship stressors and depression in emerging adulthood. Supporting our hypothesis, friendship stressors were predictive of higher levels of depression only for emerging adults who were high in attachment avoidance or anxiety. Future research and practical implications are discussed.