Threatened masculinity and muscularity: An experimental examination of multiple aspects of muscularity in men

Two studies examined the threatened masculinity theory of male body dissatisfaction, which posits that threats to masculinity result in increased muscle dissatisfaction. In Study 1, a masculinity threat was followed by tasks examining confidence in physical ability and perceptions of current and ideal body shapes. Results showed that men who experienced a masculinity threat reported lower confidence in their physical ability and perceived themselves as less muscular than men who experienced an affirmation of their masculinity. In Study 2, men were asked to report their intention to increase muscularity and their appearance anxiety following a threat to masculinity. Results showed that men reported lower appearance anxiety and drive for muscularity when their masculinity was threatened than when their masculinity was affirmed. This apparent contradiction can be explained by noting that men may be motivated to deny appearance concerns following a threat to masculinity, as such concerns are equated with femininity.     

A Systematic Review of the Psychometric Properties of Trait Cognitive Self-Report Measures in Social Anxiety

Cognitive factors, including beliefs, thoughts and assumptions have been found to play an important role in the development and maintenance of Social Anxiety Disorder. Trait cognitive self-report measures of social anxiety are widely used in research and clinical settings. It is imperative that only measures with good psychometric properties are used in order to interpret assessment scores accurately, and to make valid and reliable conclusions. The present systematic review evaluated the psychometric properties of trait cognitive self-report measures of social anxiety. Relevant studies were identified via a comprehensive and systematic search of academic databases. The reported psychometric properties of included studies were analysed by applying an appraisal of adequacy tool developed by Terwee et al. (2007). Of the 3091 studies identified, 50 studies met the inclusion criteria, and they included 21 measures. Included studies demonstrated that a number of measures had some adequate psychometric properties, however, no measure fulfilled criteria for all psychometric properties according to the appraisal tool. Findings highlight the need to further establish the psychometric properties of cognitive self-report measures of social anxiety in clinical and research settings through additional empirical studies.     

Whatever Gave You That Idea? False Memories Following Equivalence Training: A Behavioral Account of the Misinformation Effect

The misinformation effect is a term used in the cognitive psychological literature to describe both experimental and real-world instances in which misleading information is incorporated into an account of an historical event. In many real-world situations, it is not possible to identify a distinct source of misinformation, and it appears that the witness may have inferred a false memory by integrating information from a variety of sources. In a stimulus equivalence task, a small number of trained relations between some members of a class of arbitrary stimuli result in a large number of untrained, or emergent relations, between all members of the class. Misleading information was introduced into a simple memory task between a learning phase and a recognition test by means of a match-to-sample stimulus equivalence task that included both stimuli from the original learning task and novel stimuli. At the recognition test, participants given equivalence training were more likely to misidentify patterns than those who were not given such training. The misinformation effect was distinct from the effects of prior stimulus exposure, or partial stimulus control. In summary, stimulus equivalence processes may underlie some real-world manifestations of the misinformation effect.     

Bias versus bias: Harnessing hindsight to reveal paranormal belief change beyond demand characteristics

Psychological change is difficult to assess, in part because self-reported beliefs and attitudes may be biased or distorted. The present study probed belief change, in an educational context, by using the hindsight bias to counter another bias that generally plagues assessment of subjective change. Although research has indicated that skepticism courses reduce paranormal beliefs, those findings may reflect demand characteristics (biases toward desired, skeptical responses). Our hindsight-bias procedure circumvented demand by asking students, following semester-long skepticism (and control) courses, to recall their precourse levels of paranormal belief. People typically remember themselves as previously thinking, believing, and acting as they do now, so current skepticism should provoke false recollections of previous skepticism. Given true belief change, therefore, skepticism students should have remembered themselves as having been more skeptical than they were. They did, at least about paranormal topics that were covered most extensively in the course. Our findings thus show hindsight to be useful in evaluating cognitive change beyond demand characteristics.     

A Terror Management Perspective on the Persuasiveness of Fear Appeals

We use terror management theory (TMT) to show that the nature of the threatening consequences included in fear‐appeal communications influences the responses to the messages promoted in such communications. On the basis of differences between death‐related consequences and non‐death‐related consequences, they provide an explanation for maladaptive responses to fear appeals. Results from 2 experiments indicate that participants who were highly committed to a worldview of drinking alcohol rejected socially acceptable attitudes toward drinking and driving when the message containing such attitudes was accompanied by a fear appeal that contained death as a consequence, but not when fear appeals contained the fear of arrest or serious injury. Participants perceived their level of experienced fear to be the same across the experimental conditions. The results have implications for considering the qualitative nature of the threatening consequence in fear‐appeal research and for using TMT to understand maladaptive responses to fear‐appeal communications.     

Alpha and the gay issue: a lesson in homophobia?

The Alpha course is possibly the most widespread and best‐known evangelizing initiative of recent times. Billing itself as an introduction into ‘basic Christianity’, Alpha is a programme that has been adopted worldwide by tens of thousands of churches. This paper overviews Alpha’s attitude towards one of the most controversial debates in the Church today, the so‐called ‘gay issue’. The paper, largely based on literature research and a national survey, will explore the broad controversy in the churches and argue that how it is approached through the Alpha programme provides an insight into contemporary views in Christian constituencies.     

School Counselors,Multiple Student Deaths,and Grief: A Narrative Inquiry

A team of 5 school counselors were interviewed to learn how they professionally and personally experienced the deaths of multiple students in 1 year in their school while attending to the needs of the school community. By using narrative inquiry, 5 themes emerged from the analysis: gravity of the losses, logistics of care, personal vs. professional conflicts, increased student cohesion, and efficacy. Recommendations for counselor preparation, research, and counseling practice are offered.     

Towards Multi-positioned Live Supervision in Family Therapy: Combining Treatment and Observation Teams with First- and Second-order Perspectives

This article describes a process of live supervision that has been designed to encourage trainees to experience competing theoretical perspectives. It involves the use of separate T (treatment) and O (observation) teams who conceptualise the same case from two broadly defined theoretical perspectives, variously called first and second order, modern and postmodern, or family systems and social constructionist. The process requires trainees to adopt multiple positions rather than identify with one perspective, and provides a basis for comparing and potentially integrating them. We provide examples of the approach, discuss important contextual issues for supervisors to consider when implementing it, and examine ways of adapting it to a wide range of training contexts.