Coalition and Opposition in Myself? On Integrative and Confrontational Internal Dialogues,Their Functions,and the Types of Inner Interlocutors

The typology of interlocutors in internal dialogues comprises four main emotional types: faithful friend, ambivalent parent, proud rival, and helpless child. The two studies presented in the article aimed to identify which types appear in integrative and which in confrontational internal dialogues. Additionally, Study 2 compared the functions performed by these two types of dialogues. Both Study 1 (N = 101) and Study 2 (N = 99) confirmed the hypothesis that faithful friend and ambivalent parent are interlocutors typical of integrative dialogues, whereas proud rival and helpless child are characteristic for confrontational ones. It was also found that integrative dialogues perform certain functions—namely, support, bond, insight, and self-guiding—to a greater degree than confrontational dialogues.     

Side effects of gender‐fair language: How feminine job titles influence the evaluation of female applicants

In many languages, feminization has been used as a strategy to make language more gender‐fair, because masculine terms, even in a generic function, exhibit a male bias. Up to date, little is known about possible side effects of this language use, for example, in personnel selection. In three studies, conducted in Polish, we analyzed how a female applicant was evaluated in a recruitment process, depending on whether she was introduced with a feminine or masculine job title. To avoid influences from existing occupations and terms, we used fictitious job titles in Studies 1 and 2: diarolo?ka (feminine) and diarolog (masculine). In Study 3, we referred to existing occupations that varied in gender stereotypicality. In all studies, female applicants with a feminine job title were evaluated less favorably than both a male applicant (Study 1) and a female applicant with a masculine job title (Studies 1, 2, and 3). This effect was independent of the gender stereotypicality of the occupation (Study 3). Participants' political attitudes, however, moderated the effect: Conservatives devaluated female applicants with a feminine title more than liberals (Studies 2 and 3). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of Athletes’ Approach to the Question of Physical Health and Health Behaviors: Do Athletes Lead Healthy Lifestyles?

Athletes are people for whom physical health is a key value. Health promoting behaviors are an integral part of athletes’ success. The aim of this article is to identify health criteria and health-related behaviors among athletes and their determinants in terms of temperament and personality features. The concept of healthy lifestyle as understood by athletes and their most important health criteria were defined. Neuroticism and extraversion correlated with and were significant predictors of health behaviors; there were no significant relationships between health-promoting behaviors and temperament. Four groups of athletes, each characterized by a different approach to health, were identified. These groups were described with respect to various personality and temperamental determinants. Knowledge about the above-mentioned aspects of athletes’ performance can assist sport psychologists in providing athletes with more personalized support.     

Józef Bocheński and static religion

One of the most interesting aspects of Józef Bocheński’s philosophy was its relation to Henri Bergson’s thought, particularly to his philosophy of religion. Unlike the majority of the Catholic philosophers at that time, Bocheński did not stress the significance of dynamic religion, but rather focused on the role of static religion in human life. In his view, what was of particular interest within this religion was its fabulation function. This direction of the philosopher’s research stemmed from the realism and empiricism proper to the analytic philosophy developed by Bocheński and became increasingly visible as the years passed. In this text the author shows how Bocheński’s analyses of religion, referring to both daily human experiences and logic, moved towards Bergsonian static religion, while diverging from dynamic religion and its key notion of mysticism.     

Delays in seeking cancer diagnosis in relation to beliefs about the curability of cancer in patients with different disease locations

This study is aimed at investigating factors leading to delayed oncologic examinations versus immediate consultation with a physician in patients with various cancers. We analysed the results of a study of patients (n?=?291) reporting for their first oncologic examinations. We conducted structured interviews containing social, demographic and clinical data, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory and Harris and Guten's health appraisal scores. Based on an analysis of decision-making trees, the results indicate that it is possible to predict beliefs regarding the curability of cancer and immediate versus delayed reporting to a physician. Delayed reports may be predicted on the basis of two factors: (1) a belief that cancer is incurable combined with increased state anxiety, ‘good’ or ‘very good’ self-appraisal of health and low depression; and (2) a belief that cancer is incurable accompanied by increased anxiety and depression. The characteristics of patients delaying a visit to the oncologist suggest the existence of three independent factors leading to both considerable (longer than nine months) and minor (up to one month) delays in seeking treatment.     

When sounds look right and images sound correct: Cross-modal coherence enhances claims of pattern presence

How do people decide whether a stimulus contains a pattern? One possibility is that they rely on a global, non-specific signal of coherence. Interestingly, this signal might reflect a combination of different stimulus sources. Consequently, the coherence of one stimulus might influence decisions about coherence of a second, unrelated stimulus. We explored this possibility in three experiments in which participants judged the presence of a pattern in targets from one sensory modality, while being exposed in the background to incidental coherent and incoherent stimuli in a different modality (visual → auditory, auditory → visual). Across all three experiments, using a variety of judgments, coherence of incidental background cross-modal patterns enhanced claims of pattern presence. These findings advance our understanding of how people judge order in the structured as well as in the unstructured world.     

Self-Talk: Conversation With Oneself? On the Types of Internal Interlocutors

The two studies presented in the article aimed to empirically verify the tentative typology of internal interlocutors in self-talk proposed in a previous research project. The typology comprised four emotional types: Faithful Friend, Ambivalent Parent, Proud Rival, and Helpless Child. Study 1 involved 98 participants (49 women) and Study 2 involved 114 (55 women), mostly students. In both studies, the names of internal interlocutors were generated by participants as qualitative data, quantified by reference to the standard set of affect terms, and, as affective patterns, subjected to clustering. Study 2 fully confirmed the recent results, whereas Study 1 revealed a new interlocutor type instead of Helpless Child – Calm Optimist. The conducted studies confirm the existence of four main types of inner interlocutors and provide a reason to verify the existence of Calm Optimist.     

Determinants of Integration and Confrontation in Internal Dialogues

Interest in the distinction between integrative and confrontational internal dialogues has been growing, as research suggests numerous positive functions of the former compared to the latter. The article proposes a theoretical approach to integration and confrontation in internal dialogue and an empirical method of measuring these processes. Exploratory research is also presented that seeks to identify personality‐related and situational determinants of integration and confrontation in internal dialogue simulating social relationships. Canonical correlation analysis did not establish personality determinants but it did reveal situational determinants (understood as cognitive interpretation of the enacted situation) behind integration and confrontation in internal dialogue. Perceiving the internal interlocutor as similar to the dialogue's author is associated with the author's integrative attitude. An increase in the wishfulness of the dialogue is accompanied by an increase in the author's confrontational attitude and the interlocutor's integrative attitude.