Self-Compassion and Need Frustration Moderate the Effects of Upward Appearance Comparisons on Body Image Discrepancies

Abstract

Drawing from diverse theoretical frameworks, we examined predictors of discrepancy between current and ideal body image in a sample of 396 Greek adolescents. The participants completed assessments of the frequency of comparing oneself with someone of perceived better appearance, appearance evaluations, frustration of basic psychological needs, and appearance self-compassion. We found that upward appearance comparisons negatively predicted appearance evaluation, which in turn was a negative predictor of body image discrepancy. Moderated mediation analyses showed that appearance self-compassion buffered, whereas psychological need frustration augmented the negative effects of upward comparisons on appearance evaluation. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on body image discrepancies in adolescence by examining moderating factors that amplify or buffer such discrepancies, hence identifying viable intervention pathways.     

I Recognise You but I Can't Place You: An Investigation of Familiar-only Experiences during Tests of Voice and Face Recognition

In this paper, we examine in detail the situation in which a subject finds that a face or voice is familiar but is unable to retrieve any biographical information about the person concerned. In two experiments, subjects were asked to identify a set of 40 celebrities either from hearing their voice or from seeing their face. Although many more celebrities were identified and named in response to their face than their voice, the results showed that there was a very large number of occasions when a celebrity's voice was felt to be familiar but the subject was unable to retrieve any biographical information about the person. This situation occurred less frequently in response to seeing a celebrity's face; when a face was found familiar, the subject was much more likely to be able to recall the celebrity's occupation. The possibility that these results might have come about because subjects were using different criteria to determine familiarity in the face and voice conditions was investigated and discounted. An additional finding was that when subjects found a face to be familiar-only, they were able to recall significantly more additional information about the person when they were cued by the person's voice than when they simply saw the face again. These results are discussed in relation to the models of person recognition put forward by Bruce and Y oung (1986) and Burton, Bruce, and Johnston (1990).     

Effective professionals engaged in reflective practice: A response to Kidd et al.

Training for careers guidance is undergoing rapid and radical change. The Employment Department's January 1995 invitation to bid for pilot programmes for work-based, competency training represents a sharp contrast to the off-the-job academic training which has, for the past 20 years, been located in higher education. An informed debate and well-founded empirical findings would contribute to the constructive management of these changes. However, Kidd et al.'s (1994) research on careers officers' use of theory in guidance interviews is criticised as being seriously flawed. Questions are posed regarding their conceptual framework, several aspects of their methodology, and their apparent lack of awareness of directly relevant theory and research.     

Differential reinforcement of low rates of responding (DRL) to reduce dysfunctional social behaviors of a head injured man

Differential reinforcement of low rates of responding (DRL) is a technique in which a positive reinforcer is delivered at the end of a specific interval if a target behavior has occurred at a criterion rate. Traditionally, it has been used in educational settings to manage classroom behaviors. Recently, therapists have begun to use DRL to reduce the rates of a variety of behaviors in non-educational settings. In this study, DRL was part of a behavioral intervention to reduce dysfunctional verbal and physical behaviors of a head-injured young man. The complete intervention program included DRL, changing criteria, and token reinforcement. Over a period of 15 weeks, the intervention resulted in reductions in behaviors in both categories from high rates to near-zero rates.     

Association of social-environmental factors with cognitive function in children with sickle cell disease

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between cognitive function in pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) patients and mothers’ reports of social-environmental stress, depressive symptoms, and parenting. A total of 65 children with SCD completed comprehensive neuropsychological testing to assess several domains of cognitive functioning, including general intellectual ability, academic achievement, and executive function. Mothers reported on demographics, social-environmental stress, depressive symptoms, and parenting. As predicted, children with SCD significantly underperformed relative to normative data on measures of cognitive function. Associations between maternal social-environmental stress, maternal depressive symptoms, and parenting were mixed. The results show partial support for the hypothesis that greater stress and depressive symptoms and less positive parenting are associated with poorer cognitive function in children with SCD. Linear regression analyses showed that maternal financial stress was the strongest predictor across all domains of cognitive function. The findings replicate and extend past research, reaffirming that children with SCD are at risk for cognitive impairment across multiple domains. Additionally, social-environmental stress, particularly financial strain, is linked to mothers’ depressive symptoms and parenting behaviors as well as children’s cognitive function. Future studies using direct observations of parenting behaviors are needed. These findings, along with recent research on parenting interventions, may inform the development of concrete, teachable parenting and coping skills to improve cognitive functioning in children with SCD.     

Relationship between language switching experience and executive functions in bilinguals: an Internet-based study*

We examined the relationship between self-reported everyday language switching experience and the performance of early bilinguals in tasks measuring different executive functions. Our participants were Finnish–Swedish early bilinguals, aged 16–41 years (N?=?66, Experiment 1) and 18–69 years (N?=?111, Experiment 2). An earlier study using a sample from a similar population discovered a negative relationship between self-reported language switching and a mixing cost in error rates in a number–letter task. This finding was not replicated. Instead, we found that a higher rate of reported contextual language switching predicted larger switching cost reaction times in the number–letter task, and that a higher rate of reported unintended language switches predicted larger error rates in a spatial n-back task. We conclude that these results likely reflect individual differences in executive skills, and do not provide evidence for the hypothesis that language switching trains executive functions.     

Facing a Disruptive Face: Embodiment in the Everyday Experiences of “Disfigured” Individuals

In recent years, facial difference is increasingly on the public and academic agenda. This is evidenced by the growing public presence of individuals with an atypical face, and the simultaneous emergence of research investigating the issues associated with facial variance. The scholarship on facial difference approaches this topic either through a medical and rehabilitation perspective, or a psycho-social one. However, having a different face also encompasses an embodied dimension. In this paper, we explore this embodied dimension by interpreting the stories of individuals with facial limb absence against the background of phenomenological theories of the body, illness and disability. Our findings suggest that the atypical face disrupts these individuals’ engagement with everyday projects when it gives rise to disruptive perceptions, sensations, and observations. The face then ceases to be the absent background to perception, and becomes foregrounded in awareness. The disruptions evoked by facial difference call for adjustments: as they come to terms with their altered face, the participants in our study gradually develop various new bodily habits that re-establish their face’s absence, or relate to its disruptive presence. It is through these emergent habits that facial difference comes to be embodied. By analyzing the everyday experiences of individuals with facial limb absence, this article provides a much-needed exploration of the embodied aspects of facial difference. It also exemplifies how a phenomenological account of illness and disability can do justice both to the impairments and appearance issues associated with atypical embodiment.     

Maladaptive Parenting,Temperament, Early Maladaptive Schemas,and Depression: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

According to the Schema Therapy Model, maladaptive parenting styles interact with a child’s unique temperament in the development of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), which in turn increase one’s risk for developing pathology. However, few authors have examined the comprehensive model. The purpose of this study was to assess the indirect effect of perceived parenting styles on depressive symptoms through EMSs. Furthermore, a series of moderated mediation analyses were conducted to examine whether the indirect effect varies as a function of temperament. A total of 403 undergraduate students completed measures of perceived parenting experiences, temperament, EMSs, and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that the schema domains of disconnection/rejection and impaired autonomy mediated the relationship between perceived parenting styles and depressive symptoms. Moderation of the indirect effect was only found in two of the twelve tested models. This study lends partial support to the Schema Therapy model and also offers a new way of looking at the interactive nature of the constructs.