Trait empathy as a predictor of individual differences in perceived loneliness

Loneliness has been shown to be inversely correlated with empathy in younger adults. The present study extends previous research by investigating the association between empathy and loneliness across the adult lifespan and examining the role of relevant demographic and personality factors. 110 community-dwelling adults (18 to 81 years old) completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Empathy Quotient. Empathy scores were inversely associated with rated loneliness and predicted 8.7% of variance in loneliness scores after accounting for sex, age, relationship status, education, and neuroticism. The Social Skills factor of the Empathy Quotient was the strongest predictor of the association between perceived empathy and loneliness. Previous research is extended by the finding that rated loneliness was inversely associated with empathy scores across the adult lifespan. Underlying this relationship may be negative perceptions of personal social proclivity as a function of difficulty in understanding the mental states of others and high trait neuroticism.     

Don't tread on me: masculine honor ideology in the U.S. and militant responses to terrorism

Using both college students and a national sample of adults, the authors report evidence linking the ideology of masculine honor in the U.S. with militant responses to terrorism. In Study 1, individuals' honor ideology endorsement predicted, among other outcomes, open-ended hostile responses to a fictitious attack on the Statue of Liberty and support for the use of extreme counterterrorism measures (e.g., severe interrogations), controlling for right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and other covariates. In Study 2, the authors used a regional classification to distinguish honor state respondents from nonhonor state respondents, as has traditionally been done in the literature, and showed that students attending a southwestern university desired the death of the terrorists responsible for 9/11 more than did their northern counterparts. These studies are the first to show that masculine honor ideology in the U.S. has implications for the intergroup phenomenon of people's responses to terrorism.     

Stress in Clinical Psychology Trainees: Current Research Status and Future Directions

The purpose of this article is to present the current status of the literature related to stress in clinical psychology trainees (CPTs), and to offer research directions for investigating stress in this population and ways to enhance self‐care in these individuals. The following conclusions emerge from the review: (1) CPTs are vulnerable to elevated stress; (2) undue stress can negatively impact CPTs' personal and professional functioning and, in turn, result in less than optimal standards of care for clients; (3) there is a dearth of studies on stress in this population and no published intervention studies; (4) incorporating self‐care strategies into clinical psychology training is recommended; and (5) “third‐wave” cognitive behaviour therapy stress management interventions have been efficacious in comparable populations. In view of the potential costs of elevated stress to trainees themselves and their clients, research on stress and stress management in this population is of a high priority. Broad research agendas are proposed for these two domains. Modifications to clinical training programmes to reduce trainee stress are required and should be evidence‐based and systematically revaluated.     

Self-reflection and feelings of self-worth: When Rosenberg meets Heisenberg

The more people think about their attitude toward some issue, the stronger their attitude becomes. The present research examined whether this strengthening effect also applies to self-evaluative attitudes. In four studies, we had some participants complete a self-evaluation measure before rating their momentary feelings of self-worth (Studies 1, 2, and 4) or implicit self-feelings (Study 3). In all four studies, evaluative self-reflection led low self-esteem participants to feel worse about themselves and high self-esteem participants to feel better about themselves. We did not find this self-esteem polarization effect when more general emotions of happiness and sadness were measured (Study 2) or when participants reflected on non-evaluative aspects of themselves (Study 4). These findings suggest that evaluative self-reflection has different consequences for low self-esteem people than for high self-esteem people, and that order effects in personality research may represent actual changes in self-feelings rather than methodological confounds.     

The power of generosity to change views on social power

Intergroup helping behavior by high status group members typically functions to support and further entrench systems of social hierarchy (Nadler, 2002). This research examined whether the virtue of generosity could increase support for more egalitarian group relations, as indexed by reduced social dominance orientation (SDO; Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). Pilot testing (N = 367) revealed a negative relationship between self-reported generosity and SDO. In Study 1, two long-term experimental manipulations of generosity in 110 college students reduced SDO. One manipulation involved a nine week community service learning project, and the other involved a five-part reflection paper assignment on generous individuals. In Study 2, a brief generosity prime in 58 college students reduced SDO scores. The potential benefits of targeting SDO directly, and the importance of examining the motives behind generosity are discussed.     

Seeking the boundary of boundary extension

Boundary extension (BE) is a remarkably consistent visual memory error in which participants remember seeing a more wide-angle image of a scene than was actually viewed (Intraub & Richardson, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 15:179–187, 1989). Multiple stimulus factors are thought to contribute to the occurrence of BE, including object recognition, conceptual knowledge of scenes, and amodal perception at the view boundaries (Intraub, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 3:117–127, 2012). In the present study, we used abstract scenes instead of images of the real world, in order to remove expectations based on semantic associations with objects and the schematic context of the view. Close-angle and wide-angle scenes were created using irregular geometric shapes rated by independent observers as lacking any easily recognizable structure. The abstract objects were tested on either a random-dot or a blank background in order to assess the influence of implied continuation of the image beyond its boundaries. The random-dot background conditions had background occlusion cues either present or absent at the image border, in order to test their influence on BE in the absence of high-level information about the scenes. The results indicate that high-level information about objects and schematic context is unnecessary for BE to occur, and that occlusion information at the image boundary also has little influence on BE. Contrary to previous studies, we also found clear BE for all conditions, despite using scenes depicting undetailed objects on a blank white background. The results highlighted the ubiquitous nature of BE and the adaptability of scene perception processes.     

Establishing Treatment Fidelity in Evidence-Based Parent Training Programs for Externalizing Disorders in Children and Adolescents

The current review evaluates the use of treatment fidelity strategies in evidence-based parent training programs for treating externalizing disorders. We used a broad framework for evaluating treatment fidelity developed by the National Institutes of Health Treatment Fidelity Workgroup that includes the aspects of treatment design, treatment delivery, training providers, and assessment of participant receipt of treatment and enactment of treatment skills. Sixty-five articles reporting outcome trials of evidence-based parent training programs met inclusion criteria and were coded for treatment fidelity strategies. The mean adherence to fidelity strategies was .73, which was higher than two previous review studies employing this framework in the health literature. Strategies related to treatment design showed the highest mean adherence (.83), whereas training of providers and enactment of treatment skills had the lowest (.58). In light of an increasing emphasis on effectiveness and dissemination trials, the broader treatment fidelity framework as applied in this review focuses needed attention on areas often overlooked in fidelity practices, such as training providers and generalization of treatment skills. We discuss the strengths and limitations of fidelity practices in parent training studies, implications of these findings, and areas for future research.