Attentional biases in dysphoria: An eye-tracking study of the allocation and disengagement of attention

This study looked for evidence of biases in the allocation and disengagement of attention in dysphoric individuals. Participants studied images for a recognition memory test while their eye fixations were tracked and recorded. Four image types were presented (depression-related, anxiety-related, positive, neutral) in each of two study conditions. For the simultaneous study condition, four images (one of each type) were presented simultaneously for 10 seconds, and the number of fixations and the total fixation time to each image was measured, similar to the procedure used by Eizenman et al. (2003) and Kellough, Beevers, Ellis, and Wells (2008). For the sequential study condition, four images (one of each type) were presented consecutively, each for 4 seconds; to measure disengagement of attention an endogenous cuing procedure was used (Posner, 1980). Dysphoric individuals spent significantly less time attending to positive images than non-dysphoric individuals, but there were no group differences in attention to depression-related images. There was also no evidence of a dysphoria-related bias in initial shifts of attention. With respect to the disengagement of attention, dysphoric individuals were slower to disengage their attention from depression-related images. The recognition memory data showed that dysphoric individuals had poorer memory for emotional images, but there was no evidence of a conventional mood-congruent memory bias. Differences in the attentional and memory biases observed in depressed and dysphoric individuals are discussed.     

Depressive implicit associations and adults' reports of childhood abuse

Theory and research suggest that negative events in childhood (e.g., childhood abuse) may contribute to the development of a cognitive vulnerability to depression. A limitation of past research, however, is that the majority has focused on explicit cognitions (e.g., attributional style) and it remains unclear whether similar relations would be observed for more implicit measures of depressive cognitions. This study investigated the relation between young adults' reports of childhood abuse and their implicit depressive cognitions, as measured by the Implicit Association Test. As hypothesised, young adults reporting a history of childhood abuse exhibited stronger implicit associations for depression-relevant stimuli than did individuals with no abuse history. These results were maintained even after statistically controlling for the influence of current depressive symptom levels.     

Goal Theories of Motivation as Rigorous Humanism

Over the past few decades, there has been increasing interest among social, clinical, and personality psychologists in the topic of human agency in general and personal goals in particular. Goal theories of motivation are described and analyzed from the perspective of Rychlak's rigorous humanism. Studying goals may actually be more of a methodology than a theory. A number of different theories could lead to the study of goals as a primary research methodology. However, not all such theories will meet Rychlak's criteria for rigorous humanism. The role of goals in Logical Learning Theory is discussed.     

Types of Aggression among Incarcerated Juveniles: The Roles of Gender and Offense Type

A new instrument, the Psychological Maltreatment Review (PMR), is introduced and its psychometrics are described. The PMR examines adult retrospective reports of child psychological abuse, psychological neglect, and psychological support, measured separately for maternal and paternal figures. Male and female participants (N?=?1,051) completed the PMR and a measure of adult attachment, the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships scale (Fraley, Waller, &; Brennan, 2000). The three scales of the PMR demonstrated very good internal consistency. The structural validity of the PMR was supported by both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as was the notion of an independent parental support/nonsupport variable. Indicative of the construct validity of this measure, all PMR scales were significantly correlated with anxious and avoidant attachment in close relationships. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that paternal neglect and maternal psychological abuse predicted participants' anxious attachment, whereas less paternal and maternal support was associated with avoidant attachment.     

The positive and negative semantic dimensions of relationship satisfaction

Semantic differential items were reconfigured to assess relationship satisfaction across separate positive and negative attitude dimensions. Study 1 (N = 1,656) supported a 2‐factor model for the Positive and Negative Semantic Differential (PN–SMD), as well as its convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity over the 16‐item Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI; J. L. Funk & R. D. Rogge, 2007) using known correlates of relationship satisfaction as criteria. Study 2 (N = 89) replicated the convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity findings of Study 1 using different criterion measures, the CSI, a bipolar semantic differential measure designed for assessing relationship satisfaction, and an existing 2‐dimensional measure of relationship satisfaction. The authors demonstrated across studies that the PN–SMD captures criterion‐relevant information about ambivalence versus indifference toward the relationship—associations that are only detectable when using a 2‐dimensional satisfaction measure.     

Sharpening Ockham's Razor: The role of psychopathology and neuropsychopathology in the perpetration of domestic violence

Current major explanatory theoretical views of domestic violence perpetration can be summarized as feminist/socio-cultural, social learning theory-based intergenerational transmission, and psychological/psychosocial. Of those, psychological/psychosocial views offer the most parsimonious and thorough explanations, while feminist/socio-cultural theory relies on the metaphysical usage of the construct “patriarchy” and miniscule empirical support, and research guided by intergenerational transmission suffers from small effect sizes. This review summarizes these theoretical perspectives and evaluates them according to epistemological criteria of parsimony, elegance, and empirical utility. A more in-depth review examines empirical links between psychological and neuropsychological disorders and domestic violence perpetration. This effort at theory-building advances the premise that domestic violence perpetration is better and more accurately understood as maladaptive coping, symptomatic of a range of psychological and neuropsychological disorders than as either a culturally supported strategy for male domination of women or as only learned behavior.     

Empirical Identification of Dimensions of Religiousness and Spirituality

Numerous measures of Religiousness and Spirituality (R/S) exist, but the number and type of dimensions represented by these measures remain unclear. We used exploratory and confirmatory analyses in two U.S. college-student samples to identify five dimensions of R/S: Religious/Spiritual Involvement, Search for Meaning, Religious Struggle, Quest, and Spiritual Well-Being. Over half of the measures loaded on the first factor (Religious/Spiritual Involvement). In bivariate and multivariate analyses, the factors had unique patterns of relationships with each other, with alcohol use and problems, and with measures of affect and personality. Although this study utilized a college-student sample, the factors obtained are similar to those found in studies using other samples. While R/S can be represented as a global characteristic, additional dimensions also exist and may have significance for understanding how R/S are related to health and well-being.     

Similarities and Differences in Semantic and Phonological Processing with Age Patterns of Functional MRI Activation

Abstract

In a study modelled after Hashtroudi, Johnson, and Chrosniak (1989), young and older adults were examined in two conditions requiring reality monitoring (i.e., discriminating between one external and one internal source) and two conditions requiring source monitoring (i.e., discriminating between two external or two internal sources). Results indicated age-related deficits in internal source monitoring, although the two age groups did not differ in reality monitoring or external source monitoring. Explicit instructions to remember the source of information had no effect on performance. In addition, performance on putative tests of frontal lobe functioning (i.e., the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and tests of verbal fluency) was unrelated to source memory performance. the results are discussed relative to the view that aging may affect the ability to encode perceptual information in a distinctive manner, as well as the ability to reconstruct perceptual information and its relationship to item information.     

Religiosity,Intolerant Attitudes,and Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance

The latent construct of religiosity comprised measures of external, internal, and quest religiosity and was examined in relation to the latent construct of intolerant attitudes in a sample of undergraduate and graduate students at a Christian-affiliated university. The latent construct of intolerance included the indicators of rape and domestic violence myth acceptance, social dominance, dogmatism, and negative attitudes toward women. Multivariate results revealed significant negative correlations between internal and quest religiosity and indicators of intolerant attitudes, including the interpersonal violence myth acceptance scales. Quest religiosity also demonstrated unique univariate quadratic effects with both rape myth acceptance and domestic violence myth acceptance. Moderate levels of questing were associated with highest levels of interpersonal violence myth acceptance. Implications for the existing literature are discussed within the framework of a relational conceptualization of religiosity.