Affective facilitation and inhibition of cultural influences on reasoning

Research in South Korea and the United States examined how affective states facilitate or inhibit culturally dominant styles of reasoning. According to the affect-as-information hypothesis, affective cues of mood influence judgements by serving as embodied information about the value of accessible inclinations and cognitions. Extending this line of research to culture, we hypothesised that positive affect should promote (and negative affect should inhibit) culturally normative reasoning. The results of two studies of causal reasoning supported this hypothesis. Positive and negative affect functioned like "go" and "stop" signals, respectively, for culturally typical reasoning styles. Thus, in happy (compared to sad) moods, Koreans engaged in more holistic reasoning, whereas Americans engaged in more analytic reasoning.     

Fewer intrusions after an attentional bias modification training for perceptual reminders of analogue trauma

The present experimental analogue study used computerised attention training to investigate the role of attention bias in the prediction of intrusive memories. After exposure to a trauma film, participants in a training group (n=22) were presented with a variant of the exogenic cueing task (ECT) in which visual film reminders (i.e., stills from the trauma film) were always presented during invalid and neutral control stimuli always during valid trials. The purpose of this cue-location contingency was reinforcing the direction of attention away from film reminders. Control participants (n=23) performed a similar training without such a contingency. Post-training processing bias was assessed with a single target Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) task, in which trauma-film reminders served as task-irrelevant distracters appearing shortly before a neutral target. The frequency of film-related intrusions was recorded in a take-home diary and at a follow-up session three days after film viewing. Participants who underwent attention training reported fewer film-related intrusions and showed less interference by visual film distracters than controls. Implications for research on attention bias after real-life trauma are discussed.     

RD, ADHD, and their comorbidity from a dual route perspective

In order to achieve further insight into the comorbidity of reading disorder (RD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lexical processing and rapid naming were studied in RD and ADHD. The Dual Route Cascaded model postulates that lexical processing contains two parallel processes: lexical route processing and sublexical route processing. An orthographic decision task and a phonological decision task were used to measure lexical and sublexical route processing, respectively. In addition, a rapid naming task was used to compare 27 children with RD, 18 children with ADHD, 20 children with ADHD+RD, and 29 controls. RD and ADHD shared impairments in accuracy of orthographic and phonological decision making as well as in rapid naming, which suggest that RD and ADHD may be overlapping disorders that share deficits in both lexical route and sublexical route processing. RD was dissociated from ADHD by being slower in both orthographical and phonological decision making that indicates unique deficits in RD on lexical and sublexical speed.     

Suicide mortality of suicide attempt patients discharged from emergency room, nonsuicidal psychiatric patients discharged from emergency room, admitted suicide attempt patients, and admitted nonsuicidal psychiatric patients

The suicide mortality rate and risk factors for suicide completion of patients who presented to an emergency room (ER) for suicide attempt and were discharged without psychiatric admission, patients who presented to an ER for psychiatric problems other than suicide attempt and were discharged without psychiatric admission, psychiatric inpatients admitted for suicide attempt, and psychiatric inpatients admitted for other reasons were examined. The records of 3,897 patients who were treated at a general hospital in Seoul, Korea, from July 2003 to December 2006 were reviewed. Forty-three of the 3,897 subjects died by suicide during the 2.5-year observation period. Compared to the general Korean population, the suicide mortality rate was 82-fold higher for suicide attempt patients, admitted; 54-fold higher for suicide attempt patients, discharged; 21-fold higher for nonsuicidal patients, admitted; and 11-fold higher for nonsuicidal patients, discharged. In all four groups, diagnosis of a depressive disorder and suicide attempt at presentation were each significant independent risk factors for suicide completion. These results highlight the need for suicide prevention strategies for depressed patients who present to the ER or are admitted to a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt.     

Dysfunctional Behavior among Sales Representatives: The Effect of Supervisory Trust,Participation, and Information Controls

This study investigates the efficacy of supervisory trust, participation, and information controls in curbing dysfunctional salesperson behavior so that salesperson actions are in line with organizational goals. Using a sample of 210 salespeople, we develop and test a model incorporating supervisory trust, participation, information controls (output information, activity information, and capability information), and dysfunctional behavior. Output and activity information controls directly affect dysfunctional behavior, whereas capability information controls work positively through trust in the supervisor to reduce dysfunctional behavior. Providing sales representatives with information about their capabilities appears to enhance the supervisor–salesperson trust relationship. Results also indicate that salespeople’s supervisory participation is an effective lever for reducing dysfunctional salesperson behavior through the intervening role of trust in the supervisor.     

A Review of: “Pamela J. Burry's Living with “The Gloria Films”: A daughter's memory.”

Abstract

This article examines alternatives for using language and discourse in clinical practice. The goal is to deconstruct deficit language and move toward a competency based psychological service. Deficit and pathology, the native tongue of psychotherapy, tend to initiate permanent stigmatizing patterns of social interaction which further marginalizes clients. This article deconstructs the taken‐for‐granted assumptions and discourses that underpin deficit‐based practice. Through the process of rediscoursing and re‐inventing therapeutic languages, therapists can reverse the self‐sustaining feedback loop initiated by deficit focus. These changes transport possibilities and personal agency into postmodern practice.     

Fear of Death and Supernatural Beliefs: Developing a New Supernatural Belief Scale to Test the Relationship

Fear of death features in both historical and contemporary theories of religion, but the relationship between death anxiety and religious belief is still ambiguous, largely due to the use of inappropriate or imprecise measures. The current studies therefore aimed to develop a valid, targeted measure of respondents' tendency towards religious belief, the ‘Supernatural Belief Scale’ (SBS), and to use the SBS to examine the relation between death anxiety and religious belief. Results indicate that the SBS shows high reliability and convergent validity and that its relation to death anxiety depends on participants' religious identification: ‘religious’ participants fear death less the stronger their religious beliefs, whereas ‘non‐religious’ participants are more inclined towards religious belief the more they fear death. These studies contribute a new measurement tool for research on religious belief and provide a starting point for an experimental integration of discrepant research findings. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Managing Sequential Task Portfolios in the Face of Temporal Atypicality and Task Complexity

The authors use a portfolio of sequential tasks to investigate how accurately study participants stick to assigned deadlines when they need to transition from one task to another. Atypical deadlines, task complexity, and individual differences all affect transition error size, error correction, and task performance. In Experiment 1 (N?=?108), larger task transition errors were related negatively to task performance and were associated with atypical deadlines (e.g., 4:53 or 4:57), complex tasks, and individuals lower in the general hurry characteristic. In Experiment 2 (N?=?95), individuals facing atypical deadlines or lower in need for cognition were less likely to correct transition errors (i.e., getting back to the original schedule), which negatively affected performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Effect of a nanoporous surface on photoluminescence from nanopatterned GaN thin films fabricated by anodic alumina templates

GaN photonic crystal slabs on InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well light-emitting diodes have been formed by dry etching using nanoporous anodic alumina templates, which have a periodic lattice constant of 105 nm and a hole diameter of 45 nm. The photonic crystal slab shows an enhanced intensity of photoluminescence due to the nanohole pattern array producing Fabry–Perot like interference. A rough surface of nanoholes results in a broad spectrum with a small oscillation, and well-ordered multiple facets of nanoholes results in a relatively sharp spectrum with a large oscillation.