Cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM): Implications for trait and cultural psychology

The cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM; Wood & Roberts, 2006) was tested in the United States, Mexico, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated their general and role identities, as defined by the PRISM, using Big Five trait adjectives, then rated their personality states (i.e., role experiences) in various roles in multiple daily interactions for 14 days. Structural predictions based on the PRISM were supported in all five cultures. Cultural differences were limited and did not reflect cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or cultural tightness. The results supported the cross-cultural generalizability of the PRISM and the merits of contextualized trait measures in the prediction of role experiences. Implications for trait and cultural psychology are discussed.     

Auditory emotional cues enhance visual perception

Recent studies show that emotional stimuli impair performance to subsequently presented neutral stimuli. Here we show a cross-modal perceptual enhancement caused by emotional cues. Auditory cue words were followed by a visually presented neutral target word. Two-alternative forced-choice identification of the visual target was improved by emotional cues as compared to neutral cues. When the cue was presented visually we replicated the emotion-induced impairment found in other studies. Our results suggest emotional stimuli have a twofold effect on perception. They impair perception by reflexively attracting attention at the expense of competing stimuli. However, emotional stimuli also induce a nonspecific perceptual enhancement that carries over onto other stimuli when competition is reduced, for example, by presenting stimuli in different modalities.     

Quality of life in patients with alcohol dependence disorder with personality disorders: relation to psychological adjustment and craving

The purpose of this study is to determine the self-perceived quality of life of abstinent patients with alcohol dependence disorder during the first month of treatment, and how the presence of personality disorders, psychological adjustment, and the level of craving affect this perception. For this purpose, a sample was used comprising 65 participants with mean age of 43.26 years, of whom 70.8% were male and 29.2% female, with a mean duration of addiction to alcohol consumption of 11.83 years. The results show that quality of life is not related to the duration of abstinence or the course of the addiction. Moreover, the patients who present a personality disorder perceive poorer quality of life in areas such as health status, mood, and social relations. Self-perception of quality of life is affected by psychological adjustment and beliefs about craving. These data should be taken into account when considering quality of life as a measurement of the effectiveness of a treatment for drug addicts with personality disorders.     

Risk and protective factors in adolescents' drug use, and differences by age and sex

Adolescents' drug use has huge social and personal implications, so it is essential to identify risk and protective factors. In this research, the CTCYS was used with 2440 adolescents to detect risk and protective factors for drug use in the community, family, school and peers/individual; differences in risk and protective factors by age and sex; and relationships between risk and protective factors and substance use. Protective factors are high. Risk factors are high in the community, the school and the individual. Older adolescents have more risks and less protection than the youngest; and there are sex differences, because males have less protection and more risks. The risk factors more closely related to drug use are availability of drugs in the community, family attitudes favourable to drug use, family history of antisocial behaviour, early start and use of drugs by friends, perceived risk and attitudes favourable to drug use. In the protective factors, the role played by social skills for alcohol use is important.     

Comorbidity between SCARED anxiety factors and depressive symptomatology in 8- to 12-year-old children

The aim of this study was to examine the comorbidity between the SCARED anxiety factors and depressive symptoms in 8-12-year-old children. Participants were 792 girls and 715 boys, who completed: the 41-ítem version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder (SCARED), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and a Socio-demographic questionnaire. Of the sample, 47% showed anxiety symptoms and 11.5% showed depressive symptoms. Heterotypic comorbidity was 82% in children at risk of depression and 20% in children at risk of anxiety. Homotypic Comorbidity between anxiety factors was 87%. Homotypic comorbidity and heterotypic comorbidity were high; their early detection will prevent the continuity of an anxious disorder and the development of depression.     

Psychological care demand in clinical practice: treatment and results

With the aim of describing the usual clinical context as opposed to the academic or research context, the characteristics of patients and psychological treatments applied in a sample of 856 patients from the Clinic of Psychology of the Complutense University is analyzed. The disorders that require attention, the characteristics of the therapists and their interventions are identified. Out of the total patients, 24.3% withdrew from treatment; 68.3% of the patients who started treatment completed it with therapeutic success. 83% of patients were assessed in 4 sessions or fewer (median=4). 75.3% of patients who finished the treatment received 18 or fewer treatment sessions (median=11). The generalization of the results and their implications for professional clinical practice and for training clinical psychologists are discussed.     

Emotion and recognition memory: the discrimination of negative information as an adaptive process

We studied the effect of emotion generated by IAPS (International Affective Picture System) pictures on incidental recognition of these pictures for short retention periods (15 min). Memorization distraction tasks and reaction time tasks were used together with short exposure times (2 seconds per picture) in order to prevent a high recognition rate that would impede testing for the effect of emotion on discrimination parameters (A′) and response bias (B′′D) (ceiling effect). We used 80 pictures representing the medium and high levels of two-dimensional emotional space. The results showed greater discrimination and a more conservative response style to unpleasant and medium arousal level pictures. These pictures produced higher confidence and lower response times in the recognition phase. The results can be explained by the negative content of the pictures and activation level effects on attentional processing and memory, and can be interpreted as a phenomenon that is evolutionarily adaptive.     

Efficacy of a group memory training method for older adults based on visualization and association techniques: A randomized,controlled trial with a placebo group

The aim of this trial has been to determine the efficacy of a group memory training method. The experimental group was compared to a placebo group (health education) or to a control group (waiting list). Forty‐five adults between the ages of 60 and 70 years (M = 66.9) were recruited by placing notices in senior citizen community centres, which encouraged people with memory problems to participate in the study. Data were collected at baseline, 1 week, and 6 months after the intervention. The efficacy of the training was evaluated by measures of objective and subjective everyday memory performance. After intervention, the experimental group participants showed an increase in objective memory performance (d = 1.95). The effect size was even higher at 6 months after intervention (d = 2.88). Further, their subjective experience related to everyday memory slips decreased (d = ?0.52). The memory training method was effective in improving everyday memory in older people with some cognitive decline. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Irrational Beliefs in Employees with an Adjustment,a Depressive,or an Anxiety Disorder: a Prospective Cohort Study

It remains unclear if patients with different types of common mental disorders, such as adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders, have the same irrational ideas. The aim of this prospective cohort study (n = 190) is to investigate differences in level and type of irrational beliefs among these groups and to examine whether a change in irrational beliefs is related to symptom recovery. Irrational beliefs (IBI) and symptoms were measured at four points in time: at baseline, after 3, 6 and 12 months. Results showed that diagnostic groups differed in their level of irrational beliefs and this effect remained over time. Highest levels of irrationality were observed in the double diagnosis group, followed by the anxiety disorder group and the depression group. Participants with adjustment disorders showed the lowest levels of irrationality, comparable to a community sample. We did not find differences in the type of irrational beliefs between diagnostic groups. The level of irrationality declined over time for all diagnostic groups. No differences in decrease were observed between diagnostic groups. The magnitude and direction of change in irrational beliefs were related to the magnitude of recovery of depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms over time. These results support the application of general cognitive interventions, especially for patients with a depressive or an anxiety disorder.     

The Tractatus on Logical Consequence

Abstract: I discuss the account of logical consequence advanced in Wittgenstein's Tractatus. I argue that the role that elementary propositions are meant to play in this account can be used to explain two remarkable features that Wittgenstein ascribes to them: that they are logically independent from one another and that their components refer to simple objects. I end with a proposal as to how to understand Wittgenstein's claim that all propositions can be analysed as truth functions of elementary propositions.