Are measures of self-esteem,neuroticism, locus of control,and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct?

The authors present results of 4 studies that seek to determine the discriminant and incremental validity of the 3 most widely studied traits in psychology-self-esteem, neuroticism, and locus of control-along with a 4th, closely related trait-generalized self-efficacy. Meta-analytic results indicated that measures of the 4 traits were strongly related. Results also demonstrated that a single factor explained the relationships among measures of the 4 traits. The 4 trait measures display relatively poor discriminant validity, and each accounted for little incremental variance in predicting external criteria relative to the higher order construct. In light of these results, the authors suggest that measures purporting to assess self-esteem, locus of control, neuroticism, and generalized self-efficacy may be markers of the same higher order concept.     

Patient personality and time-limited group psychotherapy for complicated grief

We used a randomized clinical trial to investigate the interaction of two patient personality characteristics (quality of object relations [QOR] and psychological mindedness [PM]) with two forms of time-limited, short-term group therapy (interpretive and supportive) for 139 psychiatric outpatients with complicated grief. Findings differed depending on the outcome variable (e.g., grief symptoms, general symptoms) and the statistical criterion (e.g., statistical significance, clinical significance, magnitude of effect). Patients in both therapies improved. For grief symptoms, a significant interaction effect was found for QOR. High-QOR patients improved more in interpretive therapy and low-QOR patients improved more in supportive therapy. A main effect was found for PM. High-PM patients improved more in both therapies. For general symptoms, clinical significance favored interpretive therapy over supportive therapy. Clinical implications concerning patient-treatment matching are discussed.     

The contribution of temperament, childhood neglect, and abuse to the development of personality dysfunction: a comparison of three models

We examined the contribution of temperament, childhood neglect, and abuse to the development of personality dysfunction as postulated in three different but correlated models of personality: the psychobiological, Vaillant's psychoanalytic, and DSM psychopathology models. Character, defense style, and personality disorder symptomatology (the dependent variables), and temperament, childhood neglect, and abuse (the independent variables) were assessed in 168 depressed outpatients. High harm avoidance (temperament) tended to be the strongest and most consistent risk factor across the three models. Deficient parental care predicted personality dysfunction, however low care was not consistently predictive across all three models. Emotional/psychological abuse and actual physical abuse were risk factors for increasing personality disorder symptomatology only. Childhood sexual abuse was not as predictive of personality dysfunction as might be expected, thereby raising questions as to the importance placed on child sexual abuse as a general risk factor for personality psychopathology.     

The effect of a salient odor context on memory retrieval in young infants

Three-month-old infants were trained to move a mobile in the presence of a coconut or cherry odor (context). One or 5 days later, the infants were tested for retrieval in the presence of either the same odor, the alternate odor, or no odor. Infants tested with the training odor displayed retention at both intervals; retention was not seen at either interval in the alternate odor or no odor conditions. These data suggest that the odor combines with the mobile to form a compound-stimulus representation of the learned task whose presence after both short (1 day) and long (5 days) intervals is a necessary retrieval cue.     

Co‐occurrence of depression and delinquency in personality types

Although the co‐occurrence between adolescent depression and delinquency has been well‐studied, the nature of the longitudinal associations is not yet clear. To clarify this we examined whether personality type is a moderator in the longitudinal co‐occurrence of depression and delinquency. A total of 338 young and middle adolescents completed questionnaires about depression, delinquency and personality in 3 yearly waves of the CONflict And Management Of RElationships (CONAMORE). We found that the stable overcontrollers showed the highest mean level on depression and that the stable undercontrollers showed the highest mean level on delinquency. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the longitudinal co‐occurrence between depression and delinquency was best described by means of a stability model, in which personality type membership proved to be an important moderator. The three personality types differed significantly on the rank‐order stability of both depression and delinquency. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coenzyme Q10: a review of its promise as a neuroprotectant

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a powerful antioxidant that buffers the potential adverse consequences of free radicals produced during oxidative phosphorylation in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Oxidative stress, resulting in glutathione loss and oxidative DNA and protein damage, has been implicated in many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease. Experimental studies in animal models suggest that CoQ10 may protect against neuronal damage that is produced by ischemia, atherosclerosis and toxic injury. Though most have tended to be pilot studies, there are published preliminary clinical trials showing that CoQ10 may offer promise in many brain disorders. For example, a 16-month randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial in 80 subjects with mild Parkinson's disease found significant benefits for oral CoQ10 1,200 mg/day to slow functional deterioration. However, to date, there are no published clinical trials of CoQ10 in Alzheimer's disease. Available data suggests that oral CoQ10 seems to be relatively safe and tolerated across the range of 300-2,400 mg/day. Randomized controlled trials are warranted to confirm CoQ10's safety and promise as a clinically effective neuroprotectant.     

Effects of prosodically modulated sub-phonetic variation on lexical competition

Eye movements were monitored as participants followed spoken instructions to manipulate one of four objects pictured on a computer screen. Target words occurred in utterance-medial (e.g., Put the cap next to the square) or utterance-final position (e.g., Now click on the cap). Displays consisted of the target picture (e.g., a cap), a monosyllabic competitor picture (e.g., a cat), a polysyllabic competitor picture (e.g., a captain) and a distractor (e.g., a beaker). The relative proportion of fixations to the two types of competitor pictures changed as a function of the position of the target word in the utterance, demonstrating that lexical competition is modulated by prosodically conditioned phonetic variation.     

Personality measurement, faking, and employment selection

Real job applicants completed a 5-factor model personality measure as part of the job application process. They were rejected; 6 months later they (n = 5,266) reapplied for the same job and completed the same personality measure. Results indicated that 5.2% or fewer improved their scores on any scale on the 2nd occasion; moreover, scale scores were as likely to change in the negative direction as the positive. Only 3 applicants changed scores on all 5 scales beyond a 95% confidence threshold. Construct validity of the personality scales remained intact across the 2 administrations, and the same structural model provided an acceptable fit to the scale score matrix on both occasions. For the small number of applicants whose scores changed beyond the standard error of measurement, the authors found the changes were systematic and predictable using measures of social skill, social desirability, and integrity. Results suggest that faking on personality measures is not a significant problem in real-world selection settings.     

Kinematic cues in perceptual weight judgement and their origins in box lifting

When accepting a parcel from another person, we are able to use information about that person’s movement to estimate in advance the weight of the parcel, that is, to judge its weight from observed action. Perceptual weight judgment provides a powerful method to study our interpretation of other people’s actions, but it is not known what sources of information are used in judging weight. We have manipulated full form videos to obtain precise control of the perceived kinematics of a box lifting action, and use this technique to explore the kinematic cues that affect weight judgment. We find that observers rely most on the duration of the lifting movement to judge weight, and make less use of the durations of the grasp phase, when the box is first gripped, or the place phase, when the box is put down. These findings can be compared to the kinematics of natural box lifting behaviour, where we find that the duration of the grasp component is the best predictor of true box weight. The lack of accord between the optimal cues predicted by the natural behaviour and the cues actually used in the perceptual task has implications for our understanding of action observation in terms of a motor simulation. The differences between perceptual and motor behaviour are evidence against a strong version of the motor simulation hypothesis. A. F. de C. Hamilton and D. W. Joyce have contributed equally to this work.