Calibrating the response to health warnings: limiting both overreaction and underreaction with self-affirmation

Self-affirmation, reflecting on one's defining personal values, increases acceptance of threatening information, but does it do so at the cost of inducing undue alarm in people at low risk of harm? We contrast an alarm model, wherein self-affirmation simply increases response to threat, with a calibration model, wherein self-affirmation increases sensitivity to the self-relevance of health-risk information. Female seafood consumers (N = 165) completed a values self-affirmation or control task before reading a U.S. Food and Drug Administration brochure on mercury in seafood. Findings support the calibration model: Among frequent seafood consumers, self-affirmation generally increased concern (reports of depth of thought, personal message relevance, perceived risk, and negative affect) for those high in defensiveness and reduced it for those low in defensiveness. Among infrequent consumers of seafood, self-affirmation typically reduced concern. Thus, self-affirmation increased the sensitivity with which women at different levels of risk, and at different levels of defensiveness, responded cognitively and affectively to the materials.     

Narratives of quality in qualitative research: Putting them in context

This article is a commentary on ‘Assessing ‘good’ qualitative research in the work psychology field: A narrative analysis’ (Cassell & Symon, 2011).     

Jesus as an exemplar of faith in the New Testament

Roman Catholic theologians long denied that Jesus had faith in God, and Jesus having faith in God seems in conflict with traditional claims that Jesus is fully divine (Section II). What the New Testament means by “faith” is explored (Section III), and in light of this we consider arguments from orthodox Incarnation theory to the conclusion that Jesus did not have and could not have had faith in God (Section IV). Relevantly, the New Testament clearly asserts in five ways that Jesus had faith in God (Section V). This exposes problems for traditional Incarnation theories, some of which are addressed by recent “Kenosis” accounts. But these too are problematic (Section VI).     

Marked: Tattoo as an Expression of Psyche

Tattoo is a practice that is thousands of years old, appearing in virtually every corner of the world. Since the rise and expansion of organized nation states, it has often been subject to negative judgments, identified with a primitive cultural level, low social status, or even criminality. This article provides a brief overview of the history of tattoo, identifying associated cultural complexes and considering factors in the contemporary resurgence of tattoo's popularity. Against this backdrop, a qualitative study of a group of contemporary tattoo wearers is presented. Selected tattoos are reproduced and examined in detail from a psychological perspective, along with the wearers' own accounts of their motivations and experiences. From these accounts emerge five basic themes: self-empowerment, identification with a group, memorialization, “a message to oneself,” and the transformation of pain into beauty. Broader consideration is then given to different levels of meaning that a tattoo may carry for the wearer, working from examples of a particular motif often chosen: that of birds. Previous authors have pathologized wearers as masochistic, due to the pain involved in receiving a tattoo. Others tend to view tattoo as purely ornamental in function. The purpose of this article is to balance the picture by remaining open to tattoo as an expression of psyche. The emerging story is one in which choosing, receiving, and wearing a tattoo can be part of living a symbolic life.     

Ostracism,resources, and the perception of human motion

Is perception of human motion affected by psychosocial resources? According to the Resources and Perception Model, perception is jointly affected by subjective threat and psychosocial resources that buffer threat. Two experiments tested whether social threat (i.e., ostracism) and psychosocial resources affect perception of human motion. Observers attempted to identify human movement in ambiguous point‐light displays after being ostracized or not ostracized. Additionally, trait resources (self‐esteem plus social support) were measured (Studies 1 and 2), and self‐affirmation was manipulated (Study 2). Study 1 showed that ostracism reduced sensitivity for detecting human motion but not among people with ample trait resources. Study 2 replicated this ostracism‐by‐trait resources interaction. It also showed that self‐affirmation improved human motion perception for all included participants but only benefited ostracized participants with ample trait resources. These studies show that a basic visual skill—detecting human motion—is jointly affected by social threats and psychosocial resources.     

Long-Term Follow-Up of an Occupation-Based Group Addressing Occupational Performance and Satisfaction in University Freshmen

The long-term impact of a 5-week, occupation-based intervention to address the life transition of university students into young adulthood is presented here. Study participants showed statistically significant gains from baseline to long-term follow-up in both occupational performance and performance satisfaction. In post hoc analyses, occupational performance maintained a level of significance. During a time of rapid change, occupation-based interventions have the potential to provide transitioning university freshmen students the skills that they need for a successful transition into a university. Changes in the structure, timing, and focus of the intervention and studies using more diverse and larger samples are warranted.     

Learning to diminish the effects of proactive interference: Reducing false memory for young and older adults

Results from two experiments revealed that prior experience with proactive interference (PI) diminished PI’s effects for both young and older adults. Participants were given two rounds of experience, with different materials, in a situation that produced PI. Comparisons with a control condition showed that the effects of PI on accuracy and on high-confidence intrusion errors (false memory) were reduced on the second round, as compared with those on the first. Also, the ability of confidence to diagnose accuracy of responding improved across rounds. Effects of prior experience with PI depended on feedback given at the time of test (Experiment 1). At least in part, the diminishment of PI resulted from participants’ allocating more attention to interference items during study in the second round than in the first (Experiment 2). Implications of the results for interpreting age differences in PI and false memory are discussed.     

Personality Mediation of Genetic Effects on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Personality traits may be viable candidates for mediators of the relationship between genetic risk and ADHD. Participants were 578 children (331 boys; 320 children with ADHD) between the ages of six and 18. Parents and teachers completed a comprehensive, multi-stage diagnostic procedure to assess ADHD and comorbid disorders. Mother completed the California Q-Sort to assess child Big Five personality traits. Children provided buccal samples of DNA which were assayed for selected markers on DRD4, DAT1, and ADRA2A. An additive genetic risk composite was associated with ADHD symptoms and maladaptive personality traits; maladaptive personality traits were associated with ADHD symptoms. Low conscientiousness and high neuroticism partially mediated the relationship between genetic risk and ADHD symptoms. Mediation effects for conscientiousness were specific to inattentive symptoms; effects for neuroticism generalized to all disruptive behaviors. High neuroticism and low conscientiousness may be useful as early markers for children at risk for ADHD.     

Severe pain predicts greater likelihood of subsequent suicide

Using data from the 1999 Large Health Survey of Veterans, Veterans Affairs' medical records, and the National Death Index (N = 260,254), the association between self-reported pain severity and suicide among veterans as examined, after accounting for demographic variables and psychiatric diagnoses. A Cox proportional hazards regression demonstrated that veterans with severe pain were more likely to die by suicide than patients experiencing none, mild, or moderate pain (HR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.54), after controlling for demographic and psychiatric characteristics. These results indicate that pain evaluations should be included in comprehensive suicide assessments and suicide prevention efforts.