Assessing Ego Defense Mechanisms by Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Psychopathological Correlates of the Greek Version of the Plutchik's Life Style Index

As is true for those who face death, the trauma of arrest and conviction for a crime and subsequent imprisonment takes the individual through a series of psychological stages, In the offender, these defenses are to some extent prescribed by the culture. The nature of and the person's adaptation to this process has not been previously recognized and argues for an assessment approach that emphasizes developmental rather than static formulations. Examination and treatment implications are discussed.     

Good Workers and Crooked Bosses: The Effect of Voice Suppression by Supervisors on Employees’ Populist Attitudes and Voting

This study is the first to explore the effect of political socialization in the workplace on populist attitudes. We investigate the effect of workplace voice suppression on employees' populist attitudes and voting. We expect employees who were suppressed by supervisors to hold more populist attitudes and to be more likely to vote for a populist party than employees who were not. We argue that some employees experience voice suppression by supervisors as stressful, so splitting is likely to be employed as a defense mechanism. Splitting is achieved through cognitive distinction and antagonism between “the good workers” and “the crooked bosses.” Such a split mental framework can generalize into a worldview that contrasts “the pure people” and “the corrupt elite,” a core characteristic of populism. We predict that the extent to which suppression triggers splitting and consequentially incites populist attitudes and voting depends on employees' acceptance of power distance. We test our hypotheses using SEM on survey data from 2990 members of the Dutch labor force. Our results show that experiences of voice suppression are positively related to populist attitudes and populist voting. As expected, this effect is stronger for employees who are less accepting of power distance.     

Interpreting functional analysis outcomes using automated nonparametric statistical analysis

Current methods employed to interpret functional analysis data include visual analysis and post-hoc visual inspection (PHVI). However, these methods may be biased by dataset complexity, hand calculations, and rater experience. We examined whether an automated approach using nonparametric rank-based statistics could increase the accuracy and efficiency of functional analysis data interpretation. We applied Automated Nonparametric Statistical Analysis (ANSA) to a sample of 65 published functional analyses for which additional experimental evidence was available to verify behavior function. Results showed that exact behavior function agreement between ANSA and the publications authors was 83.1%, exact agreement between ANSA and PHVI was 75.4%, and exact agreement across all 3 methods was 64.6%. These preliminary findings suggest that ANSA has the potential to support the data interpretation process. A web application that incorporates the calculations and rules utilized by ANSA is accessible at https://ansa.shinyapps.io/ansa/     

Affective responses to abuse in the workplace: The role of hope and affective commitment

Affective responses constitute the mechanism by which abusive supervision received is associated with subordinates’ turnover intentions. Using affective events theory (AET) as a theoretical framework, we suggest that abusive supervision is a contextual event that is associated with subordinates’ affective reactions and corresponding evaluative judgment of their workplace, which ultimately leads to increased turnover intentions, a prominent withdrawal outcome. We examine two affective responses as mediators, hope (a goal-related affective state based on the expectation of positive outcomes) and affective commitment (affect-based evaluation of the organization). Two samples from a field study (n = 209) and an experiment (n = 427) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results supported our proposed chain of relationships, suggesting that subordinates are likely to experience decreased hope and affective commitment after having experienced abuse from a supervisor, which subsequently impact their withdrawal intention to leave the organization.     

Measuring adaptive expertise: development and validation of an instrument

Individuals with adaptive expertise possess the skills to deal with novel problems. Whereas this concept has been around since the mid-1980s, no instrument exists that provides a good operationalization of the theoretical construct. This inhibits the further development of research on adaptive expertise and the evaluation of employees’ adaptive expertise levels. Adaptive expertise has been unanimously described as a composition of domain-specific and innovative skills. Some researchers argue that metacognitive skills are also crucial. This study aimed to establish whether an instrument measuring adaptive expertise is composed of these three dimensions. In addition, it was tested whether such an instrument is influenced by task variety and work experience, as previously reported in literature. A sample of 383 professionals and graduates were used to test the Adaptive Expertise Inventory. Through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), (E/CFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the quality of the instrument was evaluated. Good model fit was achieved. The final instrument consisted of two dimensions—i.e., domain-specific and innovative skills—with five items each. Regression analysis showed that not work experience, but task variety is related to level of adaptive expertise. The Adaptive Expertise Inventory proved to be a valid instrument for measuring adaptive expertise.     

Networks of meaning and the bicultural mind: A structural equation modeling approach

The paper examines cultural frame-switching among bicultural participants at the level of associated meanings. Bicultural participants of Greek descent who live in the Netherlands were randomly primed with either Greek or Dutch cultural symbols and language. A monocultural Dutch group in the Netherlands and a monocultural Greek group in Greece, were involved as control groups. Structural equation modeling indicated that the Greek participants in Greece and the bicultural participants primed with Greek culture had a similar pattern of associations. This pattern differed from that of the Dutch participants and the participants primed with Dutch culture. Thus, the two different monocultural association patterns were replicated among bicultural individuals. The findings show that meanings are affected by cultural frame-switching, and provide further support for the dynamic constructivist approach.     

Extinction-induced "despair" in aged and adult rats: links to neurotrophins in frontal cortex and hippocampus

In the search for animal models of human geriatric depression, we found that operant extinction of escape from water results in the expression of immobility in different age groups, indicative of behavioral "despair", which was also associated with the resistance-to-extinction (RTE) expressed by these animals. With respect to the neurotrophin hypothesis of depression, nerve-growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) protein levels in frontal cortex (FC) and hippocampus (HP) were examined and related to behavioral immobility and RTE in the water maze in aged and adult Wistar rats. Age-related increases in levels of NGF were found in HP and of NT-3 in FC. Indices of immobility showed relationships in the aged with NGF and, in adults, with BDNF, pointing to a dissociation of neurotrophic involvement in extinction trial-induced "despair" in aged and adult rats. The present results support the hypothesis, that extinction-induced immobility in the water maze reflects a state akin to behavioral despair and point to age-related differences of neurotrophic involvement in depressive-like symptoms. The concept of extinction-induced behavioral "despair" in the aged subsumes several aspects of human geriatric depression, such as co-morbidity of learning impairment and anxiety, and, thus could represent a useful paradigm to examine the neuronal mechanisms underlying depression, especially in aged rodents.     

Constructing Czechoslovakia: the meaning of "intelligence" in Czechoslovak educational discourse, 1900-1939

Before World War II, Czechoslovakia went through its constituting process, including the development of an educational system. We made an analysis of Czechoslovak discussions about educational uses of intelligence tests from a discourse-theoretic and social constructionist perspective. In particular, we examined which connotations became associated with the concept "intelligence" in educational scientific publications about possible educational uses of the newly introduced tests in the years 1900-1939. Results substantiate the inextricable entwining of the meaning of "intelligence" with the unique characteristics of the historical situation in Czechoslovakia before World War II.     

Development of a Multi-Disciplinary Intervention for the Treatment of Childhood Obesity Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Along the lines of the evidence-based recommendations, we developed a multi-disciplinary intervention for overweight children 7- to 12-years-old, primarily aiming at helping children to adopt healthier eating habits and a physically active lifestyle. The program combined nutrition intervention, based on a non-dieting approach, with physical activity intervention, implemented through the basic principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), along with parental support. The program was conducted by dieticians with the collaboration of child psychiatrists and pediatricians. Training and regular supervision upon CBT priniciples application was intended to enhance dieticians' efficiency. The intervention is currently being evaluated to determine its effectiveness in treating childhood obesity.     

Assessing ego defense mechanisms by questionnaire: psychometric properties and psychopathological correlates of the Greek version of the Plutchik's Life Style Index

The Life Style Index (LSI; Plutchik, Kellerman, & Conte, 1979 ) was designed to assess defense mechanisms, assuming that their use is related to specific affective states and diagnostic concepts. We aimed to assess the psychometric properties of its Greek version and its relation to psychopathological symptoms. The LSI was back-translated into Greek and was administered to 1,261 participants. Six factors were identified, 5 of them largely corresponding to the original version's defenses (compensation, denial, projection, reaction formation, and repression). The sixth factor, named regressive emotionality, included mainly the original scale's regression and displacement factors. Test-retest reliabilities, internal consistencies, and construct validity were quite satisfactory. Most defenses were able to discriminate psychiatric patients from healthy participants and were associated with specific psychopathological symptoms in a theoretically expected mode, further supporting the validity of the Greek version. Our findings suggest that the LSI, based on both psychoevolutionary and psychoanalytic theory, can provide a solid ground for assessing ego defense mechanisms.