Hypnotic susceptibility in patients with conversion disorder

Conversion disorder has been associated with hypnotic susceptibility for over a century and is currently still believed to be a form of autohypnosis. There is, however, little empirical evidence for the relation between hypnotic susceptibility and conversion symptoms. The authors compared 50 patients with conversion disorder with 50 matched control patients with an affective disorder on measures of hypnotic susceptibility, cognitive dissociation, and somatoform dissociation. Conversion patients were significantly more responsive to hypnotic suggestions than control patients. In addition, conversion patients showed a significant correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and the number of conversion complaints. These results provide the first evidence of a relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and the presence and number of conversion symptoms.     

Role models in self-esteem of college women

This study examined the relationship between self-esteem and the existence of role models among a sample of 36 female college students. Participants completed a questionnaire which included demographic questions, the Self-esteem Inventory, and questions concerning use of childhood and contemporary role models. Independent t-test results indicated that participants who reported having current role models had higher self-esteem scores than participants who did not, suggesting that role models may contribute to higher self-esteem in college-age women. No significant differences in self-esteem were by sex of the role model.     

Attitudes toward illegal immigration: a cross-national methodological comparison

This research is an examination of the generalizability of a Likert-type scale originally devised to measure attitudes toward illegal immigrants (IA) in the United States. The current authors administered this scale across 4 national samples using several methodological procedures. Undergraduate students (631) responded to the IA scale (R. Ommundsen & K. S. Larsen, 1997) at the University of Oslo, Oregon State University, the University of Copenhagen, and Vrije University of Amsterdam. The authors' main purpose was to evaluate the adequacy of the 20-item IA scale by examining possible problems with method and translation. A translation study carried out with the Danish, Norwegian, and Dutch samples (N = 299) showed that the various national versions were fairly accurate and contained largely the same meanings. The use of procrustes analysis of the IA scale yielded 3 factors in all 4 national samples. The coefficient of congruence of these 3 orthogonally rotated factor matrices, with the U.S. factor matrix as target, varied from .80 to .95, supporting the cross-national robustness of the scale. In the search for a more economical cumulative scale, a Mokken analysis yielded a 5-item scale that represented the aforementioned 3 factors and was stable across national samples.     

Effects of conflict resolution training integrated into a high school social studies curriculum

The authors examined the effectiveness of conflict resolution and peer mediation training among California high school students. The authors randomly assigned 2 of 4 classes to receive 5 weeks of conflict resolution and peer mediation training integrated into the required social studies curriculum. The remaining 2 classes studied the same social studies curriculum for an identical amount of time (105 min every other day) without conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The authors investigated 2 issues. The 1st was the effectiveness of the conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The trained students, compared with the untrained students, learned the integrative negotiation and peer mediation procedures better, applied the procedures more completely, chose an integrative over a distributive approach to negotiation, and developed more positive attitudes toward conflict. The 2nd issue was the impact of the training program on academic achievement. Integrating conflict resolution and peer mediation training into an academic course promoted higher achievement, greater long-term retention of the academic learning, and greater transfer of academic learning in social studies to language arts.     

Rigidity of thought and behavior: 100 years of research

Rigidity is one of the oldest psychological constructs, with systematic research dating back to the late 19th century. The authors review this research in an attempt to clarify the construct of rigidity and to investigate its correlates. Rigidity is described as a multidimensional construct encompassing the tendency to form and perseverate in the use of mental and behavioral sets. A series of meta-analyses was performed based on three measures of behavioral rigidity: the Einstellung Water-Jar Task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and the motor-cognitive dimension of the Test of Behavioral Rigidity. The results indicated that rigidity is curvilinearly related to age, positively related to authoritarianism (particularly under stressful situations), and negatively related to intelligence; that men are more rigid than women; that obsessive-compulsiveness is positively related to rigidity; and that schizophrenics are more rigid than nonschizophrenic siblings and normal controls. Unresolved issues and gaps in the research are discussed.     

Group belongingness and procedural justice: social inclusion and exclusion by peers affects the psychology of voice

The authors focus on the relation between group membership and procedural justice. They argue that whether people are socially included or excluded by their peers influences their reactions to unrelated experiences of procedural justice. Findings from 2 experiments corroborate the prediction that reactions to voice as opposed to no-voice procedures are affected more strongly when people are included in a group than when they are excluded from a group. These findings are extended with a 3rd experiment that shows that people who generally experience higher levels of inclusion in their lives respond more strongly to voice as opposed to no-voice procedures. It is concluded that people's reactions to procedural justice are moderated by people's level of inclusion in social groups.     

Post-light potentiation at type B to A photoreceptor connections in Hermissenda

We investigated whether the long (approximately 30-s) or short (approximately 3-s) light stimuli that have been used during behavioral training would induce post-light potentiation (PLP) at the type B to A photoreceptor connections of the isolated nervous system of Hermissenda. We found that a single approximately 30-s light step induced PLP at these connections relative to both pre-light baseline and seawater control preparations, as did a series of nine short (approximately 3-s) light steps. In addition, a 30-s step of depolarization-elicited type B cell activity induced potentiation comparable to that induced by a approximately 30-s light step, indicating that light-elicited type B cell activity contributes to the induction of PLP. By contrast, even though a series of short (3-s) light steps induced potentiation, short steps of depolarization-evoked type B cell activity did not. Hence, light-evoked processes other than type B cell depolarization or activity (e.g., perhaps intracellular Ca2+ release) also contribute to the induction of PLP. Further results suggest that these other light-evoked processes interact nonadditively with type B cell activity to generate PLP. Some but not all instances of synaptic potentiation were accompanied by various changes in parameters of type B cell action potentials and afterhyperpolarizing potentials, suggesting diverse underlying mechanisms, including increases in neurotransmitter release. Given that the type A cells have been proposed to polysynaptically excite the motor neurons that drive phototaxis, a light-evoked potentiation of synaptic strength at the inhibitory type B to A photoreceptor connections may play a mechanistic role in light-elicited nonassociative learning.     

Associations Between Fathers’ and Mothers’ Psychopathology Symptoms,Parental Emotion Socialization,and Preschoolers’ Social-Emotional Development

In this study we tested whether the relation between fathers’ and mothers’ psychopathology symptoms and child social-emotional development was mediated by parents’ use of emotion talk about negative emotions in a sample of 241 two-parent families. Parents’ internalizing and externalizing problems were measured with the Adult Self Report and parental emotion talk was observed while they discussed a picture book with their children (child age: 3 years). Children’s parent-reported internalizing and externalizing problems and observed prosocial behaviors were assessed at the age of 3 years and again 12 months later. We found that mothers’ use of emotion talk partially mediated the positive association between fathers’ internalizing problems and child internalizing problems. Fathers’ internalizing problems predicted more elaborative mother–child discussions about negative emotions, which in turn predicted more internalizing problems in children a year later. Mothers’ externalizing problems directly predicted more internalizing and externalizing problems in children. These findings emphasize the importance of examining the consequences of parental psychological difficulties for child development from a family-wide perspective.