Exploring the Relationship Between Self-Isolation and Distress Among People with Gastrointestinal Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - This study aimed to explore the association between perceived isolation and symptoms of distress in people with GI disorders at the time of the...     

What predicts Australian university students' intentions to volunteer their time for community service?

University students represent one target population with great potential to serve as volunteers. The primary focus on describing the characteristics of students who choose to volunteer, however, has resulted in limited understanding of the psychosocial factors impacting on students' decisions to volunteer. To bridge this gap, we used an extension of a well‐known theoretical framework, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), to predict students' intentions to volunteer for community service. Using content and thematic analysis, we explored also students' motivations and constraints for volunteering. Students (N = 235; M age = 22.09 years) self‐reported their attitude, normative influences, control perceptions, moral obligation, past behaviour, demographic characteristics, and intentions for volunteering via questionnaire. Regression analyses showed that the extended TPB explained 67% of the variance in students' volunteering intentions. In qualitative analyses, themes primarily represented the factors contributing to low efficacy for volunteering (e.g., time constraints). Control perceptions and perceived moral obligations related to volunteering represent important future targets to encourage student volunteering for organisations providing critical services for those most in need.     

False memories of fabricated political events

In the largest false memory study to date, 5,269 participants were asked about their memories for three true and one of five fabricated political events. Each fabricated event was accompanied by a photographic image purportedly depicting that event. Approximately half the participants falsely remembered that the false event happened, with 27% remembering that they saw the events happen on the news. Political orientation appeared to influence the formation of false memories, with conservatives more likely to falsely remember seeing Barack Obama shaking hands with the president of Iran, and liberals more likely to remember George W. Bush vacationing with a baseball celebrity during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. A follow-up study supported the explanation that events are more easily implanted in memory when they are congruent with a person's preexisting attitudes and evaluations, in part because attitude-congruent false events promote feelings of recognition and familiarity, which in turn interfere with source attributions.     

South‐East European Regional Conference of Psychology, 2009, Sofia,Bulgaria

The first South‐East European Regional Conference of Psychology was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 30 October to 1 November 2009, under the Patronage of the President of Bulgaria and the auspices of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS), and the International Association for Cross‐Cultural Psychology (IACCP), with further financial support provided by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) and the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS). The conference was hosted by the Bulgarian Psychological Society under the Conference Presidency of Dr Plamen Dimitrov, who was supported by Professor Sava Djonev as Chair of the Scientific Program Committee. It attracted over 350 participants from 25 countries, including 14 countries from the SEE region and its immediate neighbours. The Scientific Program explored ways and means to promote the role of psychology individually and institutionally at regional and international levels. Planning is already under way to organize a second regional conference in three years’ time.     

Racial prejudice predicts opposition to Obama and his health care reform plan

The present study examines the relationship between racial prejudice and reactions to President Barack Obama and his policies. Before the 2008 election, participants’ levels of implicit and explicit anti-Black prejudice were measured. Over the following days and months, voting behavior, attitudes toward Obama, and attitudes toward Obama’s health care reform plan were assessed. Controlling for explicit prejudice, implicit prejudice predicted a reluctance to vote for Obama, opposition to his health care reform plan, and endorsement of specific concerns about the plan. In an experiment, the association between implicit prejudice and opposition to health care reform replicated when the plan was attributed to Obama, but not to Bill Clinton—suggesting that individuals high in anti-Black prejudice tended to oppose Obama at least in part because they dislike him as a Black person. In sum, our data support the notion that racial prejudice is one factor driving opposition to Obama and his policies.     

Relationships between psychoevolutionary fear of evaluation,cognitive distortions,and social anxiety symptoms: A preliminary structural equation model

Social anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that affects 4.7% of Australians each year. The complex interplay between psychoevolutionary and cognitive models has become the focus of research in recent years, particularly with the development of the bivalent fear of evaluation model (i.e., negative and positive evaluation fears). The present study aimed to test a model of social anxiety symptoms using structural equation modelling, integrating previously fragmented evidence. A sample of 255 participants (75.3% female; M_age = 31.9, SD = 10.3) undertook an online survey, including Social Phobia Scale, Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation—Straightforward, Fear of Positive Evaluation, Concerns of Social Reprisal, and Disqualifications of Positive Social Outcomes measures. The hypothesised model for social anxiety symptoms described the data reasonably well (χ²(1) = 4.917, p = .027, CFI = .995, GFI = .992, SRMR = .017), explaining 57.1% of social anxiety variance. Study hypotheses were supported with bivalent fear of evaluation accounting for unique variance in cognitive distortions, which in turn accounted for unique variation in social anxiety symptoms. Effect sizes indicate bivalent fears of evaluation and disqualification of positive social outcomes as important predictors of social anxiety symptoms. Although replication in a clinical cohort and experimental confirmation are needed, the findings suggest a focus on disqualification of positive social outcomes to alleviate social anxiety symptoms.     

Sex-specific clinical correlates of hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Little is known about whether the clinical correlates of hoarding behavior are different in men and women with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the current study, we evaluated the association of hoarding with categories of obsessions and compulsions, psychiatric disorders, personality dimensions, and other clinical characteristics separately in 151 men and 358 women with OCD who were examined during the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study. We found that, among men but not women, hoarding was associated with aggressive, sexual, and religious obsessions and checking compulsions. In men, hoarding was associated with generalized anxiety disorder and tics whereas, among women, hoarding was associated with social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, nail biting, and skin picking. In women but not men, hoarding was associated with schizotypal and dependent personality disorder dimensions, and with low conscientiousness. These findings indicate that specific clinical correlates of hoarding in OCD are different in men and women and may reflect sex-specific differences in the course, expression, and/or etiology of hoarding behavior in OCD.     

Attitudes of school psychologists toward the role of the secondary school counselor

The responses of school psychologists concerning the secondary school counselor's role differ from those of counselor educators and counselors in many respects and seem to reflect a tendency toward role differentiation. In the actual school situation, the roles of these two groups overlap in some areas. The tendency of school psychologists was to emphasize activities of counselors which did not overlap with theirs and to define the counselor's role in these terms. If school counselors were polled concerning their attitudes toward the role of the school psychologist, it is probably that the same tendency toward role differentiation would be found.

These results point to the possibility that friction between these two groups may stem from difficulties in role perception. To improve communication, the unique contributions of both groups should be stressed. On the other hand, where activities overlap, it should not be assumed that the performance of such activities by one group excludes the other group from making a contribution in similar activities.     

Regional Congress of Psychology for Professionals in the Americas

Mexico City was the venue of the first Regional Congress of Psychology for Professionals in the Americas which was held from 27 July to 2 August 1997. This imaginative initiative was organized by the Instituto Mexicano de Investigacion de Familia y Problacion (IMIFAP) and the Associacion Mexicana de Psicologia Social (AMEPSO), and had the international support of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the International Union of Psychological Science, the Interamerica Society of Psychology (SIP), and the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP). With a view to not only stimulating the development of professional psychology in Latin America but also strengthening the interface of the science and practice of psychology internationally, the Congress was an outstanding success as evidenced by the depth and quality of its scientific programme, the rich variety of its programme of social and cultural events, and its huge attendance.