Therapist Use-of-Self Orientations Questionnaire: A Reliability and Validity Study

This article describes the development of the Therapist Use-of-Self Orientation Questionnaire (TUSO-Q), an instrument designed to measure therapists’ use-of-self orientations while working with clients. A total of 373 therapists participated in this study. Exploratory factor analysis in the structural equation modeling context revealed three different therapist use-of-self orientations: Transpersonal, Contextual, and Instrumental. The final model provided an excellent fit to the data. TUSO-Q scores exhibited satisfactory evidence of internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Implications for the scale’s use in clinical research and training are discussed.     

Competitive short-term and long-term memory processes in spatial habituation

Exposure to a spatial location leads to habituation of exploration such that, in a novelty preference test, rodents subsequently prefer exploring a novel location to the familiar location. According to Wagner's (1981) theory of memory, short-term and long-term habituation are caused by separate and sometimes opponent processes. In the present study, this dual-process account of memory was tested. Mice received a series of exposure training trials to a location before receiving a novelty preference test. The novelty preference was greater when tested after a short, rather than a long, interval. In contrast, the novelty preference was weaker when exposure training trials were separated by a short, rather than a long interval. Furthermore, it was found that long-term habituation was determined by the independent effects of the amount of exposure training and the number of exposure training trials when factors such as the intertrial interval and the cumulative intertrial interval were controlled. A final experiment demonstrated that a long-term reduction of exploration could be caused by a negative priming effect due to associations formed during exploration. These results provide evidence against a single-process account of habituation and suggest that spatial habituation is determined by both short-term, recency-based memory and long-term, incrementally strengthened memory.     

Mind over matter: internalization of the thinness norm as a moderator of responsiveness to norm misperception education in college women.

The authors examine the effectiveness of norm misperception education in decreasing disordered eating. One hundred seven 1st-year college women completed questionnaires assessing their own and others' actual and ideal body size as well as their own disordered eating and were then randomly assigned to read either a norm misperception or a control brochure. Participants completed questionnaires immediately after reading the brochures and again 3 months later. Although there were no main effects of brochure condition at the follow-up, participants who primarily compared themselves with other college women and who read the norm misperception brochure had higher actual and ideal weight as well as less frequent disordered eating. The discussion focuses on the theoretical and applied implications of these findings.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Adult Play in Romantic Relationships

This study introduces and reports an initial test of a theoretical model of play in romantic relationships. It was hypothesized that self–esteem and humor orientation would be positively associated with playfulness in romantic relationships. Playfulness in romantic relationships was predicted to be positively associated with the experience of positive emotion. Positive emotion, in turn, was predicted to be associated with relationship satisfaction. A self–report instrument was administered to students and community members via snowball sampling. Path analysis revealed that the data were consistent with the proposed model.     

Comparing educational interventions: Correcting misperceived norms improves college students' mental health attitudes

This research targeted potential psychological contributors to college students' low levels of help‐seeking for mental distress using a field experiment. Researchers randomly assigned 520 undergraduates to 15‐min interventions: a novel, theory‐driven social norms intervention correcting misperceived distress, stigma, and help‐seeking norms; a general education intervention increasing mental health awareness; and a stress management active control condition. The norms intervention instilled more accurate perceptions of mental health norms and temporarily reduced perceived public stigma compared to other conditions. The norms and general education interventions improved attitudes toward seeking help for mental distress for at least 2 months, relative to the control. Effects on help‐seeking behavior were not observed in this timeframe. This research elucidates the robustness of brief social psychological mental health interventions on college campuses.     

Consumer acceptance of innovations in food: A survey among Polish consumers

The aim of the study was to examine the possible factors that might contribute to consumer acceptance of food innovations. Particular attention was paid to 3 main factors: (a) relationship between socio‐demographic determinants and level of consumer innovation, (b) evaluation of consumer innovation acceptance, particularly toward animal‐derived food products, and (c) consumer preferences for health‐promoting food innovation over time. Studies were conducted using quantitative research methods in 2004 and 2011. An organic method of production, least important in 2004, was top rated in 2011, and ease of preparation dropped to the bottom of the list in 2011, whereas food origin, low fat, and sugar content were ranked in the first group of the considered factors in 2011. Since 2004, consumers have become used to products with various innovations. The new generation of Poles is relatively more open to new food products, due to the wide range of food products available on the free market. Furthermore, the group of well‐educated consumers with a higher level of income has increased in size, and this includes people interested in knowledge of a product's nutritional value and its health impact. Our study extends existing research in the area of understanding consumer expectations toward food innovations. The results not only contribute to the field of consumer behavior but also have practical potential for food market applications, especially for companies operating on or planning to enter the Polish food market, and which could be used for developing communication strategies.     

Dissociable contributions of the left and right posterior medial orbitofrontal cortex in motivational control of goal-directed behavior

Several findings from both human neuroimaging and nonhuman primate studies suggest that the posterior medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) may be critical for the motivational control of goal-directed behavior. The present study was conducted to clarify the role of the left and right posterior medial OFC in that function by examining the effects of focal unilateral lesions to this region on the performance on an incentive working memory task. The study covered patients who had undergone surgery for an ACoA aneurysm and normal control subjects (C). The patients were subdivided into three groups: those with resection of the left (LGR+) or right (RGR+) posterior part of the gyrus rectus, and without such a resection (GR−). Participants performed a 2-back working memory task under three motivational conditions (penalty, reward, and no-incentive). The C group performed worse in the penalty condition and better in the reward condition as compared to the no-incentive condition. Similar results were obtained for the GR− group. Performance of the LGR+ group did not depend on incentive manipulations, whereas the RGR+ group performed better in both the penalty and reward conditions than in the no-incentive condition. The results show that the posterior medial OFC is involved in the motivational modulation of working memory performance. Our findings also suggest that the left posterior medial OFC plays a crucial role in this function, whereas the right posterior medial OFC is particularly involved in the processing of the punishing aspect of salient events and it probably mediates in guiding behavior on the basis of negative outcomes of action.     

Psychological aspects of the transformations in poland: Changes in the sense of participation in the life of a plant

Abstract

In order to promote innovation, most theorists agree, high levels of participation by all employees in an organization is required. In Eastern Europe nation-wide interventions are underway in some countries to promote participation across all organizations. This article describes one study of this phenomenon.