Removing the shadow of suspicion: the effects of apology versus denial for repairing competence- versus integrity-based trust violations

Two studies were conducted to examine the implications of an apology versus a denial for repairing trust after an alleged violation. Results reveal that trust was repaired more successfully when mistrusted parties (a) apologized for violations concerning matters of competence but denied culpability for violations concerning matters of integrity, and (b) had apologized for violations when there was subsequent evidence of guilt but had denied culpability for violations when there was subsequent evidence of innocence. Supplementary analyses also revealed that the interactive effects of violation type and violation response on participants' trusting intentions were mediated by their trusting beliefs. Combined, these findings provide needed insight and supporting evidence concerning how trust might be repaired in the aftermath of a violation.     

Functional referents and acoustic similarity revisited: the case of Barbary macaque alarm calls

Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) utter "shrill barks" in response to disturbances in their surroundings. In some cases, the majority of group members react by running away or climbing up a tree. In many other instances, however, group members show no overt reaction to these calls. We conducted a series of playback experiments to identify the factors underlying subjects' responses. We presented calls given in response to dogs that had elicited escape responses and calls that had failed to do so. We also presented calls given in response to snakes and to the observer approaching the sleeping-trees at night. An acoustic analysis of the calls presented in the playback experiments (electronic supplementary material, audioclip S1) revealed significant differences among calls given in response to dogs, the observer approaching at night, and snakes. However, the analysis did not detect any differences between calls given in response to dogs that were related to whether or not they had elicited escape responses in the first place. Correspondingly, after playback of calls given in response to dogs, we observed no difference in subjects' responses in relation to whether or not the calls had initially elicited escape responses. Subjects showed startle or escape responses significantly more often after playbacks of calls given in response to dogs than after calls given in response to observers. Playbacks of calls given in response to snakes failed to elicit specific responses such as standing bipedally or scanning the grass. Although these findings may imply that responses depend on the external referent, they also indicate that there is no clear-cut relationship between the information available to the listeners and their subsequent responses. This insight forces us to extend current approaches to identifying the meaning of animal signals. Accepted after revision: 15 May 2001 Electronic Publication     

Effekte regionaler Psychosomatiktherapiemodule

Psychosomatics from the perspective of medicine assumes that somatic, psychological, and social aspects must always be taken into consideration. By combining psychosomatic and psychiatric care in community psychiatric/psychosomatic networks, existing structures can be used and costs decreased due to synergies (best point of treatment). Using a 1?year pre-/postcatamnesis comparison of 106 patients, it was possible to determine the cost of the 3?week psychosomatic treatment with respect to the medical, sociotherapeutic, and psychotherapeutic treatment effects and how long it helped. Based on the results, inpatient intensive therapy of psychosomatic illnesses in regional psychiatric departments of general hospitals can be recommended as a future treatment option – taking into account that patient-related factors can predict treatment success.     

Eye Movements Reveal Mental Looking Through Time

People often make use of a spatial “mental time line” to represent events in time. We investigated whether the eyes follow such a mental time line during online language comprehension of sentences that refer to the past, present, and future. Participants' eye movements were measured on a blank screen while they listened to these sentences. Saccade direction revealed that the future is mapped higher up in space than the past. Moreover, fewer saccades were made when two events are simultaneously taking place at the present moment compared to two events that are happening in different points in time. This is the first evidence that oculomotor correlates reflect mental looking along an abstract invisible time line during online language comprehension about time. Our results support the idea that observing eye movements is likely to “detect” invisible spatial scaffoldings which are involved in cognitively processing abstract meaning, even when the abstract meaning lacks an explicit spatial correlate. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The MR2: A multi-racial,mega-resolution database of facial stimuli

Faces impart exhaustive information about their bearers, and are widely used as stimuli in psychological research. Yet many extant facial stimulus sets have substantially less detail than faces encountered in real life. In this paper, we describe a new database of facial stimuli, the Multi-Racial Mega-Resolution database (MR2). The MR2 includes 74 extremely high resolution images of European, African, and East Asian faces. This database provides a high-quality, diverse, naturalistic, and well-controlled facial image set for use in research. The MR2 is available under a Creative Commons license, and may be accessed online.     

Can Video Self-Modeling Improve Affected Limb Reach and Grasp Ability in Stroke Patients?

The authors examined whether feedforward video self-modeling (FF VSM) would improve control over the affected limb, movement self-confidence, movement self-consciousness, and well-being in 18 stroke survivors. Participants completed a cup transport task and 2 questionnaires related to psychological processes pre- and postintervention. Pretest video footage of the unaffected limb performing the task was edited to create a best-of or mirror-reversed training DVD, creating the illusion that patients were performing proficiently with the affected limb. The training yielded significant improvements for the forward movement of the affected limb compared to the unaffected limb. Significant improvements were also seen in movement self-confidence, movement self-consciousness, and well-being. FF VSM appears to be a viable way to improve motor ability in populations with movement disorders.     

Projective drawings for assessing stress among subjects with medical symptoms compatible with sick building syndrome, and validation of a modified version of the Stress Load Index from the Drawing Personality Profile: a pilot study

It was hypothesized that subjects with medical symptoms would show more signs of stress in projective drawings. A Stress Load Index, including five signs of stress in drawings, was evaluated. A questionnaire with an instruction to draw "a person in the rain" was sent to a cohort of 195 subjects, and the drawings were analysed blindly for eight stress items. Men had a higher index than women (p < .05) and drew clouds more often (p < .05). Drawing of clouds was associated with headache (adjOR = 4.28; 95% CI 1.75; 11.68). Drawing of puddles was associated with ocular symptoms (adjOR = 3.22; 95% CI 1.38, 7.50), facial dermal symptoms (adjOR= 2.94; 95% CI 1.28, 6.81), and tiredness (adjOR = 2.44; 95% CI 1.05, 5.67). Drawing of long rain strokes was associated with nasal symptoms (adjOR = 2.28; 95% CI 1.05, 2.06) and headache (adjOR = 3.20; 95% CI 1.28, 8.05). Age and stress load were predictors of sick building syndrome symptoms (p < .05). In conclusion, a nonverbal projective drawing test detected sex differences which represent directions opposite to those with verbal methods. These need empirical assessment.     

Gibt es einen Goldstandard für die Diagnose von Demenzen?

Als Demenz bezeichnet man St?rungen in mehreren kognitiven Dom?nen, die durch Neurodegeneration und andere Erkrankungen bedingt sein k?nnen. Ihre klinische und neuropathologische Diagnose erfolgt nach spezifischen Konsensuskriterien. Die klinische Treffsicherheit bei Verwendung revidierter Forschungskriterien und moderner Biomarker (MRI, PET, Liquoranalyse, genetische Marker) liegt für die Alzheimer-Krankheit (AK) als h?ufigste Demenzform bei 65–96 Prozent mit einer Spezifit?t gegenüber anderen Demenzen von 23–88 Prozent. Die Neuropathologie mit moderner Immunhistochemie, Molekularbiologie und -genetik gestattet bei homogenen Definitionen, harmonisierten Labormethoden und Standards für die Erfassung morphologischer L?sionen eine Diagnose/Klassifikation in bis zu 99 Prozent, ohne jedoch bisher die Ursache/?tiologie der meisten dementiven Erkrankungen aufgekl?rt zu haben. Dies liegt an der enormen Komplexit?t der Hirnver?nderungen, oft fehlender übereinstimmung zwischen klinischem Verlauf und morphologischem Befund, der Komorbidit?t im hohen Alter mit Zusammentreffen verschiedener Pathologien sowie erheblichen Unterschieden zwischen jungen und hochbetagten dementen Patienten, wobei letztere h?ufig „Demenzen ungekl?rter ?tiologie“ beziehungsweise Nicht-AK-Pathologie darstellen. Datenfusion und einheitliche, in prospektiven klinisch-pathologischen Studien validierte Kriterien sollen „Goldstandards“ für die Diagnose kognitiver St?rungen erarbeiten und ihre Abgrenzung vom „gesunden“ Hirnaltern erm?glichen, um künftige Grundlagen für Früherkennung, Prophylaxe und neu wirksame Behandlungsmethoden zu schaffen.     

地区层面上的心理学国际合作：以欧洲为例

根据需要,心理学的国际合作能够且需要在不同的层面上进行,包括全球层面、地区层面甚至局部地区层面。在回顾国际化心理学的主要功能之后,以欧洲为例阐述了心理学在地区层面上跨国合作的近期进展情况。在介绍“欧洲的各个侧面”部分,通过数据比较说明了欧洲传统文化的多样性,教育领域亦如此。为了欧洲一体化,欧盟大力支持各种形式的学术培训及科学研究的合作交流,在心理学领域也有明显的效果。本文通过欧洲地区性的课程创新、原创性的研究、新出现的心理学跨国组织对心理学领域的合作进行了说明。如果要与欧洲各心理学研究机构进行合作交流,本文可能会有所帮助。本文也会激发世界其他地方思考地区性合作的可能性和实际需要