Direct and indirect effects of third-party relationships on interpersonal trust

Past studies of the determinants of interpersonal trust have focused primarily on how trust forms in isolated dyads. Yet within organizations, trust typically develops between individuals who are embedded in a complex web of existing and potential relationships. In this article, the authors identify 3 alternative ways in which a trustor and trustee may be linked to each other via third parties: network closure (linked via social interactions with third parties), trust transferability (linked via trusted third parties), and structural equivalence (linked via the similarity of their relationships with all potential third parties within the organization). Each of these is argued to influence interpersonal trust via a distinct social mechanism. The authors hypothesized that network closure and structural equivalence would predict interpersonal trust indirectly via their impact on interpersonal organizational citizenship behaviors performed within the interpersonal relationship, whereas trust transferability would predict trust directly. Social network analyses of data gathered from a medium-sized work organization provide substantial support for the hypotheses and also suggest important directions for future research.     

The relation between children's conceptual functioning with color and color term acquisition

Young children experience considerable difficulty in learning their first few color terms. One explanation for this difficulty is that initially they lack a conceptual representation of color sufficiently abstract to support word meaning. This hypothesis, that prior to learning color terms children do not represent color as an abstraction, was tested in two experiments using samples of 25- to 39-month-olds and 20- to 32-month-olds. Children's ability to conceptually represent color and their knowledge of color terms were assessed, and a strong association was found between the ability to make inferences based on color and the comprehension of color words. Children who did not comprehend color terms were unsuccessful at a conceptual task that required them to represent color as a property independent of the particular objects that displayed it. The results suggest that the initial absence of an abstract representation of color contributes to the difficulty that young children encounter when first learning color words.     

Factor structure of coping: two studies of mothers with high levels of life stress

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to investigate the factor structure of coping in mothers with high levels of life stress. In Study 1, EFA of the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (C. S. Carver, M. F. Scheier, & J. K. Weintraub, 1989) in a sample of mothers of full-term or very low birth weight 2-year-old children yielded 7 reliable coping factors. Each factor accounted for significant variance in at least 1 of 6 outcomes measuring maternal-child well-being. In Study 2, CFA was used to cross-validate the EFA model on the basis of the responses of mothers of 2-year-old children with prenatal polysubstance exposure. CFA results revealed a moderately good fit, confirming the factor structure in a 2nd, independent sample of mothers with high levels of life stress.     

Torture and judgments of guilt

Although torture can establish guilt through confession, how are judgments of guilt made when tortured suspects do not confess? We suggest that perceived guilt is based inappropriately upon how much pain suspects appear to suffer during torture. Two psychological theories provide competing predictions about the link between pain and perceived blame: cognitive dissonance, which links pain to blame, and moral typecasting, which links pain to innocence. We hypothesized that dissonance might characterize the relationship between torture and blame for those close to the torture, while moral typecasting might characterize this relationship for those more distant from it. Accordingly, this experiment placed participants into one of two different roles in which people may be exposed to torture. Participants in the proximal role of prison staffer saw suffering torture victims as relatively more guilty, while participants in the relatively distant role of a radio listener saw suffering victims as more innocent.     

The Dialectics of Relational Psychoanalysis and Group Psychotherapy: Commentary on Paper by Robert Grossmark

In this commentary, I address the question of why so few psychoanalysts become group therapists as I respond to the thoughtful and impressive paper written by Robert Grossmark on his work with a psychotherapy group, now in its 10th year of meeting. Prior to discussing the clinical material, and to set the stage for a discussion of Grossmark's work, I comment on my sense of the prevailing attitudes on group affiliations and group therapy within our culture and field as they have progressed over time. I then discuss my reactions to Grossmark's handling of his group session. Many of his conceptualizations of group treatment are in accordance with my own beliefs. There are some differences, however, in how I view my role as a leader and some ideas I have about group treatment that Grossmark did not address.     

The Conflict Between Aristotelian and Galileian Modes of Thought in Contemporary Psychology

Kraepelin combined the constant method and the method of limits to avoid the inconvenience of the former and the response bias of the latter. The use of this approach together with Guttman scaling provides a method that requires few observations, is easy to administer and score, and can be applied to a variety of measurement situations. Examples are given of its use for point of subjective equality, aesthetic preference, and thresholds.     

The Problem of the Meaning of Words Based upon Observation of Aphasic Patients

Research has indicated that massed systematic desensitization can be effective. There is no definite evidence, however, of the superiority of massed or spaced therapy. The present study investigated the effects of massed and distributed systematic desensitization upon a spider phobia. Eighteen Ss were given a fear hierarchy before therapy and then after therapy. Analysis of the results suggests that massed and distributed sessions do not differ significantly in effectiveness, which supports Suinn and Hall (5).     

Dark triad personality traits and theory of mind among school-age children

This study examined the associations between four personality dimensions associated with the dark triad (callous–unemotional traits, narcissism, impulsivity, and Machiavellianism) and theory of mind (TOM) abilities among 146 middle school children. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed narcissism to be positively associated with TOM, callous–unemotional (CU) traits to be negatively associated with TOM, and impulsivity and Machiavellianism to be unrelated to TOM. No significant interactions were found between gender and any of the dimensions of personality. The putative mechanisms linking each personality dimension with understanding of mental states in others are discussed, along with directions for future research.