Efficacy of brief telephone psychotherapy with callers to a suicide hotline

The efficacy of two types of theapy conducted exclusively over the telephone was studied. Clients (N=55) were recruited from a pool of callers to a suicide hotline and were randomly assigned to a waiting list control (WC) or Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) or Common Factors Therapy (CFT). It was hypothesized that improvements would be significantly higher in the two therapy conditions compared to the waitlist control and SFBT would be significantly more efficacious than CFT. Results confirmed that improvement was significantly higher in the two treatment conditions compared to the waitlist control, but no difference in improvement was found between SFBT and CFT. The implications of these findings for suicide hotlines are discussed.     

Reward dominance and passive avoidance learning in adolescent psychopaths

This study tests predictions that adolescent psychopaths are hyperresponsive to rewards (Quay, 1988) and deficient in passive avoidance learning (Newman & Kosson, 1986). Forty male adolescent juvenile offenders were divided into psychopaths and nonpsychopaths using cluster analysis. Subjects were administered a passive avoidance learning task which required learning when to respond to cards associated with either reward or punishment. Results showed a greater responsivity to reward in psychopaths, with no group differences in passive avoidance errors. Results lend support to the view that psychopaths tend to focus on the prospect of reward under conditions of mixed incentives and, when sufficiently motivated, are capable of improved performance. Together with findings of recent psychophysiological studies, these results suggest that adolescent psychopaths may have latent abilities which could have treatment implications.The authors are greatly indebted to the boys and staff of the testing institution for their kind cooperation in this study. Thanks are also due to Dr. Rand Wilcox for statistical consultation and Cheryl Eurton and Marni Ayers for assistance in data coding.     

Cross‐cultural validation of the factor structure for the Korean version of the Classroom Climate Inventory

The purpose of the present study was to validate the Classroom Climate Inventory (CCI) in Korean middle schools. Specifically, we investigated whether the original eight‐factor structure of the Japanese version of the CCI (Involvement, Affiliation, Friction, Satisfaction, Self‐disclosure, Task Orientation, Order, and Equity) is appropriate for Korean middle schools. The results indicated that the Korean version of the CCI showed a different factor structure from the Japanese CCI. In the cross‐culturally validated CCI, the Friction factor included in the Japanese version was divided into two factors (i.e., Harmony and Conflict), and Equity was excluded. The final model of the Korean CCI displayed acceptable goodness‐of‐fit indices, which indicated that it is a valid instrument by which to measure the classroom climate of Korean middle schools. Lastly, implications for future research and limitations are discussed.     

Degree of extraversion and physiological responses to physical pain and sadness

Extraversion is a personality frequently discussed as one of the strongest and most consistent factors that relates to individual subjective wellbeing. The goal of this study was to better understand how people with varying degrees of extraversion psychologically and physiologically respond differently to unpleasant circumstances. Emotional responses (e.g., levels of intensity, valence, and arousal) were assessed in determining the sensitivity level to negative stimuli that were specifically designed to provoke physical pain and sadness emotion. Physiological changes (e.g., heart rate (HR), blood volume pulse (BVP), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)) were also measured during pain and sadness to observe sympathetic and parasympathetic activities. Our results showed that the degree of extraversion was associated with less unpleasant responses to sadness, less HR responses to both pain and sadness, and greater RSA responses to sadness. The findings suggest that the lower HR reactivity to painful and sad situations and greater RSA reactivity to sad situations in extraversion could be possibly due to increased parasympathetic activity. Additionally, enhanced parasympathetic activity to negative situations may explain an important mechanism underlying the positive connection between extraversion and subjective wellbeing.     

Construal level and temporal judgments of the past: the moderating role of knowledge

The vast majority of work in construal level theory has found a robust relationship between construal level and temporal judgments for future events: Distance is associated with the abstract, and nearness is associated with the concrete. Our work looks at the past and proposes a critical moderator that reverses this relationship: knowledge. Through experiments involving real news events, we demonstrate that people with less knowledge about events felt nearer to them when recalling them in a concrete mindset versus an abstract one. However, this relationship reverses for those with greater knowledge: They feel closer to past events when recalling them in an abstract mindset versus a concrete one. We provide evidence that this reversal stems from feelings of metacognitive ease that inform temporal judgments when knowledge (which drives what information is held available and accessible in memory) and construal mindset (which drives what information is sought from memory) coincide. Our findings suggest that in memory, there are instances where the abstract seems near and the concrete seems distant.     

Changes in cue-induced, prefrontal cortex activity with video-game play

Brain responses, particularly within the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices, to Internet video-game cues in college students are similar to those observed in patients with substance dependence in response to the substance-related cues. In this study, we report changes in brain activity between baseline and following 6 weeks of Internet video-game play. We hypothesized that subjects with high levels of self-reported craving for Internet video-game play would be associated with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, particularly the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. Twenty-one healthy university students were recruited. At baseline and after a 6-week period of Internet video-game play, brain activity during presentation of video-game cues was assessed using 3T blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Craving for Internet video-game play was assessed by self-report on a 7-point visual analogue scale following cue presentation. During a standardized 6-week video-game play period, brain activity in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex of the excessive Internet game-playing group (EIGP) increased in response to Internet video-game cues. In contrast, activity observed in the general player group (GP) was not changed or decreased. In addition, the change of craving for Internet video games was positively correlated with the change in activity of the anterior cingulate in all subjects. These changes in frontal-lobe activity with extended video-game play may be similar to those observed during the early stages of addiction.     

Normative systems theory for sustaining democracy

Democracy is the most widely admired type of political system but also perhaps the most difficult to maintain. If democracy does not operate by the principles of justice, the people may prefer to be governed through their own consent. Legitimacy requires effective performance. But effectiveness may be sacrificed to consent. Democracy is sustainable when its institutional framework promotes normatively desirable and politically desired objectives. It can be said that the viability of a democratic system depends on the principle of justice, which leads to the functioning of autopoietic system in the complex environment of civil society.     

Creative Personality and Anticreative Environment for High School Dropouts

The study examined the possible roles that creativity plays in students dropping out of high school. It used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS: 88), the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), and 87 high school students from a low income area in southeastern Michigan. NELS and ELS questions related to creative personality and anticreative school environment were selected and asked of students. The students’ responses were compared to their scores on measures of creativity (Runco Ideational Behavior Scale, Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, & Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students). The NELS respondents who showed creative personality were identified and examined whether their creativity related to dropping out. The results of logistic regression analyses indicated that the questions selected from NELS and ELS that showed anticreative school environment have a negative correlation with the scores on the creativity measures, which affect students’ dropping out. An understanding of these students and their behavior will help promote creative students’ academic and lifelong success through appropriate classroom restructuring.     

Reconstruction of things past: Why do some memories feel so close and others so far away?

The vast majority of work in construal level theory focuses prospectively on the future. Through a series of studies controlling for knowledge about an event, we look retrospectively at the past and demonstrate that construal mindsets can materially influence how a past event is reconstructed in memory. Specifically, an event recalled in a more concrete mindset feels subjectively closer than when recalled in an abstract mindset (Studies 1-3). We present evidence suggesting this is because a concrete mindset actually makes people feel as though they know more, even if they were initially exposed to the same set of information—perceived information accessibility mediates the effect of construal level on temporal distance (Study 2). The effect of construal level on memory reconstruction extends to judgments of blame, where judgments of greater temporal distance drive a greater propensity to blame parties for negative events and temporal distance mediates these judgments (Study 3). Together, these studies are the first to demonstrate that the mindset employed when recalling an event shapes its remembrance.     

The Role of Attachment and Stigma in the Relationship Between Stress and Attitudes Toward Counseling in South Korea

Using structural equation modeling, the authors investigated the mediators between stress and attitudes toward seeking professional help among 298 undergraduate students in South Korea. Results indicated that attachment styles (avoidance and anxiety) and stigma (public and self‐stigma) mediated the relationship between stress and attitudes toward seeking help. Furthermore, public and self‐stigma had different paths depending on attachment styles related to help seeking. Regarding previous counseling experience, differences in the relationships between stress, attachment styles, stigma, and attitudes toward seeking help were evident.