Spouse involvement in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive patients

Twelve married obsessive-compulsive patients were randomly allocated to either selfcontrolled exposure or partner-assisted exposure. Treatment in both conditions consisted of homepactice.The results at the Post-test showed that both versions of exposure in vivo resulted in significant improvements but the partner-assisted group improved more. After a 1-month treatment-free period no significant differences between conditions were found due to a continuing improvement in the selfcontrolled exposure condition. Results were maintained at a 6-month follow-up.It was concluded that home-practice is a cost-effective treatment procedure for obsessive-compulsives and that couple training may be useful with selected patients.     

The measurement of cognitive impulsiveness: Psychometric properties of two automated adult versions of the Matching Familiar Figures Test

An automated version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) was administered to undergraduates, along with a parallel from. The latency-errors correlation (–0.61) was higher than that reported for most studies in children and weakly supports the view that the correlation increases with age. Repeated exposure resulted in improved performance, which was faster, more accurate, and more efficient, but there was no effect on impulsiveness. Reliability and internal consistency of both forms were acceptably high and the forms were comparable. Use of the univariate measures (impulsiveness-reflectiveness and efficiency-inefficiency) is superior to other scoring methods.Supported in part by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation, England.     

Arson and (para-) suicide

There have been forensic-psychiatric observations from 1963 to 1983 concerning the offenders responsibility in case of deliberate arson with 12 out of 147 suits being closely related to (para-)suicide. According the variety of relations we distinguish between fire as pure means of suicide, fire used to take along the living space or people, suicide committed in consequence of arson, furthermore arson as a symbolic suicide, and finally acting alternately with both arson as well as parasuicide.     

Methodologic preferences and content of psychiatric research in an international comparison

Empirical publications from six psychiatric journals and five countries have been investigated for differences in methodical approaches and concerning the subjects of the articles. The differences between the branches of psychiatry and neurology within the journals are more discernible both with research subjects and with methodical aspects than the differences between the journals from different countries. Some differences between psychiatric journals from different countries, relating to the subjects of research, were found in the independent variables, the dependent variables and the kinds of subjects in the samples. Countries also differ significantly in two methodical aspects: sample sizes investigated and instruments used.     

Brain dopamine and kinematics of graphomotor functions

Three experiments were performed in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the effect of dopamine on handwriting. In the first experiment, kinematic aspects of handwriting movements were compared between healthy participants and patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) on their usual dopaminergic treatment and following withdrawal of dopaminergic medication. In the second experiment, the writing performance of healthy participants with a hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra as detected by transcranial sonography (TCS) was compared with the performance of healthy participants with low echogenicity of the substantia nigra. The third experiment examined the effect of central dopamine reduction on kinematic aspects of handwriting movements in healthy adults using acute phenylalanine and tyrosine depletion (APTD). A digitising tablet was used for the assessment of handwriting movements. Participants were asked to perform a simple writing task. Movement time, distance, velocity, acceleration and measures of fluency of handwriting movements were measured. The kinematic analysis of handwriting movements revealed that alterations of central dopaminergic neurotransmission adversely affect movement execution during handwriting. In comparison to the automatic processing of handwriting movements displayed by control participants, participants with an altered dopaminergic neurotransmission shifted from an automatic to a controlled processing of movement execution. Central dopamine appears to be of particular importance with regard to the automatic execution of well-learned movements.     

Forgiveness and its associations with prosocial thinking, feeling, and doing beyond the relationship with the offender

Past research has revealed that forgiveness promotes prosocial cognition, feeling, and behavior toward the offender. The present research extends this research by examining whether forgiveness may spill over beyond the relationship with the offender, promoting generalized prosocial orientation. Consistent with hypotheses, three studies revealed that forgiveness compared to unforgiveness is generally associated with higher levels of a generalized prosocial orientation, as indicated by higher levels of a we frame of mind (as indicated by a greater use of first-person plural pronouns, e.g., we, us, in a language task) and greater feelings of relatedness toward others in general. Moreover, forgiveness (vs. unforgiveness) was even associated with greater probability of donating to charity and greater willingness to engage in volunteering. Finally, the authors found that unforgiveness reduces tendencies toward generalized prosocial orientation, whereas forgiveness restores generalized prosocial orientation to baseline levels within the relationship.     

Attending to color with proper fixation

In contemporary theorizing, there is a controversy about the role of spatial location in the selection of visual information; some theories postulate that position plays a unique role, whereas other theories hold that position is just one selection dimension that is not different from other dimensions, such as color and shape. In this context, a paradigm introduced by Tsal and Lavie (1988) promised to be of fundamental importance. With that paradigm, Tsal and Lavie found that, after reporting a first letter of a prespecified color, subjects preferred to switch their reporting to letters from array positions adjacent to that letter over continuing to report letters of the same color as that of the first letter. This switch from color to position provided firm evidence in favor of the “position-special” views as opposed to the “all-attributes-are-equal” views. In the present study, six experiments, employing Tsal and Lavie’s paradigm and variations of that paradigm, are reported. Experiments 1, 2, 4, and 5 show that evidence for a switch from selection on the basis of color to selection on the basis of position is not obtained when subjects are forced to fixate the fixation point and possibly also not under normal contrast conditions without fixation controls. Experiment 3 shows that switching from color to position is difficult. Experiments 2, 5, and 6 show that evidence for a switch is obtained only under low-contrast conditions when subjects are not forced to fixate the fixation point. It is concluded that the Tsal and Lavie paradigm is an asymmetric paradigm. The results reported by Tsal and Lavie constituted a major threat for the “all-attributes-are-equal” theories and provided firm support for the “position-special” theories. The results reported in the present study are compatible with the all-attributes-are-equal theories, but, at the same time, do not constitute a major threat for the contemporary position-special theories.     

Car Versus Public Transportation? The Role of Social Value Orientations in a Real-Life Social Dilemma1

This research evaluates the role of social value orientations (i.e., preferences for distribution of outcomes for the self and others) in decisions as how to commute. It was proposed that the commuting situation could be viewed either as an environmental issue, reflecting the decision structure of an N-person Prisoner's Dilemma, or as an accessibility problem, reflecting the decision structure of an N-person Chicken Dilemma. On the basis of interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978) it was predicted that people who are primarily concerned with the collective welfare—prosocial individuals—would prefer commuting by public transportation when other commuters were expected to go by public transportation. On the other hand, it was hypothesized that people who are primarily concerned with their own well-being—proself individuals—would prefer commuting by public transportation when others were expected to go by car. The obtained findings were consistent with these expectations. Practical and theoretical implications regarding the link between social value orientations and environmentally relevant behavior will be discussed.