Announcements

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) has dominated research on narcissism in the field of social and personality psychology. Surprisingly, it is unclear whether the NPI is useful for identifying pathological narcissism in patients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). The goal of this study was to close this research gap. We used an extreme-group approach by including NPD patients and healthy controls and comparing their narcissism scores. We further investigated whether explicit self-esteem (assessed with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) suppressed the relationship between group membership and NPI narcissism. According to our results, NPD patients do not score higher on the NPI in comparison to healthy controls. Analysis of indirect effects revealed that differences in NPI scores are suppressed by NPD patients’ low self-esteem. Our results indicate that the NPI is not a valid indicator of NPD, unless one controls for self-esteem. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Dichotic listening,executive functions and grey matter cortical volume in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls

Schizophrenia is characterized by cognitive impairment, especially in relation to executive functions. Brain structural abnormalities are also often seen in schizophrenia although little is known of the relationship between cognitive impairment and structural brain changes. Our aim was therefore to investigate this relationship further using MRI and a dichotic listening (DL) task with simple speech sounds and with instructions to focus attention and report only from the left or right ear stimulus. When instructed to focus attention on the left ear syllable a cognitive conflict is induced requiring the allocation of executive resources to be resolved. Grey matter (GM) volume was measured with MRI from four volumes of interests (VOIs), left and right frontal and temporal cortex, respectively, and correlated with DL performance. The results showed significant differences between the groups in their ability to focus attention on and report the left ear stimulus, which was accompanied by reduced GM volume in the left frontal and right temporal lobe VOIs. There was also a significant positive correlation between left frontal GM volume and performance on the DL task, for the groups combined. The results did not support a conclusion that an impairment in cognitive function in schizophrenia was driven by an corresponding impairment in brain structure, since there were no significant correlations when the groups were analyzed separately. It is however concluded that patients with schizophrenia are impaired in executive functions and that they also show reduced GM volumes in left frontal and right temporal lobe areas, compared to healthy controls.     

God as immanent transcendence in Mark C. Taylor and John D. Caputo

This article aims at describing and evaluating Mark C. Taylor's and John D. Caputo's ideas about God as immanent transcendence. In the first part, the article provides a basic typology of immanent transcendence; the second and third parts present Taylor's and Caputo's philosophies of religion. It is shown that the two authors emphasize two different aspects of immanent transcendence which strongly affect their understandings of God. In Taylor, God is described in terms of imagination, while Caputo refers to God as an event. In the final section, the article then, for heuristic purposes, introduces a distinction between “pagan,” “Judaic,” and “Christian” interpretations of God as immanent transcendence, and argues that Taylor's God of imagination is more “pagan” than “Christian” and that Caputo's God of the event exemplifies a “messianic Judaism.” Here the article offers a few critical remarks as it attempts to develop an outline of a more “Christian” understanding of immanent transcendence.     

Heterogeneity of auditory verbal working memory in schizophrenia

The heterogeneity of schizophrenia remains an obstacle for understanding its pathophysiology. Studies using a tone discrimination screening test to classify patients have found evidence for 2 subgroups having either a specific deficit in verbal working memory (WM) or deficits in both verbal and nonverbal memory. This study aimed to (a) replicate in larger samples differences between these subgroups in auditory verbal WM; (b) evaluate their performance on tests of explicit memory and sustained attention; (c) determine the relation of verbal WM deficits to auditory hallucinations and other symptoms; and (d) examine medication effects. The verbal WM and tone discrimination performance did not differ between medicated (n = 45) and unmedicated (n = 38) patients. Patients with schizophrenia who passed the tone screening test (discriminators; n = 60) were compared with those who did not (nondiscriminators; n = 23) and healthy controls (n = 47). The discriminator subgroup showed poorer verbal WM than did controls and a deficit in verbal but not visual memory on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (Wechsler, 1987), whereas the nondiscriminator subgroup showed overall poorer performance on both verbal and nonverbal tests and a marked deficit in sustained attention. Verbal WM deficits in discriminators were correlated with auditory hallucinations but not with negative symptoms. The results are consistent with a verbal memory deficit in a subgroup of schizophrenia having intact auditory perception, which may stem from dysfunction of language-related cortical regions, and a more generalized cognitive deficit in a subgroup having auditory perceptual and attentional dysfunction.     

Cognitive deficits in relation to personality type and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction in women with stress-related exhaustion

Exhaustion caused by long-term work-related stress may cause cognitive dysfunction. We explored factors that may link chronic stress and cognitive impairment. Personality, psychiatric screening, and behavior were assessed by self-reporting measures in 20 female patients (mean age 39.3 years; range 26-53) with a preliminary diagnosis of stress-related exhaustion and in 16 healthy matched controls. Cognitive performance was investigated with a detailed neuropsychological test battery. Cortisol axis function was assessed by urinary and saliva collections of cortisol, dexamethasone suppression, Synacthen response, and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) tests. Proinflammatory cytokines were measured. Hippocampal volumes were estimated by magnetic resonance imaging. Multivariate and univariate statistical methods were used to explore putative differences between groups and factors linked to cognitive impairment. Cognitive function clearly differed between groups, with decreased attention and visuospatial memory in the patient group, suggesting frontal cortex/medial temporal cortex-network dysfunction. Increased harm avoidance and persistence was present among patients, with lowered self-directedness linked to lower quality of life, increased anxious and depressive tendencies, and experiences of psychosocial stress. Attention was decreased with concomitantly impaired visuospatial memory. The pituitary (adrenocorticotropic hormone, ACTH) response to CRH was decreased in patients, with an increased cortisol/ACTH response to CRH. However, cortisol production rates, diurnal or dexamethasone-suppressed saliva cortisol levels, and the cortisol response to Synacthen were unaltered. Hippocampal volumes did not differ between groups. These findings suggest that cognitive dysfunction in stress-related exhaustion is linked to distinct personality traits, low quality of life, and a decreased ACTH response to CRH.     

Perceived causes of everyday memory problems in a population‐based sample aged 39–99

There is usually a weak relation between memory complaints and laboratory memory performance, but few studies have investigated what people perceive as causes of their everyday memory problems. This study investigated prevalence, severity and perceived causes of memory problems in a population‐based sample (N = 361, age‐range 39–99). 30.2 per cent of the participants reported memory complaints (at least moderate memory problems). Higher age was associated with more severe memory problems, but the age‐related differences were small. The most frequent perceived causes were age/ageing, stress and multitasking. Age/ageing as a cause was more frequent among older participants, and stress and multitasking were more frequent among middle‐aged participants. The results suggest that everyday stress and level of engagement in multiple tasks or commitments, that place demands on cognitive resources, are important variables to consider when studying the relations between subjective everyday memory measures, age and memory performance in the laboratory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ‘Crucified’ Leader: Cynicism,Fantasies and Paradoxes in Education

In this paper we argue that transnational as well as national political demands and expectations on the educational field are contributing to (re)produce four ideological-based educational leadership discourses in the literature. In order to conceptualize these discourses, we turn to the work of Schmidt (Diagnosis I—Filosoferende eksperimenter. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 1999, On respect. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 2011) and Zizek (Mapping ideology. Verso, New York, 2000, The sublime object of ideology. Verso, New York, 2008a). On that basis we identify four dominant educational leadership discourses: (a) a personhood-based discourse, (b) a profession-based discourse, (c) a standard-based discourse, and (d) a resource-based discourse. These discourses have—as we will show—various consequences for the way we think and talk about education and educational leadership in our age. Using examples that stem from a project about educational leadership in Danish upper secondary school, we will illustrate how educational leaders’ beings and doings are ‘regulated’ by these discourses, which place them in a tension field where different and conflicting (ideological) fantasies seem to be played out. Then, we will discuss how these fantasies can be challenged and how we can think and speak more intellectually about education and educational leadership. By using the term intellectual we are referring to educational leaders’ ability as human beings to critically reflect on their contemporary doings and beings within and beyond the existing social order. Hopefully this can help them (and us) to establish new ways for discussing not only what educational leadership is and should be about, but also what it could be about.     

The association between ruminative thinking and negative interpretation bias in social anxiety

Cognitive models propose that both, negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations and ruminative thoughts about social events contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety disorder. It has further been postulated that ruminative thoughts fuel biased negative interpretations, however, evidence is rare. The present study used a multi-method approach to assess ruminative processing following a social interaction (post-event processing by self-report questionnaire and social rumination by experience sampling method) and negative interpretation bias (via two separate tasks) in a student sample (n?=?51) screened for high (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA). Results support the hypothesis that group differences in negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations in HSAs vs. LSAs are mediated by higher levels of post-event processing assessed in the questionnaire. Exploratory analyses highlight the potential role of comorbid depressive symptoms. The current findings help to advance the understanding of the association between two cognitive processes involved in social anxiety and stress the importance of ruminative post-event processing.     

Cognitive burden of survey questions and response times: A psycholinguistic experiment

An important objective in survey question design is to write clear questions that respondents find easy to understand and to answer. This contribution identifies the factors that influence question clarity. Theoretical and empirical evidence from psycholinguistics suggests that specific text features (e.g., low‐frequency words (LFRWs), left‐embedded syntax) cause comprehension difficulties and impose a high cognitive burden on respondents. To examine the effect of seven different text features on question clarity, an online experiment was conducted in which well‐formulated questions were compared to suboptimal counterparts. The cognitive burden of the questions was assessed with response times. Data quality was compared in terms of drop‐out rates and survey satisficing behaviour. The results show that at least six of the text features are relevant for the clarity of a question. We provide a detailed explanation of these text features and advise survey designers to avoid them when crafting questions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.