Structural and functional equivalence of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire within and between countries

The question was examined as to whether scores at the individual level and scores at the country level on the four scales of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) have the same psychological meaning. Using data of 24 countries, it was found that the EPQ has different factorial structures at both levels. Both the Lie scale and the Psychoticism scale were shown to jeopardize cross-level equivalence. For further exploration of the meaning of the EPQ scales within countries and between countries country-level correlations were calculated with a variety of country characteristics such as Gross National Product, political indices, religiosity, Hofstede's measures, and subjective well-being. Significant findings for 38 countries included correlations of the EPQ scales with Hofstede's Masculinity, Diener's Subjective Well-Being, religiosity, the number of deaths in a country due to political violence, and bribery. The most striking finding was a substantial negative correlation of the Lie scale with Gross National Product and other wealth-related indices.     

Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: a limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative

The current research tested the hypothesis that making many choices impairs subsequent self-control. Drawing from a limited-resource model of self-regulation and executive function, the authors hypothesized that decision making depletes the same resource used for self-control and active responding. In 4 laboratory studies, some participants made choices among consumer goods or college course options, whereas others thought about the same options without making choices. Making choices led to reduced self-control (i.e., less physical stamina, reduced persistence in the face of failure, more procrastination, and less quality and quantity of arithmetic calculations). A field study then found that reduced self-control was predicted by shoppers' self-reported degree of previous active decision making. Further studies suggested that choosing is more depleting than merely deliberating and forming preferences about options and more depleting than implementing choices made by someone else and that anticipating the choice task as enjoyable can reduce the depleting effect for the first choices but not for many choices.     

Sex and shame: the inhibition of female desires

A developmental narrative is presented that centers on bodily based narcissistic injury and sense of shame in response to unrequited oedipal longings. Through an experience of oedipal defeat in relation to both mother and father, a female sense of inadequacy and shame may be internalized and accepted as one's identity, in contrast to the male phallic-omnipotent trajectory. The demise of genital narcissism in females can underlie various expressions of pervasive inhibition and failure to actualize desire. The thesis offered goes beyond separation-individuation theory in suggesting that girls may inhibit sexuality and aggression, and themselves more generally, due to a representation of self as "not having what it takes" genitally, and then bodily and psychically. Mental representations of the self, based on positive imagery of the female body, are needed to give voice to a woman's bodily experience and sexual desire and agency in various realms. Two clinical vignettes illustrate female inhibitions in sexuality and in professional ambition as understood within the framework presented.     

The role of action in implicit learning

This study looks at whether or not a crucial role is played by the learner's own actions in tasks known to give rise to implicit learning. Experiment 1 shows that experience of watching another person controlling Berry and Broadbent's (1984) sugar production and person interaction tasks has no effect on subsequent control performance. Experiment 2 demonstrates that this lack of effect of observing is limited to tasks where the underlying relationship is not obvious or salient. In Experiment 3 the length of the observation period is doubled, but this still has no beneficial effect on subsequent control performance. Experiments 4 and 5 address the question of what it is about controlling itself that leads to learning. They examine whether it is the decision-making component or the physical interaction component that is important. The results emphasize the importance of the role of action in learning to control these tasks. They show that decision must be tied to action in order to be maximally effective, at least in the early stages of learning.     

Culture and Acculturation Influences on Palestinian Perceptions of Prenatal Genetic Counseling

Patient cultural backgrounds strongly influence decision-making processes and outcomes in genetic counseling. The present study investigated influences of culture and acculturation on prenatal decision making processes of native Palestinians and Palestinian Americans. Seventeen native Palestinians and 14 first-generation, Palestinian Americans were interviewed and asked to imagine themselves as patients in hypothetical premarital and prenatal situations. Five major issues were investigated: 1) Influence of family history of an inherited condition on pre-marital decisions; 2) Perceptions of non-directive genetic counselor statements regarding options; 3) Role of gender in prenatal decisions; 4) Gender differences in emotional expression; and 5) Role of family and society in prenatal decisions. Several similarities and differences in native Palestinian and Palestinian American responses were obtained. Similarities appear to be due to common cultural roots, while differences may be due to acculturation. Practice and research recommendations are provided. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Reclaiming Lost Loves: Transcending Unrequited Desires. Discussion of Davies’ “Oedipal Complexity”

In this discussion I address the multidimensionality embedded within the oedipal phase of development and contend that the elaboration and working through of unrequited oedipal longing within the transference–countertransference matrix is one of the most profound gifts of an analysis. The child’s confrontation with thwarted desire (generationally) for either parent is central to the development of the mind, the personality, and one’s erotic life. I also argue that the experience of oedipal exclusion becomes not solely a response to a generational boundary but to a gender boundary discouraging same-sex love. I speak for retaining a conceptualization of an oedipal complex without losing any of the complexity of individual experience. In describing our oedipal lineages for erotic life as resting upon an interwoven layering of maternal and paternal oedipal desires, my aim is to continue a project to rehabilitate the oedipal concept from heteronormative presumptions and from being (mis)understood in a reductive manner that alienates rather than engages.