Productive procrastination: academic procrastination style predicts academic and alcohol outcomes

Productive procrastination replaces one adaptive behavior with another adaptive—albeit less important—behavior (e.g., organizing notes instead of studying for an exam). We identified adaptive and maladaptive procrastination styles associated with academic and alcohol outcomes in 1,106 college undergraduates. Cluster analysis identified five academic procrastination styles—non‐procrastinators, academic productive procrastinators, non‐academic productive procrastinators, non‐academic procrastinators, and classic procrastinators. Procrastination style differentially predicted alcohol‐related problems, cravings, risk of alcohol use disorders, and grade point average (all ps < .01). Non‐procrastination and academic productive procrastination were most adaptive overall; non‐academic productive procrastination, non‐academic procrastination, and classic procrastination were least adaptive. Productive procrastination differed from other procrastination strategies, and maladaptive procrastination styles may be a useful risk indicator for preventative and intervention efforts.     

Dissociated control as a signature of typological variability in high hypnotic suggestibility

This study tested the prediction that dissociative tendencies modulate the impact of a hypnotic induction on cognitive control in different subtypes of highly suggestible individuals. Low suggestible (LS), low dissociative highly suggestible (LDHS), and high dissociative highly suggestible (HDHS) participants completed the Stroop color-naming task in control and hypnosis conditions. The magnitude of conflict adaptation (faster response times on incongruent trials preceded by an incongruent trial than those preceded by a congruent trial) was used as a measure of cognitive control. LS and LDHS participants displayed marginally superior up-regulation of cognitive control following a hypnotic induction, whereas HDHS participants’ performance declined. These findings indicate that dissociative tendencies modulate the influence of a hypnotic induction on cognitive control in high hypnotic suggestibility and suggest that HS individuals are comprised of distinct subtypes with dissimilar cognitive profiles.     

Food intake with an antiobesity drug (sibutramine) versus placebo and rorschach data: a crossover within-subjects study

We related the effect of the satiety enhancing drug sibutramine (Meridia, Reductil) on food intake to Rorschach Comprehensive System (Exner, 1991, 1993) personality factors. A placebo-controlled crossover, within-subjects design (n = 36) was used. Food intake after 2 weeks in the sibutramine and placebo conditions was assessed with a test meal using the VIKTOR (Cabmek, Stockholm, Sweden) setup, a computerized eating monitor. Building on baseline VIKTOR measurements, we had earlier studied the microstructure of eating (Elfhag, Barkeling, Carlsson, & Rossner, 2003). In this study, a model including Afr, MOR, and Populars could explain the variance in the effect of sibutramine. Sibutramine may reduce food intake in single test meals for participants whose appetite is prompted by external stimuli including food cues, suggested by the Affective ratio. Distress related to the body in obesity seen in damaged self-imagery (MOR) and adjustment to social expectations (Populars) could also have a moderating effect on the participants' consumption of test meals in an experimental design. Bodily concern (An + Xy) was also related to sibutramine response in univariate analyses.     

Syndromal versus contextualized personality assessment: differentiating environmental and dispositional determinants of boys' aggression

Two studies examined how "syndromal" approaches to assessment confound differences between individuals in the person and situation variables that contribute to their behavior. In a field study, a widely used instrument was found to be sensitive to the base rates of boys' aggression but, as expected, did not discriminate between boys who were similar in their behavior base rates but different in their social environments and how they responded to them. A laboratory experiment replicated this finding and demonstrated that social observers discriminated between targets on the basis of their functional properties even though syndrome scores did not. The results clarify how syndromal methods can obscure situational factors, conflict with people's social knowledge, and reinforce the view that syndromes exist "in the individual" rather than in person-environment interactions. Implications for developing more contextually sensitive instruments are discussed.     

Implicit alcohol and smoking associations among young adult heavy drinkers: Associations with smoking status and alcohol-cigarette co-use

Implicit memory associations may play a role in motivation to use alcohol and cigarettes, but the relationship between implicit associations and co-use of alcohol and cigarettes is currently unknown. This study provided an initial examination of alcohol and smoking implicit associations among young adult drinkers who were either nonsmokers or relatively light smokers (i.e., 10 or fewer cigarettes per day) as a function of smoking frequency and daily-level alcohol-cigarette co-use. Drinkers (n?=?129) completed alcohol-arousal and smoking-valence variants of the implicit association test as well as a daily-level assessment of past 90-day alcohol and cigarette use. Smokers were grouped according to whether they reported daily or nondaily smoking frequency. Results showed that although implicit alcohol-arousal associations did not differ between smokers and nonsmokers, stronger implicit alcohol-arousal associations were observed for nondaily smokers relative to daily smokers after controlling for drinking frequency. Further, implicit positive-smoking associations were stronger for smokers relative to nonsmokers. Within the subgroup of nondaily smokers, more frequent co-use of alcohol and cigarettes was associated with stronger implicit positive-smoking associations when controlling for total drinking and smoking frequency. The findings suggest that implicit alcohol and smoking associations may be linked with smoking patterns (daily vs. nondaily) and co-use of alcohol and cigarettes among young adult drinkers who are not heavy smokers, highlighting the need for more research on the role of implicit associations in the co-use of cigarettes and alcohol.     

Brain responses to lexical-semantic priming in children at-risk for dyslexia

Deviances in early event-related potential (ERP) components reflecting auditory and phonological processing are well-documented in children at familial risk for dyslexia. However, little is known about brain responses which index processing in other linguistic domains such as lexicon, semantics and syntax in this group. The present study investigated effects of lexical-semantic priming in 20- and 24-month-olds at-risk for dyslexia and typically developing controls in two ERP experiments. In both experiments an early component assumed to reflect facilitated lexical processing for primed words was enhanced in the at-risk group compared to the control group. Moreover, an N400-like response which was prominent in the control group was attenuated or absent in at-risk children. Results suggest that deficiencies in young children at-risk for dyslexia are not restricted to perceptual and lower-level phonological abilities, but also affect higher order linguistic skills such as lexical and semantic processing.