Sport Psychological Characteristics of Talented 13-Year Old Adolescents

The objective of this study was to determine whether the sport psychological profiles of talented 13-year-old sport participants differ from less talented participants. 162 grade 8 learners with a mean age of 13.2 ± 0.33 years voluntarily participated in the study. The participants were subjected to the Australian Talent Search protocol and completed the Athlete Coping Skills Inventory for Sport (ACSI-28). The group was categorize according to the median of all the tests of the talent identification protocol (TID) in a talented (TG) and a less talented group (LTG). The TG obtained higher means in all seven sport psychological characteristics: coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting, confidence, coachability and the average coping profile, concentration and freedom from worry. The results indicate that talented adolescents exhibit specific sport psychological characteristics compared to less talented adolescents.     

Personality profiling of South African rugby union players

This study aimed to investigate whether differences exist in the personality profiles of professional and semi-professional rugby union players. Participants were 73 male rugby players, 52 professional players and 21 semi-professional players. All participants completed the NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) as part of the WebNeuro Sport online assessment. An independent sample t-test showed a statistically significant difference in neuroticism between the professional and semi-professional players. The magnitude-based inference method confirmed the results of the independent sample t-test with a moderate effect. The potential practical value of these findings is that the Neuroticism scale of the Big Five personality dimensions can be used as a screening tool for indicating which players a team would want to recruit and invest time and money in since these players will most likely be capable of progressing to the top level in their sport.     

Children Who Hate by Fritz Redl and David Wineman

This paper describes a dynamically oriented group aftercare program for alcoholics and other substance abusers. The chronic nature of alcoholism and the need to insure that initial progress is not followed by regression point to the need for continuity of care, extending beyond the initial detoxification or initial crisis phase. The group-oriented aftercare program at Appleton Outpatient Clinic follows an intensive five-week program in either our outpatient clinic or Appleton's inpatient setting. The preparatory group and educational experiences that patients participate in prior to their entry into a long-term aftercare group are detailed. Finally, special issues that emerge in the long-term groups are discussed including (1) the group contract, (2) alcohol-related group defenses, and (3) management of the patient who drinks.     

Experiential avoidance and self‐compassion in chronic pain

The present study investigates the role of coping, experiential avoidance, and self‐compassion on psychological distress prediction (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms). A battery of self‐report questionnaires was used to assess coping, experiential avoidance, self‐compassion, and psychological distress in 103 adults with chronic pain from Portuguese primary health care units. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed and showed that experiential avoidance and self‐compassion are the factors that mostly explain psychological distress. Our results suggest that when people with chronic pain are willing to remain in contact with particular private experiences without attempting to control them, they reported less depression, anxiety, and stress. Implications for clinical practice were discussed, suggesting the importance of helping people with chronic pain to increase their willingness to pain rather than avoiding it.     

Linking exercise and causality orientations to change in well‐being among older adults: does change in motivational variables play a role?

A self‐determination theory process model of change in well‐being was tested among older adults in a 16‐week randomized exercise‐trial (n = 118, M = 74.3 years, SD = 4.6, 68% females). The exercise intervention increased participants' autonomous motivation and perceived competence over the first 7 weeks. Moreover, autonomous orientation gave rise to perceived competence, while impersonal orientation was related to increased controlled motivation. Changes in motivational variables were positively related to changes in vitality over the trial, while change in controlled motivation was negatively related to changes in vitality and subjective well‐being. Bootstrapping analyses supported an indirect exercise–vitality path through autonomous motivation and perceived competence, and an indirect autonomous orientation–vitality path through perceived competence.     

A Preliminary Outline for a Fantasy Projection Technique as a Clinical Instrument

This paper considers the effects of an initial period of “forced” nonconformity on commitment to an independent position in later trials of an Asch-type experiment. Nonconformity was “forced” in the sense that experimental subjects' choices were made to appear deviant by manipulation of the choices of the fictitious discrepant majority who “responded” after experimental subjects. Compared with control subjects who did not experience initial forced deviation, experimental subjects conformed significantly less during a subsequent block of trials where response order was reversed, thereby allowing them to know the choices of the fictitious majority before giving their choice. When the experiment was interpreted within a symbolic interactionism framework, it was hypothesized that two forms of commitment to an independent position, self-commitment and group-commitment, might follow initial “nonconforming” behavior in the group. Data from postsession interviews suggest self-expectations to be more important than imputed group-expectations in the development of a commitment to an independent position.     

A Short Report concerning the Einstellung Effect

Participants were given a series of water jug problems, in a study designed to extend the generality of findings concerning the persistence of a disadvantageous set (Einstellung effect) in problem solving. In contrast to previous research, set-inducing instructions described a general tactic, avoiding reference to specific labeled jugs. Results were inconsistent with those of previous studies. It is suggested that Einstellung effects may depend upon consistent cues that lend themselves to a simple coding scheme.     

Anxiety and Attention: Is There an Attentional Bias for Positive Emotional Stimuli?

Empirical research has shown that anxiety is associated with a systematic bias in the cognitive system. Anxious individuals (clinically anxious patients and normal individuals with high-trait anxiety) are characterized by a pattern of selective processing that favors the encoding of threatening information. Is this attentional bias specific to threat-related information, or does it operate for positive emotional stimuli? The research directly connected with the existence of an attentional bias for threat in anxiety was examined.