Psychopathologie und Aufenthaltsstatus

This study compared the mental health status of various groups of people living in Switzerland. A total of 65 asylum seekers, 34 refugees, 21 illegal migrants, 26 migrant laborers and 56 Swiss citizens were assessed for psychopathological symptoms of posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depression. Specifically, it was tested if the residence permit status was associated with psychopathology if potentially confounding factors, such as social desirability, trauma history and integration were statistically controlled. The results showed that the majority of the asylum seekers, refugees and illegal migrants included in the study suffered from substantial psychopathological symptoms. An association between residence permit status and psychopathology was found even after controlling for other influencing factors. The results imply that not only trauma experiences lead to psychopathology in specific population groups with a migration background but also factors related to an insecure residence permit can contribute to psychopathological symptoms.     

Sad and happy emotion discrimination in music by children with cochlear implants

Children using cochlear implants (CIs) develop speech perception but have difficulty perceiving complex acoustic signals. Mode and tempo are the two components used to recognize emotion in music. Based on CI limitations, we hypothesized children using CIs would have impaired perception of mode cues relative to their normal hearing peers and would rely more heavily on tempo cues to distinguish happy from sad music. Study participants were children with 13 right CIs and 3 left CIs (M = 12.7, SD = 2.6 years) and 16 normal hearing peers. Participants judged 96 brief piano excerpts from the classical genre as happy or sad in a forced-choice task. Music was randomly presented with alterations of transposed mode, tempo, or both. When music was presented in original form, children using CIs discriminated between happy and sad music with accuracy well above chance levels (87.5%) but significantly below those with normal hearing (98%). The CI group primarily used tempo cues, whereas normal hearing children relied more on mode cues. Transposing both mode and tempo cues in the same musical excerpt obliterated cues to emotion for both groups. Children using CIs showed significantly slower response times across all conditions. Children using CIs use tempo cues to discriminate happy versus sad music reflecting a very different hearing strategy than their normal hearing peers. Slower reaction times by children using CIs indicate that they found the task more difficult and support the possibility that they require different strategies to process emotion in music than normal.     

The validation of an active control intervention for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Most of the extant literature investigating the health effects of mindfulness interventions relies on wait-list control comparisons. The current article specifies and validates an active control condition, the Health Enhancement Program (HEP), thus providing the foundation necessary for rigorous investigations of the relative efficacy of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and for testing mindfulness as an active ingredient. 63 participants were randomized to either MBSR (n = 31) or HEP (n = 32). Compared to HEP, MBSR led to reductions in thermal pain ratings in the mindfulness- but not the HEP-related instruction condition (η² = .18). There were significant improvements over time for general distress (η² = .09), anxiety (η² = .08), hostility (η² = .07), and medical symptoms (η² = .14), but no effects of intervention. Practice was not related to change. HEP is an active control condition for MBSR while remaining inert to mindfulness. These claims are supported by results from a pain task. Participant-reported outcomes (PROs) replicate previous improvements to well-being in MBSR, but indicate that MBSR is no more effective than a rigorous active control in improving these indices. These results emphasize the importance of using an active control condition like HEP in studies evaluating the effectiveness of MBSR.     

Adult age differences in categorization and multiple-cue judgment

We often need to infer unknown properties of objects from observable ones, just like detectives must infer guilt from observable clues and behavior. But how do inferential processes change with age? We examined young and older adults' reliance on rule-based and similarity-based processes in an inference task that can be considered either a categorization or a multiple-cue judgment task, depending on the nature of the criterion (binary vs. continuous). Both older and young adults relied on rule-based processes in the multiple-cue judgment task. In the categorization task, however, the majority of older adults relied on rule-based processes while young adults preferred similarity-based processes. Moreover, older adults who relied on rule-based processes performed poorly compared with young adults who relied on the same process, suggesting that aging is associated with deficits in applying rule-based processes.     

Qualit?tssicherung in der forensischen Psychologie

Approximately 12 years ago the German Federation of Psychological Societies initiated a certified postgraduate training in psychology and law to qualify psychologists as forensic psychology experts. This qualification initiative was a consequence of a decade of evaluative research constantly yielding serious shortcomings in psychiatric and psychological expert reports. The present paper informs about the conception of the training and the experiences with it so far. Furthermore, it reports on current reform efforts regarding the training and informs about some further forensic psychological qualification options that have meanwhile been established in Germany.     

From Super Mario to Skyrim: A framework for the evolution of video game consumption

In contrast with traditional forms of entertainment media (e.g., movies, novels, and television), video games are unique in their ability to provide immersion, agency, and transformation (IAT) during the consumptive experience. As the video game medium has evolved over generations of consoles, the experience of IAT has become increasingly complex from the perspective of consumers. To better understand this phenomenon, this research presents a framework for understanding the consumption of video games by examining the intersection of player, narrative, and gameplay. Our findings suggest that advancements in video game technology and design have gradually increased the degree of integration among these domains. Although the subjective experience of IAT has generally improved as a function of greater integration, various conflicts arise from the tensions that exist between player, narrative, and gameplay. Consequently, this research explores the specific nature of such conflicts to provide a richer understanding of video game consumption and the impact of its evolution on consumers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What Was the Syntax‐Semantics Debate in the Philosophy of Science About?

The debate between critics of syntactic and semantic approaches to the formalization of scientific theories has been going on for over 50 years. I structure the debate in light of a recent exchange between Hans Halvorson, Clark Glymour, and Bas van Fraassen and argue that the only remaining disagreement concerns the alleged difference in the dependence of syntactic and semantic approaches on languages of predicate logic. This difference turns out to be illusory.     

Perceived Similarity, Expectation-Reality Discrepancies, and Mentors' Expressed Intention to Remain in Big Brothers/Big Sisters Programs

Studies have begun to document the academic and psychosocial benefits of Big Brothers/ Big Sisters programs for at-risk youth (Rhodes, Grossman, & Resch, 2000). However, investigators have noted a problem with mentor attrition (Meissen & Lounsbury, 1981). The purpose of the current study was twofold. First, we explored the relative importance of specific dimensions of perceived similarity (including similarity in attitudes, interests, race, and personality) as well as mentors' expectation-reality discrepancies in predicting mentors' expressed intention to remain in Big Brothers/Big Sisters programs. Second, we examined a model whereby interpersonal attraction and relationship quality served as mediators of these associations. Our results suggest that perceived similarity in extraver-sion as well as the discrepancy between mentors' ideal versus actual roles were significant predictors of mentors' expressed intention to remain in the relationship. Relationship quality and interpersonal attraction appeared to mediate these findings.     

Die Psychotherapeutenausbildung aus Sicht der Teilnehmer

Background

A survey was performed to assess the current situation in education and to identify critical issues 10 years after the inception of the German law regulating the education of psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists. The study reports the results of a nationwide survey of German psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists currently in training. The aim of the survey was to evaluate the individual sections of training, desired alterations and structural and financial conditions.

Methods

All trainees were contacted via the training institutes and the umbrella organizations. A total of 3,223 trainees participated and answered questions mainly using an online questionnaire.

Results

Most respondents practiced their training part-time and in most cases the trainees thought that the training would last longer than initially expected. The practical training was rated most poorly, whereas practical education and individual supervision were rated as most useful. The survey revealed deficits concerning the evaluation of the quality of several components of the training.

Conclusions

From the perspective of the trainees there is a necessity to modify the financial conditions of the training. This result has been considered in the recommendations of a research expertise on psychotherapy training and should stimulate further research.     

A Computer tool for constructing and integrating inferences into text representations

We present a new computer tool for modeling inference generation processes in text comprehension. With this tool, an explicit inference statement is constructed by marker passing in a joint text and knowledge base and a subsequent compilation process. In addition, the tool can be applied to describe knowledge integration processes, which can produce spatial, causal, and other types of representations. Because the system provides explicit accounts for reproductive and creative inferencing, it exceeds the functionality of previous simulations in text research. Text researchers can employ this system as a common ground for comparing their different positions on inferencing in a more precise manner.