Justice‐sensitive interpretations of ambiguous situations

The accessibility of concepts related to justice and injustice is proposed as a basic cognitive mechanism underlying the personality trait of justice sensitivity. To provide evidence for this assertion, the manner in which justice sensitivity shapes the interpretation of an ambiguous situation was investigated. It was found that, without priming, and after injustice is primed, persons high in justice sensitivity tend to perceive greater injustice in an ambiguous situation than persons low in justice sensitivity. If the restoration of justice is primed, however, persons high in justice sensitivity tend to interpret the ambiguous situation as more just when compared to persons low in justice sensitivity. Results are discussed with regard to a process‐oriented explanation of emotional and behavioural effects of justice sensitivity.     

How to study the ‘quality of psychoanalytic treatments’ and their long‐term effects on patients' well‐being: A representative,multi‐perspective follow‐up study3

How can we study the ‘quality of psychoanalytic treatments’? The authors attempt to answer this question by discussing a naturalistic, multi‐perspective and representative follow‐up study of psychoanalyses and long‐term psychoanalytic psychotherapies. We studied a representative sample (n = 401) of all the patients who had terminated their psychoanalytic treatments with members of the German Psychoanalytical Association (DPV) between 1990 and 1993. Between 70 and 80 per cent of the patients achieved (average 6.5 years after the end of treatment) good and stable psychic changes according to the evaluations of the patients themselves, their analysts, independent psychoanalytic and non‐psychoanalytic experts, and questionnaires commonly applied in psychotherapy research. The evaluation of mental health costs showed a cost reduction through fewer days of sick leave during the seven years following the end of long‐term psychoanalytic treatments. The results achieved using non‐psychoanalytical instruments are complemented by the richness of the idiosyncratic findings, gained by the psychoanalytic research instruments.     

Combined reasoning by automated cooperation

Different reasoning systems have different strengths and weaknesses, and often it is useful to combine these systems to gain as much as possible from their strengths and retain as little as possible from their weaknesses. Of particular interest is the integration of first-order and higher-order techniques. First-order reasoning systems, on the one hand, have reached considerable strength in some niches, but in many areas of mathematics they still cannot reliably solve relatively simple problems, for example, when reasoning about sets, relations, or functions. Higher-order reasoning systems, on the other hand, can solve problems of this kind automatically. But the complexity inherent in their calculi prevents them from solving a whole range of problems. However, while many problems cannot be solved by any one system alone, they can be solved by a combination of these systems.We present a general agent-based methodology for integrating different reasoning systems. It provides a generic integration framework which facilitates the cooperation between diverse reasoners, but can also be refined to enable more efficient, specialist integrations. We empirically evaluate its usefulness, effectiveness and efficiency by case studies involving the integration of first-order and higher-order automated theorem provers, computer algebra systems, and model generators.     

Towards effective partnerships in a collaborative problem‐solving task

Background Collaborative learning is recognized as an effective learning tool in the classroom. In order to optimize the collaborative learning experience for children within a collaborative partnership, it is important to understand how to match the children by ability level, and whether assigning roles within these dyads is beneficial or not. Aims The current study investigated the effect of partnering children with different task‐specific abilities and assigning or not assigning helping roles within the dyads on the quality of talk used in a collaborative learning task. Sample The participants in this study comprised 54 year 6 pupils from a Western Sydney government primary school (boys=26, girls=28). The ages ranged from 10 years 10 months to 12 years 4 months with a mean age of 11 years 4 months. Method The children were formed into 27 single sex dyads of low–middle‐ and low–high‐ability partnerships. In half of each of these dyads the higher ability partner was asked to help the lower ability partner, which was compared with just asking partners to work together. The quality of talk used by the dyads while working collaboratively on the problem‐solving task was analysed using a language analysis framework developed by Mercer and colleagues (e.g. Littleton et al., 2005 ; Mercer, 1994, 1996 ). Results Results of this study found that children who worked collaboratively in the low–middle‐ability dyad condition demonstrated significantly more high‐quality exploratory talk than those in the low–high‐ability dyad condition. Although there was no significant difference between dyads who were assigned roles and those who were asked to work together, there was an interaction trend which suggests that low–high‐ability dyads, who were given the roles of helper and learner, showed more exploratory talk than dyads who were asked just to work together. Conclusion Mercer's re‐conceptualization of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in terms of the Intermental Development Zone (IDZ), which is reliant on constructive challenging discourse, can potentially provide a platform upon which all learners in the classroom can benefit from collaborative learning experiences.     

Associative learning over trials activates the hippocampus in healthy elderly but not mild cognitive impairment

The ability to form associations between choice alternatives and their contingent outcomes is an important aspect of learning that may be sensitive to hippocampal dysfunction in memory disorders of aging such as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCIa), or early Alzheimer disease. In this preliminary study we examined brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 12 healthy elderly participants and nine patients with MCIa during an associative learning task. Using a high-field 3.0-Tesla MRI scanner, we examined the dynamic neural response during associative learning over trials. The slope of signal attenuation associated with learning was analyzed for differences between groups within an a priori defined hippocampal region. Results indicated dynamic signal attenuation associated with learning in the healthy elderly sample, but not in MCIa. The absence of an associative learning effect in the MCIa sample reaffirms an important link between the learning difficulties that are commonly encountered in MCIa and the mesial temporal region.     

Soziale Phobie

Social anxiety is characterised by overwhelming fears in social interactions or performance situations. Its life-time prevalence is high (about 13%) and relapses are quite common. Social anxiety disorder is a chronic disease with a high impairment for the persons afflicted. Cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic and neurobiological models have promising implications for psychotherapy and pharmacological treatment. Neurobiological approaches have identified risk factors and possible somatic mechanisms. Cognitive-behavioural models explain the development of dysfunctional beliefs and the maintenance of social anxiety. Psychodynamic approaches refer to a disturbed self-concept and underline the importance of prior negative interpersonal relationships. Manualised treatments exist for the cognitive-behavioural approach and a manual for psychodynamic psychotherapy was recently developed. This paper presents the different approaches (neurobiological, cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic) to social anxiety disorder and possible implications for therapy are discussed.     

Psychoanalytisch-orientierte Fokaltherapie der sozialen Phobie

Although psychodynamic therapy is one of the most frequently applied forms of psychotherapy to treat anxiety disorders in clinical practice, evidence for the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy in anxiety disorders is unsatisfactory. This is especially true with regard to randomized controlled trials of psychodynamic psychotherapy in anxiety disorders. Psychodynamically oriented treatment manuals for anxiety disorders presently exist for generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. For social phobia (or social anxiety disorder), however, no manual for psychodynamic treatment has yet been published. Social phobia is a very frequent mental disorder characterized by an early onset, a chronic course, severe psychosocial impairments and high socio-economic costs and at the same time in spite of these facts one of the mental disorders which are scarcely diagnosed and treated. In this article, a manual for a 30-session (5 exploratory and 25 therapy sessions) short-term psychodynamic treatment of social phobia is presented. The treatment is based on Luborsky’s supportive-expressive (SE) therapy. In the first part, the general principles of SE therapy are presented. In the second part, a manual specifically adapted to the treatment of social phobia is described. This manual includes specific additional treatment elements that have clinically proved to be useful in the therapy of social phobia. The treatment manual is presently used in a large-scale randomized controlled multi-center study comparing short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of social phobia.     

Six-year change in affect optimization and affect complexity across the adult life span: a further examination

This study examines the life course of 2 independent components of adult affective development, 1 aimed at differentiation and complexity, the other aimed at optimization and positive emotional balance. These 2 components are predicted to have different developmental trajectories over the adult life span and to become related in a compensatory fashion under conditions of resource restrictions, such as those related to late life. Using individual growth curve estimation, we modeled 6-year longitudinal changes in the 2 components in a total sample of 388 individuals ranging in age from 15 to 88 years. As predicted, initial level of affect optimization was positively associated with age up to late middle age with a subsequent leveling off; individual rates of change were found to decelerate with age up to age 60 years and accelerate again around age 80 years. For affect complexity, initial level of affect complexity was positively associated with age up to age 45 years and negatively associated with age from then on, whereas individual rates of change were negatively associated with age, and this association tended to get stronger with age.     

Initial psychometric properties of the experiences questionnaire: validation of a self-report measure of decentering

Decentering is defined as the ability to observe one's thoughts and feelings as temporary, objective events in the mind, as opposed to reflections of the self that are necessarily true. The Experiences Questionnaire (EQ) was designed to measure both decentering and rumination but has not been empirically validated. The current study investigated the factor structure of the EQ in both undergraduate and clinical populations. A single, unifactorial decentering construct emerged using 2 undergraduate samples. The convergent and discriminant validity of this decentering factor was demonstrated in negative relationships with measures of depression symptoms, depressive rumination, experiential avoidance, and emotion regulation. Finally, the factor structure of the EQ was replicated in a clinical sample of individuals in remission from depression, and the decentering factor evidenced a negative relationship to concurrent levels of depression symptoms. Findings from this series of studies offer initial support for the EQ as a measure of decentering.