Are Asian cultures really less ageist than Western ones? It depends on the questions asked

Ageism is an increasing concern in ageing populations such as Asia and Europe. A prevalent assumption in psychology is that Eastern cultures may be less prone to ageism because of norms and values that honour and respect elders. Yet, evidence for this culture hypothesis is inconclusive. The current study examines this issue by comparing attitudes towards older people in an Eastern and Western samples of 184 young people from the UK and 249 from Taiwan. Attitudes to old age were measured both as meta‐perceptions (the perceived normative context) and personal attitudes in regard to the cognitive, affective and behavioural components of ageism. Consistent with the culture hypothesis, meta‐perceptions about competence and admiration were more positive in Taiwan than in the UK, yet other meta‐perceptions were more negative pointing to the existence of old age subtypes. Personal attitudes about older people in regard to the affective and behavioural, but not the cognitive component, were more negative in Taiwan than in the UK. Thus, cultural differences in ageism are more nuanced than suggested by previous research. The importance of distinguishing between the normative context and personal attitudes as well as the different components of ageism is highlighted by the present findings.     

FATHER–CHILD PLAY DURING THE PRESCHOOL YEARS AND CHILD INTERNALIZING BEHAVIORS: BETWEEN ROBUSTNESS AND VULNERABILITY

Play observations with a total of 400 toddlers and preschoolers were videotaped and rated for Intensity and Quality of play with their parents. Parents were asked about perceived stress and personality characteristics (Big 5). Child's motor, cognitive skills, temperament, and internalizing behaviors were assessed. Study 1 investigated the robustness of play across child age and gender, and examined differences between fathers and mothers. Study 2 explored the vulnerability of play with fathers of children born preterm (PT‐fathers) and fathers who had experienced adverse childhoods (AC‐fathers). Study 3 investigated child internalizing behaviors. Intensity of play was maintained almost independently of child age and gender. It was similar for AC‐ and PT‐fathers, and similar to maternal Intensity. In contrast, paternal Quality of play was higher with boys and independent of fathers’ personality and perceived parenting stress whereas maternal Quality of play was higher with girls and linked to mothers’ perceived parenting competence, acceptability of the child, and neuroticism. AC‐fathers scored significantly low on Quality, as did PT‐fathers, but the Quality of their play became better with growing child age, birth weight, and cognitive (but not motor and temperament) scores. Finally, child internalizing behaviors were negatively related to paternal Quality of play.     

Flexible use of source information: Processing components of the inconsistency effect in person memory

The impact of social expectancies on person memory is investigated in two experiments using a source-recognition paradigm. Multinomial model analyses disentangled effects on item-memory, source-memory, and heuristic reconstructive guessing processes. Cognitive load and retention interval were manipulated. In two pilot studies and Experiment 1, participants were presented equal numbers of consistent and inconsistent statements about two stereotyped targets. Source-memory showed an inconsistency effect that is restricted to conditions with load at encoding and longer retention interval. Consistency biases in reconstructive guessing of statement-person associations emerged under load. Item-memory exhibited only a small inconsistency effect in conditions without load and short retention interval. Experiment 2 yielded similar results, although expectancies were induced on-line via the distribution of positive and negative behaviors across non-stereotyped targets. Findings support a model of flexible use of source information, demonstrate the importance of source memory, and of assessing it separately from item recognition and reconstructive guessing.     

Hypnoanalyse – Ein Stiefkind der Psychoanalyse

Goal of this article is to present the manifold methods and techniques of modern hypnotherapy/hypnoanalysis and to show the possibilities for linking them to traditional psychoanalytical methods. In the introduction, clarification of concepts and a short historical overview is given. The phenomenology of the hypnotical state and its assessment from a psychoanalytical and a non-psychoanalytical view either follows. In this connection the topic of meditation is shortly discussed. In the main part a definition of hypnoanalysis is given, the most important hypnoanalytical methods are described and demonstrated by case studies. The question whether psychoanalysis is to be considered as a trance therapy, is also discussed. Free association in hypnotical trance is especially recommended with patients having difficulties to reach their own feelings.     

Internet-based treatment of depression: a randomized controlled trial comparing guided with unguided self-help

Internet-delivered self-help for depression with therapist guidance has shown efficacy in several trials. Results from meta-analyses suggest that guidance is important and that self-help programs without support are less effective. However, there are no direct experimental comparisons between guided and unguided internet-based treatments for depression. The present study compared the benefits of a 10-week web-based unguided self-help treatment with the same intervention complemented with weekly therapist support via e-mail. A waiting-list control group was also included. Seventy-six individuals meeting the diagnostic criteria of major depression or dysthymia were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) was used as the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes included general psychopathology, interpersonal problems, and quality of life. Sixty-nine participants (91%) completed the assessment at posttreatment and 59 (78%) at 6-month follow-up. Results showed significant symptom reductions in both treatment groups compared to the waiting-list control group. At posttreatment, between-group effect sizes on the BDI-II were d = .66 for unguided self-help versus waiting-list and d = 1.14 for guided self-help versus waiting-list controls. In the comparison of the two active treatments, small-to-moderate, but not statistically significant effects in favor of the guided condition were found on all measured dimensions. In both groups, treatment gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. The findings provide evidence that internet-delivered treatments for depression can be effective whether support is added or not. However, all participants were interviewed in a structured diagnostic telephone interview before inclusion, which prohibits conclusions regarding unguided treatments that are without any human contact.     

Perspective taking as a means to overcome motivational barriers in negotiations: when putting oneself into the opponent's shoes helps to walk toward agreements

Previous negotiation research predominantly focused on psychological factors that lead to suboptimal compromises as opposed to integrative agreements. Few studies systematically analyzed factors that impact the emergence of hurtful partial impasses (i.e., nonagreements on part of the issues). The present research investigates negotiators' egoistic motivation as a determinant for the emergence of partial impasses. In addition, the authors seek to demonstrate that perspective taking serves as a powerful tool to avoid impasses and to overcome egoistic impediments. Specifically, it was predicted that within an integrative context perspective-takers succeed to exchange concessions on low- versus high-preference issues (i.e., logroll), thereby increasing their individual profits without inflicting hurtful losses upon their counterparts. Three studies were conducted to test these predictions. Study 1 reveals that whereas negotiators' egoistic motivation increases the risk of partial impasses, perspective taking alleviates this risk. Study 2 demonstrates that this beneficial effect of a perspective-taking mindset is limited to integrative negotiations and does not emerge in a distributive context, in which negotiators are constrained to achieve selfish goals by inflicting hurtful losses on their counterparts. Study 3 confirms the assumption that in an integrative context egoistic perspective-takers overcome the risk of impasses by means of logrolling. The findings of the present studies are discussed with respect to their contribution to research on negotiations, social motivation, and perspective taking.     

Following the standard form: Effects of equation format on algebraic modeling

When people construct algebraic equations to represent quantitative relations, they often reverse the roles of the variables (6S = P instead of 6P = S). Results from three experiments show that a major reason for such reversal errors is people’s adherence to, and interpretation of, the Standard Form of algebraic models. College students constructed, selected, and interpreted algebraic models that either had the standard multiplication format (MF: ax = y), or the mathematically equivalent division format (DF: y/a = x). A large minority of participants constructed reversed MF models, whereas most participants who were instructed to use DF equations constructed correct models (Experiment 1). Most participants understood that MF and DF models of the same relation should be mathematically equivalent (Experiment 2), but they drew a conceptual distinction between these models (Experiment 3). The authors discuss the impact of notational conventions on people’s interpretation and use of representational tools.     

Familienplanung junger onkologischer Patienten

Cancer patients in young adulthood are affected by the cancer diagnosis in a period of life where future parenthood or fulfilling of a potential wish to have children plays an important role. To perform fertility preserving treatment, patients should be fully informed before any treatment is carried out. The following review broaches the issue of whether and how fertility concerns are discussed in the medical consultation. Therefore, relevant papers were identified by a database search between the years 2000 and 2010. A total of 21 studies were included which focussed on physician-patient communication from the point of view of the patients or healthcare professionals. Oncologists do not routinely speak to patients about fertility issues. Both oncologists and patients expressed communication difficulties. An improvement of the medical interview concerning family planning could be achieved by provision of guidelines, training for healthcare professionals, cooperation between oncologists and reproductive medicine and the provision of educational patient material.     

Are occupational interests hormonally influenced? The 2D:4D-interest nexus

Occupational interests constitute a psychological variable with pronounced sex differences. Whereas males are more interested in things, females primarily take an interest in people. As various studies with mammals and humans documented the role of androgen exposure on sex-typical behavior, we assumed that androgen levels are associated with occupational interests. In our study, we used 2D:4D digit ratio as an indicator of prenatal androgen levels and finger lengths as an indicator of post-pubertal androgen levels. Occupational interests were measured with a standard interest inventory. We hypothesized that finger lengths and ratios indicating high androgen levels are associated with stronger interests in things and weaker interests in people. All measures were gathered using an online interest inventory thereby leading to sufficient statistical power (N = 8646). Results partly confirmed our hypotheses. We found significant correlations between finger lengths and interests in things for males. Moreover, in the case of males we identified significant correlations between finger lengths (positive) as well as digit ratios (negative) with realistic interests and significant correlations between finger lengths (negative) and social interests, which are a marker variable of the people-things dimension.     

Automatic classification of dysfunctional thoughts: A feasibility test

The identification of dysfunctional thoughts is a central effort in cognitive therapy. This paper describes the first version of a computer module that classifies dysfunctional thoughts automatically. It is part of COGNO, a system we are developing to give automatic feedback on dysfunctional thoughts. The system uses rules that were developed from language markers identified in a sample of 149 dysfunctional thoughts. The system was tested with an independent set of 112 example thoughts. The system detects the majority of dysfunctional thoughts, but works reliably only for some thought categories. Automatic thought classification may be a first step toward developing natural dialogue systems in cognitive therapy.