Measuring values with the Short Schwartz's Value Survey

The reliability and validity of the Short Schwartz's Value Survey (SSVS) was examined in 4 studies. In Study 1 (N = 670), we examined whether value scores obtained with the SSVS correlate with those obtained with Schwartz's Value Survey (SVS; Schwartz, 1992, 1996) and the Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2001) and whether the quasi-circular structure of values can be found with the SSVS. In Study 2 (N = 3,261), we replicated the quasi-circular structure in a more heterogeneous sample and assessed whether the SSVS can differentiate appropriately between gender, religiosity, students from different fields, and supporters of left- and right-wing political parties. In Study 3 (N = 112), we examined the test-retest reliability of the SSVS and in Study 4 (N = 38), time saving gained by the SSVS compared to the SVS. The results show that the new scale had good reliability and validity and that the values measured by the SSVS were arrayed on a circle identical to the theoretical structure of values. We also provided equations that can be used in future studies to measure individuals' scores on the 2 main value dimensions, Self-Transcendence and Conservation.     

A comparison of selected Rorschach variables of violent female offenders and female non-offenders

A national sample of incarcerated violent female offenders (N = 45) and a sample of female non-offenders (N = 30) were compared on nine selected Rorschach CS (Exner, 2003) variables and three of the aggression variables of Gacono and Meloy (1994). The results indicate that an avoidant and inconsistent coping style was more characteristic of the offenders than the non-offenders. The offenders were characterized by social immaturity and limited capacities to cope with stress as compared with the non-offenders. No significant differences were found between the two groups in handling intense emotions. Although the aggressive scores revealed no discrimination between the groups, significant correlations were found between the aggressive content score and childhood victimization. An inverse relation was found between the aggressive past score and the emotional intensity of the violent offense. The study indicates that the selected RCS variables related to adaptive resources for coping discriminate between violent offenders and non-offenders, but that the variables related to affective features need further examination.     

Regulatory focus systems and personal values

The present studies sought connections between two highly influential, but separate motivational systems: the regulatory foci and personal values. Study 1 (N = 173) showed that promotion focus was positively associated with Achievement and negatively with Tradition values, whereas prevention focus was positively associated with Conformity and Security values, and negatively with Self‐Direction and Stimulation values. Furthermore, interdependent self‐construal moderated trait prevention focus' associations with Power, Benevolence, Universalism, and Conformity values. Study 2 (N = 150) showed that a promotion‐framed message evoked more compliant behavior among those scoring high on Stimulation, Achievement, and Self‐Direction values, but that a prevention‐framed message evoked more compliance among those high in Conformity values. The results suggested that the regulatory foci are associated with certain values, and that these values may increase motivation in promotion‐ versus prevention‐relevant situations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of severe carotid occlusive disease and its surgical treatment on cognitive functions of the brain

Surgery of a high-grade carotid stenosis is evidence-based stroke prevention. Also cognitive effects are reported after carotid endarterectomy (CEA): both deterioration and improvement, the former attributed to perioperative complications and the latter often to learning effect. By imaging, brain perfusion and diffusion changes were shown in subjects with a high-grade stenosis undergoing CEA. We wanted to find out if the cognition of patients undergoing CEA display postoperative worsening or true improvement in association with findings in serial MR imaging. The patients had a poorer overall cognition than healthy matched controls. The cerebral hemisphere ipsilateral to the stenosis had higher diffusion and more sluggish perfusion leading to perfusion deficits. These asymmetries were abolished by CEA. Postoperatively, the patients showed a trend for cognitive worsening, most often attentional, but over months, the group performance improved similarly to the controls. Still, lower baseline perfusion was associated with a greater cognitive improvement, most clearly in executive functions. Consequently, despite the risk for transient decline, true cognitive benefit by CEA seems possible.     

Value Structure Among Students and Steelworkers1

The two‐dimensional value structure postulated in Schwartz's (1992) theory has previously found support in samples of teachers and university students, but groups with other professions or low educational level have been understudied. The current study employed the 40‐item Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ; Schwartz et al., 2001 ), multidimensional scaling, and transformation analysis to test the universality of the value structures among manual workers (n=815) and white‐collar workers (n=459) in a Finnish steel company. Also, the validity of the instrument was confirmed by comparing the current PVQ sample of Finnish university students (n=309) and a previous sample of Finnish university students (n=615) studied with the original Schwartz Value Survey. The value structures of the steel workers followed Schwartz's theoretical model, regardless of the educational level, except for the security value.     

Personality,situation, and positive–negative asymmetry in socially desirable responding

Based on previous research on socially desirable responding and positive—negative asymmetry, we hypothesized that (i) impression management is higher in public than in private settings, (ii) personal ideals linked to exemplification, ingratiation, and intimidation are related to an impression management tendency, (iii) negatively keyed social desirability items receive more extreme responses than positively keyed items, and (iv) self-esteem is correlated higher with negatively than with positively keyed self-deception items. Based on Jones and Pittman's (1982) model, exemplification, ingratiation, and intimidation are defined as impression management strategies that aim at presenting oneself as worthy, likable, or dangerous, respectively. Principally, the results obtained in a public setting (N=177) and a private setting (N= 165) support these hypotheses. The overall pattern of findings suggests that both context and personal ideals exert an influence on impression management scores, and that the keying direction of an item may be an important psychological determinant of a test response.     

Affective Arousal During Blaming in Couple Therapy: Combining Analyses of Verbal Discourse and Physiological Responses in Two Case Studies

Blaming one’s partner is common in couple therapy and such moral comment often evokes affective arousal. How people attune to each other as whole embodied beings is a current focus of interest in psychotherapy research. This study contributes to the literature by looking at attunement during critical moments in therapy interaction. Responses to blaming in verbal dialogue and at the level of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) were investigated in two couple therapy cases with a client couple and two therapists. Video-recorded couple therapy sessions were analyzed using discursive psychology and a narrative approach. The use of positioning, a discourse analytic tool, was also studied. ANS responses of the participants, including the therapists, were measured as electrodermal activity. The findings demonstrate how identity blaming, i.e. positioning the other person in ways counter to their preferred identity narrative, was accompanied by increased electrodermal activity in most participants. In the two cases studied, blaming centered on the themes of loyalty, trust and parenting. It is argued that identity blaming in these thematic domains increases the arousal level of the partners, since disloyalty, unfaithfulness and irresponsible parenting threaten the stability of the relationship.     

A microcomputer system for controlling classical conditioning experiments

A microcomputer-based laboratory system for controlling stimulus presentations and data acquisition in classical conditioning experiments is described. The system comprises an Intel 386/486-based microcomputer and a commercially obtained low-cost counter/timer board with input/output lines for stimulus timing and external device control. A simple, yet versatile custom-designed structured programming language is provided for performing an unlimited number of stimulus configurations and their sequences. In electrophysiological studies, the system can be flexibly connected to computer-controlled signal conditioning systems for the amplification and filtering of multiunit and evoked field potential responses and to high-speed data acquisition systems for sampling and analyzing the responses. The costs of reserving an entire microcomputer for experiment control are well compensated for by the simplicity and efficiency of programming and transportability of the control protocols between different setups and laboratories. Furthermore, a data acquisition and analysis system most suitable for the aims of a research project can be selected.     

Soft Prosody and Embodied Attunement in Therapeutic Interaction: A Multimethod Case Study of a Moment of Change

This study focused on a moment of weeping in one psychotherapy case. The overall aim was to explore the role of “soft prosody” in psychotherapy interaction—that is, the participants’ use of pauses, a lower volume, slower rhythms, and softer intonation than in the surrounding speech. A mixed-method, micro-analytic perspective was applied to investigate (a) social interaction, including its verbal and nonverbal elements; (2) the participants’ bodily responses, including autonomic nervous system (ANS) measurements; and (3) the participants’ thoughts and feelings during the therapy session, as reported in subsequent individual interviews. Soft prosody was observed to be an important conversational tool. It was used in conveying affiliation and offering therapeutic formulations, and it appeared to contribute both to emotional attunement between the participants and to the therapeutic change that occurred during the interaction under study. Two differing bodily synchronization tendencies in the arousal levels were observed among the participants: (a) a complementary tendency—that is, when the client's arousal increased, the therapist's decreased (occurring during the active therapeutic processing); and (b) a tendency to concurrent decreased arousal in all of the participants.