Classification statistical techniques: an applied and comparative study

The aim of this article is to assess and compare three classification statistical techniques--logistic regression, discriminant analysis and classification trees--to identify the personality characteristics associated with the risk of suffering from ischemic cardiovascular acute episodes (ICAE). The sample comprised 313 participants, men and women, aged from 36 to 80. Participants were divided into two groups: a clinical group of patients (n = 143) who were diagnosed as suffering from ICAE, and a control group (n = 170). Both groups were equated in gender, age, socio-economic and educational level. In view of the comparative study of the analytical procedures, we recommend classification trees as the best choice, as it was the most accurate for the individuals in the clinical group, a simple data analysis and a meaningful clinical interpretation. The predictive validity analysis of the MCMI-II allowed the construction of a reduced version made up of 9 personality scales from the 22 scales in the original version. Thus, we could identify the patients with a higher probability of suffering from ICAE, and additionally, generate an empirical model comprising seven and five personality profiles associated, respectively, with the increase and the decrease of the probability of suffering from ICAE.     

Body Image Assessment Software: Psychometric data

The aim of the present study was to analyze the psychometric characteristics of the Body Image Assessment Software (BIAS), an innovative interactive computer program developed to assess body image disturbances. The program was tested on 252 psychology students at the University of Barcelona and 51 patients with an eating disorder (ED). The subjects filled in the Eating Attitudes Test-26, the Body Shape Questionnaire, the body dissatisfaction scale of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2, and the Body Image Assessment-Revised (a test of silhouettes). Results showed good validity and very high reliability. Furthermore, BIAS was able to discriminate between people who were at risk of an ED and those who were not, as well as between people with and without a history of an ED. Those at risk of having an ED and those with a current ED showed more body image distortion (overestimation of body size) and higher levels of body image dissatisfaction.     

The Psychological Impact of the Jesus Prayer among Non-Conventional Catholics

This pilot study explored the psychological impact of a 2-month intervention with the Jesus Prayer among a sample taken from a community of middle-aged Catholics in Spain. The study collected quantitative data on psychological symptoms with the Revised Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90-R) and on personality traits with the Revised Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R) at three different times: baseline, post-intervention, and 5 months after the 2-month intervention. It also collected quantitative data on transient mood states with the Profile of Mood States (POMS) before and after a 25-min intervention with the Jesus Prayer, plus data on adherence 2 years after the inquiry. Statistical analysis found lower scores on Interpersonal Sensitivity (p = .009) and Phobic Anxiety (p = .03) psychological symptoms after the 2-month intervention. Analyses of data also found lower scores and strong effect sizes on Tension (p = .03, d = 1.029) and Fatigue (p = .001, d = 1.390) after a 25-min intervention. The 2-year follow up found that one third of the final sample had completely adhered to a daily practice of the Jesus Prayer. Overall results indicate that the Jesus Prayer may be a relevant practice among Catholics both for well-being and spiritual purposes.     

Plato on the role of contradiction in education

In this paper, I will look at two passages from the discussion of education in Book VII of Plato’s Republic: 523b-524d and 537e-539d. These passages, when taken together, present a puzzle for the coherency of the educational programme Socrates describes. Both discuss contradiction. One says that contradiction is educationally edifying, the other, that it is corrupting. This sounds like a contradiction about contradiction. As far as I know, no one has noticed this puzzle before. By the end of this paper, I hope to have not only provided a solution to the apparent contradiction about contradiction that is compelling, but also one that shows that this puzzle, which might at first have seemed restricted to a textual issue about the educational programme in the Republic, is in fact one that has far reaching implications for a range of Plato’s theories across several dialogues. Along with education, corruption, and contradiction, I will discuss Plato’s theory of psychology, and his theory of forms.     

Deceptive-like behaviour in dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis familiaris</Emphasis>)

Deception, the use of false signals to modify the behaviour of the receiver, occurs in low frequencies even in stable signalling systems. For example, it can be advantageous for subordinate individuals to deceive in competitive situations. We investigated in a three-way choice task whether dogs are able to mislead a human competitor, i.e. if they are capable of tactical deception. During training, dogs experienced the role of their owner, as always being cooperative, and two unfamiliar humans, one acting ‘cooperatively’ by giving food and the other being ‘competitive’ and keeping the food for themselves. During the test, the dog had the options to lead one of these partners to one of the three potential food locations: one contained a favoured food item, the other a non-preferred food item and the third remained empty. After having led one of the partners, the dog always had the possibility of leading its cooperative owner to one of the food locations. Therefore, a dog would have a direct benefit from misleading the competitive partner since it would then get another chance to receive the preferred food from the owner. On the first test day, the dogs led the cooperative partner to the preferred food box more often than expected by chance and more often than the competitive partner. On the second day, they even led the competitive partner less often to the preferred food than expected by chance and more often to the empty box than the cooperative partner. These results show that dogs distinguished between the cooperative and the competitive partner, and indicate the flexibility of dogs to adjust their behaviour and that they are able to use tactical deception.     

Return Imaginaries and Political Climate: Comparing Thinking About Return Mobilities Among Pakistani Origin Migrants and Descendants in Norway and the UK

The political climate on immigration and diversity in various European societies has previously been analysed in relation to media representations, policy regimes and public opinion. This paper focuses more narrowly on how political climates affect migrant and post-migrant generations, as inhabitants of these European societies. We focus on the impact of ambivalence resulting from perceived lack of recognition as full citizens in European societies among migrants and their descendants. Ambivalence in relation to experiences of particular traits of the political climate is further connected with ideas about mobility—how migrants and descendants may think about return migration—what we discuss in terms of ‘return imaginaries’. Culture, ideology and representations are seen as significant for contemporary politics, not only with expressive but also with formative roles. With this perspective, the analysis explores three politically heated areas of debate: about immigration control, about social cohesion and integration agendas and about terrorist attacks. These three areas were inductively selected, drawing on analysis of qualitative data collected among Pakistani origin migrants and descendants in Norway and the UK. The two countries of residence are purposefully chosen because they in different ways reflect political climates affected by the rise of xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe.     

Depressive Symptoms and Health Among Cardiovascular Disease Patients in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs1

This study examined relations between depressive symptoms and health outcomes among 79 patients participating in cardiac rehabilitation. Results showed cross‐sectional negative associations between depressive symptoms and cardiac symptom appraisals at the beginning (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of rehabilitation. No longitudinal effects of depressive symptoms on cardiovascular functioning were found. Results also showed that improvements in depressive symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2 were related to improvements in cardiac symptom appraisals from Time 1 to Time 2. These results support the deleterious effects of depression on cardiovascular functioning. Findings such as these may help to understand the processes by which proximal health outcomes are affected by cardiac rehabilitation, thereby elucidating mechanisms linking depression to long‐term cardiovascular health.     

Psychometric properties of the early prosocial behaviour questionnaire

In this paper, we introduce a parent report questionnaire that assesses three different domains of early prosocial behaviour, namely helping, comforting and sharing. Participants were 202 German mothers with children at the ages of 18 and 30 months. Results showed that a three-factor model (representing the three domains of prosocial behaviour) fitted the data more accurately than a single-factor model. Longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis revealed configural and metric invariance of the three-factor model over measurement occasions and, furthermore, analysis of the factor variances and covariances yielded equivalent structural relations between factors across age. These findings legitimize the use of the questionnaire for mean comparison analysis and longitudinal change assessments.     

Recruitment of intuitive versus analytic thinking strategies affects the role of working memory in a gambling task

Previous studies found mixed results concerning the role of working memory (WM) in the gambling task (GT). Here, we aimed at reconciling inconsistencies by showing that the standard version of the task can be solved using intuitive strategies operating automatically, while more complex versions require analytic strategies drawing on executive functions. In Study 1, where good performance on the GT could be achieved using intuitive strategies, participants performed well both with and without a concurrent WM load. In Study 2, where analytical strategies were required to solve a more complex version of the GT, participants without WM load performed well, while participants with WM load performed poorly. In Study 3, where the complexity of the GT was further increased, participants in both conditions performed poorly. In addition to the standard performance measure, we used participants’ subjective expected utility, showing that it differs from the standard measure in some important aspects.