Addressing Anger,Stress, and Alcohol-Related Difficulties in the Military: An ACT Intervention

The use of alcohol to manage emotion is a common technique seen in military service personnel, the implication of which is evident in the relationship between alcohol misuse and mood disorders. However, investigations into transdiagnostic treatments aimed at addressing the common underlying processes to these problems in military personnel are lacking. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a real-world Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based intervention undergone by 262 military personnel. A quasi-experimental prepost design was employed (interim 1 month postintervention) with a waitlist control group utilized to compare differences over time between those who promptly completed the week-long intervention course and the delayed waitlist participants. In line with predictions, the intervention group showed greater improvement (cf. preintervention waitlist group) in emotion management, and greater reductions in levels of alcohol consumption, aggression, anxiety, stress, and perceptions of others being responsible for their circumstances. No significant differences were found in the comparison of both groups’ 1-month postintervention results (i.e., both groups evidenced similar improvements); suggesting having to wait to start the course had little effect on its impact. The results suggest the course holds promise for helping military service personnel improve a range of psychosocial outcomes. Further testing with a more rigorous methodology is recommended, as is using a more proactive approach in the promotion and implementation of future courses.     

The kotel: Toward an ethnographic portrait

An ethnographic portrait of the ‘Western Wall’ (kotel) in Jerusalem, is presented. The kotel is viewed as a pilgrimage site, a ‘place of memory’, and a location linked to a story. Most discussions of the kotel stress its history and archaeology, while this study utilizes ethnography to understand the meanings of the site to a range of social categories. The challenge faced by ethnography is that the social context of the kotel is constituted by Jewish groups all over the world and by cultural distillates stemming from millennia of history. By providing both an overview of kotel activities, and a more detailed examination of several kotel occasions, the paper points to the potential contribution of ethnography to understanding national‐religious shrines.     

Temporal Orientation,Human Movement Responses and Time Estimation

The relationship between temporal orientation, human movement (M) responses on the Barron inkblots, and brief time estimates was investigated. Knapp's Time Metaphor Test and the Barron inkblots were administered to 110 Ss. 40 Ss were selected on the basis of their scores on the Time Metaphor Test to participate in an individual time estimation experiment This produced two criterion groups: 20 Dynamic-Hasty (D-H) Ss and 20 Naturalist-Passive (N-P) Ss. Results indicated that N-P Ss had a lower M threshold, perceived more M and overestimated the passage of time. Discussion focused on the relationship between temporal orientation, fantasy behavior, and impulse control.     

Who abuses their coworkers? An examination of personality and situational variables

This study examines predictors of abusive employee behavior toward coworkers. We examined two personality variables, negative affectivity and political skill, and two situational relationship variables-team member exchange and coworker relationship conflict. We tested our hypotheses with data obtained from a sample of 232 working employees. We found that political skill and team member exchange were negatively related to coworker abuse, whereas negative affectivity and relationship conflict were positively related. Additionally, we found statistical support for the negative affectivity-relationship conflict, political skill-team member exchange, and political skill-relationship conflict interactions. Practical implications and directions for future research are provided.     

Psychological Health From the Teens to the 80s: Multiple Developmental Trajectories

Data from the long-term Intergenerational Studies are used to explore men’s and women’s psychological health trajectories from early adolescence to late adulthood, as elucidated by Nagin’s (Group-based modeling of development. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005) finite mixture modeling method. Two separate measures of psychological health, one from the California Q-sort (CQS; Block in The Q-sort method in personality assessment and psychiatric research. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1961) and one from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI; Gough and Bradley in CPI manual, 3rd edn. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA, 1996) are used, with a maximum of six pooled points of data collection. Distinct subtypes of developmental trajectory are uncovered, including patterns of nearly life-long trajectories of stability, as well as trajectories of increasing psychological health. For both measures of psychological health, the most common path (53% for CQS data, and 46% for CPI data) is that of relatively high initial psychological health with a subsequent modest linear increase. Results from the two measures neither perfectly replicate nor completely contradict one another. Both indicate the existence of discrete subgroups of change, including stability of psychological health for some and significant increase for others.     

The nature and position of processing determines why forgetting occurs in working memory tasks

The effect of potentially distracting processing within working memory was examined by varying the nature and position of processing across conditions of a Brown-Peterson-like task. Separate groups of participants carried out verbal or visuospatial processing operations on identical stimuli, while retaining lists of to-be-remembered words. The number of words presented either before or after the processing interval was varied systematically. Results showed that although verbal processing was no more demanding than visuospatial processing, it led to greater forgetting. However, forgetting was confined to items presented prior to processing, and the difference in degree of forgetting shown by the two groups was maximal when four items occurred before processing. Temporal isolation effects were more marked in the verbal processing group. These findings indicate that individuals can keep active a limited number of items in primary memory during processing, unless processing blocks rehearsal, in which case retrieval occurs from secondary memory.     

Synergies between processing and memory in children’s reading span

Previous research has established the relevance of working memory for cognitive development. Yet the factors responsible for shaping performance in the complex span tasks used to assess working memory capacity are not fully understood. We report a study of reading span in 7‐ to 11‐year‐old children that addresses several contemporary theoretical issues. We demonstrate that both the timing and the accuracy of recall are affected by the presence or absence of a semantic connection between the processing requirement and the memoranda. Evidence that there can be synergies between processing and memory argues against the view that complex span simply measures the competition between these activities. We also demonstrate a consistent relationship between the rate of completing processing operations (sentence reading) and recall accuracy. At the same time, the shape and strength of this function varies with the task configuration. Taken together, these results demonstrate the potential for reconstructive influences to shape working memory performance among children.