Maladaptive Parenting,Temperament, Early Maladaptive Schemas,and Depression: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

According to the Schema Therapy Model, maladaptive parenting styles interact with a child’s unique temperament in the development of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), which in turn increase one’s risk for developing pathology. However, few authors have examined the comprehensive model. The purpose of this study was to assess the indirect effect of perceived parenting styles on depressive symptoms through EMSs. Furthermore, a series of moderated mediation analyses were conducted to examine whether the indirect effect varies as a function of temperament. A total of 403 undergraduate students completed measures of perceived parenting experiences, temperament, EMSs, and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that the schema domains of disconnection/rejection and impaired autonomy mediated the relationship between perceived parenting styles and depressive symptoms. Moderation of the indirect effect was only found in two of the twelve tested models. This study lends partial support to the Schema Therapy model and also offers a new way of looking at the interactive nature of the constructs.     

Husserl on Perception: A Nonrepresentationalism That Nearly Was

There is a longstanding debate among Husserl scholars about whether Husserl thinks perception involves mental representation. The debate, I believe, has not been settled. I deny that the existentialist‐inspired charge of representationalism about perception in Husserl is precise enough to stick. Given a clearer understanding of just what mental representation amounts to, I contend that those who defend Husserl against the accusation of representationalism fare little better than Husserl's existentialist‐leaning critics. I argue that he is in fact a representationalist about perception insofar as it involves a noematic sense. Nevertheless, Husserl opens up the possibility for a representation‐free form of perceiving in certain later discussions of the matter in which he suggests that some perceptual states lack noematic sense. What they lack in noematic sense is compensated for by other means, namely, by two sorts of affect and their functional interrelation with abilities for bodily movement. The texts that entertain this possibility, though, severely limit the scope of its actual occurrence. Husserl never commits to a generally or substantially nonrepresentational view of perception. I attempt to sketch out, however, what this nonrepresentationalism about perception that Husserl nearly landed on might look like, rearranging various more or less familiar elements already present in his theory of perception to that end.     

Jewish Physicians’ Beliefs and Practices Regarding Religion/Spirituality in the Clinical Encounter

We used data from a 2003 survey of US physicians to examine differences between Jewish and other religiously affiliated physicians on 4-D of physicians’ beliefs and practices regarding religion and spirituality (R/S) in the clinical encounter. On each dimension, Jewish physicians ascribed less importance to the effect of R/S on health and a lesser role for physicians in addressing R/S issues. These effects were partially mediated by lower levels of religiosity among Jewish physicians and by differences in demographic and practice-level characteristics. The study provides a salient example of how religious affiliation can be an important independent predictor of physicians’ clinically-relevant beliefs and practices.     

Religious Doubts and Sleep Quality: Findings from a Nationwide Study of Presbyterians #090709revised

A growing literature examines the correlates and sequelae of spiritual struggles, such as religious doubts. To date, however, this literature has focused primarily on a handful of mental health outcomes (e.g., symptoms of depression, anxiety, negative affect), while the possible links with other aspects of health and well-being, such as poor or disrupted sleep, have received much less attention. After reviewing relevant theory and previous studies, we analyze data from a nationwide sample of Presbyterian Church (USA) members to test the hypothesis that religious doubts will be inversely associated with overall self-rated sleep quality, and positively associated with the frequency of sleep problems and the use of sleep medications. We also hypothesize that part of this association will be explained by the link between religious doubts and psychological distress. Results offer moderate but consistent support for these predictions. We end with a discussion of the implications of these findings, a brief mention of study limitations, and some suggestions for future research.     

Interpersonal trust and market value moderates the bias in women’s preferences away from attractive high-status men

Women appear to exhibit a subtle reluctance to engage in long-term relationships with physically attractive, high-status men. We propose that this bias away from men of very high market value is based on fear that these males may desert a relationship and also on the comparative self-perceived market value of the women. Therefore, interpersonal trust and perceived market value should moderate the extent of this counterintuitive bias. To test this proposal, we asked women with varying levels of interpersonal trust and self-perceived desirability to consider physically-attractive and physically-average men of high, medium and low socioeconomic status and rate each in terms of attractiveness as a long-term partner. Results showed that women’s perceptions of their own desirability and their level of trust predicted their ratings of men with high-value in the mating market, and that women with high levels of both desirability and trust were less likely to show a bias away from high-value men. Interpersonal trust and desirability moderate the degree to which women find physically attractive men attractive as potential partners.     

Facial emotion recognition,guilt and sub-clinical psychopathic traits: an exploration of mediation effects

Psychopathic traits are associated with a variety of emotional difficulties, including poor facial emotion recognition (FER) and reduced capacity to experience guilt. However, the potential mechanisms through which FER and low guilt-proneness are related to the development of psychopathic traits are not well understood. Using a non-clinical sample (N?=?747), this study investigated the relationship between psychopathic traits, FER ability and guilt-proneness by exploring two alternative mediation models investigating: (a) the mediating effect of FER ability on the relationship between psychopathic traits and guilt-proneness, and (b) the mediating effect of psychopathic traits on the relationship between FER ability and guilt-proneness. FER ability did not significantly mediate the relationship between psychopathic traits and guilt-proneness. However, psychopathic traits did partially mediate the relationship between FER and guilt-proneness for the sad, angry, fearful and disgusted expressions. These findings suggest that psychopathic traits are related to a disruption in typical affective processing and the development of pro-social moral self-conscious emotions.     

Perisaccadic parietal and occipital gamma power in light and in complete darkness

Our objective was to determine perisaccadic gamma range oscillations in the EEG during voluntary saccades in humans. We evaluated occipital perisaccadic gamma activity both in the presence and absence of visual input, when the observer was blindfolded. We quantified gamma power in the time periods before, during, and after horizontal saccades. The corresponding EEG was evaluated for individual saccades and the wavelet transformed EEG averaged for each time window, without averaging the EEG first. We found that, in both dark and light, parietal and occipital gamma power increased during the saccade and peaked prior to reaching new fixation. We show that this is not the result of muscle activity and not the result of visual input during saccades. Saccade direction affects the laterality of gamma power over posterior electrodes. Gamma power recorded over the posterior scalp increases during a saccade. The phasic modulation of gamma by saccades in darkness--when occipital activity is decoupled from visual input--provides electrophysiological evidence that voluntary saccades affect ongoing EEG. We suggest that saccade-phasic gamma modulation may contribute to short-term plasticity required to realign the visual space to the intended fixation point of a saccade and provides a mechanism for neuronal assembly formation prior to achieving the intended saccadic goal. The wavelet-transformed perisaccadic EEG could provide an electrophysiological tool applicable in humans for the purpose of fine analysis and potential separation of stages of 'planning' and 'action'.