Index for Volume 23

In this study, changes in movement coordination caused by fatigue that developed during repetitive lifting were examined. Five men performed 6 times a 5-min bout of lifting an 8-kg barbell at 15 lifts/min, using two lifting techniques; one minimized trunk rotation (squat lift), and the other minimized rotation in the knee joint (stoop lift). Kinematics and dynamics were studied by means of movement analysis and inverse dynamics, using a two-dimensional linked segment model. Within-subject variation over repetitive lifts of the time course of joint angles was smaller than between-subjects variation on the first analyzed lift. Relative timing between joint rotations did not change significantly across repetitive lifts, except between knee and hip in the squat lift. No change of the lumbosacral torque over repetitive lifts was found. The adaptability of the neural control appeared to be sufficient to accommodate the strong changes of the input-output characteristics of the muscles caused by fatigue so that an essentially constant performance of the movement act was maintained.     

Item Factor Structure of the Personality Adjective Check List

This study reports on a principal-components analysis of the Personality Adjective Check List (PACL) at the item level. Data came from a national sample of normal adults and included the responses-of 1,058 men and 1,194 women (N = 2,252). Analyses were conducted separately for men and women, and for the sexes combined. The scree test was applied to decide on the number of factors to extract. Retained factors were rotated by varimax and direct oblimin procedures. Results were very similar for each analysis, with coefficients of congruence for the five orthogonal factors obtained from men and women separately being .95, .92, .94, .94, and .92. The five unipolar personality dimensions isolated were interpreted as Aggressive/Dominant, Neurotic, Conscientious, Detached/Introverted, and Surgent/Extraverted. These were compared to item factors of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-I), MCMI-II, Adjective Check List (ACL), and to Norman's Big Five dimensions.     

Three Approaches to Interpersonal Behavior and Their Common Factors

This study examined the factor dimensions common to three different approaches to interpersonal behavior- the interpersonal circle, Millon's theory of personality, and a factor analytic (FA) approach. These were compared with the Norman (1963) "Big Five" factors. Measures employed were the revised Wiggins (1979) Interpersonal Adjective Scales, Strack's Personality Adjective Check List (1990), and the short form of the Lorr (1986) Interpersonal Style Inventory. Subjects were 146 college students (83 men and 63 women). A principal components analysis with varimax rotation revealed four distinct factors, based on a scree test, that accounted for 55.4% of the variance: Dominance-Submission, Extraversion-Introversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeable-Disagreeable. Each of the models measured the circumplex axes of dominance and affiliation, but only the Millon (1969/1983) and FA approaches measured more than these elements, with the FA paradigm most sufficiently addressing all four. Dominance-Submission, the largest factor, was not explicit in the Big Five. Results suggest that earlier studies isolating five factors of personality may not have adequately represented this dimension.     

Magnetostatic Field Effect: Stress Syndrome Pattern and Functional Relation With Intensity

The stressing action of a medium-intensity, magnetostatic field was studied for several levels of intensity. Our purpose was (a) to verify a stressing action by display of the general adaptation syndrome Pattern on the growth rate of mice and (b) to establish the relation between effect and field intensity on the same variable. Eight groups of mice showed a linear relation. Moreover, stressing action was noticed at lower intensities than previously suggested.     

“Authoritarianism” and Agreement with Things Authoritative

The use of personality and attitudinal questionnaires in private executive and military samples is briefly reviewed. The need for evidence regarding the factor similarity of such questionnaires in comparative studies is noted. Such a comparative factorial study of an abbreviated version of the Shure-Meeker (11) Personality/Attitude Schedule (PAS) is reported. In terms of the general scales examined, three of the four scales emerge in both samples. The order of emergence, as well as the number and item content of the factors, differs slightly between the two samples. Caution is suggested in assuming factor similarity across samples in comparative studies utilizing the PAS and other personality and attitudinal instruments.     

Reflections on hidden existential guilt

Abstract

Most personal, social and environmental stress results from our estrangement from nature's wise unconditional love within and about us. A new integrated ecology training program uniquely addresses this great challenge to the psychological community. Counseling students in natural areas over a thirty year period has produced ninety‐seven unique nature‐connecting activities that renew over forty‐nine inherent sensory fulfillments. These ecopsychology activities reduce our estrangement, its pain and adverse effects. Natural inborn feelings of love and understanding express themselves. They catalyze responsible relationships that fill the emotional voids which fuel our destructive habits, dependencies and abandonment feelings. They give natural areas added value as rejuvenators of our biological and spiritual integrity.     

Modeling the Indirect Association of Combat Exposure With Anger and Aggression During Combat Deployment: The Moderating Role of Perceived Unit Morale

Anger and aggression are common combat-related behavioral health problems. The impact of combat on anger and aggression appears to be largely attributable to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Factors that moderate the purported pathway from combat to anger and aggression are poorly understood. We examined the conditional direct and indirect associations of combat exposure with self-reported anger and aggression using survey data collected from 592 U.S. Soldiers during a combat deployment in Afghanistan. Unit morale was examined as a moderator between combat exposure and PSTD symptoms, as well as the indirect association of combat exposure with anger and aggression via PTSD symptoms, controlling for depression symptoms. Results indicated that unit morale was negatively correlated with PTSD symptoms and self-reported anger and aggressive behaviors. Perceptions of unit morale moderated the direct association of combat exposure with PTSD symptoms. Unit morale also moderated the indirect association of combat exposure with anger and aggression through PTSD symptoms. Unit morale moderated the association of combat exposure with anger and aggression during combat operations by putatively mitigating the deleterious effect of combat on stress-related symptoms. The impact of policy and leadership on soldier and unit morale should be carefully considered given its protective role during combat operations.     

Investigating the Relationship Between Attention and Working Memory in Clinical and Community Samples

The first aim of the present study was to investigate whether differences in core deficits in ADHD subtypes lead to dissociable working memory profiles. The second aim was to compare the working memory profiles of inattentive students with those identified as having poor working memory, as they exhibit very similar behavioral profiles. Finally, the relationship between working memory and academic attainment in these groups were also of interest. Four groups of 9-year-olds were recruited: a community sample of children with inattentive symptoms, a clinically diagnosed group of children with ADHD-Combined, children with low working memory, and a healthy comparison group. They were assessed on measures of working memory, IQ, academic attainment, and sustained attention. The findings indicated that the combined and inattentive subtypes could not be distinguished on the basis of their working memory profile. In contrast, those with inattentive symptoms did better on the short-term memory tasks than the low working memory group. The majority of all three atypical groups performed very poorly in reading and math. This pattern can be interpreted as reflecting the link between working memory and academic attainment, even in those with attention problems.     

The precuneus and the insula in self-attributional processes

Attributions are constantly assigned in everyday life. A well-known phenomenon is the self-serving bias: that is, people’s tendency to attribute positive events to internal causes (themselves) and negative events to external causes (other persons/circumstances). Here, we investigated the neural correlates of the cognitive processes implicated in self-serving attributions using social situations that differed in their emotional saliences. We administered an attributional bias task during fMRI scanning in a large sample of healthy subjects (n = 71). Eighty sentences describing positive or negative social situations were presented, and subjects decided via buttonpress whether the situation had been caused by themselves or by the other person involved. Comparing positive with negative sentences revealed activations of the bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Self-attribution correlated with activation of the posterior portion of the precuneus. However, self-attributed positive versus negative sentences showed activation of the anterior portion of the precuneus, and self-attributed negative versus positive sentences demonstrated activation of the bilateral insular cortex. All significant activations were reported with a statistical threshold of p ≤ .001, uncorrected. In addition, a comparison of our fMRI task with data from the Internal, Personal and Situational Attributions Questionnaire, Revised German Version, demonstrated convergent validity. Our findings suggest that the precuneus and the PCC are involved in the evaluation of social events with particular regional specificities: The PCC is activated during emotional evaluation, the posterior precuneus during attributional evaluation, and the anterior precuneus during self-serving processes. Furthermore, we assume that insula activation is a correlate of awareness of personal agency in negative situations.