Perfectionism,social problem-solving ability,and psychological distress

The present research examined the relation between dimensions of perfectionism and self-appraised problem-solving behaviors and attitudes. Specifically, in two separate studies, we tested the hypothesis that socially prescribed perfectionism (i.e., the perception that others demand perfection from the self) is associated with poorer social problem-solving ability. In addition, measures of psychological adjustment were included in Study 2 so that we could (1) examine whether socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer problem-solving ability were still associated after removing variance associated with psychological distress; and (2) compare depression and anxiety in terms of their respective associations with social problem-solving ability. Correlational analyses of the data from both studies confirmed that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with more negative self-perceptions of problem-solving orientation, and that the link between socially prescribed perfectionism and negative perceptions of problem-solving orientation remains present after removing variance due to levels of negative affectivity. Both depression and anxiety were associated with a negative problem-solving orientation, but only depression was associated with more negative appraisals of actual problem-solving skills. The results suggest that perceived exposure to imposed standards of perfection undermines the problem-solving process and that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism are particularly in need of counseling interventions designed to provide a more positive problem-solving orientation.This research was supported by grants #410-91-0856 and #410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Providence, Rhode Island. The authors wish to thank Shawn Mosher for his assistance with the data collection.     

Evolution, Traits, and the Stages of Human Courtship: Qualifying the Parental Investment Model

ABSTRACT Individual differences are explicitly connected to social interaction in Darwin's notion of sexual selection Traits that increase the probability of successful reproduction will tend to increase in frequency This process operates partly through differential choice, by one sex, of certain traits in the other According to the parental investment model, females frequently have more stringent criteria for the traits they will accept in a mate because they have a relatively larger investment in each offspring Because human mating arrangements often involve a substantial commitment of resources by the male, it is necessary to invoke a distinction between the selectivity involved during casual mating opportunities and the selectivity exercised when choosing a long-term partner Ninety-three undergraduate men and women rated their minimum criteria on 24 partner characteristics at four levels of commitment In line with an unqualified parental investment model, females were more selective overall, particularly on status-linked variables In line with a qualified parental investment model, males' trait preferences depended upon the anticipated investment in the relationship Males had lower requirements for a sexual partner than did females, but were nearly as selective as females when considenng requirements for a long-term partner     

Treating PTSD in suicidal and self-injuring women with borderline personality disorder: development and preliminary evaluation of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Prolonged Exposure Protocol

This study focused on the development and pilot testing of a protocol based on Prolonged Exposure (PE) that can be added to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to treat PTSD in suicidal and self-injuring individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Women with BPD, PTSD, and recent and/or imminent serious intentional self-injury (n = 13) received one year of DBT with the DBT PE Protocol, plus three months of follow-up assessment. The treatment was associated with significant reductions in PTSD, with the majority of patients no longer meeting criteria for PTSD at post-treatment (71.4% of DBT PE Protocol completers, 60.0% of the intent-to-treat sample). A minority of patients (27.3%) engaged in intentional self-injury during the study. Improvements were also found for suicidal ideation, dissociation, trauma-related guilt cognitions, shame, anxiety, depression, and social adjustment. There was no evidence that the DBT PE Protocol led to exacerbations of intentional self-injury urges or behaviors, PTSD, treatment dropout, or crisis service use. Overall, the results indicate that this integrated BPD and PTSD treatment is feasible to implement within one year of treatment, highly acceptable to patients and therapists, safe to administer, and shows promise as an effective intervention for PTSD in this complex and high-risk patient population.     

A COMPARISON OF SENSORY INTEGRATIVE AND BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES AS TREATMENT FOR PEDIATRIC FEEDING DISORDERS

We compared the effects of escape extinction (EE) plus noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) with sensory integration therapy as treatment for the feeding problems of 2 children. Results indicated that EE plus NCR was more effective in increasing acceptance, decreasing inappropriate behavior, and increasing amount consumed relative to sensory integration for both children. The results are discussed in terms of the challenges of evaluating sensory‐integration‐based treatments, and the reasons why component analyses of multicomponent treatments like sensory integration are important.     

Transgender individuals' workplace experiences: the applicability of sexual minority measures and models

The present study explored whether 3 existing measures of workplace constructs germane to the experiences of sexual minority people could be modified to improve their applicability with transgender individuals. To this end, the Workplace Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire (WHEQ; C. R. Waldo, 1999); the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Climate Inventory (LGBTCI; B. J. Liddle, D. A. Luzzo, A. L. Hauenstein, & K. Schuck, 2004); and the Workplace Sexual Identity Management Measure (WSIMM; M. Z. Anderson, J. M. Croteau, Y. B. Chung, & T. M. DiStefano, 2001) were modified to explicitly address the experiences of transgender individuals. Data from a sample of 263 transgender individuals were used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the modified measures. Analyses of the structures of the modified measures (Transgender Forms [TF]) suggested an alternative 2-factor structure for the WHEQ-TF, but provided support for the previously observed unidimensional structure for the LGBTCI-TF, and a slightly modified 3-factor structure for the WSIMM-TF. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients for scale or subscale items across the 3 measures were acceptable. Criterion-related validity was evident in theoretically consistent patterns of correlations between scores on the 3 modified measures and scores on indicators of job satisfaction and outness. These data provide preliminary support for transgender-specific versions of measures of 3 key constructs in the sexual minority vocational behavior research.     

A Critically Appreciative Valuation of Social Constructionist Contributions to Organizational Science

Modernist approaches to research in the social sciences dominate academia, including much of organization science. Discovery through reason, observation, and analysis are the quintessential modernist quests. However, this reductionist approach to essentialize the social through the usage of language, a product of culture with its inevitable entanglement with cultural ideology, values, sensibility, intelligibility, and history, is akin to capturing a moving target on shifting grounds. Positing social constructionism as an alternative, we explain it has revolutionalized the social sciences and organization science alike; offer an array of social constructionist inquiry methodologies to fuel generative possibilities for organization research; compare and contrast modernist and social constructionist organization theories, research methodologies and assumptive metaphors to accentuate the textual and dialogic potential social constructionism brings to organization science; and conclude with creative ways social constructionism can realize actionable knowledge through co-creation among communities.     

A discourse analysis of power in relation to PSYCHLOPS (Psychological outcome profiles) in the context of CBT for psychosis

Aims: Outcome measures (OMs) and routine change measurement have developed dramatically in psychological therapies over the last two decades and some therapists have expressed concerns that this, depending on how it is handled by the parties involved, can markedly affect the therapy. However, little research has investigated this. It therefore seemed timely to explore discourses of OMs drawn upon by both parties in the therapy room. Method: PSYCHLOPS (Psychological Outcome Profiles) is a client‐centred measure which offered an opportunity to explore how therapists and clients receiving CBT for psychosis talked about OMs. A useful contrast was provided by the CORE‐OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation‐Outcome Measure). The discourses drawn upon by clients (n=4) and therapists (n=4) were analysed, informed by a Foucaultian framework. Results: OMs were constructed as empowering or disempowering of clients, as being able to do therapeutic work of engagement and containment, and as part of the apparatus of service power, positioning therapists as relatively powerless to question their use. Discussion: It is suggested that client‐centred measures like PSYCHLOPS, although partly aligned with a recovery framework, may become part of top‐down state and service power, and there is a need for more research into the different ways in which OMs are used in therapy and the impacts on therapists, clients and their relationships.     

Distinct Facial Characteristics Differentiate Communicative Intent of Infant‐Directed Speech

Adults and infants can differentiate communicative messages using the nonlinguistic acoustic properties of infant‐directed (ID) speech. Although the distinct prosodic properties of ID speech have been explored extensively, it is currently unknown whether the visual properties of the face during ID speech similarly convey communicative intent and thus represent an additional source of social information for infants during early interactions. To examine whether the dynamic facial movement associated with ID speech confers affective information independent of the acoustic signal, adults' differentiation of the visual properties of speakers' communicative messages was examined in two experiments in which the adults rated silent videos of approving and comforting ID and neutral adult‐directed speech. In Experiment 1, adults differentiated the facial speech groups on ratings of the intended recipient and the speaker's message. In Experiment 2, an original coding scale identified facial characteristics of the speakers. Discriminant correspondence analysis revealed two factors differentiating the facial speech groups on various characteristics. Implications for perception of ID facial movements in relation to speakers' communicative intent are discussed for both typically and atypically developing infants. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluative priming of naming and semantic categorization responses revisited: a mutual facilitation explanation

The evaluative priming effect (i.e., faster target responses following evaluatively congruent compared with evaluatively incongruent primes) in nonevaluative priming tasks (such as naming or semantic categorization tasks) is considered important for the question of how evaluative connotations are represented in memory. However, the empirical evidence is rather ambiguous: Positive effects as well as null results and negatively signed effects have been found. We tested the assumption that different processes are responsible for these results. In particular, we argue that positive effects are due to target-encoding facilitation (caused by a congruent prime), while negative effects are due to prime-activation maintenance (caused by a congruent target) and subsequent response conflict. In 4 experiments, we used a negative prime-target stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) to minimize target-encoding facilitation and maximize prime maintenance. In a naming task (Experiment 1), we found a negatively signed evaluative priming effect if prime and target competed for naming responses. In a semantic categorization task (i.e., person vs. animal; Experiments 2 and 3), response conflicts between prime and target were significantly larger in case of evaluative congruence compared with incongruence. These results corroborate the theory that a prime has more potential to interfere with the target response if its activation is maintained by an evaluatively congruent target. Experiment 4a/b indicated valence specificity of the effect. Implications for the memory representation of valence are discussed.     

Number of books at home as an indicator of socioeconomic status: Examining its extensions and their incremental validity for academic achievement

Social Psychology of Education - The present study investigates the incremental validity of the traditional books-at-home measure and selected extensions (i.e., number of children’s books and...