Social exclusion impairs self-regulation

Six experiments showed that being excluded or rejected caused decrements in self-regulation. In Experiment 1, participants who were led to anticipate a lonely future life were less able to make themselves consume a healthy but bad-tasting beverage. In Experiment 2, some participants were told that no one else in their group wanted to work with them, and these participants later ate more cookies than other participants. In Experiment 3, excluded participants quit sooner on a frustrating task. In Experiments 4-6, exclusion led to impairment of attention regulation as measured with a dichotic listening task. Experiments 5 and 6 further showed that decrements in self-regulation can be eliminated by offering a cash incentive or increasing self-awareness. Thus, rejected people are capable of self-regulation but are normally disinclined to make the effort.     

Parent Programs for Reducing Adolescent’s Antisocial Behavior and Substance Use: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Two theoretically based parent training programs, delivered in real-world settings by the social services, were examined in this randomized controlled trial for effectiveness in reducing adolescents’ antisocial behavior and substance use. Two hundred and thirty-seven (237) adolescents in ages between 12 and 18 and their parents were assigned to one of two programs or to a wait-list control condition. The programs were the nine weekly group sessions program Comet 12–18 (Swedish Parent Management Training Program) and the six weekly ParentSteps (Swedish shortened version by Strengthening Families Program 10–14). Outcome measures were antisocial behavior, substance use, and delinquency, and psychosocial dysfunction. Data based on adolescents’ and parents’ ratings of the adolescents’ problem behavior at baseline and 6 months later were analyzed with repeated measures ANVOA, Logistic regression, and Kruskal–Wallis H test. The results showed that parents’ ratings of adolescents’ antisocial behaviors decreased significantly over time, but no time by group effect emerged. No program effects were found in the adolescents’ self-reported antisocial behavior, delinquency, or psychosocial functioning. A threefold risk of illicit drug use was found in both intervention groups. The results suggest that neither Comet nor ParentSteps had beneficial effects on adolescent’s antisocial or delinquent behavior, or on alcohol use. The only significant group difference found was a threefold risk of drug use in the intervention adolescents at follow-up, but for several reasons this finding should be interpreted with caution. Trial registration number: ISRCTN76141538.     

作为体验实践的同感与同情——现象学分析与佛教教义之比较

众所周知,胡塞尔对交互主体性的分析是以同感为基础的。现在,这样一种同感经验在胡塞尔那里被描述为,它既涉及我们身体所特有的空间性,也涉及两个身体的一种时间结对、以及从我们的心理状态向他人心理状态的一种独特想象的转化。我想把对他人的这样一种多层次的经验,与大乘佛教传统中的一些教义(首先出现于印度,而后传到西藏)对同情经验的描述方式作一个比较。实际上,在这种教义体系中被非常具体地加以描述的“tonglen”实践(西藏人这样称呼),就其植根于身体中并使时间同步而言,尤其是就想象被考虑的方式而言,都以多种形式回应着胡塞尔的同感经验。在生活空间、时间和想象等方面,通过比较这两者的实践与理论,我们将能估价它们的亲和性、它们的差异,进而最终说明它们如何才能相互启发,甚至相互促进。