Memory bias for emotional facial expressions in major depression

Sixteen clinically depressed patients and sixteen healthy controls were presented with a set of emotional facial expressions and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed by each face. They, were subsequently given a recognition memory test for these faces. There was no difference between the groups in terms of their ability to identify emotion between from faces. All participants identified emotional expressions more accurately than neutral expressions, with happy expressions being identified most accurately. During the recognition memory phase the depressed patients demonstrated superior memory for sad expressions, and inferior memory for happy expressions, relative to neutral expressions. Conversely, the controls demonstrated superior memory for happy expressions, and inferior memory for sad expressions, relative to neutral expressions. These results are discussed in terms of the cognitive model of depression proposed by Williams, Watts, MacLeod, and Mathews (1997).     

Using Item Response Theory to Develop a 60-Item Representation of the NEO PI–R Using the International Personality Item Pool: Development of the IPIP–NEO–60

Given advantages of freely available and modifiable measures, an increase in the use of measures developed from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), including the 300-item representation of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI–R; Costa &; McCrae, 1992a Costa, P., &; McCrae, R. (1992a). The five-factor model of personality and its relevance to personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders, 6, 343–359.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has occurred. The focus of this study was to use item response theory to develop a 60-item, IPIP-based measure of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) that provides equal representation of the FFM facets and to test the reliability and convergent and criterion validity of this measure compared to the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). In an undergraduate sample (n = 359), scores from the NEO-FFI and IPIP–NEO–60 demonstrated good reliability and convergent validity with the NEO PI–R and IPIP–NEO–300. Additionally, across criterion variables in the undergraduate sample as well as a community-based sample (n = 757), the NEO-FFI and IPIP–NEO–60 demonstrated similar nomological networks across a wide range of external variables (r_ICC = .96). Finally, as expected, in an MTurk sample the IPIP–NEO–60 demonstrated advantages over the Big Five Inventory–2 (Soto &; John, 2017 Soto, C. J., &; John, O. P. (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI–2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 117–143.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; n = 342) with regard to the Agreeableness domain content. The results suggest strong reliability and validity of the IPIP–NEO–60 scores.     

Still servants of work? Exploring the role of the critic in work and organizational psychology

This paper situates the burgeoning movement of critical work and organizational psychology (CWOP) within a broader and ongoing effort to rehabilitate work in a broken society. Drawing upon Loren Baritz's seminal critique of the field, The Servants of Power, the argument is made that while CWOP scholars clearly militate against pandering to the “power elite,” they nonetheless risk becoming servants of work, defined as the propensity to perpetuate work's outsized psychological significance. To support such an argument, a core yet neglected theme in Baritz's book is revisited, that of the role of the critic, to demonstrate how CWOP scholars might navigate their own entanglements with servitude while at the same time contest work's symbolic power. The paper also addresses the charge of intellectual elitism that can result from holding such a position of “critical distance” not just from mainstream scholarship, but from work itself. Implications for the future of CWOP are discussed.