Overcoming Interpersonal Offenses: Is Forgiveness the Only Way to Deal With Unforgiveness?

Almost everyone is unforgiving at times. Many people seek to deal with the revenge and avoidance of unforgiveness by forgiving. The authors explore potential predictors of unforgiveness and forgiveness for a specific offense in 91 undergraduates. Positive feelings of forgiveness were uniquely predicted by dispositional forgivingness and by the participants' deliberate attempt to forgive the offense. Different patterns of predictors suggest that unforgiveness and forgiveness are not necessarily reciprocally related. This implies that interventions might be developed to reduce unforgiveness without attempting to promote forgiveness. This may be crucial in situations where forgiveness is not desirable.     

Alexithymia,verbal intellectual deficit,and neurological dysfunction in relation to risk-taking behavior

This study explored relationships between alexithymia (measured through the Toronto Alexithymia Scale), probable neurological dysfunction (Stroop Color Word Test), and “Verbal” and “Abstraction” IQ scores (Hartford-Shipley Institute for Living Scale) in relation to risk-taking behavior. Subjects were “anti-social” risk-takers (criminal offenders undergoing court-related residential drug treatment), “adventurous” risktakers (college students who regularly engage in such sports as rock-climbing and spelunking), or “normals” (college students who were neither adventurous risk-takers nor criminal offenders). Principal findings reveal that clinically relevant alexithymia is observed among risk-takers of either anti-social or adventurous variety less frequently, but among “normals” more frequently, than chance would predict; that the “verbal deficit pattern” in intellectual functioning is observed more frequently among adventurous risk-takers, less frequently among “normals,” and no more frequently among anti-social risk-takers than chance would predict; and that probable neurological dysfunction is observed more frequently among anti-social risk-takers but less frequently among adventurous risk-takers or “normals” than chance would predict. Results support only in part the Pallone-Hennessy (1999) conceptual model of the genesis and correlates of risk-taking in respect of anti-social, but not in respect of adventurous risk-takers. This study was supported by grants from the Henry Rutgers Scholars Program, Rutgers College, and the Fund for Correctional Psychology, Center of Alcohol Studies. Deep gratitude is expressed to Eric Workowski, Charles Rouse, and Joni Lepore for their invaluable assistance.     

Effects of an Internet-based intervention for subthreshold eating disorders: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundWomen reporting initial eating disorder (ED) symptoms are at highest risk for the development of an eating disorder. Preventive interventions should, therefore, be specifically tailored for this subgroup.AimsTo adapt and evaluate the effects of the Internet-based prevention program “Student Bodies?” for women with symptoms of disordered eating and/or subthreshold eating disorder (ED) syndromes.Method126 women, reporting subthreshold ED symptoms (high weight and shape concerns and below threshold bingeing, purging, chronic dieting or several of these symptoms) were randomly assigned to a Student Bodies?+ (SB+) intervention or a wait-list control group and assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-month follow-up. “Student Bodies?” was adapted to be suitable for subthreshold EDs. Main outcome measures were attitudes and symptoms of disordered eating. Pre-follow-up data were analyzed by ANCOVAS with mixed effects.ResultsAt 6-month follow-up, compared to participants in the control group, participants in the intervention group showed significantly greater improvements on ED-related attitudes. Intervention participants also showed 67% (95% CI = 20–87%) greater reductions in combined rates of subjective and objective binges, and 86% (95% CI = 63–95%) greater reduction in purging episodes. Also, the rates of participants abstinent from all symptoms of disordered eating (restrictive eating, binge eating and any compensatory behavior) were significantly higher in the intervention group (45.1% vs. 26.9%). Post-hoc subgroup analyses revealed that for participants with binge eating the effect on EDE-Q scores was larger than in the pure restricting subgroup.ConclusionThe adapted “SB+” program represents an effective intervention for women with subthreshold EDs of the binge eating subtype.     

Maternal Depression and Family Media Use: A Questionnaire and Diary Analysis

We describe the association between postpartum depression and the quantity and content of infant media use. Households with depressed mothers viewed twice as much television as households with non-depressed mothers did, and depressed mothers appeared to derive comparatively greater pleasure from television viewing. Maternal depression was associated with an increased exposure to child-directed content by 6–9-month-old infants, although it was not associated with an increased exposure to adult-directed programming. Depressed mothers also reported being less likely to sit and talk with their children during television use or to consult outside sources of information about media. This increase in television exposure without corresponding parental involvement could negatively affect developmental outcomes.     

Putting the brakes on aggression toward a romantic partner: the inhibitory influence of relationship commitment

Why do people behave aggressively toward romantic partners, and what can put the brakes on this aggression? Provocation robustly predicts aggression in both intimate and nonintimate relationships. Four methodologically diverse studies tested the hypothesis that provocation severity and relationship commitment interact to predict aggression toward one's romantic partner, with the aggression-promoting effects of provocation diminishing as relationship commitment increases. Across all four studies, commitment to one's romantic relationship inhibited aggression toward one's partner when individuals were severely (but not mildly) provoked. Study 4 tested the hypothesis that this Partner Provocation × Commitment interaction effect would be strong among individuals high in dispositional tendencies toward retaliation but weak (perhaps even nonexistent) among individuals low in such tendencies. Discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding instigating, impelling, and inhibiting processes in the perpetration of aggression toward intimate partners.     

Gratitude and depressive symptoms: the role of positive reframing and positive emotion

Eight studies (N=2,973) tested the theory that gratitude is related to fewer depressive symptoms through positive reframing and positive emotion. Study 1 found a direct path between gratitude and depressive symptoms. Studies 2-5 demonstrated that positive reframing mediated the relationship between gratitude and depressive symptoms. Studies 6-7 showed that positive emotion mediated the relationship between gratitude and depressive symptoms. Study 8 found that positive reframing and positive emotion simultaneously mediated the relationship between gratitude and depressive symptoms. In sum, these eight studies demonstrate that gratitude is related to fewer depressive symptoms, with positive reframing and positive emotion serving as mechanisms that account for this relationship.     

Intrinsic motivations and the non-profit health sector: Evidence from Ethiopia

Economists have traditionally assumed that individual behavior is motivated exclusively by extrinsic incentives. Social psychologists, in contrast, stress that intrinsic motivations are also important. In recent work, economic theorists have started to build psychological factors, like intrinsic motivations, into their models. Besley and Ghatak (2005) propose that individuals are differently motivated in that they have different “missions”, and their selection into sectors or organizations with matching missions enhances organizational efficiency. We test Besley and Ghatak’s model using data from a unique cohort study. We generated two proxies for intrinsic motivations: a survey-based measure of the health professionals philanthropic motivations and an experimental measure of their pro-social motivations. We find that both proxies predict health professionals’ decision to work in the non-profit sector. We also find that philanthropic health workers employed in the non-profit sector earn lower wages than their colleagues.