Explaining the Psychological Effects of Unemployment for Young People: The Importance of Specific Situational Factors

Evidence of the effects of duration of unemployment and gender upon the psychological response to unemployment is reviewed. It is suggested that many of the apparent contradictions in this evidence can be resolved by reference to situational factors which shape how stressful unemployment is for a particular individual. The study reported tested the effects of a stressful period of unemployment on the psychological well-being, self-esteem and life-satisfaction of young people. No sex differences in response to unemployment were found, and this is explained in terms of the similarity of their experiences. The relevance of these findings for counselling the unemployed is discussed.     

Abnormal and normal obsessions—A replication

A replication of previous work on the incidence and characteristics of intrusive cognitions in non-clinical populations was carried out. The results closely reflected those obtained previously, and further relationships between variables were found. The importance of distinguishing between- and within-S data is stressed.     

Messianic hopes and the crisis of relativism: A common process in pastoral counseling

This essay explores the dynamics underlying the search for a Messiah in psychotherapy. It argues that the disenchantment with one's Messiah emerges primarily from the confrontation with multiple messiahs, and hence, the personal crisis of relativism. The nature of this personal crisis is investigated through the developmental scheme of William Perry. Suggestions are made as to how pastoral counselors can help those struggling with the problem of relativism.The Southeastern Illinois Center for Pastoral Counseling is located at 100 South Church Street, Carmi, Illinois, 62821.     

Childhood fantasy play relates to adult socio-emotional competence

Childhood fantasy play and creation of imaginary companions are thought to confer socio-emotional benefits in children, but little is known about how they relate to socio-emotional competence in adulthood. A total of 341 adults (81 males) aged 18 and above (M = 31.47, SD = 12.62) completed an online survey examining their fantasy play as a child, their childhood imaginary companion status, and their adult socio-emotional competence. Adults who reported higher levels of childhood fantasy play were found to be significantly more prosocial, empathetic, and emotionally intelligent than their counterparts after controlling for demographic factors. Recall of a childhood imaginary companion, however, was significantly related only to higher scores for perspective-taking and did not explain unique variance in any adult competence measure. Findings suggest that engagement in fantasy play during childhood may be a precursor to later socio-emotional competence, while benefits previously associated with imaginary companions specifically may not extend into adulthood.     

Pandemic precarity: A multi-level study of neoliberal precarity and COVID-Related outcomes in the United States

Neoliberalism is the political-economic system that has characterized the United States for the past half century. Structurally, neoliberalism has involved privatization, deregulation, and government divestment from public health systems. Cultural psychologists have begun to outline the ways that neoliberalism is reflected in attitudes, ways of being, and ideologies, such as in the form of heightened individualism, justification of inequality, depoliticization, and precarity. We argue that neoliberal structures and psychologies may contribute to deleterious outcomes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate that neoliberalism at the US state level (n = 51) is associated with higher COVID mortality and case fatality rates, as well as lower vaccination rates (Study 1). We also demonstrate that individual-level (n = 8280) neoliberal ideology predicts less adaptive beliefs and attitudes such as the belief that the federal response to the pandemic was too fast and belief in COVID-related misinformation (Study 2). We demonstrate using multilevel modeling that state-level neoliberalism predicts individual-level COVID-related attitudes, which is explained in part by heightened neoliberal ideology in more neoliberal states (Study 2). This study contributes to an understanding of the structural and cultural psychological factors that have contributed to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.     

Generalization gradients of inhibition following auditory discrimination learning

A more direct method than the usual ones for obtaining inhibitory gradients requires that the dimension of the nonreinforced stimulus selected for testing be orthogonal to the dimensions of the reinforced stimulus. In that case, the test points along the inhibitory gradient are equally distant from the reinforced stimulus. An attempt was made to realize this condition by obtaining inhibitory gradients along the frequency dimension of a pure tone after discrimination training in which the nonreinforced stimulus was a pure tone (or tones), and the reinforced stimulus was either white noise or the absence of a tone. The results showed that some degree of specific inhibitory control was exerted by the frequency of the tone, although the gradients were broad and shallow in slope.

A further experiment was conducted to see whether the modification of an excitatory gradient resulting from training to discriminate neighboring tones could arise from a simple interaction of inhibitory and excitatory gradients. The results indicated that it could not, since discrimination training produced a concentration of responding in the vicinity of the reinforced stimulus which cannot be derived from any plausible gradient of inhibition.

     

The impact of short-term counselling on general health questionnaire scores

An evaluation was conducted of short-term counselling in a higher education setting. The main objective was to measure client scores on a shortened version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) pre- and post- counselling. Forty-five matched pairs of GHQ-12 scores were compared. There was a highly significant reduction in scores post-counselling. The evidence suggests that the 'great pretender' evaluation can be challenged using standard quantitative measures such as the GHQ-12. It is concluded that counselling in higher education may be addressing long-standing distress in members of the student population.     

Simultaneous auditory discrimination.

Stimuli in many visual stimulus control studies typically are presented simultaneously; in contrast the stimuli in auditory discrimination studies are presented successively. Many everyday auditory stimuli that control responding occur simultaneously. This suggests that simultaneous auditory discriminations should be readily acquired. The purpose of the present experiment was to train rats in a simultaneous auditory discrimination. The apparatus consisted of a cage with two response levers mounted on one wall and a speaker mounted adjacent to each lever. A feeder was mounted on the opposite wall. In a go-right/go-left procedure, two stimuli were presented on each trial, a wide-band noise burst through one speaker and a 2-kHz complex signal through the other. The stimuli alternated randomly from side to side across trials, and the stimulus correlated with reinforcement for presses varied across subjects. The rats acquired the discrimination in 400 to 700 trials, and no response position preference developed during acquisition. The ease with which the simultaneous discrimination was acquired suggests that procedures, such as matching to sample, that require simultaneous presentation of stimuli can be used with auditory stimuli in animals having poor vision.     

Causal Attributions for Poorly Performing Projects: Their Effect on Project Continuation Decisions

This study examined the escalation problem within an attribution theory framework. Students read a case scenario containing causal attribution information that described a poorly performing project under their supervision. They made estimates of its future success, as well as a decision whether to continue it. Perceived stability of causality had the primary effect on expectancy of success. A project whose performance downturn was attributed to a stable cause had a lower expectancy. Locus of causality had a smaller but still significant effect. Project downturns attributed to internal causes had a lower expectancy. Expectancy of success was significantly correlated with project continuation decisions. Discrepancies between these results and those reported by Staw and Ross (1978) are accounted for in terms of Weiner's (1985, 1986) attributional analysis.