Object Relations in Borderlines,Depressives, and Normals: An Examination of Human Responses on the Rorschach

Recently, researchers and clinicians have become increasingly interested in diagnostic distinctions between borderline and mood disorders. Object relations theory provides a useful framework for the comparison of these two overlapping diagnostic categories. In our study, a measure of object relations as represented on the Rorschach, developed by Blatt, Brenneis, Schimeck, and Glick (1976), was applied to data produced by borderline and depressive inpatients and by normal comparison subjects. Portions of the Blatt measure that tap the subject's experience of human action and interaction distinguish among the three diagnostic groups. Specifically, borderlines tend to understand human action as more highly motivated and human interaction as more malevolent in nature than do either depressives or normals. The data indicate that borderlines experience the object-relational world in a way that is fundamentally different from the way normals and depressives perceive it. implications are discussed for theories of borderline object relations.     

Using Community Surveys to Inform the Planning and Implementation of Environmental Change Strategies: Participatory Research in 12 Washington Communities

A number of studies have demonstrated the efficacy of environmental change strategies (ECS) in effecting community-level change on attitudes and behaviors related to underage drinking (Treno and Lee in Alcohol Res Health 26:35–40, 2002; Birckmayer et al. in J Drug Educ 34(2):121–153, 2004). Primary data collection to inform the design of these strategies, however, can be resource intensive and exceed the capacity of community stakeholders. This study describes the participatory planning and implementation of community-level surveys in 12 diverse communities in the state of Washington. These surveys were conducted through collaborations among community volunteers and evaluation experts assigned to each community. The surveys were driven by communities’ prevention planning needs and interests; constructed from collections of existing, field-tested items and scales; implemented by community members; analyzed by evaluation staff; and used in the design of ECS by community-level leaders and prevention practitioners. The communities varied in the content of their surveys, in their sampling approaches and in their data collection methods. Although these surveys were not conducted using traditional rigorous population survey methodology, they were done within limited resources, and the participatory nature of these activities strengthened the communities’ commitment to using their results in the planning of their environmental change strategies.     

The Death of a Pet: Implications for Loss and Bereavement Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Companion animals play a distinct role in our lives and for many, they are a part of the family and not simply just a pet. Today, in the United States, there is an increasing emphasis placed on the relationships that we build with our pets. A healthy relationship with our pets also lends to translate into a healthier lifestyle. However, we usually learn at a fairly young age that these beloved creatures do not live as long as we do. The loss of a pet in childhood is frequently our first face-to-face encounter with death and often affects how we will grieve as adults. Particularly within the field of psychology, the way we mourn our animal friends has gained increasing importance. This article looks at the literature concerning bereavement across the adult lifespan and focuses on the similarities between the way we grieve for our loved ones, both human and animal. We address some of the controversies associated with euthanasia and the treatment and support available to those in mourning. Finally, recommendations are offered to address some of the methodological problems in current bereavement research along with suggestions for further work in this area     

Facilitating Communication of Ideas and Evidence to Enhance Mental Health Service Quality: Coding the Treatment Services Literature Using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths-Mental Health Assessment Scales

The evidence-base services literature is continually growing, providing the field with rich and important sets of information regarding what works for treating different types of youth and families. Given this burgeoning of information, the PracticeWise Evidence-Based Services (PWEBS) Literature Database has been developed to aid in summarizing and delivering aggregated evidence-based treatment information to providers in the field. Meanwhile, the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths-Mental Health (CANS-MH) Scale is a youth mental health assessment tool that was developed by a separate team to assist with treatment planning. In the present study, we developed and tested a system for linking these two related ontological systems so that scientific knowledge can be more widely aggregated and made available to a wider set of audiences for enhanced mental health service delivery. Results revealed the following. First, a construct mapping comparison revealed that the CANS-MH and PWEBS ontologies share a strong core of overlapping content, particularly in the areas of Youth Behavioral/Emotional Needs, Youth Risk Behaviors, and Life Domain Functioning. Second, the CANS-MH areas were able to be used to reliably code the following components of published randomized treatment studies: (a) population sample characteristics (e.g., did the characteristics of the treatment study participant population relate to each CANS-MH area?), and (b) outcome measure targets (e.g., did the treatment study outcome measure target areas relate to each CANS-MH area?). The reliability achieved from this coding process supported the linkage between the CANS-MH areas and the PWEBS Literature Database information. Lastly, high agreement was achieved between an automated translation algorithm and the final ratings from the manual coding of published treatment studies using the CANS-MH scale. The importance of such linkages for the communication of ideas, information, and evidence across differing subfields is discussed, as well as examples of achieving enhanced quality of mental health services by linking system ontologies.     

Top-down knowledge modulates onset capture in a feedforward manner

How do we select behaviourally important information from cluttered visual environments? Previous research has shown that both top-down, goal-driven factors and bottom-up, stimulus-driven factors determine which stimuli are selected. However, it is still debated when top-down processes modulate visual selection. According to a feedforward account, top-down processes modulate visual processing even before the appearance of any stimuli, whereas others claim that top-down processes modulate visual selection only at a late stage, via feedback processing. In line with such a dual stage account, some studies found that eye movements to an irrelevant onset distractor are not modulated by its similarity to the target stimulus, especially when eye movements are launched early (within 150-ms post stimulus onset). However, in these studies the target transiently changed colour due to a colour after-effect that occurred during premasking, and the time course analyses were incomplete. The present study tested the feedforward account against the dual stage account in two eye tracking experiments, with and without colour after-effects (Exp. 1), as well when the target colour varied randomly and observers were informed of the target colour with a word cue (Exp. 2). The results showed that top-down processes modulated the earliest eye movements to the onset distractors (<150-ms latencies), without incurring any costs for selection of target matching distractors. These results unambiguously support a feedforward account of top-down modulation.     

Target-present guessing as a function of target prevalence and accumulated information in visual search

Target prevalence influences visual search behavior. At low target prevalence, miss rates are high and false alarms are low, while the opposite is true at high prevalence. Several models of search aim to describe search behavior, one of which has been specifically intended to model search at varying prevalence levels. The multiple decision model (Wolfe & Van Wert, Current Biology, 20(2), 121-–124, 2010) posits that all searches that end before the observer detects a target result in a target-absent response. However, researchers have found very high false alarms in high-prevalence searches, suggesting that prevalence rates may be used as a source of information to make “educated guesses” after search termination. Here, we further examine the ability for prevalence level and knowledge gained during visual search to influence guessing rates. We manipulate target prevalence and the amount of information that an observer accumulates about a search display prior to making a response to test if these sources of evidence are used to inform target present guess rates. We find that observers use both information about target prevalence rates and information about the proportion of the array inspected prior to making a response allowing them to make an informed and statistically driven guess about the target’s presence.     

Challenging Merton's Protestantism‐Science Hypothesis: The Historical Impact of Sacerdotal Celibacy on German Science and Scholarship

Denominational differences in the number of scientists produced in Germany during the period 1550 to 1900 are linked to the historical impact of Catholic celibate and Protestant noncelibate clergy households. Protestant leadership in science is largely attributable to the development of a new social mobility pattern among descendants of their clergy that enhanced the pastorate's ability to convey cultural and social capital to their marrying offspring, something denied to Catholic clergy. By reference to German historical developments, I show that the contributions of clerical households, far from being limited to the natural sciences, were equally in evidence across most other areas of scholarly endeavor. A discussion of the theoretical implications of these findings provides a comparative analysis of Protestant to Catholic scholarly achievements in general, and of scientific achievements in particular, as well as a critical assessment of Robert K. Merton's theorizing on the subject.     

Damned if she does,damned if she doesn't: Consequences of accepting versus confronting patronizing help for the female target and male actor

Three studies examined how a woman's reaction to a man's benevolently sexist offer of help affected observers' perceptions. Results suggest a dilemma for women: A woman who accepted benevolently sexist help was perceived as warm but incompetent and less suited for a competence‐related job (management consultant), whereas a woman who declined help and asserted her independence as a woman was perceived as competent but cold and less suited for a warmth‐related job (day care worker). By contrast, observers viewed the male help‐offerer especially favorably (warmer, more competent, and more qualified as a management consultant) when the female target accepted (versus confronted) his patronizing offer. But only perceivers who endorsed benevolent sexism showed these effects. Implications for challenging benevolent sexism are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The association between ruminative thinking and negative interpretation bias in social anxiety

Cognitive models propose that both, negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations and ruminative thoughts about social events contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety disorder. It has further been postulated that ruminative thoughts fuel biased negative interpretations, however, evidence is rare. The present study used a multi-method approach to assess ruminative processing following a social interaction (post-event processing by self-report questionnaire and social rumination by experience sampling method) and negative interpretation bias (via two separate tasks) in a student sample (n?=?51) screened for high (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA). Results support the hypothesis that group differences in negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations in HSAs vs. LSAs are mediated by higher levels of post-event processing assessed in the questionnaire. Exploratory analyses highlight the potential role of comorbid depressive symptoms. The current findings help to advance the understanding of the association between two cognitive processes involved in social anxiety and stress the importance of ruminative post-event processing.