Negative social interactions,distress, and depression among those caring for a seriously and persistently mentally III relative

Investigated both positive and negative social interactions and their effect on mental health for 106 individuals caring for a seriously mentally ill family member. Results from mixed-model (hierarchial and stepwise) multiple regression analyses in which caregiver age, socioeconomic status, caregiving demand, and severity of patient symptoms was controlled showed that negative social interaction accounted for a significant portion of variance in the caregivers' feelings of distress and depression. Moderated multiple regression analyses showed that under conditions of high negative interaction, the relationship between demand and distress was intensified. Implications of these findings for the conceptualization and measurement of negative social interaction as well as its clinical implications were discussed. The research for this paper was supported by funds from the Provost's office, University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work. The authors thank the Pennsylvania Alliance for the Mentally Ill for their support of, and participation in, the study.     

Linguistic abilities in patients with prefrontal damage

The language abilities of 21 patients with prefrontal lesions (11 right and 10 left) and 15 matched normal subjects were analyzed, using a linguistic ability test designed to evaluate performance in six areas: automatic language, language production, verbal memory, syntax, derivative words, and comprehension of logical grammatical structures. Significant differences in the obtained scores of all groups were found. In spite of formal conservation of language in patients with frontal damage, their complex and conceptual verbal abilities were severely compromised.     

Perception of motion in equiluminous kinematograms

Two fields of random dots that were identical except for a slight shift in a central square region were presented in rapid alternation. This produced a vivid impression of a square moving back and forth above the background. When the kinematogram is presented in equiluminous red/green, the motion of the central region can still be seen, although over a narrower range of alternation rates, interstimulus intervals, and displacements than for black/white presentation. The perception of motion for equiluminous stimuli indicates that colour and motion can be analyzed conjointly by the visual system. However, as originally reported by Ramachandran and Gregory, the segregation of the oscillating central square from the background is lost at equiluminance. This segregation process therefore appears to be colour-blind.     

Affect networks: a structural analysis of the relationship between work ties and job-related affect

The relationship between organizational networks and employees' affect was examined in 2 organizations. In Study 1, social network analysis of work ties and job-related affect for 259 employees showed that affect converged within work interaction groups. Similarity of affect between employees depended on the presence of work ties and structural equivalence. Affect was also related to the size and density of employees' work networks. Study 2 used a 10-week diary study of 31 employees to examine a merger of 2 organizational divisions and found that negative changes in employees' affect were related to having fewer cross-divisional ties and to experiencing greater reductions in network density. The findings suggest that affect permeates through and is shaped by organizational networks.     

Pigeons concurrently categorize photographs at both basic and superordinate levels

We studied categorization in pigeons, using carefully controlled photographs. Within daily sessions, 4 pigeons had to classify each of 32 photographs into either its proper basic-level category (cars, chairs, flowers, or people; four-key forced choice procedure) or its proper superordinate-level category (natural or artificial; two-key forced choice procedure). The pigeons successfully classified the same stimuli at both levels. Overall, the pigeons learned the basic discrimination more quickly than the superordinate discrimination, but this difference was reliable only for artificial stimuli (cars and chairs), not for natural stimuli (flowers and people). The pigeons also exhibited reliable discrimination transfer to novel photographs, attesting to the open-endedness of these basic and superordinate categories.     

Establishing appropriate symptomatic control groups for the eating disorders

Two symptomatic control groups for the eating disorders were defined using high and low scores on the Dietary Restraint and Disinhibition scales of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire. Clinical subjects diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia nervosa were compared with these symptomatic control groups using measures of body weight, bulimic symptoms, and anorexic symptoms. In comparison to the high-Restraint/low-Disinhibition group, anorexic subjects scored higher on measures of eating disorder symptoms but not on Restraint and Disinhibition. The high-Restraint/high-Disinhibition group differed from bulimia nervosa subjects on measures of eating disorder symptoms but did not differ on Restraint and Disinhibition. The results suggested that a control group defined by high Restraint and low Disinhibition formed an appropriate control group for anorexia nervosa. For bulimia nervosa, the most appropriate control group was defined by high Restraint and high Disinhibition.     

Soviet Patriarchy: Past and Present

The myth that women had equal rights and were emancipated in the Soviet Union masks the reality that the Soviet state, like all totalitarian states, is a manifestation of patriarchal ideology. The true democratization of Russian society requires the rejection of masculinist ideology and constitutes one of the most important social and cultural challenges.     

Biased perception of overeating in bulimia nervosa and compulsive binge eaters

This study investigated the relationship between caloric intake and perceived overeating in subjects with and without a history of problematic binge eating. Eighty subjects (20 in four groups: bulimia nervosa, compulsive binge eaters, obese, and normal controls) self-monitored eating for 2 weeks. The regression slopes for self-reported overeating as a function of caloric intake were contrasted across the four groups. At higher caloric levels, bulimics and binge eaters reported overeating at a significantly higher rate compared to obese and normal control groups. These data were interpreted as a type of cognitive bias whereby subjects with a history of binge eating distorted their perception of overeating at progressively higher caloric levels. It was proposed that excessive concern about eating and dieting may cause such cognitive biases. A parallel was drawn with body image distortion, which appears to be associated with overconcem with body size and shape.