A review of social disinhibition after traumatic brain injury

Acquired social disinhibition refers to a debilitating behavioural syndrome commonly reported after a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is characterized by inappropriate social behaviour, often described as immaturity and insensitivity towards others. These behaviours can have enduring effects on the social capability of the individual and their relationships with others. However, research into socially disinhibited behaviour after TBI has been thwarted by a lack of consensus in the literature on definition and measurement. This review provides an overview of our current understanding of the definition, measurement, prevalence, associated outcomes, neuropathology, and underlying mechanisms of social disinhibition after TBI. In addition, suggestions are made for future research to further our understanding of this syndrome with the eventual aim of rehabilitating problematic behaviours. It is concluded that an improved understanding of what causes disinhibited behaviour after TBI will be necessary for the development of effective treatment strategies aimed at the rehabilitation of underlying impairments.     

Dissociation, cognitive failures, and working memory

The relationships between two personality measures (dissociation and cognitive failures) and different measures of interference from secondary tasks for working memory are investigated. Although the personality and cognitive measures were correlated with one another, canonical and bivariate correlations revealed no systematic relationships between the personality measures and the working memory measures. The upper bounds of the confidence intervals showed that, at most, only 10% of the variance was shared. We discuss the implications for theories of dissociation and cognitive functioning.     

Distinguishing instrumental and hostile aggression: Does it make a difference?

An analogue task of instrumental and hostile aggression during a competitive game, modified to minimize overlap between aggressive responses, was evaluated in 8- to 14-year-old clinically referred boys (n=33). Postgame interviews indicated that the hostile response, an aversive noise, was perceived by over 80% of subjects as hostile and not instrumental. In contrast, the instrumental response, blocking the opponent's game, was perceived about equally as having instrumental and hostile functions. The hostile aggressive response was uniquely correlated with continuous performance task impulsive commission errors (r=51), which supported the theoretical relation of hostile aggression to poor impulse control. These results suggest that instrumental and hostile aggression can be distinguished and when precisely defined are distinct in theoretically important ways.The authors are grateful to Mary Milnamow, Susan Panichelli, Nancy Benzal, Elissa Batshaw, and Nancy Stone for assistance in data collection. This research was supported in part by an NIMH First Award MH4682 to the first author and support from NICHD Mental Retardation Research Center Core Center Grant DH26979, and by NIMH grants MH40364 and M00590 awarded to the second author. Preliminary data were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child Adolescent Psychopathology, Costa Mesa, California, January 1990.     

Free-time as a consequence for behavior in classroom settings: A critical review

Osborne (1969) presented adolescent hearing impaired students with five minutes of free- time contingent upon remaining seated for 15 minutes in the classroom. This procedure substantially reduced the frequency of out- of- seat behavior. Since the publication of this seminal work, 49 studies have used free- time as a consequence to change behavior. This review critically examines these 49 studies. The review shows that free-time has been used effectively with a variety of different behaviors and student populations, and with different methods of delivery. Based on a synthesis of information from the review, optimal methods for the use of free-time are suggested. Finally, it is concluded that additional research is needed, especially to answer the question of why free-time is effective.     

Applying propensity score matching to assess the impact of the pandemic on intimate relationships

The COVID-19 pandemic produced multiple stressors that risk relationship conflict and dissatisfaction. We extended prior studies that yielded inconsistent effects of the pandemic on relationships by using propensity score matching to (1) compare levels of relationship conflict and satisfaction during the pandemic (pandemic group; N = 7268) to similar people immediately before the pandemic (matched control group; N = 7268), and (2) compare pandemic groups facing different types of restrictions, beginning with lockdowns involving household isolation to returning to normal life. Results reveal that relationship conflict increased and relationship satisfaction decreased in response to the pandemic, but these effects were very small and primarily occurred in the initial stages of the pandemic when lockdown involved household isolation. The results add to evidence of resilience in personal and relationship well-being in 2020, but also indicate the importance of understanding the effects of varying pandemic-related conditions across the years of the pandemic.     

Interrater reliability and coding guide for nonpsychotic formal thought disorder

Reliable and valid assessment of abnormal speech patterns may enable earlier recognition of nonpsychotic disorders through characteristic speech patterns. This study sought to establish interrater reliability using a standardized guide for scoring. A scoring guide defining 27 elements (e.g., inappropriate self-reference, simple loss of goal, circumstantiality) of disordered thought was developed. The seminal work of Andreasen's and Holzman's groups provided 12 elements, and 15 new elements were suggested by clinical literature. Audiotaped interviews with 12 psychiatric inpatients, adults of both sexes and various ages hospitalized for acute management of nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders, provided speech samples for observation of disordered thought by two independent raters. Using the guide's definitions and accompanying examples of elements of disordered thought, reliability in scoring was high (kappa of .85 for agreement on the presence of any abnormal speech element and kappa values from .66 to 1.00 for agreement on the presence of individual elements).