Transition from the Early 40s to the Early 50s in Sell-Directed Women

How does personality type moderate personality change in middle age? Answers to this question were sought with three observer-based measures of self-directedness (autonomy, hypersensitivity, and willfulness) scored from the California Q-set when the participants in the Mills longitudinal study were age 43. From their early 40s to early 50s, high scorers on autonomy (healthy self-directedness) increased on California Psychological Inventory measures of impulse control and agency, and continued their involvement in high-status occupational careers. Despite increases in impulse control, the hypersensitive women had not increased in agency and expressed boredom in major social roles. In their early 50s, high scorers on willfulness increased in agency but not impulse control. In social roles, they perceived themselves as stimulating and creative.     

Sacramental psychology: Treating intimacy failure in catholic priests

The treatment of intimacy failure in Roman Catholic priests in an outpatient program designed to treat sexual misconduct is discussed here. Three case vignettes highlight a particular feature of an intimacy deficit that sets the stage for the priests' sexual acting out. Intimacy, hypocrisy, and self-deception and the Catholic sacramental world view are discussed to shed light on the treatment of sexual addiction in the clergy. Tapping into a priest's beliefs regarding the divine power arising from his own ordination creates a nexus of healing where psychotherapy and spiritual direction join forces to produce a kind of “sacramental psychology.” This material was originally offered as part of a Grand Rounds presentation at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center in New York City.     

A Social Dilemma Analysis of Commuting Preferences: The Roles of Social Value Orientation and Trust1

The current research advances a social dilemma analysis of commuting, examining the roles of preexisting personality differences in social value orientation (i.e., prosocial vs. proself orientation) and trust (i.e., a general belief in the honesty and cooperative intentions of others) in determining preferences for collectively desirable commuting options: preferences for commuting by public transportation (Study 1) and carpooling (Study 2). Consistent with predictions, both studies revealed that, relative to p of prosocials, preferences of proselfs were more strongly associated with beliefs about the relative efficiency of cars (i.e., an outcome affecting personal well-being). Also, greater preferences for collectively desirable actions were observed among prosocials with high trust—relative to prosocials with low trust and proselfs with high or low trust—providing support for the claim that 2 conditions (i.e., prosocial goals and trust in others) must be met to obtain collectively desirable commuting preferences.     

Group Consensus and Psychological Well-Being: A Large Field Study1

Models of group process propose that stressful social environments develop when there is a lack of consensus among group members about issues of relevance to the group. Based on these models, we expected that levels of consensus would be positively related to the average levels of psychological well-being in naturally occurring work groups. An examination of data from 3,546 respondents within 73 work groups revealed that levels of consensus about leadership and peer relations were positively related to the average psychological well-being of the group members, even after controlling for absolute level effects and covariates. In contrast, levels of consensus were not related to the average psychological well-being of group members when identical analyses were conducted using pseudogroups.     

Validation of a full body 3-D dynamic linked segment model

In studies related to human movement, linked segment models (LSM's) are often used to quantify forces and torques, generated in body joints. Some LSM's represent only a few body segments. Others, for instance used in studies on the control of whole body movements, include all body segments. As a consequence of the complexity of 3-dimensional (3-D) analyses, most LSM's are restricted to one plane of motion. However, in asymmetric movements this may result in a loss of relevant information. The aim of the current study was to develop and validate a 3-D LSM including all body segments. Braces with markers, attached to all body segments, were used to record the body movements. The validation of the model was accomplished by comparing the measured with the estimated ground reaction force and by comparing the torques at the lumbo-sacral joint that resulted from a bottom-up and a top-down mechanical analysis. For both comparisons, reasonable to good agreement was found. Sources of error that could not be analysed this way, were subjected to an additional sensitivity analysis. It was concluded that the internal validity of the current model is quite satisfactory.     

Beliefs about stories: Parents' and therapists' explanations of childhood difficulties

Therapists and parents were given vignettes describing the behavioural and emotional difficulties of two nine-year-old children and were asked to rate the importance of a number of possible explanations for such difficulties. Broad agreement was found between parents and therapists, but also there were a number of significant differences. Parents endorsed more child centered explanations and put greater emphasis on physical and developmental factors, while therapists endorsed relationships factors and saw the beliefs of other family members as important. Therapists who were parents showed a pattern of responses that lay between those of parents and non-parent therapists.     

The protestant eruption into modern Brazilian politics

Brazil's fast‐growing Protestantism has contributed to a resacralisation of national politics in recent years. This is largely due to the politics practised by some of the large Pentecostal churches since 1986, using their corporate political power to strengthen internal leaderships and structure Brazil's huge popular Protestant field, as well as to gain resources for religious expansion and dispute space in civil religion. Corporate Protestant politics have been marked by corruption scandals and by politically motivated attempts to create representative organs capable of mediating the increasingly important relationship with the state. One new Pentecostal group (the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God) has established one of the largest media empires in the country and, in the 1994 elections, considerably augmented its political power and polarised the Protestant community with respect to its project of hegemony in the religious field. Thus, while Protestant politics can be considered generally positive for Brazilian democracy, the rise of such a politically powerful hegemonic force within the Protestant field gives a more sinister character to the ever‐present corporatist and triumphalist ambitions.     

Pupillometry system for use in social psychology

It is now relatively easy to implement pupillometry in social psychological research. We describe a system in which a Macintosh computer presents visual and auditory stimuli to subjects while monitoring an infrared pupillometer. The computer records information on subject, task, and pupil diameter into a data file for input into standard statistical analysis programs. Pupil diameter is measured continuously while subjects respond to stimuli that last for several seconds or minutes. A demonstration experiment verifies the usefulness of the system. The ability of the Macintosh computer to easily handle visual and auditory stimuli and to record responses lasting a considerable length of time makes the system well suited for studying pupil responses to complex social stimuli. This system is also well suited for the researcher initiating a research program using pupillometry. Ease of operation makes using a large number of subjects feasible.     

An optical encoder and XY oscilloscope interface for the IBM PC

This paper outlines a prototype dual-purpose interface card for the IBM PC for use in research on motor learning and control. The card enables automatic interfacing for up to four angular optical encoders and presents high-speed visual data on an XY oscilloscope. In addition, it uses two single-chip microcontrollers with minimal external hardware, providing a more powerful instrument than is available in discrete hardware. Two microcontrollers operate independently of the experimental computer (IBM PC), using a common interface allowing the exchange of data. This interface card frees the experimental computer from the workload associated with optical encoders and high-speed XY displays, resulting in less complex experimental setups and data collection programs.