Stereotypical beliefs about overweight and smoking and decision-making in assignments to sales territories

This study examined job bias associated with business students' role-playing as sales managers who assigned trainees to sales territories. Personal characteristics of being extremely overweight and being a heavy smoker were studied. Research participants were given a personnel record (training record) of a sales trainee and asked to make a sales territory assignment decision; three vacant territories were also described. The participants were told to assign the trainee to one of the territories or to indicate a preference to not have the recruit assigned to any territory within the role-playing manager's region. Analysis indicates that a sales recruit described as extremely overweight was less likely to be assigned to an important or desirable sales territory and more likely to be assigned to an undesirable territory or not selected at all for an assignment within a sales region. Those described as heavy smokers were similarly treated but to a lesser degree. Overweight saleswomen were discriminated against more than overweight salesmen.     

Free visual imagery sequences in reactors and nonreactors

The technique of Free Visual Imagery Sequences was used with 32 outpatients, M age of 33.9, to determine the differences between Visual Imagery Reactors and Nonreactors as defined in previous studies. Reactors showed significantly more responses associated with Affect/Conflict material, frequently including bizarre and distorted images. The Affect/Conflict responses occurred earlier and had longer duration spans in Reactors. Neutral content was more prevalent in Nonreactors. An interpretive approach involving a regulatory processing system is proposed. Free Visual Imagery Sequences appears to be a simple and efficient clinical technique which can contribute data useful in determining the extent to which imagery techniques could be employed in certain forms of psychotherapy.     

Effects of Fluprazine Hydrochloride on Three Aversively Motivated Tasks

The Psychological Record - Treatment with 8.0 mg/kg fluprazine hydrochloride had no effect on the acquisition of a step-down avoidance response but retarded its extinction. The drug also impaired...     

Intercorrelations among general arousability, emerging and current sexual desire, and severity of sexual dysfunction in women

Intercorrelations among general trait arousability, emerging sexual desire, current sexual desire, lack of sexual desire perceived as a problem, and sexual dysfunction were assessed in 65 women currently involved in marital or de facto heterosexual relationships. The Stimulus Screening Test was used to measure general arousability and the Assessment of Sexual Function and Dysfunction Questionnaire was used to measure emerging sexual desire, current sexual desire lack of sexual desire, and sexual dysfunction. Analysis showed that arousability was positively associated with current levels of sexual desire which was negatively associated with sexual dysfunction. There was a curvilinear relationship between arousability and sexual dysfunction, with women experiencing both high and low levels of arousability being more likely to score higher on measures of sexual dysfunction than those experiencing medium levels of arousal. The possible implications of these results are discussed.     

The naturalistic fallacy: moral inferences drawn from research with children versus adults

The naturalistic fallacy occurs when a person reads a report of scientific research and concludes that the moral implication of the research was included in the article when, in fact, it was not. For example, the fallacy is committed when a study contains the conclusion that TV advertising increases preference for sugar-based foods, but the reader later believes that the study concluded that TV advertising should be controlled. Previous research indicates that the commission of the fallacy was strong when memory for social research was tested. The present study showed that the commission of the fallacy was stronger when the research which was read involved children as subjects compared to adult subjects. Increased empathy for the subjects of a research article strengthens commission of the fallacy.     

Smoking, body weight, and their effects on smoking behavior: a comprehensive review of the literature

This article provides a comprehensive review of the research on smoking and body weight. The relationships between smoking and body weight are evaluated in 70 cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations. The mechanisms responsible for differences in body weight are discussed, the weight-related issues that promote smoking behavior are reviewed, methods for reducing postcessation weight gain are summarized, and future research directions are proposed. A proposed working research model for studying the relationship between smoking, energy balance, and weight gain is offered. It is concluded that smoking and body weight relationships are closely related and pose significant challenges for smoking researchers.     

Paranoia and narcissism in psychoanalytic theory. Contributions of self psychology to the theory and therapy of the paranoid disorders

Many factors go into a choice of a therapeutic focus: the patient's psychopathology; the therapist's training, countertransference reactions, and ideological beliefs; and, importantly, a decision about what seems most amenable to treatment and change. As a theory, self psychology describes one aspect of the paranoid process; as such, it is an incomplete theory that complements rather than invalidates more classical theories. As a technique, however, it suggests a style and focus conducive to working with paranoid patients, one that is markedly supportive, nonconfrontational, yet also interpretive. In this context, it must be remembered how difficult it is to treat paranoid patients psychotherapeutically, much less to keep them in treatment. The strategies discussed above do not wholly replace other dynamic approaches (e.g., counterprojective techniques), nor are they universally applicable. Some patients may be more amenable than others. However, the techniques provide a very supportive framework that may help the therapist to be more available to and in contact with the paranoid patient. More broadly, this paper's application of self psychology to the theory and therapy of the paranoid disorders further illustrates the practical utility of this approach. Attention to the narcissistic developmental line, interpersonal selfobject relationships, intrapsychic conflicts and deficits, and empathic immersion in the patients's world are important adjuncts to the psychotherapy of paranoid patients. Rather than an either/or dichotomy, the principle of overdetermination suggests a both/and relationship between self psychology and traditional theory, such that the self psychological approach complements rather than contradicts the classical psychoanalytic theory. The vicissitudes of the self simply add another perspective or vantage point from which to understand and respond to the patient, one which has perhaps more applicability for preoedipally disordered patients.