On Lions and Adolescents: Affective Temperaments and the Influence of Negative Stimuli on Memory

The present study investigated the relation between reaction to negative stimuli and memory for stimuli. The relation was further investigated using as a framework individuals’ affective temperaments (AFTs). Eighty adolescents participated in the study. The AFTs are based on selfreported affect and categorizes individuals in four temperaments: self-actualizing, high affective, low affective and self-destructive. Reaction to negative stimuli was measured by interpretation of specific words in a short story. Two days later, participants were presented with a list of words and asked which of them were present in the short story. Individuals’ AFTs were expected to predict the promotion of pleasure or the prevention of displeasure. On a general level, reaction to negative stimuli predicted memory for negative, positive and neutral words. At an individual level, self-actualizers and high affectives’ negative reaction predicted the memory of positive words (i.e., promotion). In contrast, low affectives’ negative and positive reaction predicted the memory of neutral words (i.e., prevention).     

Content Analysis: A Comparison of Manual and Computerized Systems

Computerized content analysis is a technique for classifying texts. in personality research it has beer used to make inferences about psychological states and traits of the speaker or writer. Whereas computerized techniques have been increasing in both sophistication and ease of use, questions remain regarding their validity compared to hand-scored scales, in this study, we compare a relatively simple computerized technique; a more sophisticated, context-sensitive computerized approach; and a context-sensitive, human-scored system. Seventy-one subjects, representing four diagnostic groups, provided free-speech samples which were scored according to all three methods. Data from each method were then submitted to discriminant and classification analyses. In comparing the classification performance of the three methods, we found that both computerized methods were more accurate than the human-scored method. The time and cost benefits of computerized systems are discussed.     

A moderated mediation model of e-mentoring

Based on a longitudinal sample of 1381, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model of electronic mentoring (e-mentoring). Results show evidence that frequency of interaction between protégés and mentors mediates the relationships between program antecedents (the protégé’s previous internet experience and initial motivation to participate) and program outcomes of general self-efficacy and task-efficacy. In addition, the protégé’s general self-efficacy prior to starting the program was found to moderate the relationships between protégé and mentor interaction frequency and program outcomes of task and general self-efficacy. Unexpectedly, having mentors in the past was not significantly related to program outcomes. Practical implications and future areas of research are identified and discussed.     

MMPI predictors of mania among psychiatric inpatients

MMPI data from 64 patients with a diagnosis of manic-depressive illness, manic type, were compared with MMPI data from patients in two comparison groups--64 patients with a psychotic diagnosis other than manic-depressive illness, and 64 patients with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses. Manic patients had higher Ma scale scores for MMPI scales that assess personal distress and interpersonal difficulties (e.g., D and Si). Discriminant analysis, with the Ma, D, and Si scales as predictors, correctly classified as manic or not manic 82.5% of the patients in the derivation sample and 74.2% of the patients in the cross-validation sample. Two high-point pairs, Sc-Ma/Ma-Sc and Pa-Ma/Ma-Pa, occurred in the MMPI profiles of almost half of the manic patients but were rarely found among the profiles of other patients. The results of this study support the use of the MMPI in identifying manic patients, particularly when discriminating between mania and other types of psychosis.     

Grammatical class effects in relation to normal and aphasic sentence processing

Agrammatic, Broca's aphasic patients, Wernicke's aphasic patients, and neurologically intact control subjects were asked to detect target letters in prose passages and in a scrambled word passage. The targets were embedded, in some instances, in content words (open-class vocabulary items), and in other instances, in function words (closed-class vocabulary items). With respect to the prose passages, both the control subjects and Wernicke's aphasic patients were more apt to notice target letters when they appeared in the open-class items than when in closed-class items; by contrast, the agrammatic Broca's patients showed no vocabulary class detection difference. The Wernicke's patients were not entirely normal, however: Whereas the normal subjects showed a much smaller vocabulary class effect for letter detection in the scrambled condition, the Wernicke's maintained the pattern they had shown in the prose condition. These and other findings obtained on the letter cancellation task are discussed in relation to lexical access mechanisms geared to sentence parsing.     

Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning

We examined the impact of training-induced improvements in self-regulation, operationalized in terms of response inhibition, on longitudinal changes in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Data were collected from participants undergoing 3 months of intensive meditation training in an isolated retreat setting (Retreat 1) and a wait-list control group that later underwent identical training (Retreat 2). A 32-min response inhibition task (RIT) was designed to assess sustained self-regulatory control. Adaptive functioning (AF) was operationalized as a single latent factor underlying self-report measures of anxious and avoidant attachment, mindfulness, ego resilience, empathy, the five major personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience), difficulties in emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and psychological well-being. Participants in Retreat 1 improved in RIT performance and AF over time whereas the controls did not. The control participants later also improved on both dimensions during their own retreat (Retreat 2). These improved levels of RIT performance and AF were sustained in follow-up assessments conducted approximately 5 months after the training. Longitudinal dynamic models with combined data from both retreats showed that improvement in RIT performance during training influenced the change in AF over time, which is consistent with a key claim in the Buddhist literature that enhanced capacity for self-regulation is an important precursor of changes in emotional well-being.     

“Almost There”...Why Clients Fail to Engage in Family Therapy: An Exploratory Study

A great deal of clinical research has sought to describe and suggest remedies for the client dropout phenomenon. However, few studies have addressed the equally pervasive, yet often ignored, non-engagement problem. An exploratory study was conducted to understand why many clients fail to engage in family therapy services after they have completed the initial intake. The results of the study suggest that therapist gender and experience level, clinic policies regarding videotaping sessions, family concerns, and changes in the presenting problem prior to the first session, had an impact on potential clients’ decision to engage in therapy. Implications and future research are discussed.Meng-ning Wang, MA, a doctoral student, and Jonathan Sandberg, PhD, a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Syracuse University at Syracuse University are co-first authors. Amy Zavada, MA, Tziporah Rosenberg, MA, Aaron Jeffrey, MA, and Justin McPheters, MA, are doctoral students, and Mona Mittal, PhD, and Anne Gosling, PhD, are faculty in the same program.