A LABORATORY ANALOGUE FOR THE STUDY OF PEER SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The purpose of this study was to develop a laboratory analogue for the study of peer sexual harassment, and to examine person and situational factors associated with male on female peer sexual harassment. One hundred twenty-two male participants were given the opportunity to tell jokes to a female confederate from a joke list that included sexually offensive jokes, as well as other types of jokes. Participants were exposed to either a sexist laboratory environment or a neutral laboratory environment during the study. Eighty percent of participants told at least one sexually offensive joke to a female confederate. Higher scores on a measure of adversarial sexual beliefs were associated with telling a greater number of sexually offensive jokes. The results suggest that the joke-telling analogue may be a useful means for laboratory explorations of person and situational factors associated with peer sexual harassment.     

The Physical Appearance Ambiguous Feedback Scale (PAAFS): a measure for indexing body image related cognitive bias

Recent conceptualizations of body image disturbance have included an information processing model that includes a focus on an interpretive information processing bias. Study 1 involved the development and validation of a measure of appearance-based cognitive bias, the Physical Appearance Ambiguous Feedback Scale (PAAFS). In Studies 2 and 3, two samples of college females (n=313) were tested and the psychometric characteristics of the PAAFS were evaluated. Reliability was acceptable and convergence with measures of body image and eating disturbance was moderate. In Study 4, 313 college females completed the PAAFS in the laboratory based on an instructional content designed to induce processing bias. Preliminary evidence indicates that the PAAFS appears to be sensitive to instructional set manipulations and dispositional level of body dissatisfaction.     

When does word meaning affect immediate serial recall in semantic dementia?

Patients with semantic dementia can show superior immediate recall of words that they still understand relatively well, as compared with more semantically degraded words, suggesting that conceptual knowledge makes a major contribution to phonological short-term memory. However, a number of studies have failed to show such a recall difference, challenging this view. We examined the effect of several methodological factors on the recall of known and degraded words in 4 patients with semantic dementia, in order to investigate possible reasons for this discrepancy. In general, our patients did exhibit poorer recall of the degraded words and made more phonological errors on these items. In addition, set size affected the magnitude of the recall advantage for known words. This finding suggests that semantic degradation influenced the rate of learning in the immediate recall task when the same items were presented repeatedly. The methods used to select known and degraded items also impacted on the recall difference. List length, however, did not affect the advantage for known words. The coherence of items in phonological short-term memory was affected by their semantic status, but not by the length of the material to be retained. The implications of these findings for the role of semantic and phonological representations in verbal short-term memory are discussed.     

The Inventory of Children's Individual Differences: Development and Validation of a Short Version

The development of programmed, actuarial interpretation of personality tests, especially the MMPI, is discussed. The presentation seeks to present a synoptic overview of the topic, including its more important trends, apparent present status, and possible consequences. Several commercially available systems are described, and an example of the output of each of three of them, in interpreting the same MMPI protocol, is presented for comparative illustration.     

Congruence in Sales Force Evaluations: Relation to Sales Force Perceptions of Conflict and Ambiguity

Abstract

This research examined the relationship between salespersons' perceptions of role conflict and role ambiquity from various sources and the degree of agreement between salespeople and sales managers on salesperson performance. Three sources of role ambiguity were found to explain the most variance in performance congruence. Implications for management are discussed.     

A behavioral test of Horney’s linkage between authenticity and aggression: People living authentically are less-likely to respond aggressively in unfair situations

This study links Horney’s account of human growth and neurosis to authenticity by examining aggressive responses on the point subtraction aggressive paradigm, providing the first empirical test of whether authenticity can predict objective behavior. Data from undergraduate, postgraduate, and mature students demonstrate that when controlling for age, gender, trait-anger, agreeableness, and functional dimensions of coping, individuals who measure high on authentic-living respond less aggressively to attacks and counter-attacks in unfair situations. Authentic-living uniquely accounted for 14.2% of variance in aggressive-responses (r = −.37). The findings suggest that inauthenticity is a strong predictor of aggressive behavior, and therefore increasing levels of authenticity in counseling practice may reduce maladaptive levels of anger. We suggest future exploration between authenticity and models of emotional regulation will unearth the cause and effects of aggression within inauthentic individuals.     

The specific needs of foreign national prisoners and the threat to their mental health from being imprisoned in a foreign country

Foreign national prisoners represent an increasingly significant and vulnerable proportion of the prison estate in England and Wales, accounting for 13% of the population in custody (Prison Reform Trust, 2010). They are ever present in the Safer Custody statistics, accounting for nearly a quarter of self-harm incidents and self-inflicted deaths (HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2009). Recent HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2006, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2007, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2010 and a handful of research studies outline the lack of support facing many foreign national prisoners, in terms of language problems, social and cultural isolation, family support, immigration uncertainties and diversity issues. This paper reviews the current context of the foreign national prisoner population in England and Wales, paying particular attention to their experiences, specific needs, and potential threat to their mental health from being imprisoned in a foreign country. We then offer suggestions as to how these issues can be addressed by reviewing existing initiatives and making recommendations for future research.     

Ernst Mach and B. F. Skinner: Their similarities with two traditions for verbal behavior

Ernst Mach is most closely associated with a positivism that demanded a language of close contact with reality. Mach linked this view with the tradition of the quest for an ideal language in which meaning is a property of a word. Logical positivism and the S-R psychology of the early B. F. Skinner also participated in this ideal-language positivism. In addition, Mach showed an affinity with another tradition-a pragmatic-selectionist tradition-although that tradition and Mach's similarities with it were not as well developed. Mach showed no difficulty in jointly maintaining both of these traditions although they have been regarded as deeply incompatible. When the later Skinner adopted a pragmatic selectionism for his later views on verbal behavior, he rejected his earlier views that were aligned with S-R psychology as well as with logical positivism and its sympathizers. Nevertheless, some statements consistent with "meaning is a property of a word" remained for some time in Skinner's writing.     

The Unity of Self at the Interface of the Animal Body and the Cultural System

The self is defined by unity, which must be constructed from multiple inner processes and representations. The unity is more a requirement of social life than of brain activities. The self exists at the interface between the physical body and the social system, which for humans includes culture. The three main aspects of the self are a network of information (sometimes called the self-concept), an interpersonal being (e.g., member of a group or relationship), and executive function (e.g., making decisions). For each of these, multiple inner processes and representations must be integrated to produce the unity of self. Conscious processing plays a key role in this integrative process, because it is a vital means by which different areas of brain and mind exchange information.     

Social media addiction and psychological adjustment: religiosity and spirituality in the age of social media

Previous research indicates a significant association between social media use and psychological adjustment. The present study investigated whether religiosity/spirituality mediates the relationship between social media intrusion and psychological adjustment. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, Religious Commitment Inventory-10, Spirituality Index of Well-Being, the DASS-21 Scales, and the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, which was altered slightly to include all types of social media. Results revealed that social media intrusion was significantly positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress, and negatively correlated with spiritual well-being and the self-efficacy component of spiritual well-being. Furthermore, the self-efficacy dimension of spiritual well-being partially mediated the association between social media intrusion and psychological stress. From these results, it may be inferred that higher social media intrusion may have the ability to decrease specific aspects of spirituality, which may, in turn, negatively impact psychological adjustment. Limitations and future directions are discussed.