Marital interaction of agoraphobic women: a controlled,behavioral observation study

Married couples with a female agoraphobic spouse (n = 22) were compared with demographically similar community control couples (n = 21) on self-report and observational measures of marital interaction. Consistent with hypotheses, husbands of agoraphobic women were more critical of their wives than were control husbands, and clinical couples were less likely to engage in positive problem solution than control couples. Contrary to hypothesis, clinical husbands were not less supportive than control husbands. Where general measures of marital distress were concerned, clinical couples, relative to control couples, evinced more distress by self-report, by their higher rate of negative nonverbal behavior, and by their longer sequences of negative exchanges.     

Ego function assessment of nonclinical individuals

Ego Function Assessment was adapted into a self-report inventory yielding 12 operationalized function measures. 426 respondents from a stratified sample completed the inventory. In addition, 42 respondents completed the inventory twice within a 20-day period. A hierarchical algorithm was used to revise the 12 scales to maximize internal consistencies. Their stabilities were assessed by analyzing the retest scores. Standardization, reliability, and stability data are presented for the original and revised scales. Results show adequate reliability, suggesting that the tool may be useful to measure ego functioning in nonclinical populations.     

Relations of psychological distress with objective individual,family, and neighborhood characteristics of urban adolescents

This paper describes the relations of psychological distress with 11 ecological factors (5 community, 4 family, and 2 individual) among 423 older urban adolescents who are predominantly people of color. Data were obtained by means of self-report via group-administered questionnaires given between 1994 and 1996; most scales are multi-item. There is wide variation in distress. There are very few statistically significant relationships between the ecological factors and distress, and those are negligible. Girls whose parents have less education and live in extended families have higher distress; family and individual domains are correlated .04 and .03 with distress and the community domain .00, so this ecological model accounts for a mere 7%, of the common total variance in distress.     

Depression and its relation to light deprivation

The absence or diminution of light is potentially an anxiety-arousing situation for, perhaps, all of us. Even a cursory look at the origin myths of many cultures reveals the chaotic, destructive, and dangerous aspects of darkness. Additionally, language reflects the same qualities metaphorically and symbolically. Developmentally, the arrival of the darkness of evening potentially signals object loss and ego regression. But factors other than ubiquitous references to a consideration of light and darkness are relevant. Can it be that we are all at least prone to depression due in part to this factor? Questions regarding possible biological causes of depression are perhaps unanswerable at this time. Is the seratonin level really associated with depression and light deprivation? Research is as yet inconclusive. If a relationship exists, another question must be asked: Will certain psychological situations affect a person's seratonin production? The answer to this question of how depression is associated with biological causes is certainly beyond the scope of this paper. Yet the preceding case history reveals at least some psychological causes of depression that were initially seen as biologically based. The SAD proponents would have treated Mr. B with light therapy. The quick solution of light therapy, based on a shaky theoretical base and lacking sturdy research, has too often replaced the psychoanalytic approach. In all too many situations psychoanalysts are being replaced by lightbulbs.     

Global self-esteem across the life span

This study provides a comprehensive picture of age differences in self-esteem from age 9 to 90 years using cross-sectional data collected from 326,641 individuals over the Internet. Self-esteem levels were high in childhood, dropped during adolescence, rose gradually throughout adulthood, and declined sharply in old age. This trajectory generally held across gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and nationality (U.S. citizens vs. non-U.S. citizens). Overall, these findings support previous research, help clarify inconsistencies in the literature, and document new trends that require further investigation.     

Why misinformation is more likely to be recognised over time: A source monitoring account

Although memory for actual events tends to be forgotten over time, memory for misinformation tends to be retrieved at a stable rate over long delays or at a rate greater than that found immediately after encoding. To examine whether source monitoring errors contribute to this phenomenon, two experiments investigated subjects' memory for the source of misinformation at different retention intervals. Subjects viewed a slide presentation, read a narrative containing misinformation, and, either 10 minutes or 1 week later, completed a recognition test about details seen in the slides and about the source of these details. After the longer retention interval in both experiments, participants were more likely to agree that they had seen misleading information and were also more likely to incorrectly associate the misinformation with the slide event. Theoretical implications of these findings are considered.     

Unusual Child–Mother Communication During Separation: A Psychoanalytic Study

This paper describes two vignettes from psychoanalytic work with a mother who experienced unusual communication with her baby when they were apart. These episodes suggest there are sensory cues or an extrasensory perceptual awareness between individuals separated by physical distance. This paper attempts to describe these thought transferences in order to better understand communication phenomena that have not been described in the scientific literature.     

A model of dual attitudes

When an attitude changes from A1 to A2, what happens to A1? Most theories assume, at least implicitly, that the new attitude replaces the former one. The authors argue that a new attitude can override, but not replace, the old one, resulting in dual attitudes. Dual attitudes are defined as different evaluations of the same attitude object: an automatic, implicit attitude and an explicit attitude. The attitude that people endorse depends on whether they have the cognitive capacity to retrieve the explicit attitude and whether this overrides their implicit attitude. A number of literatures consistent with these hypotheses are reviewed, and the implications of the dual-attitude model for attitude theory and measurement are discussed. For example, by including only explicit measures, previous studies may have exaggerated the ease with which people change their attitudes. Even if an explicit attitude changes, an implicit attitude can remain the same.     

Brain Potentials in the Processing of Complex Sentences: An ERP Study of Control and Raising Constructions

In the present study we made use of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to examine raising and subject control constructions in German. Our most salient result is that the ERPs elicited at the empty subject position of a raising construction are clearly different from those elicited at the corresponding position of an otherwise identical subject control construction, the former producing a stronger P600. We argue that this result provides an electrophysiological correlate of the theoretical distinction between NP trace and PRO.