The effects of obesity on balance recovery using an ankle strategy

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of falls. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of obesity on balance recovery using an ankle strategy. In addition, computer simulations to understand how increased inertia and weight associated with obesity independently influence balance recovery. Ten normal weight (BMI: 22.7 ± 0.6 kg/m²) and ten obese (BMI: 32.2 ± 2.2 kg/m²) adult male subjects participated in the study. Subjects recovered balance using an ankle strategy after three types of postural perturbations: an initial angular displacement, an initial angular velocity from the natural stance, and an initial angular velocity from a prescribed position. Balance recovery was quantified by the largest initial angular displacement or angular velocity from which balance could be recovered. Obesity impaired balance recovery from perturbations involving an initial angular velocity, but not from an initial angular displacement. Similarly, computer simulations determined that increased inertia is beneficial to balance recovery when there is little to no initial angular velocity. These findings indicate that the effects of obesity on balance recovery are dependent on the type of perturbation, and that increased inertia associated with obesity can be beneficial for perturbations that involve little to no initial angular velocity.     

Therapeutic tasks: what kind of help is sought in psychotherapeutic sessions?

One of the main conditions for a good psychotherapeutic alliance is the agreement on therapeutic tasks and goals. This article explores the kind of help that clients expect from therapeutic sessions. By means of a written questionnaire, the clients of a private psychotherapy center, prior to the sessions, expressed their priorities regarding the work to be carried out in them. The assessment of 873 questionnaires showed that clients prefer to participate in therapeutic work that helps them plan actions, understand what is happening, and assess possibilities for change. Also important are therapeutic tasks that help clients evaluate their own actions, both past and planned. The importance that clients attach to different kinds of help varies above all according to how near they feel to resolving their problems. Nine different kinds of psychotherapeutic tasks are identified, which cover the possible requests a client can make of his/her therapist. This article discusses the clinical application of this model as a basis for planning and classifying psychotherapeutic interventions.     

Completed suicides in Colorado: differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites

All suicides by Hispanics (n = 434) and non-Hispanic Whites (n = 3,370) in Colorado from 2004 to 2008 using the Violent Death Reporting System were examined. Hispanic victims were significantly younger. Adjusting for age and gender, Hispanic victims were less likely to have reported depressed mood [odds ratio (OR) 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-0.97], mental health diagnosis (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.41-0.7), or current psychiatric treatment (OR 0.47; 95% CI 0.43-0.77). There were no differences in reports of financial, relationship, job, or legal stresses. Hispanic suicides were equally likely to be by overdose, firearm, or hanging, but more likely to be in jail (OR 2.68; 95% CI 1.55-4.65). To prevent suicides, stronger partnerships are needed among public health, medical, mental health, and criminal justice professionals.     

Personality disorder diagnostic thresholds correspond to different levels of latent pathology

To meet a diagnosis for a particular personality disorder (PD), among other requirements, a person must exhibit a specified minimum number of the features outlined for that PD, otherwise referred to as the diagnostic threshold. Despite many years of research on the DSM PDs, there is little empirical basis for the chosen thresholds. The present study used mechanisms of item response theory (IRT) to link the diagnostic thresholds of six PDs to their corresponding level of latent PD pathology. Consistent with our hypothesis, analyses of the data from 41,227 participants revealed that PD diagnostic thresholds corresponded to a wide range of latent pathology. For example, the diagnostic threshold for schizoid PD corresponded to 1.54 SDs of pathology whereas the threshold for dependent PD corresponded to 2.72 SDs of pathology. The current analyses have demonstrated for the first time that the latent pathology associated with each PD threshold varies widely, and thus has quantified what others accurately have speculated. Implications and considerations for the future directions of PD classification are discussed.     

The Impact of Motive Attributions on Coworker Justice Perceptions of Rewarded Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Purpose  

Research was conducted to determine whether and why the perceived motive (traditional or self-serving) underlying an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) affects coworkers’ justice perceptions of the rewards distributed in response to the OCB.     

Detecting fakers of the autobiographical IAT

Autobiographical memories might be identified using a variant of the implicit association test (IAT), or the autobiographical IAT (aIAT). The aIAT provides a measure of association between true sentences and sentences describing an autobiographical event. This tool might be used to evaluate whether specific autobiographical information is encoded within the respondent's mind/brain. This paper examines possible problems arising when the aIAT is used as a lie‐detector technique. The results indicate that, when given previous instruction or training with an aIAT, examinees can alter their results and beat the ‘memory‐detector’. However, we have been able to detect successful fakers of aIAT on the basis of their specific response patterns. Our algorithm has the ability to spot the faker in a satisfactory manner. If, as demonstrated here, faking can be detected, then the real autobiographical event might also be identified when the examinee attempts to alter their results. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transdiagnostic processes in emotional disorders and insomnia: results from a sample of adult outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders

Conceptual similarities between recent models of insomnia and emotional disorders suggest there may be common factors that underlie or maintain these difficulties. Maladaptive cognitive and behavioral processes similar to those described in connection with emotional disorders have been cited as key mechanisms in the maintenance of primary insomnia. Unfortunately, research on this potential overlap is lacking. The present study examined the relationship among anxiety sensitivity (AS), dysfunctional beliefs, fatigue, safety behaviors, and insomnia severity in 59 outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders. Key insomnia processes (dysfunctional beliefs, fatigue, safety behaviors) were all related to insomnia severity in the comorbid sample, although AS was not. However, as hypothesized, AS did moderate the relationship of both dysfunctional beliefs and fatigue with insomnia severity. The relationships between key insomnia processes and insomnia severity was strongest among individuals high in AS. Results support the hypothesis that common mechanisms are involved for insomnia and emotional disorders. AS might function as a mechanism for the maintenance of sleep disturbance in the context of anxiety and mood disorders, suggesting a promising avenue for future research.     

Sweet taste preferences and experiences predict prosocial inferences, personalities, and behaviors

It is striking that prosocial people are considered "sweet" (e.g., "she's a sweetie") because they are unlikely to differentially taste this way. These metaphors aid communication, but theories of conceptual metaphor and embodiment led us to hypothesize that they can be used to derive novel insights about personality processes. Five studies converged on this idea. Study 1 revealed that people believed strangers who liked sweet foods (e.g., candy) were also higher in agreeableness. Studies 2 and 3 showed that individual differences in the preference for sweet foods predicted prosocial personalities, prosocial intentions, and prosocial behaviors. Studies 4 and 5 used experimental designs and showed that momentarily savoring a sweet food (vs. a nonsweet food or no food) increased participants' self-reports of agreeableness and helping behavior. The results reveal that an embodied metaphor approach provides a complementary but unique perspective to traditional trait views of personality.     

Arthur Prior and medieval logic

Though Arthur Prior is now best known for his founding of modern temporal logic and hybrid logic, much of his early philosophical career was devoted to history of logic and historical logic. This interest laid the foundations for both of his ground-breaking innovations in the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the important r?le played by Prior??s research in ancient and medieval logic in his development of temporal and hybrid logic, any student of Prior, temporal logic, or hybrid logic should be familiar with the medieval logicians and their work. In this article we give an overview of Prior??s work in ancient and medieval logic.