Muslims Love Jesus,Too? Corrective Information Alters Prejudices Against Islam

The present study examined whether prejudices towards Islam can be altered through corrective information. A total of 1715 German participants were first asked to appraise their opinions towards Judaism, Christianity and Islam (the ratings pertained to progressiveness, tolerance, peacefulness). Subsequently, questions regarding knowledge about religious topics were posed to participants. Questions were selected to elicit common prejudices pertaining to Islam. The correct answers were then displayed along with detailed explanations. Finally, participants were asked to rate their current opinion towards the three religions once again. Opinions towards Islam were largely negative at baseline but improved significantly after presentation of the correct answers. The present study suggests that prejudices against Islam are partially fueled by knowledge gaps.     

Dokumentation ambulanter Diagnostik in psychosomatischer Medizin und Psychotherapie

Zusammenfassung Das vorgestellte Dokumentationssystem vereint in sich die folgenden Anforderungen: Die zeitökonomische Abbildung der aktuellen Befunde, die Visualisierung der Biographie bzw. Lerngeschichte, die strukturierte Erfassung der Operationalisierten Psychodynamischen Diagnostik (OPD), die psychische und somatische Diagnostik einschließlich Rating des Beeinträchtigungsschwere-Score (BSS) und der Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) sowie die psychotherapeutisch-psychiatrischen Vorbefunde und die abschließende Indikationsstellung. Lediglich der Arztbrief, der beispielhaft dargestellt wird, wird diktiert. Eine so strukturierte Dokumentation ist patientennah, zeitökonomisch und bewährt sich an den Schnittstellen einer ambulant-stationär-ambulanten Behandlungskette. Sie ist eine ideale Basis für ein Qualitätsmanagement sowie Evaluation in der niedergelassenen Praxis, Ambulanz sowie im Konsiliardienst.      

Rape Perceptions, Gender Role Attitudes, and Victim-Perpetrator Acquaintance

The connection between rape perceptions, gender role attitudes, and victim-perpetrator acquaintance was examined. One hundred fifty Israeli students rated their perceptions of the victim, the perpetrator, the situation, and the appropriate punishment, after reading scenarios in which rape was committed by a neighbor, an ex-boyfriend, and a current life partner. Significant negative correlations were found between gender-role attitudes and four measures of rape perceptions. “Traditionals” minimized the severity of all rapes more than “Egalitarians” did. As the acquaintance level increased, there was a greater tendency to minimize the severity of the rape, in the perceptions of the victim, the situation, and the punishment; the situation was characterized less as rape, and was perceived as less violating of the victim's rights and less psychologically damaging. Women tended to have more egalitarian attitudes than men did, and women were less likely to minimize the severity of the rape in the measures of perceptions of the situation and the appropriate punishment.     

Daily patterns of communication and contact between Italian early adolescents and their friends

The goal of the present study was to explore patterns of communication between adolescents and their friends across both "online" and "in-person" contexts. The participants were adolescents (n?=?727) aged 11-16 years attending middle schools in urban and rural areas of Italy. Participants completed daily logs of their in-person and online contacts with friends for 20 consecutive school days. Girls reported more total contacts with their friends than did boys as well as friendships that were closer and more intimate. However, boys indicated more contact than girls via electronic communication and online. Contacts with peers in general were less frequent among the older participants, perhaps because of increasing academic demands. Participants who complemented in-person contact with friends with electronic contact were less lonely than their counterparts who were less versatile in accessing different modalities of making contact with friends.     

Disentangling the adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder endophenotype: parametric measurement of attention

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists frequently into adulthood. The decomposition of endophenotypes by means of experimental neuro-cognitive assessment has the potential to improve diagnostic assessment, evaluation of treatment response, and disentanglement of genetic and environmental influences. We assessed four parameters of attentional capacity and selectivity derived from simple psychophysical tasks (verbal report of briefly presented letter displays) and based on a "theory of visual attention." These parameters are mathematically independent, quantitative measures, and previous studies have shown that they are highly sensitive for subtle attention deficits. Potential reductions of attentional capacity, that is, of perceptual processing speed and working memory storage capacity, were assessed with a whole report paradigm. Furthermore, possible pathologies of attentional selectivity, that is, selection of task-relevant information and bias in the spatial distribution of attention, were measured with a partial report paradigm. A group of 30 unmedicated adult ADHD patients and a group of 30 demographically matched healthy controls were tested. ADHD patients showed significant reductions of working memory storage capacity of a moderate to large effect size. Perceptual processing speed, task-based, and spatial selection were unaffected. The results imply a working memory deficit as an important source of behavioral impairments. The theory of visual attention parameter working memory storage capacity might constitute a quantifiable and testable endophenotype of ADHD.     

Evidenzbasierte Psychotherapie der Depression

Depressive disorders are among the most frequent reasons for utilizing the health care system. Despite the availability of efficacious treatments and further advances throughout the last years, there is still a need for improving diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. A promising approach is the implementation of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines. The German “Nationale VersorgungsLeitlinie Unipolare Depression” are evidence- and consensus-based clinical practise guidelines for patients with unipolar depression. All relevant stakeholders have been involved in its development and have passed the final version at the end of 2009 to foster compliance throughout. The available evidence allows the derivation of differentiated treatment recommendations, also with regard to concomitant antidepressant medication or as alternative treatment options. In acute therapy watchful waiting over 14 days is recommended for mild depression and psychotherapy after persistence of symptoms. In cases of moderate depression, psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are equally recommended, in cases of severe depression a combination of both is recommended.     

Berufliche Leistungsfähigkeit

In different fields of law the assessment of capability of performance is important and often poses a particular challenge for medical or psychological experts. The present article introduces a model for the assessment of capability of performance developed on the background of a multicenter and interdisciplinary research project. This approach of assessment assumes that the performance capability of a person with psychiatric or psychosomatic disorders does not arise from symptomatology alone; instead, it is also a consequence of interactions between coping processes of the individual and environmental factors. The presented model of the assessment of performance capability is mainly oriented to the “International Classification of Functioning” (ICF; WHO) whose central diagnostic categories are, in addition to the disorder and the somatic and psychiatric functions, the levels of activity and participation. The different assessing levels are operationalized in the assessment model. In this article the various diagnostic levels and their interactions and the criteria which have been formulated are described. The process of decision-making is explored as well. This assessment model aims to make a more reliable, valid and transparent process of expert decision-making in order to increase the objectivity and justice of the assessment procedure.