The Relationship Between Violent Fantasy and Alcohol Misuse in Aggressive Behaviours

Alcohol misuse and cognitions supportive of violent behaviour have been linked with higher likelihood of engaging in aggressive actions. The present study investigated the interactive effects of alcohol abuse and violent fantasy on aggressive behaviour. A community sample of 279 adults recruited from South East Queensland completed the Aggression Questionnaire, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, Scheduled of Imagined Violence, and the Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Controlling for age, gender, and social desirability response, participants who acknowledged fantasies about violence and higher levels of alcohol consumption reported higher levels of aggression. Importantly, the interactive effects of alcohol and fantasy indicated that the contribution of violent fantasies was greatest among individuals with high levels of alcohol use compared with individuals with low alcohol use. The current findings, in conjunction with recent experimental evidence, highlight potential concerns regarding the additive effects of alcohol and violent fantasy.     

How you lie affects what you remember

We investigated how telling different types of lies may impact memory. Participants studied pictures of objects, and later lied and told the truth about these and new objects once or multiple times by describing them or by denying they had seen them. Forty-eight hours later, participants were tested on their source memory. Results revealed that participants had good memory for having falsely described a never-seen object, but relatively poor memory for having falsely denied seeing a studied object. These results suggest that telling certain types of lies may make a person more likely to forget having lied. In addition, repeated truthful denials of having seen a picture paradoxically increased false memories for having seen it. Thus, telling the truth does not always prevent the possibility of memory distortion.     

How self-transcendence via individualised moral foundations predict emotional and social enhancement

In this article we focus on explaining personality trait self-transcendence (ST) in relation to social and emotional competence, and suggest that ST through differences in moral foundations can partially predict social and emotional competence. A sample of 195 university students was used to test hypotheses regarding several paths between ST, trait emotional intelligence (EI), universalism and moral foundations. Consistent with the hypotheses, ST was found to predict social and emotional competence via individualised moral foundations (IMF). Results have implications for our understanding of the relationship between ST, moral foundations, social and emotional competence.     

Person–Environment Interaction in a New Secure Forensic State Psychiatric Hospital

This study examined the person–environment interaction effects of environmental design on ward climate, safety, job satisfaction, and treatment outcomes within a new high security forensic psychiatric facility. Participants included male and female adult psychiatric inpatients and staff members at different security stages. Data were collected once before and twice after the experimental group moved into the new building. The control group remained in the same facilities. Contrary to expectations, the new building had limited effects on the measured variables. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Dyadic Perspective on Speech Accommodation and Social Connection: Both Partners' Rejection Sensitivity Matters

Findings from confederate paradigms predict that mimicry is an adaptive route to social connection for rejection‐sensitive individuals (Lakin, Chartrand, & Arkin, 2008). However, dyadic perspectives predict that whether mimicry leads to perceived connection depends on the rejection sensitivity (RS) of both partners in an interaction. We investigated these predictions in 50 college women who completed a dyadic cooperative task in which members were matched or mismatched in being dispositionally high or low in RS. We used a psycholinguistics paradigm to assess, through independent listeners' judgments (N = 162), how much interacting individuals accommodate phonetic aspects of their speech toward each other. Results confirmed predictions from confederate paradigms in matched RS dyads. However, mismatched dyads showed an asymmetry in levels of accommodation and perceived connection: Those high in RS accommodated more than their low‐RS partner but emerged feeling less connected. Mediational analyses indicated that low‐RS individuals' nonaccommodation in mismatched dyads helped explain their high‐RS partners' relatively low perceived connection to them. Establishing whether mimicry is an adaptive route to social connection requires analyzing mimicry as a dyadic process influenced by the needs of each dyad member.     

Cross-Cultural Measurement of Positive and Negative Emotions in Adolescence: Evidence from Three Countries

Journal of Happiness Studies - Cross-cultural assessment of affective well-being among adolescents has received scarce attention in positive psychological research. The present study investigated...