Attending to the shame: Working with addicted populations

Shame is a potent emotion that plays a major role in the life of addicted individuals. Shame's ability to penetrate and skew major motivational systems may play a part in the formation of addicted lifestyles. The shame-based or shame-prone individual, such as the addicted client, poses unique problems for the therapist. This paper explicates the processes and consequences of shame and offers guidelines to help clinicians work with addicted clients.Mitchell B. Young, MS, is a third-year doctoral student in the department of counseling and development at Purdue University.The author wishes to express appreciation to Kate Kerr, PhD, for her fine editorial work.     

Effects of trait anger and anger expression style on competitive attack responses in a wartime prisoner’s dilemma game

We assessed the role of trait anger and anger expression style on competitive/aggressive decision making and responding. In a 100‐trial iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma (IPD), with instructions to simulate wartime interactions, competition/aggression was defined as “attacking the opponent,” and “waiting for troop reinforcements” was the noncompetitive alternative response. Prior to play, 92 university student players completed the State‐Trait Anger Expression Inventory. They were then paired to play the IPD against partners of similar or dissimilar trait anger levels. At postplay, the State Anger scale was readministered. Results showed significant preplay to postplay increases in state anger, with greater increases shown by high trait anger players. Thus, high trait anger players were especially subject to arousal. Players in the high trait anger group made more competitive/attack responses, and they were more likely to do so when paired with a high trait anger partner. As a result of the high level of competitive/aggressive play, both groups ended with a negative troop count. Trait anger as a general personality temperament was predictive of state anger, competitive/attack responses, and the number of trials before a retaliation was made. The expressive style of anger‐control was also related to manner of play. Trait anger had strong direct and indirect effects through anger control on the number of competitive attack responses. It was concluded that trait anger, especially trait anger/temperament, and anger control difficulties may be toxic personality factors in decision making and competitive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 28:117–125, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Overcoming Procrastination: The Effect of Implementation Intentions1

A hypothesized solution for procrastination is the formation of an implementation intention ( Van Eerde, 2000 ). University students (N = 152) were assessed using the Aitken Procrastination Inventory ( Aitken, 1982 ) and were asked to report to an experiment. Half of the participants formed implementation intentions to attend. An odds ratio indicated that participants who formed implementation intentions were nearly 8 times more likely to keep their appointments than those who did not. Low procrastinators reported more often for the experiment than did high procrastinators (Low = 49.4%; High = 30.1%), χ²(1, N = 152) = 5.84, p < .016. The interaction between implementation intentions and procrastination was not significant, χ²(1, N = 152) = 0.28, p < .60.     

Decision noise may mask criterion shifts: Reply to Balakrishnan and MacDonald (2008)

J. D. Balakrishnan and J. A. MacDonald (2008) argue that RTbased measures of signal detection processes provide evidence against signal detection theory’s notion of a flexible decision criterion. They argue that this evidence is immune to the alternative explanation proposed by S. T. Mueller and C. T. Weidemann (2008), that decision noise may mask criterion shifts. We show that noise in response times can produce the same effects as are produced by noise in confidence ratings. Given these results, the evidence is not sufficient to categorically reject the notion of a flexible response policy implemented through shifts in a decision criterion. nt]mis|This research was supported in part by a postdoctoral fellowship to C.T.W. from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).     

Body elimination attitude family resemblance in Kuwait

The purpose of the present study was to determine the family resemblance of attitude toward body elimination in Kuwaiti participants. This study was conceptualized in the context of the theories of moral development, importance of cleanliness in the Muslim religion, cross-cultural differences in personal hygiene practices, previous research reporting an association between family attitudes and body elimination attitude, and health implications. The 24-item Likert-type format Body Elimination Attitude Scale-Revised was administered to 277 Kuwaiti high school students and 437 of their parents. Females scored higher, indicating greater disgust, than the males. Moreover, sons' body elimination attitude correlated more strongly with fathers' attitude (r = .85) than with that of the mothers (r = .64). Daughters' attitude was similarly associated with the fathers' (r = .89) and the mothers' attitude (r = .86). The high correlations were discussed within the context of Kuwait having a collectivistic culture with authoritarian parenting style. The higher adolescent correlations, and in particular the boys' correlation with fathers than with mothers, was explained in terms of the more dominant role of the Muslim father in the family. Public health and future research implications were suggested. A theoretical formulation was advanced in which "ideal" body elimination attitude is relative rather than absolute, and is a function of one's life circumstances, one's occupation, one's culture and subculture, and the society that one lives in.     

Coparenting and Toddler's Interactive Styles in Family Coalitions

The current study examined the coparenting and toddler's interactive styles in family coalitions. According to structural family theory, boundaries between generations are clear in alliances, but disturbed in coalitions: the parents look to the child to regulate their conflictual relationship and the child attempts to meet this need. In a normative sample studied longitudinally during the Lausanne Trilogue Play situation (LTP, N=38), 15 coalition cases were detected. Styles of coparenting and of child's interactions were determined and compared in coalition and alliance cases at 18 months. Findings confirm the structural family model by showing the specific ways in which the coparenting and the toddler's interactive styles are associated in 3 different patterns of coalitions: binding, detouring, and triangulation. They illustrate how the child's triangular capacity, or her ability to simultaneously communicate with both parents, is used to regulate the parents' relationship. They suggest that the LTP observational paradigm is a promising assessment method of early family interactions. They point to the importance of assessing early the child's contribution to family coalitions.     

Hinge versus twist: the effects of 'reference surfaces' and discontinuities on stereoscopic slant perception

Stereoscopic slant perception around a vertical axis (horizontal slant) is often found to be strongly attenuated relative to geometric prediction. Stereo slant is much greater, however, when an adjacent surface, stereoscopically in the frontal plane, is added. This slant enhancement is often attributed to the presence of a 'reference surface' or to a spatial change in the disparity gradient (introducing second and higher derivatives of disparity). Gillam, Chambers, and Russo (1988 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 14 163-175) questioned the role of these factors in that placement of the frontal-plane surface in a direction collinear with the slant axis (twist configuration) sharply reduced latency for perceiving slant whereas placing the same surface in a direction orthogonal to the slant axis (hinge configuration) had little effect. We here confirm these findings for slant magnitude, showing a striking advantage for twist over hinge configurations. We also examined contrast slant measured on the frontal-plane surface in the hinge and twist configurations. Under conditions where test and inducer surfaces have centres at the same depth for twist and hinge, we found that twist configurations produced strong negative slant contrast, while hinge configurations produced significant positive contrast or slant assimilation. We conclude that stereo slant and contrast effects for neighbouring surfaces can only be understood from the patterns and gradients of step disparities present. It is not adequate to consider the second surface merely as a reference slant for the first or as having its effect via a spatial change in the disparity gradient.     

Integrating Positive Psychology Into Counseling: Why and (When Appropriate) How

Counseling psychology has a historical commitment to enhancing human strengths, a focus that has enjoyed broader interest with the recent emergence of positive psychology. However, theory and evidence linking strength enhancement to counseling goals are still relatively nascent. The authors outline rationales and practical strategies for integrating strength promotion into counseling practice. Forgiveness and spirituality are used as examples illustrating the opportunities, limitations, and challenges of making strength promotion practical (and reimbursable) in counseling.     

Seemingly Anomalous WISC-IV Full Scale IQ Scores in the American and Canadian Standardization Samples

The American and Canadian standardization samples for the fourth edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were used to ascertain the prevalence of “seemingly anomalous” Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores for all possible sums of scaled scores combinations of the Verbal Comprehension Index, Perceptual Reasoning Index, Working Memory Index, and Processing Speed Index. About 1% of FSIQ scores in both samples were anomalous (that is, fell outside the range of the four indices). Interestingly, the prevalence of anomalous scores was higher at the extremes of the FSIQ distribution. Moreover, anomalous FSIQ scores occurring above or below the mean of the FSIQ distribution (that is, 100) were larger or smaller, respectively, than any of the four indices. Furthermore, if the range of the four indices did contain the FSIQ (the non-anomalous case), when the FSIQ was below or above 100 it tended to be located distally in the half-segment of the range furthest below or above 100, respectively. A non-technical intuitive analogy from Olympic sports and a statistical explanation for the findings are provided. Important implications for practitioners are also presented. Portions of this paper were presented March 17, 2006 at the 20th annual Joseph R. Royce Research Conference, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.     

Frames and brains: elicitation and control of response tendencies

Using magnetic resonance imaging, De Martino and colleagues investigated the neural signature that is associated with decisions between small sure amounts of money and large riskier amounts when the framing of the outcomes is varied. We interpret their results within a dual-system framework, in which different frames evoke distinct emotional responses that different individuals can suppress to various degrees. The study advances the integration of brain imaging results into cognitive theory.