Hooked on a feeling: rumination about positive and negative emotion in inter-episode bipolar disorder

Rumination has been consistently implicated in the onset and maintenance of depression. Less work has examined rumination in the context of bipolar disorder, especially rumination about positive emotion. The present study examined rumination about negative and positive emotion in interepisode bipolar disorder (BD; n = 39) and healthy controls (CTL; n = 34). Trait rumination about positive and negative emotion, as well as experiential and physiological responses to a rumination induction, was measured. Illness course was also assessed for the BD group. Results indicated that the BD group reported greater trait rumination about positive and negative emotion compared with the CTL group, though no group differences emerged during the rumination induction. For the BD group, trait rumination about positive and negative emotion, as well as increased cardiovascular arousal (i.e., heart rate), was associated with greater lifetime depression frequency; trait rumination about positive emotion was associated with greater lifetime mania frequency. These findings suggest that interepisode BD is associated with greater rumination about positive and negative emotion, which in turn is associated with illness course.     

The dominance behavioral system and psychopathology: evidence from self-report, observational, and biological studies

The dominance behavioral system (DBS) can be conceptualized as a biologically based system that guides dominance motivation, dominant and subordinate behavior, and responsivity to perceptions of power and subordination. A growing body of research suggests that problems with the DBS are evident across a broad range of psychopathologies. We begin by describing psychological, social, and biological correlates of the DBS. Extensive research suggests that externalizing disorders, mania proneness, and narcissistic traits are related to heightened dominance motivation and behaviors. Mania and narcissistic traits also appear related to inflated self-perceptions of power. Anxiety and depression are related to subordination and submissiveness, as well as a desire to avoid subordination. Models of the DBS have received support from research with humans and animals; from self-report, observational, and biological methods; and use of naturalistic and experimental paradigms. Limitations of available research include the relative lack of longitudinal studies using multiple measures of the DBS and the absence of relevant studies using diagnosed samples to study narcissistic personality disorder and bipolar disorder. We provide suggestions for future research on the DBS and psychopathology, including investigations of the potential usefulness of DBS in differentiating specific disorder outcomes, the need for more sophisticated biological research, and the value of longitudinal dynamical research. Implications of using the DBS as a tool in clinical assessment and treatment are discussed.     

The relation between polyculturalism and intergroup attitudes among racially and ethnically diverse adults

Research on intergroup ideologies (colorblindness, multiculturalism) has increased our understanding of intergroup attitudes. This article reports empirical tests of the relation between a newly studied ideology, polyculturalism (ideology focusing on interactions and connections among racial/ethnic groups), and intergroup attitudes. Across four studies (with racially/ethnically diverse U.S. undergraduates, and Black and White American adults), greater endorsement of polyculturalism was related to greater equality beliefs; appreciation for and comfort with diversity; willingness for intergroup contact; and endorsement of liberal immigration and affirmative action policies. Polyculturalism explained unique variance after controlling for colorblindness, multiculturalism, assimilation ideology, social dominance orientation, and right-wing authoritarianism. Implications and future directions of studying polyculturalism are discussed.     

Lay theories and intergroup relations: A social-developmental perspective

Abundant research suggests that the study of lay theories helps to explain intergroup relations. Building on this work as well as “interactionist” theories for understanding social behaviour from developmental and social psychology, we propose an integrative social-developmental perspective examining how lay perceivers' characteristics (e.g., age, race, psychological motivations) interact with the environments in which they are nested to impact lay theory use over time and during life transitions. Using this perspective to guide our investigation of the Protestant work ethic (PWE) and colourblind theory, we show that a single lay theory can have a socially tolerant or intolerant meaning. We review work with US children and adults (Asians, Blacks, Latinos, Whites) as well as research with Colombian children and adults (Mestizos), showing similarities and differences in perceivers' uses of PWE and the colourblind theory. Even when both meanings are prevalent in a given culture, they are not necessarily equally emphasised in all environments or for all people living in those environments, nor are they responded to in the same way by all people. We discuss the implications of these results for theorising on lay theories and offer directions for future work in this area.     

Construing action abstractly and perceiving consonance among goal pursuits: Implications for activity substitutability and the accessibility of activity-goal links

Findings from five experiments show that high-level action construals, due to either increase in temporal distance or to self-regulatory mindsets, facilitate consonance among subjective evaluations of separable goal pursuits. In Experiments 1 and 2, evaluations of progress toward separable goals were more strongly related among participants in abstract-mindset and future-focus conditions than in concrete-mindset and present-focus conditions. Results of Experiments 3 and 4 were consistent with the proposal that modulating the accessibility of relations between one’s goals and one’s broader aims is the mechanism by which level of action construal impacts perceived goal correspondence. Finally, results of Experiment 5 show that viewing an activity as linked to one’s goals increases the activity’s perceived substitutability. Implications for action representation and self-concept structure are discussed.     

Psychosocial Processes Associated with Bullying and Victimization

Bullying and victimization are timely, robust areas of inquiry throughout various psychological paradigms. Humanistic psychology has a history of investigating victimized individuals, but unfortunately, as this review of the literature demonstrates, the Humanistic voice has not remained active in these investigations. I contend that by exploring the research of these behaviors, Humanistic researchers may identify areas in need of Humanistic-oriented inquiries. This discussion explores the relevant literature focused on psychosocial processes associated with bullying and victimization. Also reviewed are individual characteristic variables, developmental trajectories of both bullies and victims, the role of social cognitive processes, social status and power, social networks, and bully and victim psychopathological trajectories.     

A discrete emotions approach to positive emotion disturbance in depression

Converging findings suggest that depressed individuals exhibit disturbances in positive emotion. No study, however, has ascertained which specific positive emotions are implicated in depression. We report two studies that compare how depressive symptoms relate to distinct positive emotions at both trait and state levels of assessment. In Study 1 (N=185), we examined associations between depressive symptoms and three trait positive emotions (pride, happy, amusement). Study 2 compared experiential and autonomic reactivity to pride, happy, and amusement film stimuli between depressive (n=24; DS) and non-depressive (n=31; NDS) symptom groups. Results indicate that symptoms of depression were most strongly associated with decreased trait pride and decreased positive emotion experience to pride-eliciting films. Discussion focuses on the implications these findings have for understanding emotion deficits in depression as well as for the general study of positive emotion.     

Unique association of approach motivation and mania vulnerability

Bipolar disorder involves experiences of both mania and depression over time, and measures of mania-risk and depression-risk therefore tend to be correlated, making it difficult to disentangle the shared versus unique aspects of mania and depression vulnerability. In theory, strong approach motivation is uniquely linked with mania risk, but this relation tends to be obscured unless co-occurring depression risk is statistically controlled. In this study, 461 college students completed the General Behaviour Inventory (GBI)—a validated questionnaire of bipolar disorder vulnerability—and they reported their degree of approach motivation in response to four vignettes that varied in relative incentive versus threat strength. After controlling for the effect of depression vulnerability, mania vulnerability was associated with approach motivation, particularly in response to more threatening scenarios, and this association remained significant even when controlling for dispositional threat and incentive responsiveness, current symptoms, mood, self-esteem, and optimism. The results are consistent with models that regard heightened approach motivation as a unique aspect of mania vulnerability.     

In Pursuit of the MD: The Impact of Role Models, Identity Compatibility, and Belonging Among Undergraduate Women

Women continue to face gender-related challenges in the medical field in places around the world where it has traditionally been male-dominated, including in the U.S. In an online experimental study with women attending a mid-sized public university in the Northeastern U.S. (N?=?55) who were interested in pursuing a pre-medical track (being pre-med) as undergraduates, we explored the mechanisms involved in undergraduate women’s pursuit of a career as a physician, focusing on three factors: exposure to successful female physician role models, perceived identity compatibility between being a woman and being pre-med, and sense of belonging in pre-med. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition in which they were exposed to information about successful female physicians, or to a control condition in which no information about female physicians was provided. First, as hypothesized, participants exposed to successful female physicians reported higher perceived identity compatibility, sense of belonging, and interest in a medical career compared to those in the control condition. Second, also as hypothesized, perceived identity compatibility mediated the effect of role models on sense of belonging, and sense of belonging mediated the relationship between perceived identity compatibility and interest in a medical career. This study highlights three key factors in women’s pursuit of a career as a physician and the process through which these factors may operate. Findings support the use of role models to set a positive psychosocial process in motion that can support women’s persistence in medicine.