Psychologists in Academic Health Centers: Reflections on Traditions and Innovations in Education,Science, and Practice

In 2007, the Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (APAHC), formerly known as Association of Medical School Psychologists (AMSP), held its first national conference since 1997. At the latter conference, the author of this article [Sheridan (1999) Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 6, 211–218] was asked to present some of the issues that would be important to health care psychologists in the next decade. These issues included the role of psychology in academic health centers, interventions psychologists offer, reimbursements for such treatments, education and training models, and research. This article examines those observations, offers new data, and explores the current challenges and opportunities for psychologists in academic health centers. The presentation also addresses aspirations of psychologists as well as resistances within the profession. Parts of this paper were delivered at the 3rd Conference of the Association of Academic Health Center Psychologists in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2007.     

Habitual reappraisal in context: peer victimisation moderates its association with physiological reactivity to social stress

Although the emotion regulation strategy of reappraisal has been associated with adaptive outcomes, there is a growing evidence that it may not be adaptive in all contexts. In the present study, adolescents reported their use of habitual reappraisal and their experiences with peer victimisation, a chronic stressor that is associated with reduced well-being in this population. We examined how these variables predicted physiological reactivity (vagal withdrawal and changes in pre-ejection period) during a social stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Task). In line with previous research, at high levels of victimisation, habitual reappraisal predicted adaptive physiological reactivity (i.e., greater vagal withdrawal). Conversely, at low levels of victimisation, habitual reappraisal predicted maladaptive physiological reactivity (i.e., blunted vagal withdrawal). These findings were specific to parasympathetic reactivity. They suggest that habitual reappraisal may exert different effects on parasympathetic reactivity depending on the presence of stressors, and highlight the importance of examining the role of contextual factors in determining the adaptiveness of emotion regulation strategies.     

The Metaphysical Morality of Francis Hutcheson: A Consideration of Hutcheson’s Critique of Moral Fitness Theory

Hutcheson’s theory of morality shares far more common ground with Clarke’s morality than is generally acknowledged. In fact, Hutcheson’s own view of his innovations in moral theory suggest that he understood moral sense theory more as an elaboration and partial correction to Clarkean fitness theory than as an outright rejection of it. My aim in this paper will be to illuminate what I take to be Hutcheson’s grounds for adopting this attitude toward Clarkean fitness theory. In so doing, I hope to bring to light an otherwise unexpected continuity between moral sense theory and the moral rationalism to which it is usually opposed, and, in so doing, draw attention to the anti-sceptical realism that lies at the heart of both accounts.

The Influence of Prior Relationship, Gender, and Fear on the Consequences of Stalking Victimization

While the findings concerning whether victim gender is associated with greater stalking consequences are equivocal, the literature is consistent that a prior victim-stalker relationship increases the severity of stalking victimization. The current study hypothesised that 1) this relationship would predict the psychological, physical, social, and economic consequences to victims, and that 2) fear may serve as a mediator of the impact of victim gender and prior relationship on the consequences of stalking. An international survey of 1,214 valid self-defined stalking victims reveals victim gender contributed to the psychological and physical consequences of stalking beyond the contribution of victim-perpetrator relationship. A more important predictor of these consequences and of social and economic consequences was fear, with women reporting greater levels than men.     

Levels of processing influences both recollection and familiarity: evidence from a modified remember-know paradigm

A modified Remember/Know (RK) paradigm was used to investigate reported subjective awareness during retrieval. Levels of processing (shallow vs. deep) was manipulated at study. Word pairs (old/new or new/new) were presented during test trials, and participants were instructed to respond "remember" if they recollected one of the two words, "know" if the word was familiar in the absence of recollection, or "new" if they judged both words to be new. Participants were then required to indicate which of the 2 words was old (2AFC recognition). With the standard RK proportions, deeper processing at study increased remember proportions and decreased know proportions, but this dissociation was not shown with the 2AFC proportion correct measure which instead demonstrated robust LOP effects for both remember and know trials, suggesting that the know proportion measure severely distorts the nature of LOP effects on familiarity.