Watching your troubles away: television viewing as a stimulus for subjective self-awareness

Three studies explored the role of television viewing in eliciting subjective self-awareness and positive self-feelings. Study 1 assessed the effects of self-awareness manipulations via exposure to a neutral television program on actual-ideal discrepancies. Those who watched television showed significantly smaller self-discrepancies than those who did not, independent of mood. Study 2 demonstrated the ecological validity of this finding by replicating it with people watching television in their own homes. Study 3 investigated whether manipulations of self-feelings affected television watching. Results indicated that those who received failure feedback watched television longer than those in a control condition who likewise watched television longer than those who received success feedback. Television appears to be an effective stimulus to direct the focus away from oneself and to render people less aware of how they are falling short of their standards.     

Assessment typology and intervention with the survivors of stalking

This review article proposes use of a case example to explore a therapeutic framework that utilizes short-term crisis intervention to assist the survivor of the stalking experience. Legal sanctions and laws to protect these victims have been criticized as lacking, and many times in the past mental health professionals have been accused of allowing survivors of stalking to slip through the cracks. This article was written to provide the reader with the basic information needed to begin to understand, diagnose, and treat the survivor exposed to this type of phenomenon.     

Gender and projective imagination of threat in achievement and affiliation situations

In a study by Pollak and Gilligan (1982) where fantasies of violence were seen as indicative of perception of danger, women responded with more violent imagery to situations of achievement, whereas men responded with more violent imagery to affiliation situations. This indicates gender differences in motivational needs, which corresponds to modern gender development theories (e.g., Chodorow, 1978). In the present studies, the hypotheses that women fear achievement situations whereas men fear situations of affiliation were tested on Swedish samples totaling 44 men and 47 women. In Study 1, the hypothesis that violent imagery correlates with affiliation themes in the stories written by men was partly supported, whereas the hypothesis that violent imagery would be highly correlated with achievement themes in the stories written by women was not confirmed. In Study 2, no support was obtained for the hypotheses. In sum, contrary to previous studies, no substantial support was obtained for the hypothesis that women connect violent imagery with achievement situations, whereas some evidence was found for the hypothesis that men construe danger as arising from affiliation situations. The greater incidence of violence in men’s fantasy reported in previous studies was not supported in either of the two studies. The results are discussed in the context of cross-cultural differences.     

A mixed methods research study on the video‐based counselling method Marte Meo

Marte Meo is a video‐based counselling method founded by Maria Aarts in the Netherlands and now in worldwide use (Aarts, Aarts Production, 2008). Marte Meo has been adopted and put into practice by a large and diverse network of trained and certified counsellors across the world. It was invented, developed and spread by a vanguard of practising counsellors who have adapted it to a variety of contexts. This is a classic example of research and theory emerging from and following practice; we first need to synthesise the lessons the practitioners and families have learned. We need to better understand how it is implemented; how it is viewed by its practitioners and recipients; and the extent to which variability in implementation may be an asset or a drawback in the continuing evolution of the programme, and in any eventual attempt to document its effects. Therefore, the present article aimed to address this important and hitherto unexplored research topic of the Marte Meo method in counselling and to describe the current state of use of Marte Meo. How is Marte Meo used and applied in a counselling and therapeutic context? Who uses Marte Meo in professional practice? Which function and which meaning does Marte Meo have in general practice and especially in counselling and therapy? What are typical concerns, goals or areas of application? We report on an ongoing mixed methods research project which began in 2015. This paper focuses on the research methods. We will explain why an integrated exploratory sequential design (Cresswell, 2017) is best suited to our purposes. The exploratory sequential design of the Marte Meo project has five phases: as the first phase, we conducted a systematic literature review, analysing the status of existing research. The staged qualitative research consisted of designing, conducting and analysing semi‐structured interviews with parents and Marte Meo counsellors (phase 2), and then using that analysis to inform the design, the conduct and the analysis of videotaped observations of everyday situations in day‐care centres to examine the process and effects of Marte Meo interaction elements on children (phase 3). Combining these qualitative analyses then became the basis for the development of an online questionnaire that could enable us to collect quantitative data on the current use of Marte Meo in practice by experts (phase 4). This builds into the fifth phase in the final interpretation. One of the key findings of the qualitative parts is that Marte Meo is perceived as advantageous. The experts reported more joy and success in their work. In particular, in the pedagogical context, the daily, resource‐oriented ‘Marte Meo view’, which was sharpened by the training, seems to be essential, as it enables an awareness of the needs of the interaction partners and the beneficial interaction elements. Moreover, for some interviewees the use of Marte Meo does not seem to be limited to professional practice, but is expressed in a general humanistic attitude towards interpersonal relationships of all kinds. The quantitative survey has confirmed and supplemented these results. On the other hand, we found that Marte Meo is most often used in addition to the systemic approach. A later article will focus more on the findings. This article will conclude with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the research design—concerning this special research project and concerning counselling research in general.     

Examining the Roles of Self-Objectification and Appearance Expectations in Young Women’s Indoor Tanning Behavior

Sex Roles - Indoor tanning among U.S. young women is a major public health concern that increases risk for skin cancer. Many young women engage in indoor tanning despite the risks, and prior...     

Trace.space: a psychogeographical community project with members of an arts and health organisation

In this article we present a psychogeographical community project involving members of an arts and health organisation. Using creative ways to improve the mental health and well-being of individuals, we draw on the concepts of trace and spaces to map relationships between researchers and participants. This project was underpinned by three aims which were: to do community group work to produce contributions both in and beyond the University; to playfully critique everyday life in consumer capitalist society and finally, to consider the extent to which personal and social changes could be enabled. To realise those aims, we put into practice a range of architectural, community psychological and psychogeographical methods such as photo-elicitation, dice walking and scavenger hunting. We also facilitated participatory workshops which involved the production of artistic maps, writing poems and short stories. We conclude the paper with reflections from stakeholders with conclusions and future psychogeographical research being considered.     

Visual experiences during letter production contribute to the development of the neural systems supporting letter perception

Letter production through handwriting creates visual experiences that may be important for the development of visual letter perception. We sought to better understand the neural responses to different visual percepts created during handwriting at different levels of experience. Three groups of participants, younger children, older children, and adults, ranging in age from 4.5 to 22 years old, were presented with dynamic and static presentations of their own handwritten letters, static presentations of an age‐matched control's handwritten letters, and typeface letters during fMRI. First, data from each group were analyzed through a series of contrasts designed to highlight neural systems that were most sensitive to each visual experience in each age group. We found that younger children recruited ventral‐temporal cortex during perception and this response was associated with the variability present in handwritten forms. Older children and adults also recruited ventral‐temporal cortex; this response, however, was significant for typed letter forms but not variability. The adult response to typed letters was more distributed than in the children, including ventral‐temporal, parietal, and frontal motor cortices. The adult response was also significant for one's own handwritten letters in left parietal cortex. Second, we compared responses among age groups. Compared to older children, younger children demonstrated a greater fusiform response associated with handwritten form variability. When compared to adults, younger children demonstrated a greater response to this variability in left parietal cortex. Our results suggest that the visual perception of the variability present in handwritten forms that occurs during handwriting may contribute to developmental changes in the neural systems that support letter perception.     

Research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A call to action for psychological science

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents the greatest international biopsychosocial emergency the world has faced for a century, and psychological science has an integral role to offer in helping societies recover. The aim of this paper is to set out the shorter- and longer-term priorities for research in psychological science that will (a) frame the breadth and scope of potential contributions from across the discipline; (b) enable researchers to focus their resources on gaps in knowledge; and (c) help funders and policymakers make informed decisions about future research priorities in order to best meet the needs of societies as they emerge from the acute phase of the pandemic. The research priorities were informed by an expert panel convened by the British Psychological Society that reflects the breadth of the discipline; a wider advisory panel with international input; and a survey of 539 psychological scientists conducted early in May 2020. The most pressing need is to research the negative biopsychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate immediate and longer-term recovery, not only in relation to mental health, but also in relation to behaviour change and adherence, work, education, children and families, physical health and the brain, and social cohesion and connectedness. We call on psychological scientists to work collaboratively with other scientists and stakeholders, establish consortia, and develop innovative research methods while maintaining high-quality, open, and rigorous research standards.