Interactive effects of emotional dissonance and self-control demands on burnout, anxiety, and absenteeism

Two specific sources of stress at work have recently received increasing attention in organizational stress research: emotional dissonance (ED) and self-control demands (SCDs). Both theoretical arguments and experimental findings in basic research strongly suggest that ED and different SCDs draw on a common limited regulatory resource. Consequently, both kinds of stressors should exert interactive effects on indicators of job strain and well-being. Drawing on two German samples (total N = 586), we tested this prediction by examining the interaction effects of ED and different dimensions of SCDs on burnout, anxiety, and absence behavior. Latent moderated structural equation modeling provided support for the hypothesized interactive effects of ED and dimensions of SCDs in predicting burnout, anxiety, and absence behavior. More specifically, with each pair of stressors the effects of one stressor were found to be amplified by the other. Finally, we discuss theoretical and practical implications of our results.     

Embodied numerosity: Implicit hand-based representations influence symbolic number processing across cultures

In recent years, a strong functional relationship between finger counting and number processing has been suggested. Developmental studies have shown specific effects of the structure of the individual finger counting system on arithmetic abilities. Moreover, the orientation of the mental quantity representation (“number line”) seems to be influenced by finger counting habits. However, it is unclear whether the structure of finger counting systems still influences symbolic number processing in educated adults.In the present transcultural study, we pursued this question by examining finger-based sub-base-five effects in an Arabic number comparison task with three different groups of participants (German deaf signers, German and Chinese hearing adults). We observed sub-base-five effects in all groups, but particularly so for both German groups who use an explicit sub-base-five system in their finger counting habits. It is concluded that bodily experiences – namely finger counting – influence the structure of the abstract mental number representations even in adults. Thus, the present findings support the general idea that even seemingly abstract cognition may at least partially be rooted in our bodily experiences.     

The efficacy of systemic therapy with adult patients: a meta-content analysis of 38 randomized controlled trials

Systemic therapy is a widely used psychotherapy approach. Yet there exist few systematic reviews on its efficacy. A meta-content analysis was performed to analyze the efficacy of systemic therapy for the treatment of mental disorders in adulthood. All randomized (or matched) controlled trials (RCT) evaluating systemic/systems oriented therapy in various settings (family, couple, individual, group, multifamily group therapy) with adult index patients suffering from mental disorders were identified by database searches and cross-references in other reviews. Inclusion criteria were: index patient diagnosed with a DSM or ICD listed mental disorder, trial published in any language up to the end of 2008. The RCTs were content analyzed according to their research methodology, interventions applied, and results. Thirty-eight trials published in English, German, Spanish, and Chinese were identified, 34 of them showing systemic therapy to be efficacious for the treatment of mood disorders, eating disorders, substance use disorders, mental and social factors related to medical conditions and physical disorders, and schizophrenia. Systemic therapy may also be efficacious for anxiety disorders. Results were stable across follow-up periods of up to 5 years. There is a sound evidence-base for the efficacy of systemic therapy for adult index patients with mental disorders in at least five diagnostic groups.     

Constructing the collective unconscious

Abstract: Innovative attempts at collating Jungian analytical psychology with a range of ‘post‐modern’ theories have yielded significant results. This paper adopts an alternative strategy: a Lacanian vantage point on Jungian theory that eschews an attempt at reconciling Jung with post‐structuralism. A focused Lacanian gaze on Jung will establish an irreducible tension between Jung's view of archetypes as factors immanent to the psyche and a Lacanian critique that lays bare the contingent structures and mechanisms of their constitution, unveiling the supposed archetypes’a posteriori production through the efficacy of a discursive field. Theories of ideology developed in the wake of Lacan provide a powerful methodological tool allowing to bring this distinction into focus. An assembly of Lacan's fragmentary accounts of Jung will be supplemented with an approach to Jungian theory via ?i?ek's Lacan‐oriented theory of the signifying mechanism underpinning ‘ideology’. Accordingly, the Jungian archetype of the self, which is considered in some depth, can begin to be seen in a new light, namely as a ‘master signifier’, not only of Jung's academic edifice, but also —and initially—of the discursive strategies that establish his own subjectivity. A discussion of Jung's approach to mythology reveals how the ‘quilting point’ of his discourse comes to be coupled with a correlate in the Real, a non‐discursive ‘sublime object’ conferring upon archetypes their fascinating aura.     

Clinical Supervision and Logotherapy: Discovering Meaning in the Supervisory Relationship

Upon review of the clinical supervision literature, the case is made for implementation of logotherapeutic principles within the context of the supervisory relationship. Logotherapy is a meaning-centered approach that may enhance existing supervision styles and models, especially their tendency to de-emphasize the supervisor-supervisee relationship and the inner experiencing factor of what occurs during the process of supervision. The utility of incorporating elements of logotherapy in clinical supervision is presented within the context of supervisor roles (i.e., mentor, teacher, and evaluator), as well as the content and process of effective supervision (e.g., enhancing knowledge, skills, attitudes, and interpersonal ability of supervisees). The importance of supervisor and supervisee personally meaningful values to the supervision process is then discussed, followed by specific avenues for research. Recommendations for incorporating logotherapy into supervision are offered.     

Diseases as natural kinds

In this paper, I focus on life-threatening medical conditions and argue that from the point of view of natural properties, induction(s), and participation in laws, at least some of the ill organisms dealt with in somatic medicine form natural kinds in the same sense in which the kinds in the exact sciences are thought of as natural. By way of comparing two ‘divisions of nature’, viz., a ‘classical’ exact science kind (gold) and a kind of disease (Graves disease), I show that there is no justifiable ‘ontological gap’ between disease kinds and exact sciences kinds. We have instead a difference of degree.     

Working memory dependence of spatial contextual cueing for visual search

When spatial stimulus configurations repeat in visual search, a search facilitation, resulting in shorter search times, can be observed that is due to incidental learning. This contextual cueing effect appears to be rather implicit, uncorrelated with observers’ explicit memory of display configurations. Nevertheless, as I review here, this search facilitation due to contextual cueing depends on visuospatial working memory resources, and it disappears when visuospatial working memory is loaded by a concurrent delayed match to sample task. However, the search facilitation immediately recovers for displays learnt under visuospatial working memory load when this load is removed in a subsequent test phase. Thus, latent learning of visuospatial configurations does not depend on visuospatial working memory, but the expression of learning, as memory‐guided search in repeated displays, does. This working memory dependence has also consequences for visual search with foveal vision loss, where top‐down controlled visual exploration strategies pose high demands on visuospatial working memory, in this way interfering with memory‐guided search in repeated displays. Converging evidence for the contribution of working memory to contextual cueing comes from neuroimaging data demonstrating that distinct cortical areas along the intraparietal sulcus as well as more ventral parieto‐occipital cortex are jointly activated by visual working memory and contextual cueing.     

Use of Logotherapy's Mountain Range Exercise with Male Adolescents with Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities and Sexual Behavior Problems

This article discusses the use of logotherapy's Mountain Range Exercise (MRE) with adolescent males with mild to moderate mental retardation/developmental disabilities and sexual behavior problems in a high-management group home setting. The activity was used in group therapy with nine patients to build rapport, clarify values, enhance attention and focus, and facilitate patient disclosure of sexual offense histories in subsequent sessions. The literature on youths with sexually aggressive behavior problems is reviewed, followed by the rationale for using the technique with this population. Future directions for research are offered.     

Loading mobile phones in a multi-option society

As mobile phone saturation increases, operators find it harder and harder to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Telecommunications companies have had to develop strategies as quickly as the industry has developed, and in recent years have found themselves increasingly moving away from their core market of voice service provision to becoming anything from fashion brands to putative multimedia companies. From the consumer's perspective, Peter Gross and Stefan Bertschi discuss how a customer navigates such a 'multi-option' society. Bewildered by choices--not just in service level and provision but in the way these products are coded with brands that suggest identities and cultural behaviour--how is a consumer to relate to such a plurality of options?