Brain tumor and dying--exposition of W. M. Diggelmann in "Shadows--the diary of a disease"

The phases of a patient's struggle to come to terms with a malignant disease and impending death are illustrated by means of W. M. Diggelmann's book "Schatten--Tagebuch einer Krankheit" (Shadow--Diary of an Illness). Their expression, mutual influences and contents are documented by quotations.     

Children's affective,behavioral, and cognitive responses to social comparison

Relative outcomes in social commerce with peers are potent determinants of cognitions and behavior in young children. Although there has been considerable attention given to the behavioral consequences of social comparisons following the receipt of rewards, there has been less concern with cognitive or affective consequences. Additionally, little is known about the accrued effects of multiple social comparison experiences that may be consistent or inconsistent with one another. In the present study, young children received a constant level of reward but the amount they saw a peer receive was varied. There were two sequences of reward distribution, and in a given sequence children received either the same number of rewards as the peer (=), more (+), or fewer (?). In a 3 × 3 factorial design all possible combinations occurred. A negative inequality in reward distribution, no matter where it fell in a sequence, made children sad and inclined children to distribute fewer rewards to peers. When a sequence contained an initial experience of positive inequality, children decreased subsequent levels of self-reward. Experiencing a comparison that revealed a negative inequality in reward distribution also disrupted children's accuracy in appraising the overall distribution of rewards: even when an initial negative inequality was completely offset by an equivalent experience of positive inequality, children inaccurately concluded that they had received fewer rewards than their peers.     

Neuroticism,life stress and concern about eating,body weight and apperance in a non-clinical population

Studies with clinical populations have shown a high level of neuroticism amongst those with an eating disorder. It is unclear however whether the elevated neuroticism is a function of the disorder, or if it is an aetiological factor in the disorder's development. The present survey of a non-clinical female population revealed that those high in neuroticism gave higher—but not abnormally high—scores on a measure of concern about eating. The high-N group also reported a significantly greater number of undesirable life events; a greater familiarity with ‘diet literature’; increased dieting; but no difference in body weight from those in the middle and lower ranges on the N scale. On the basis of these findings it is suggested that neuroticism is an aetiological factor in disordered eating, at least with secondary if not primary disorders. It is propesed that neuroticism is one mediating psychological factor in a triadic relationship between personal environment contingencies, socio-cultural pressures for thinness and psychological variables. Suggestions are made for future investigation of the role of neuroticism in eating disturbance, with note of potential therapeutic application of such knowledge.     

Development of the infant's hand preference for visually directed reaching: Preliminary report of a longitudinal study

The development of hand preference in infancy was investigated longitudinally by using a visually-directed reaching task. Thirty-two infants, equally divided into groups of familial right- and left-handed boys and girls, were tested every 3 weeks from 24 to 39 weeks of age and once again at 52 weeks. Group trends for the development of hand preference were differentiated by familial handedness and sex of the infant. At all ages, test object position (to the infant's right or left) strongly influenced the hand used for reaching. Marked variability both between and within infants demonstrated an instability of early hand preference, an effect that could be appreciated fully only with a prospective longitudinal design. The results thus suggest that the development of hand preference for reaching is highly variable, discontinuous, and related to the interaction of sex and familial handedness.     

At face value: Categorization goals modulate vigilance for angry faces

The present research demonstrates that the attention bias to angry faces is modulated by how people categorize these faces. Since facial expressions contain psychologically meaningful information for social categorizations (i.e., gender, personality) but not for non-social categorizations (i.e., eye-color), angry facial expression should especially capture attention during social categorization tasks. Indeed, in three studies, participants were slower to name the gender of angry compared to happy or neutral faces, but not their color (blue or green; Study 1) or eye-color (blue or brown; Study 2). Furthermore, when different eye-colors were linked to a personality trait (introversion, extraversion) versus sensitivity to light frequencies (high, low), angry faces only slowed down categorizations when eye-color was indicative of a social characteristic (Study 3). Thus, vigilance for angry facial expressions is contingent on people's categorization goals, supporting the perspective that even basic attentional processes are moderated by social influences.     

E pluribus unum: Dual identity and minority group members' motivation to engage in contact, as well as social change

Recent work on social change illustrates that disadvantaged-group members are sometimes less influenced by prejudice-reduction strategies than are advantaged-group members, and interventions to improve intergroup relations (e.g., commonality) can sometimes have the unintended consequence of reducing social-change motivations among members of disadvantaged groups. Focusing on disadvantaged groups' (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities) orientations toward advantaged groups, the present research experimentally investigated the potential of dual, relative to common, identity to produce greater willingness to engage in contact, while maintaining social change motivation. Relative to common identity, dual identity produced not only greater willingness to engage in contact, which was mediated by perceptions of shared values, but also greater social change motivation, mediated by decreased optimism about future relations. Thus, for dual identity, enhancing approach motivation (willingness for contact) does not necessarily undermine social change motivation. Implications for intergroup relations and more broadly social change are discussed.     

Intervening with Military Couples Struggling with Issues of Sexual Infidelity

Both the prevalence and adverse impact of infidelity argue for the importance of disseminating evidence-based interventions for couples struggling with this highly disruptive event. We describe an integrative approach for promoting recovery from infidelity drawing on empirically supported treatments for couple distress as well as empirical literature regarding recovery from interpersonal trauma and recovery from relationship injuries. We then describe a structured 8 session adaptation of this protocol tailored to military couples struggling with issues of infidelity. Reaching these high-risk couples requires extending both the availability and efficacy of services delivered by professionals within the military from diverse disciplines. We present initial findings indicating that US Army chaplains receiving training in this structured protocol not only can learn information regarding the conceptual underpinnings and specific interventions comprising this treatment, but also can apply it appropriately in analog clinical situations. We conclude with suggestions for extending dissemination efforts to reduce acute adverse consequences experienced by service members and their partners experiencing infidelity.