Cognitive reactivity mediates the relationship between neuroticism and depression

Although neuroticism has long been established as an important risk factor for depression, the mechanisms through which this temperamental predisposition translates into the occurrence of symptoms are still relatively unclear. This study investigated cognitive reactivity, i.e. the ease with which particular patterns of negative thinking are reactivated in response to mild low mood, as a potential mediator. Individuals with (N = 98) and without a previous history of depression (N = 83) who had provided neuroticism scores six years previously were assessed for cognitive reactivity and current symptoms of depression using self-report questionnaires. Tendencies to respond to mild low mood with ruminative thinking mediated the relation between neuroticism and current symptoms of depression in both groups. Reactivation of hopelessness and suicidal thinking occurred as an additional mediator only in those with a history of previous depression. The results suggest that neuroticism predisposes individuals to depression by generally increasing the likelihood of ruminative responses to low mood. In those with a history of depression in the past, neuroticism additionally increases risk of recurrence by facilitating reactivation of previously associated patterns such as suicidal thinking and hopelessness. These findings suggest potential targets for interventions to help preventing the occurrence, or recurrence of depression in those who due to their temperamental predisposition are at an increased risk.     

The Factor Structure of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in Thirteen Distinct Populations

There is considerable evidence that self-criticism plays a major role in the vulnerability to and recovery from psychopathology. Methods to measure this process, and its change over time, are therefore important for research in psychopathology and well-being. This study examined the factor structure of a widely used measure, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen nonclinical samples (N?=?7510) from twelve different countries: Australia (N?= 319), Canada (N?= 383), Switzerland (N?= 230), Israel (N?=?476), Italy (N?=?389), Japan (N?=?264), the Netherlands (N?=?360), Portugal (N?=?764), Slovakia (N?=?1326), Taiwan (N?=?417), the United Kingdom 1 (N?=?1570), the United Kingdom 2 (N?=?883), and USA (N?=?331). This study used more advanced analyses than prior reports: a bifactor item-response theory model, a two-tier item-response theory model, and a non-parametric item-response theory (Mokken) scale analysis. Although the original three-factor solution for the FSCRS (distinguishing between Inadequate-Self, Hated-Self, and Reassured-Self) had an acceptable fit, two-tier models, with two general factors (Self-criticism and Self-reassurance) demonstrated the best fit across all samples. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that this two-factor structure can be used in a range of nonclinical contexts across countries and cultures. Inadequate-Self and Hated-Self might not by distinct factors in nonclinical samples. Future work may benefit from distinguishing between self-correction versus shame-based self-criticism.     

Control by association: Transfer of implicitly primed attentional states across linked stimuli

Although cognitive control has traditionally been viewed in opposition to associative learning, recent studies show that people can learn to link particular stimuli with specific cognitive control states (e.g., high attentional selectivity). Here, we tested whether such learned stimulus-control associations can transfer across paired-associates. In the Stimulus-Stimulus (S-S) Association phase, specific face or house images repeatedly preceded the presentation of particular scene stimuli, creating paired face/house-scene associates in memory. The Stimulus-Control (S-C) Association phase then associated these scenes with different attentional control states by probabilistically biasing specific scenes to mostly precede either congruent or incongruent trials in a Stroop task. Finally, in the Stimulus-Control Transfer (S-CT) phase, the faces and houses from the S-S phase preceded Stroop trials but were not predictive of congruency, testing whether stimulus-control associations would transfer from scenes to their associated face/house stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 3, we found that learned implicit stimulus-control associations could transfer across closely linked cues, and in Experiment 2, we showed that this transfer depended on the memory associations formed in the S-S phase. While this form of transfer learning has previously been demonstrated for stimulus-reward associations, the present study provides the first evidence for the associative transfer of stimulus-control associations across arbitrarily linked stimuli. This work demonstrates how people can learn to implicitly adapt their processing strategies in a flexible context-dependent manner and establishes a novel learning mechanism supporting the generalization of cognitive control.     

Feedback increases benefits but not costs of retrieval practice: Retrieval-induced forgetting is strength independent

We examined how the provision of feedback affected two separate effects of retrieval practice: strengthening of practiced information and forgetting of related, unpracticed information. Feedback substantially increased recall of retrieval-practiced items. This unsurprising result shows once again that restudy opportunities boost the benefits of testing. In contrast, retrieval-induced forgetting was unaffected by the manipulation and occurred in equal size with or without feedback. These findings demonstrate strength independence of retrieval-induced forgetting and thus support a theoretical account assuming that an inhibitory mechanism causes retrieval-induced forgetting. According to this theory, inhibition resolves competition that arises during retrieval attempts but is unrelated to the consequences of retrieval practice concerning practiced items. The present results match these assumptions and contradict the theoretical alternative that blocking by strengthened information might explain retrieval-induced forgetting. We discuss our findings against the background of previous studies.     

The effects of clinical supervision on supervisees and patients in cognitive behavioral therapy: a systematic review

Clinical supervision is a central part of psychotherapist training but the empirical support for specific supervision theories or features is unclear. The aims of this study were to systematically review the empirical research literature regarding the effects of clinical supervision on therapists’ competences and clinical outcomes within Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). A comprehensive database search resulted in 4103 identified publications. Of these, 133 were scrutinized and in the end 5 studies were included in the review for data synthesis. The five studies were heterogeneous in scope and quality and only one provided firm empirical support for the positive effects of clinical supervision on therapists’ competence. The remaining four studies suffered from methodological weaknesses, but provided some preliminary support that clinical supervision may be beneficiary for novice therapists. No study could show benefits from supervision for patients. The research literature suggests that clinical supervision may have some potential effects on novice therapists’ competence compared to no supervision but the effects on clinical outcomes are still unclear. While bug-in-the-eye live supervision may be more effective than standard delayed supervision, the effects of specific supervision models or features are also unclear. There is a continued need for high-quality empirical studies on the effects of clinical supervision in psychotherapy.     

Characteristics of Danish Centenarians’ Religious Beliefs: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Journal of Religion and Health - Research has shown that in groups of increasing age, religiousness becomes more prevalent. However, centenarians have only to a very limited extent been included in...     

Learning Facts About Migration: Politically Motivated Learning of Polarizing Information About Refugees

Information processing during heated debates on asylum and immigration may often be influenced by prejudice rather than a desire to learn facts. In this article, we investigate how people process empirical evidence on the consequences of refugee arrivals through a novel survey experiment that disentangles politically motivated learning from other forms of learning and expressive responding. Specifically, we ask respondents to interpret a 2×2 table about the relationship between asylum seekers and crime rates. Crucially, respondents are randomly allocated to evaluate a conclusion that triggers their identity-protective stakes or not. In addition, we test for motivated responding as an alternative explanation by randomly providing some respondents with a response format that motivates them to report their inference truthfully. We find that information processing changes substantially when new information challenges existing asylum attitudes. Politically motivated learning is strongest among voters with strong negative prior attitudes towards asylum seekers. Our results also indicate that expressive responding can only partially account for this gap in correctly reported inferences. Our research has important implications for research on the consequences of refugee migration, theories of motivated reasoning, and survey methodology.     

Patriotism,Orthodox religion and education: empirical findings from contemporary Russia

In recent years, an objective of some Russian Orthodox activists and Church leaders has been the introduction of religious education in state schools which was established in Russia in 2012, following a 2009 Presidential Directive. Today, however, there are two different strands in religious education. On the one hand, there is the state’s emphasis on the bonds between Orthodox Christianity and Russian history, culture and identity. Based on this so-called culturological understanding of religion, the Russian state hopes to use Orthodoxy in nation- and institution-building and in the strengthening of patriotism. On the other hand, while the culturological language is also used in the Church’s official discourse, in practice there are many attempts by Orthodox clergymen and activists to use religious education for the purposes of evangelisation.     

The Undepleted Ego: Self-Regulatory Adaptation in Multiple Task Sequences

Working on a task that requires strong self-regulation can deteriorate performance in a subsequent task also involving high self-regulatory demands. Several studies suggest that the consumption of limited self-regulatory resources may account for this effect known as ego depletion. We investigated the influence of expectations about upcoming tasks on self-regulatory performance in two experiments, contrasting tasks with high and low self-regulatory demand. We manipulated expectations by informing participants about the number of tasks to be worked on (Experiment 1) and by varying the number of tasks (Experiment 2). With the expectation of highly demanding tasks no ego-depletion effect occurred. Results show that expecting a continuation of high self-regulatory demand in a sequence of several tasks actually improved performance.