Cognitive factors in the explanation of the mismatch between confidence and competence in performing basic life support

Abstract

The main approach to rectifying the well documented poor basic life support (BLS) skills of doctors and nurses, based on a Skills Model, has met with only partial success. This study compares the utility of a Skills Model with one that incorporates a cognitive component in predicting BLS skills. Outcome-expectancy, self-efficacy, training and experience of BLS, and BLS ability were assessed in 53 trained nurses. Ability was unrelated to training or experience of BLS. Nurses who scored highest on the BLS skills assessment perceived the procedure as significantly more successful than those with lower scores. Self-efficacy was unrelated to ability, but was related to status: senior nurses were significantly more confident but no more competent in performing BLS than junior nurses. Nurses who had attended more arrests, while more confident, were no more competent than those who had attended fewer. Assessment of BLS skills reduced self-efficacy beliefs. A model for predicting the relationship between self-assessed ability and objectively assessed skill is outlined.     

Expectancies of infant-feeding methods among mothers in three ethnic groups

Abstract

The psychometric characteristics and construct validity of an inventory of expectancy statements about breast- and formula-feeding were assessed to refine a measure of the predictors of breastfeeding initiation and maintenance. Respondents were a tri-ethnic sample of mostly lower income mothers within two days after delivery. Ninety-six expectancy items reflecting eight hypothesized domains in expectancies of breastfeeding (BF) and formula-feeding(FF) were submitted to maximum likelihood factor analysis. Four factors were determined: “Benefits of BF,” “Relative Advantages of FF,” “Inconveniences of FF,” and “Relative Inconveniences of BF.” All factors were significantly related to actual BF of the new infant in the expected directions using unweighted factor scores in a multiple logistic regression analysis. Predicted BF closely matched actual BF for all ethnicities combined with a total error rate for misclassification of only 14%. This match was high for Anglo- and Black-American mothers. Each of the factors was determined to be reliably estimated by the ten most highly loaded items without an appreciable loss of internal consistency. Further research must assess expectancies prior to delivery in order to assess their predictiveness of behavior. and must further clarify the meaning of the expectancy factors to facilitate intervention.     

Humanistic psychology: Saybrook institute graduate school and research center

This article attempts to resolve the apparent tensions between humanistic and positive psychology regarding their respective notions of what constitutes a good life. It argues that an ethic of authenticity provides a unifying normative framework for both traditions, including interpretations of the various dimensions of authenticity and of the moral virtues and principles associated with this ethical ideal. The article provides a working definition of authentic selfhood that draws on both the existential-phenomenological tradition and the communitarian ethical framework associated with positive psychology. It demonstrates how these two very different philosophical traditions contribute to a shared, integrative theory of authentic self-development which, in turn, provides needed clarity to the normative framework of positive psychology.     

The role of perfectionism,agreeableness, and neuroticism in predicting dyadic adjustment

Research has suggested that perfectionism, agreeableness, and neuroticism may influence relationship adjustment; however, these personality variables have not been examined in conjunction when considering relationship adjustment. In a sample of 222 university students (95 male, 126 female), the perfectionism dimensions of concern over mistakes and parental criticism were found to be significantly negatively related to dyadic adjustment. Agreeableness and neuroticism were also significantly negatively related to dyadic adjustment, and accounted for significant variance in explaining dyadic adjustment, while perfectionism dimensions did not. The results suggest that while negative aspects of perfectionism, such as concern over mistakes, have an impact on dyadic adjustment, the personality variables of agreeableness and neuroticism have a more salient impact. The implications of these findings for research in interventions for perfectionism and relationship adjustment are discussed.     

THE JUNG-FERENCZI DOSSIER

The acquaintance between Sándor Ferenczi and C G Jung pre-dates their first encounter with Sigmund Freud. Later, a triangular relationship developed when the three men crossed the Atlantic together and spent an extended period in one another’s company. Ferenczi’s friendship with Jung could not survive the latter’s break with Freud, but its development between 1907 and 1913 is evidenced by unpublished letters from Jung to Ferenczi, found in the Ferenczi Archive, now at the Freud Museum.     

A Law of One's Own: Self‐Legislation and Radical Kantian Constructivism

Radical constructivists appeal to self‐legislation in arguing that rational agents are the ultimate sources of normative authority over themselves. I chart the roots of radical constructivism and argue that its two leading Kantian proponents are unable to defend an account of self‐legislation as the fundamental source of practical normativity without this legislation collapsing into a fatal arbitrariness. Christine Korsgaard cannot adequately justify the critical resources which agents use to navigate their practical identities. This leaves her account riven between rigorism and voluntarism, such that it will not escape a paradox that arises when self‐legislation is unable to appeal to external normative standards. Onora O'Neill anchors self‐legislation more firmly to the self‐disciplining structures of reason itself. However, she ultimately fails to defend sufficiently unconditional practical norms which could guide legislation. These endemic problems with radical constructivist models of self‐legislation prompt a reconstruction of a neglected realist self‐legislative tradition which is exemplified by Christian Wolff. In outlining a rationalist and realist account of self‐legislation, I argue that it can also make sense of our ability to overcome anomie and deference in practical action. Thus, I claim that we need not make laws but can make them our own.