Disease-avoidant behaviour and its consequences

Medical conditions that are non-contagious, but that appear contagious, seem to result in the sufferer being avoided. Error management theory (EMT), suggests that such false alarms occur because the cost of infection poses a greater threat to ones fitness than avoidance. Study 1 attempted to demonstrate a disease-related false alarm effect by asking participants, to evaluate a series of vignettes, featuring people with infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases that looked infectious and non-infectious diseases that did not. Judgements of contracting infection under varying levels of contact, and desire to avoid were obtained. Consistent with EMT, a false alarm effect was evident. Study 2 examined the importance of the face as a key indicator of real and apparent infection, by determining whether facial symptoms result in a greater desire to avoid people with infectious and non-infectious diseases. Consistent with expectation, participants reported a greater desire to avoid people with facially displayed symptoms. Together, these results support the idea that humans have evolved a general tendency to avoid individuals with disease signs, especially if displayed upon the face. One consequence is that where a facially displayed disease sign persists, even if known to be benign, its bearer will experience chronic avoidance.     

Character profiles and adolescents’ self-reported affect

Cognitive and behavioral changes during adolescence might be understood from the perspective of increased executive functioning that is expressed as gradual maturing character. Character profiles (combinations of low and high scores in three character traits: Self-directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-transcendence) of 439 Swedish adolescents were used to evaluate the linear and non-linear relationship between character traits and self-reported positive and negative affect. Linear analysis showed that all three character traits were associated to positive and negative affect. Non-linear analysis showed that Self-directedness was associated with high positive affect and low negative affect when Cooperativeness was high. No association of higher Cooperativeness with positive and negative affect was found. Higher Self-transcendence was associated with higher negative affect when both Self-directedness and Cooperativeness were high. Although, Self-directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-transcendence are associated to adolescents’ affective experience, these character traits are not associated to positive and negative affect in the same manner or linearly. Self-directedness’s positive relationship to high positive affect and low negative affect was present only when Cooperativeness was high. In other words, an autonomous adolescent (i.e., high Self-directedness) might experience more positive and less negative emotions as long as she/he feels as an integral part of society (i.e., high Cooperativeness).     

Ordinal relationships between constructs

Abstract

The concept of ordination, that is, the hierarchical organization of constructions ranging from more peripheral to more central dimensions of meaning, is examined. The process of laddering is focused on as a technique for accessing superordinate constructs. It is argued that laddering frequently does not produce constructs that qualify as superordinate and that this problem reflects a misconception of construct systems as cognitive entities that control behavior. An alternative understanding of personal construct theory as a theory of social action is advocated as better suited to its central task–helping people to reconstrue their lives. The implications for investigating construing in the light of this interpretation are examined.     

Sedimentation and elaborative choice

Abstract

Choice is an essential feature in personal construct psychology, and arguably the main task of the personal construct is to clarify why the person chooses one course of action rather than another. Yet the choice corollary appears to be in danger of being tautological, saying that whatever the person did constituted the elaborative choice. G. A. Kelly proposed the choice corollary as a useful heuristic device to counter external observers' beliefs that they can know what is best for the person. However, there is a danger in overcorrecting, in assuming that every action of the person constitutes an elaborative choice. This is most likely to occur in the neurotic paradox, where clients experience self-definition as problematic for them. I argue that we should emphasize construing as inseparable from action. This leads us to a phenomenological rather than a cognitive reading of construct theory. M. Merleau-Ponty's (1962) concept of sedimentation is then helpful in understanding the type of self-definition that is characterized in the neurotic paradox. The implications of this position for psychological reconstruction are briefly discussed.     

PRAGMATISM,CONSTRUCTIVISM, AND ETHICS

Stojnov (1996) has argued that personal construct psychology furnishes us with a universalist, as opposed to a relativist, ethics. This is a universalism of form rather than content of construing: we have a "personal responsibility of knowledge". The author critiques Stojnov's view, arguing that the Sociality Corollary does indeed provide an ethical basis for Kelly's thought. However, he contends that the construct universalism/relativism is of limited value, and that the apparent relativism in constructivism provides a valuable guide to moral construing. It is argued that the certainty that comes from moral absolutism readily leads not to moral action, but to moralism. The foundationlessness of constructivism provides a valuable counterbalance to this moralism.     

A Review of: “Studies in Meaning 2: Bridging the Personal and Social in Constructivist Psychology”

Abstract

As repertory grids are often used in the making of important decisions about people's lives, it seems reasonable to demand that the technique accurately reflect the mental structure and processes of the person. This need has not gone unnoticed, either by proponents of the grid technique or its critics, but their calls for psychometric rigor are couched in terms of reliability and validity, terms that have specific operational meanings, and have been derived from the theories proposed for standard psychological tests. This article examines the bases and structures of such theories in the context of repertory grid data     

The Role of the Coach in Facilitating Positive Youth Development: Moving from Theory to Practice

Sport is suggested as a potentially important and sufficient path for positive youth development. However, how this responsibility is translated by coaching practitioners is not understood. This research investigated whether coaching practitioners desire outcomes for their adolescent athletes that reach beyond on-field success, and incorporate constructs that are associated with positive youth development. Twenty-two participation coaches for adolescent athletes participated in semi-structured interviews. Results suggest that coaches see themselves as responsible for facilitating eight interrelated and interdependent themes that are consistent with the positive youth development literature: competence, confidence, connection, character, life skills, climate, positive affect and, positive psychological capacities.     

Predictors of Unintentionally Severe Harm During Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury

This study aimed to identify predictors of unintentionally severe injury during nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI). The authors examined 3 potential predictors in a sample of 102 college students: addictive qualities of NSSI, impulsivity, and dissociation. Both impulsivity and addictive qualities of NSSI were associated with unintentionally severe injury during NSSI. In a logistic regression, only addictive qualities of NSSI emerged as a significant predictor of unintentionally severe injury during NSSI. Implications for counseling and research are discussed.     

Physical and Sexual Victimization Predicts Suicidality among Women in Prison: Understanding Ethnic and Trauma-Specific Domains of Risk

Few studies have addressed the association between specific forms of trauma and suicidality among incarcerated women. This study examined domains of trauma as predictors of suicidality, and also evaluated ethnicity as a moderator of the association between physical and sexual victimization and suicidality. Participants were 224 treatment-seeking incarcerated women who completed self-report measures of trauma exposure, suicidal behavior, and ethnicity. Women in this sample reported significant histories of trauma exposure and suicidal behavior, and physical and sexual victimization significantly predicted suicidality. Ethnicity moderated this association such that there was a significant positive association between victimization and suicidality for European-American women; however, this association was not statistically significant for ethnic minority women. These findings demonstrate the specific risk conferred by physical and sexual victimization and European-American ethnicity among women in prison.