Discrepancies Between Implicit and Explicit Motivation and Unhealthy Eating Behavior

ABSTRACT Many people change their eating behavior as a consequence of stress. One source of stress is intrapersonal psychological conflict as caused by discrepancies between implicit and explicit motives. In the present research, we examined whether eating behavior is related to this form of stress. Study 1 (N=53), a quasi‐experimental study in the lab, showed that the interaction between the implicit achievement motive disposition and explicit commitment toward an achievement task significantly predicts the number of snacks consumed in a consecutive taste test. In cross‐sectional Study 2 (N=100), with a sample of middle‐aged women, overall motive discrepancy was significantly related to diverse indices of unsettled eating. Regression analyses revealed interaction effects specifically for power and achievement motivation and not for affiliation. Emotional distress further partially mediated the relationship between the overall motive discrepancy and eating behavior.     

Mindfulness and acceptance-based group therapy versus traditional cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial

Recent research has supported the use of mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD).     

The European Early Promotion Project: A new primary health care service to promote children's mental health

The number of children in Europe with significant psychologic and social problems is large and increasing. This article describes an innovative crosscultural method of working with families to promote the psychosocial well being of children and prevent the development of psychologic and social problems. A study designed to evaluate the effects of the service is also presented. Primary health care workers in five European countries have been trained to conduct promotional interviews with all prospective mothers in their area one month before and one month after birth. They have also been taught to work with mothers identified as in need of support as a parent by using a specific counselling model to try to prevent the onset of child mental health difficulties. Effects of the intervention on children's psychologic development and family adaptation are being evaluated at two years in comparison with matched groups not receiving the intervention. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Articulatory suppression and phonological codes in reading for meaning

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the phonological code that causes errors in printed sentence comprehension is affected by concurrent articulation. Forty adult subjects made speeded judgements of the acceptability of printed sentences. The critical sentences were foils that were (1) orthographi-cally unacceptable but phonologically acceptable (e.g. The palace had a thrown room), and (2) spelling controls that were orthographically and phonologically unacceptable (The palace had a thorns room). Half the subjects performed this task in silence (without concurrently articulating) and showed a marked phonological effect such that false alarms to phonologically acceptable foils were more frequent than false alarms to their spelling controls. The remaining subjects who performed this task with concurrent articulatory suppression showed an increase in false alarm rates, but no effect of phonology. In a control experiment using the same subjects, memory span for visually presented long and short words was measured under conditions of silence or concurrent articulation. The word length effect (Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchanan, 1975) disappeared under suppression, indicating that the suppression manipulation was highly effective. Thus the phonological codes that are used both in sentence comprehension and memory span are highly susceptible to articulatory suppression. We discuss possible relationships between phonological codes that mediate lexical access and those that support short-term verbal memory.     

Approach and avoidance relationship goals and couples’ nonverbal communication during conflict

Approach relationship goals are pursued in order to achieve desirable outcomes, whereas avoidance relationship goals are pursued to prevent undesirable outcomes in relationships. We investigated how partners’ approach and avoidance relationship goals are related to their nonverbal communication during conflict. A sequential analysis of observational data from 365 couples (28,470 observations) revealed that individuals with more (vs. fewer) approach goals displayed more positive involvement (e.g., head nods, smiles) and less avoidant withdrawal (e.g., shaking head, folded arms). The reverse pattern emerged for avoidance goals. Furthermore, women (but not men) matched their partner's positive involvement to a greater extent the more approach goals and the fewer avoidance goals they pursued. In contrast, approach/avoidance relationship goals were not associated with how much individuals matched their partner's avoidant withdrawal. Results suggest that relationship goals are related to partners’ nonverbal communication and the extent to which women match their partner's positive involvement during conflict.     

How many trials are required for parameter estimation in diffusion modeling? A comparison of different optimization criteria

Diffusion models (Ratcliff, 1978) make it possible to identify and separate different cognitive processes underlying responses in binary decision tasks (e.g., the speed of information accumulation vs. the degree of response conservatism). This becomes possible because of the high degree of information utilization involved. Not only mean response times or error rates are used for the parameter estimation, but also the response time distributions of both correct and error responses. In a series of simulation studies, the efficiency and robustness of parameter recovery were compared for models differing in complexity (i.e., in numbers of free parameters) and trial numbers (ranging from 24 to 5,000) using three different optimization criteria (maximum likelihood, Kolmogorov–Smirnov, and chi-square) that are all implemented in the latest version of fast-dm (Voss, Voss, & Lerche, 2015). The results revealed that maximum likelihood is superior for uncontaminated data, but in the presence of fast contaminants, Kolmogorov–Smirnov outperforms the other two methods. For most conditions, chi-square-based parameter estimations lead to less precise results than the other optimization criteria. The performance of the fast-dm methods was compared to the EZ approach (Wagenmakers, van der Maas, & Grasman, 2007) and to a Bayesian implementation (Wiecki, Sofer, & Frank, 2013). Recommendations for trial numbers are derived from the results for models of different complexities. Interestingly, under certain conditions even small numbers of trials (N < 100) are sufficient for robust parameter estimation.     

Emotional intelligence and job performance: The mediating role of work-family balance

In this study, we examine the dynamics between emotional intelligence, work-family balance, and job performance. A review of the literature to date has shown distinct relationships between emotional intelligence to job performance and work-family balance to job performance. We utilize a sample of 233 respondents to empirically test our set of hypotheses that contend work-family balance mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance. Our results support these hypotheses. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Repetition blindness and repetition priming: Effects of featural differences between targets and distractors on RSVP dual-target search

In six experiments, we investigated the influence of featural differences between targets and distractors on the detection and identification of dissimilar and repeated targets in conditions that typically produce an attentional blink and repetition blindness (when a target is repeated). Rapid serial visual presentation streams were presented that contained letter targets and distractors that were either letters or digits. The targets and the distractors were either the same color or a different color and were presented either in the same font or in a differentfont. Dual-target performance on nonrepeat trials was strongly enhanced when the targets were colored. In addition, when subjects used either the color or the font cues to select the targets, there was benefit of repetition on dual-target report, instead of repetition blindness. The results suggest that featural differences between targets and distractors play an important role in registering stimuli as distinct objects.     

Examining Mediators of the Link Between Generativity and Well-being

Generativity involves raising and guiding the next generation, contributing to society, and creating new products and ideas. It has clearly been related to personal well-being, yet little is known about why this relationship exists. According to McAdams and de St. Aubin (J Pers Soc Psychol, 62:1003–1015, 1992), generativity is motivated by a desire for symbolic immortality, a need to be needed, and society’s expectation that one should be a contributing member. It was therefore hypothesized that the satisfaction of these variables would fully mediate the relationship between generativity and well-being. Structural equation modeling showed that symbolic immortality alone fully mediated the relationship.     

Forensic psychology in the Czech republic

The article discusses the field of Forensic Psychology in Czech Republic. It concentrates upon the successes and stagnations of the field, which can be attributed to the political and historical development of the country. After a brief historical background and demographic information, the article introduces the history and structure of the police force and prison service. The article then moves on to discuss the history and publication development of the field of Forensic Psychology and its use in practice. It characterizes the field from its beginnings between the two wars, to the activities of the Research Institute of Penology from 1967 to1980 and the years following the political change of 1989. The article concludes with the law framework within which the field operates. Based upon this summary of the situation in Czech republic, the author makes an assessment of the status of Forensic Psychology in Czech republic, especially in terms of conducting research for the practice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.