The Moderating Effect of Ecphoric Experience on Post‐identification Feedback: A Critical Test of the Cues‐based Inference Conceptualization

Confidence inflation from confirming post‐identification feedback is greater when the eyewitness is inaccurate than when the eyewitness is accurate, which is evidence that witnesses infer their confidence from feedback only to the extent that their internal cues are weak. But the accurate/inaccurate asymmetry has alternative interpretations. A critical test between these interpretations was conducted by including disconfirming feedback conditions. Student participants (n = 404) witnessed a mock crime, had either a strong or weak ecphoric experience when making their line‐up identifications, and subsequently received no feedback, confirming feedback, or disconfirming feedback. Consistent with a cues‐based conceptualization of the feedback effect, disconfirming feedback influenced witnesses with weak ecphoric experiences more than witnesses with strong ecphoric experiences, ironically increasing the confidence‐accuracy relation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation in Children with and without ADHD

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Difficulties with emotion regulation affect the majority of youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and predict greater...     

Gaze behavior predicts memory bias for angry facial expressions in stable dysphoria

Interpersonal theories suggest that depressed individuals are sensitive to signs of interpersonal rejection, such as angry facial expressions. The present study examined memory bias for happy, sad, angry, and neutral facial expressions in stably dysphoric and stably nondysphoric young adults. Participants' gaze behavior (i.e., fixation duration, number of fixations, and distance between fixations) while viewing these facial expressions was also assessed. Using signal detection analyses, the dysphoric group had better accuracy on a surprise recognition task for angry faces than the nondysphoric group. Further, mediation analyses indicated that greater breadth of attentional focus (i.e., distance between fixations) accounted for enhanced recall of angry faces among the dysphoric group. There were no differences between dysphoria groups in gaze behavior or memory for sad, happy, or neutral facial expressions. Findings from this study identify a specific cognitive mechanism (i.e., breadth of attentional focus) that accounts for biased recall of angry facial expressions in dysphoria. This work also highlights the potential for integrating cognitive and interpersonal theories of depression.     

Biased attention and dysphoria: Manipulating selective attention reduces subsequent depressive symptoms

Selective attention for dysphoric stimuli has been observed in individuals with depression and those at risk for depression. To date, no studies have investigated the effects of directly manipulating selective attention for dysphoric stimuli on depressive symptoms. Mild to moderately depressed college students (N=34) were randomly assigned to complete 4 sessions of either attention training (AT) or no training (NT) during a two-week period. Participants completed self-reported assessments of depressive symptoms at baseline, post-training, and follow-up. Participants in the AT condition had a significantly greater decrease in depressive symptoms from baseline to follow-up than participants in the NT condition. This group difference was mediated by change in attention bias. Our findings suggest that biased attention may have a causal role in the maintenance of depressive symptoms.     

Sensory Deprivation: A Symposium Edited by Philip Solomon

In psychoanalytical psychotherapy interpretation is the main activity of the therapist. It is related to revealing the latent structure of meanings of phenomena. The phenomena of analytical therapy are presented as generated by the interaction of two structures: the therapeutic setting and the theoretical models of the therapist. The analytical group setting is contrasted with the individual setting through the elaboration of its central characteristic: the lack of intimacy. This is seen as generating specific regressive phenomena in groups which the therapist will attempt to interpret following an object relations theory. A discussion of interpretations in analytical group therapy focuses on three levels: the group itself, the interpersonal, and the intrapsychic. These are presented as complementary rather than mutually exclusive. Finally, the therapists' function in groups is discussed through the notion of the oscillatory nature of their participation, from a passive–receptive stance to an active–synthetic function which leads to the delivery of an interpretation.     

Early trauma,negative affect,and anxious attachment: the role of metacognition

Background and Objectives: Metacognition is linked to the etiology and maintenance of negative emotions and psychological disorder in the Self-Regulatory Executive Function Model. Although there is significant evidence supporting the model, little is currently known about the situational factors for developing dysfunctional metacognitions. The current study explored the hypothesis that early aversive experiences might be important and also tested if metacognitions could mediate the relationship between such experiences and psychological symptoms. Design and Methods: Three hundred and fifty non-clinical adults completed a retrospective early trauma measure, as well as measures of current metacognitive beliefs, negative affect, and anxious attachment. Results: Early emotional abuse positively and significantly correlated with several metacognitive belief dimensions but other forms of early trauma did not. Metacognition fully mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and negative affect. Anxious attachment was also positively and significantly associated with metacognitive beliefs and specific relationships remained after controlling for early emotional abuse and current negative affect. Conclusions: Findings are consistent with the ideas that: (i) early negative experiences, and emotional abuse in particular, could be a factor in the formation of problematic metacognitions and (ii) these metacognitions may be important in determining the effects of abuse on subsequent psychological symptoms.     

The State School as a Social System

Present research attempted to demonstrate the effect of response delay and the presence or absence of the experimenter on the performance of nonreinforced imitative behaviors in retarded children. A multiple baseline design, counterbalanced for conditions, was used. The results indicated that the degree of control exercised by the experimenter's presence or absence was partially determined by the response delay. Other variables that may have affected the imitative performance were (a) other nonimitative behaivors displayed by the subject(s); (b) additional stimuli generated by the experimenter; and (c) the subject's pre-experimental history with the experimenter.     

A developmental approach to treating dual-career couples

Abstract

While skills development may help some dual-career couples, for others such methods may result in feelings of frustration until certain developmental difficulties are resolved. This article: 1) addresses some problem areas that dual-career couples encounter; 2) reviews proposed solutions for these problems; 3) specifies the necessary personal requirements for mastering these solutions; and 4) suggests some of the unresolved developmental conflicts that can interfere with such mastery. The list of conflicts, proposed solutions, and typical impeding developmental difficulties is not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, this article is intended to convey a way of conceptualizing “problems surrounding problem solving” for dual-career couples.