A multimethod investigation of the behavioral activation system in bipolar disorder

Dysregulation in behavioral activation system (BAS) activity has been implicated in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BPD). To characterize BAS activity and related facets in this disorder, the authors compared 59 participants with BPD to 44 controls on multiple measures of BAS activity, including a standardized behavioral task, self-reports, and electroencephalographic indexes of regional cortical activity. Levels of putative BAS activity differed depending on assessment strategy. When a behavioral task indexing reward sensitivity was used, euthymic BPD patients showed evidence of higher BAS activity than either control participants or patients who were in a mood episode. Following a mood induction procedure designed to elicit BAS activity, currently episodic patients showed relatively greater left anterior cortical activity than either euthymic or control participants. Implications of the findings for future research on BPD vulnerability are described.     

Multicultural experience enhances creativity: the when and how

Many practices aimed at cultivating multicultural competence in educational and organizational settings (e.g., exchange programs, diversity education in college, diversity management at work) assume that multicultural experience fosters creativity. In line with this assumption, the research reported in this article is the first to empirically demonstrate that exposure to multiple cultures in and of itself can enhance creativity. Overall, the authors found that extensiveness of multicultural experiences was positively related to both creative performance (insight learning, remote association, and idea generation) and creativity-supporting cognitive processes (retrieval of unconventional knowledge, recruitment of ideas from unfamiliar cultures for creative idea expansion). Furthermore, their studies showed that the serendipitous creative benefits resulting from multicultural experiences may depend on the extent to which individuals open themselves to foreign cultures, and that creativity is facilitated in contexts that deemphasize the need for firm answers or existential concerns. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for promoting creativity in increasingly global learning and work environments.     

The critical role of conflict resolution in teams: a close look at the links between conflict type, conflict management strategies, and team outcomes

This article explores the linkages between strategies for managing different types of conflict and group performance and satisfaction. Results from a qualitative study of 57 autonomous teams suggest that groups that improve or maintain top performance over time share 3 conflict resolution tendencies: (a) focusing on the content of interpersonal interactions rather than delivery style, (b) explicitly discussing reasons behind any decisions reached in accepting and distributing work assignments, and (c) assigning work to members who have the relevant task expertise rather than assigning by other common means such as volunteering, default, or convenience. The authors' results also suggest that teams that are successful over time are likely to be both proactive in anticipating the need for conflict resolution and pluralistic in developing conflict resolution strategies that apply to all group members.     

'Go! Sterilise the fertile with thy rage' envy as embittered desire

This paper is concerned with the operation of envy: it considers its origins and their repercussions, in particular its compulsion to sterilize the evidence of fertility, exemplified by Roger Money-Kyrle's evocation of 'the parental intercourse as the supremely creative act'. The inevitable impact on the analytic relationship is considered in the context of two clinical examples of impasse. It is argued that such fundamentally negative transferences, one full of overt aggression and enactment, the other more covertly sabotaging, derive from envious retaliatory impulses originating in experiences--whether phantasied or factual--of exclusion from the anticipated 'good'. Significant recent Jungian contributions to this area are considered and the absence of references to 'envy'--so characteristic of Kleinian discourse--is noted. The ongoing value of integrating Jungian and Kleinian approaches is affirmed.     

Stability and change in personality traits from late adolescence to early adulthood: a longitudinal twin study

We conducted a longitudinal-biometric study examining stability and change in personality from ages 17 to 24 in a community sample of male and female twins. Using Tellegen's (in press) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), facets of Negative Emotionality (NEM) declined substantially at the mean and individual levels, whereas facets of Constraint (CON) increased over time. Furthermore, individuals in late adolescence who were lowest on NEM and highest on CON remained the most stable over time, whereas those exhibiting the inverse profile (higher NEM, lower CON) changed the most in a direction towards growth and maturity. Analyses of gender differences yielded greater mean-level increases over time for women as compared to men on facets of CON and greater mean-level increases for men than women on facets of Agentic Positive Emotionality (PEM). Biometric analyses revealed rank-order stability in personality to be largely genetic, with rank-order change mediated by both the nonshared environment (and error) as well as genes. Findings correspond with prior evidence of a normative trend toward growth and maturity in personality during emerging adulthood.     

METANEXUS 2007: THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

This essay is William Grassie's valedictory remarks at the Metanexus Institute's 2007 Annual Conference. Grassie asks what is wrong with religion, what is wrong with science, and why the constructive engagement of the two holds the key to setting things right. He cites Sir John Templeton and others to make his case and proposes a new curriculum for general science education that uses the history of nature as a mnemonic and context for promoting better science literacy and the incorporation of science into our cultural traditions.     

Aging and social satisfaction: offsetting positive and negative effects

Social satisfaction in late adulthood originates from competing sources. Older adults tend to be more positive and less negative than younger adults, but social contact and working memory often decrease with age, both of which might limit older adults' social functioning. In the current study of younger and older adults, these socially facilitative vs. socially debilitative changes were found to underlie stasis in social satisfaction. These findings show that the lack of an overall effect for age can mask competing changes in social functioning in late adulthood, as the sources of social satisfaction might change even if the outcome does not.     

Risky sexual behavior among married alcoholic men.

The current study explored whether the wives of men entering alcoholism treatment are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) exposure as a result of their husbands' sexual risk behaviors. The extramarital relationships of married alcoholic men entering outpatient treatment (n = 125) were compared with those of a demographically matched community sample of nonalcoholic married men (n = 125). The proportion of alcoholic men who reported 1 or more extramarital affairs in the previous year (14%) was significantly higher than that of the community sample (4%). Additionally, only 2 alcoholic husbands and 1 nonalcoholic husband reported that his wife was aware of the extramarital relationship. For both groups, none of the men who engaged in extramarital relationships reported consistent use of condoms when having sexual intercourse with their wives or with their extramarital partners. These results suggest that wives of alcoholic men are unknowingly placed at risk for indirect exposure to STIs as a result of their husbands' sexual risk behaviors. Thus, infidelity in treatment-seeking alcohol-abusing men represents a significant public health issue.     

The negative consequences of threat: a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying women's underperformance in math

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural structures associated with women's underperformance on math tasks. Although women in a control condition recruited neural networks that are associated with mathematical learning (i.e., angular gyrus, left parietal and prefrontal cortex), women who were reminded of gender stereotypes about math ability did not recruit these regions, and instead revealed heightened activation in a neural region associated with social and emotional processing (ventral anterior cingulate cortex).