Individual response differences in spider phobia: Comparing phobic and non-phobic women of different reactivity levels

Abstract

In contrast to previous stress research, studies concerning phobic disorders have never systematically investigated individual response differences between phobic participants integrating numerous different response measures. The aim of this article is to clarify the existence of significant individual response differences in psychophysiological responses (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance responses (SCR), corrugator, cortisol), subjective ratings (e.g., valence, arousal), and avoidance behavior in 46 spider phobic and 44 non-phobic women when exposed to 20 phobic and 20 neutral pictures. Previous studies that did not attend to individual response differences showed that, during phobic stimulation, phobic individuals have increased psychophysiological responses (heart rate, SCR, and corrugator responses), more negative valence rating, and more subjective arousal than non-phobic individuals. These results were confirmed by our data. With regard to individual response uniqueness, 1/3–2/3 of spider-phobic women with low responsiveness in heart rate, cortisol, and avoidance behavior were indistinguishable from non-phobic women during phobic stimulation. With SCR, corrugator EMG, and subjective ratings, no individual response uniqueness was found. Based on the findings, exposure therapy might be improved by tailoring interventions to individuals with a therapeutic focus on those psychophysiological measures that show the highest individual responsivity.     

Ethnic Differences in Parents' Attitudes toward Girls' Use of Aggression

Few studies have attempted to explain ethnic differences in female aggression. The degree to which ethnic differences exist in the influence of parents' approval of aggression on their preadolescent daughters' use of physical, verbal, and relational aggression was explored in a sample of 97 parent-child dyads. Results indicate that European American parents were more disapproving of their daughters' aggressive behavior than were African American parents. Parents' attitude toward aggression was predictive of European American girls' use of physical and verbal aggression and African American girls' use of relational aggression. Implications for aggression prevention and intervention for girls are discussed.     

The Role of Parenting in Relational Aggression and Prosocial Behavior among Emerging Adults

This study investigated the role of remembered parenting styles and parental psychological control in the prediction of relational aggression and prosocial behavior in a college student sample (N = 323). Participants’ retrospective ratings of how they were parented were related to relational aggression and prosocial behavior; however, somewhat different relationships emerged for African American and White participants. Permissive parenting, authoritative parenting, and parental psychological control predicted relational aggression. Participant race and all 3 parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) predicted prosocial behavior. Participant race moderated the relationship between psychological control and prosocial behavior. Specifically, parental psychological control was inversely related to prosocial behavior for African American, but not White, participants.     

Resilience to Childhood Abuse and Neglect in College Students

This study examined the prevalence of a history of childhood maltreatment in a college sample and identified the relationship between being maltreated as a child and later college adjustment in men and women. Results indicate that men who had been maltreated in childhood had more resilient outcomes in college than women who had been maltreated in childhood. Negative life events and protective factors acted as mediators in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for women, and protective factors acted as a moderator in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for men.     

Enhanced facial symmetry assessment in orthodontists

Assessing facial symmetry is an evolutionarily important process, which suggests that individual differences in this ability should exist. As existing data are inconclusive, the current study explored whether a group trained in facial symmetry assessment, orthodontists, possessed enhanced abilities. Symmetry assessment was measured using face and nonface stimuli among orthodontic residents and two control groups: university participants with no symmetry training and airport security luggage screeners, a group previously shown to possess expert visual search skills unrelated to facial symmetry. Orthodontic residents were more accurate at assessing symmetry in both upright and inverted faces compared to both control groups, but not for nonface stimuli. These differences are not likely due to motivational biases or a speed–accuracy tradeoff—orthodontic residents were slower than the university participants but not the security screeners. Understanding such individual differences in facial symmetry assessment may inform the perception of facial attractiveness.     

Sex differences and the own-gender bias in face recognition: A meta-analytic review

We review the literature on sex differences and the own-gender bias in face recognition. By means of a meta-analysis, we found that girls and women remember more faces than boys and men do (g=0.36), and more female faces (g=0.55), but not more male faces (g=0.08); however, when only male faces are presented, girls and women outperform boys and men (g=0.22). In addition, there is female own-gender bias (g=0.57), but not a male own-gender bias (g= ? 0.03), showing that girls and women remember more female than male faces. It is argued that girls and women have an advantage in face processing and episodic memory, resulting in sex differences for faces, and that the female own-gender bias may stem from an early perceptual expertise for female faces, which may be strengthened by reciprocal interactions and psychological processes directing girls' and women's interest to other females.     

Interactive insight problem solving

Insight problem solving was investigated with the matchstick algebra problems developed by Knoblich, Ohlsson, Haider, and Rhenius (1999 Knoblich, G., Ohlsson, S., Haider, H. and Rhenius, D. 1999. Constraint relaxation and chunk decomposition in insight problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 25: 1534–1555. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). These problems are false equations expressed with Roman numerals that can be made true bymoving one matchstick. In a first group participants examined a static two-dimensional representation of the false algebraic expression and told the experimenter which matchstick should be moved. In a second group, participants interacted with a three-dimensional representation of the false equation. Success rates in the static group for different problem types replicated the pattern of data reported in Knoblich et al. (1999 Knoblich, G., Ohlsson, S., Haider, H. and Rhenius, D. 1999. Constraint relaxation and chunk decomposition in insight problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 25: 1534–1555. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, participants in the interactive group were significantly more likely to achieve insight. Problem-solving success in the static group was best predicted by performance on a test of numeracy, whereas in the interactive group it was best predicted by performance on a test of visuo-spatial reasoning. Implications for process models of problem solving are discussed.     

Culture and attitudes toward psychological help-seeking influence clients’ self-disclosure

Cultural factors are known to influence aspects of psychotherapy. The influence of cultural values on self-disclosure was explored through surveys of Greek migrants to Australia (n?=?106), native Greek Cypriots (n?=?189), and Australians (n?=?35) on individualism–collectivism, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, and measures of self-disclosure. It was hypothesized that more collectivist participants would have less positive attitudes regarding self-disclosure. Against our predictions, all three groups showed highly similar attitudes toward seeking help and self-disclosure that were not related to the predicted links with individualism–collectivism.     

The impact of parental discipline on the image of God

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parental discipline on men's and women's image of God – specially the degree to which they report perceiving God as loving, forgiving, trustworthy, and available. It compares the four major different parenting styles – authoritative, authoritarian, permissive/indulgent, and neglectful/rejecting – that people received during childhood on their perceptions of God when they are in college. Based on questionnaires completed by undergraduate students at a state university in Utah, this study found that parental discipline styles are related to individuals’ images of God to some extent. The results of a logistic regression show that parental discipline styles have differential impacts on the image of God between male and female respondents. For men, the image of God is significantly related to the parenting styles they received during their childhood, whereas for women, the relationship is not significant. Implications are discussed.