Love,artificiality and mass identification

How are we to understand the phenomenon of mass identification, epitomised in recent exhibitions of national feeling such as that of South Africa’s 2010 Football World Cup celebrations? Rather than focusing on the concepts of discourse and nationalism, or advancing an analysis of empirical data, this paper outlines a conceptual response to the challenge at hand, drawing on the tools of psychoanalytic theory. Three explanatory perspectives come to the fore. Firstly, such exhibitions of mass emotion might be understood as demonstrations of love, as examples of the libidinal ties that constitute and consolidate mass identification. Secondly, the marked artificiality of such displays of emotion and the fact of the ‘externality’ they entail might be seen, paradoxically, to be essential rather than inauthentic or secondary features of the displays in question. Thirdly, we might advance, via Lacan, that many of our most powerful emotions require not only recourse to the field of the inter-subjective, but reference also to the anonymous, ‘fictional’ framework of available symbolic forms.     

Will the “Real Boy” Please Behave: Dosing Dilemmas for Parents of Boys with ADHD

The use of Ritalin and other stimulant drug treatments for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) raises distinctive moral dilemmas for parents; these moral dilemmas have not been adequately addressed in the bioethics literature. This paper draws upon data from a qualitative empirical study to investigate parents' use of the moral ideal of authenticity as part of their narrative justifications for dosing decisions and actions. I show that therapeutic decisions and actions are embedded in valued cultural ideals about masculinity, self-actualization and success, as well as in moral conceptions of authenticity and personal freedom. I argue that this investigation of parents' moral justifications and dosing dilemmas raises questions about the validity of authenticity as a transcendent moral principle. Moreover, this study demonstrates that in order to be relevant, bioethical analysis of neurocognitive enhancement must engage with ground-up studies of moral principles and decision-making in context.     

ADHD Assessment

Abstract

This study examined effects of negative versus positive symptom formats on the assessment and subsequent classification of ADHD in children in public schools. Symptoms associated with the disorder based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) were presented to parents and teachers of referred children according to both types of formats. Informants were then asked to indicate whether the symptoms described the child's behavior over the last six months. Overall, the negatively phrased symptoms appeared to generate response bias which resulted in an increased percentage of children meeting the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. Additionally, the decision reliability or classification agreement between the two formats was low, suggesting the possibility of confirmation bias in the assessment process. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

A Review of Eating Disorders in Athletes

SUMMARY

The current review aims to evaluate the literature on eating disorders and athletes with the purpose of making recommendations for sport psychologists and other relevant personnel on how to proceed in identifying, managing, and preventing eating disorders in school settings. Whereas the intention of this review is to make recommendations for secondary educational settings, research on other populations such as collegiate and young adult athletes was also reviewed where helpful or where information on adolescent athletes was not available. Recommendations for prevention and intervention include ongoing education of athletes and coaches regarding nutrition, body composition, and performance, using appropriate screening to detect eating disorders, and use of a sport management team to aid in athlete recovery.     

The Invisible Griever

Many people are equipped, through crisis intervention strategies and plans, to handle the immediate ramifications of a death within a particular school or community system. However, after the crisis has passed the question generally surfaces as to how one can help the children who have been greatly impacted by the death and are in the midst of the grieving process. The grieving child has often been invisible to adult caregivers like counselors, teachers, and school psychologist. The means of helping a child who has experienced a death in his family can be greatly enhanced by the developmcnt of grief support groups. Through the use of support groups children can learn to share their feelings, discover that they are not alone, and move through the grieve process.     

文化产品研究——文化心理学的独特视角

作为行为研究的重要补充,文化产品研究在文化心理学领域发挥了重要的作用.文化产品研究主要采用内容分析的方法,可以揭示不同时空下文化本身、人们的心理与行为的特征.中国未来的心理学研究可以利用文化产品来研究揭示不同民族、不同国家的文化和心理差异,以及近几十年社会巨变对中国人的和行为的影响,最终促进国家进步、人民幸福、社会和谐.     

Arousal interventions for athletic performance: Influence of mental preparation and competitive experience

Abstract

Mental preparation, or “psych-up” strategies have been assumed to promote physical arousal which subsequently improves certain athletic performances. The present experiment examined the role of arousal changes in the use of psych-up strategies on a physical strength task and a reaction time-decision task for subjects varying in competitive experience. Eighty-four subjects were reliably divided into high, moderate, or low competitive experience groups and randomly assigned to one of three mental preparation strategies. These strageies, which the subjects employed during a mental preparation period for both tasks, were either: (a) a self-generated arousal strategy, (b) a prescribed arousal strategy, or (c) a placebo-control strategy. While heart rate was being monitored, each subject completed a baseline trial, then one trial following a 45 sec mental preparation period and one trial following a 45 sec distraction interval. Order of presentation of tasks and order of presentation of distraction and mental preparation trials were counterbalanced and statistically analyzed. The results support the utility of different mental preparation strategies for increasing strength performance, but not reaction time-decision performance, for subjects with moderate and high levels of previous competitive experience. Self-generated arousal strategies enhanced performance of moderate experienced subjects. Analyses of the heart rate data failed to support the assumption that physiological arousal mediates the influence of psych-up strategies. Mental preparation strategies improved athletes' performance on certain tasks, however these strategies do not necessarily achieve their effects through increased autonomic arousal.     

The effect of perceived stress on the relationship between perfectionism and burnout in coaches

Abstract

The effects of perceived stress (PS) on the relationship between adaptive and maladaptive forms of perfectionism and burnout were examined. Smith's (1986) stress appraisal model and Kelley, Eklund, and Ritter-Taylor's (1999) model of coach burnout were used to test two models of burnout in a sample of college coaches (N=177). The results indicated that there is an indirect effect of self-evaluative perfectionism (i.e., maladaptive form of perfectionism) on burnout through PS as well as a significant direct link to burnout, accounting for 56% of its variance. In contrast, conscientious perfectionism (CP) (i.e., adaptive perfectionism) did not directly impact burnout, nor was there an indirect effect through PS. Based on Lazarus's (1999) ideas about stress appraisal, the results suggested that maladaptive forms of perfectionism resulted in more threatening perceptions of stress, thus, potentially leading to the experience of burnout. However, adaptive forms of perfectionism did not seem to result in increased appraisals of stress or result in burnout. The results did indicate a significant correlation between the two forms of perfectionism, which may explain why CP did not significantly impact PS or burnout.     

Perfectionism and athlete burnout in junior elite athletes: the mediating role of coping tendencies

Abstract

Recent research indicates that some dimensions of perfectionism are positively related to athlete burnout, whereas others are negatively related to athlete burnout. The divergent relationship between these dimensions of perfectionism and athlete burnout may be explained by different coping tendencies. The present investigation examined whether different coping tendencies mediate the relationship between self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism and burnout. Two-hundred and six junior elite athletes (M age=15.15 years, SD=1.88 years, range=11–22 years) completed measures of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism, coping tendencies, and athlete burnout. Structural equation modeling indicated that the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism and athlete burnout was mediated by different coping tendencies. Higher levels of socially prescribed perfectionism was related to higher levels of avoidant coping which, in turn, was related to higher levels of athlete burnout. In contrast, higher levels of self-oriented perfectionism was related to higher levels of problem-focused coping and lower levels of avoidant coping which, in turn, was related to lower levels of athlete burnout. The findings suggest that different coping tendencies may underpin the divergent relationship between self-oriented and socially prescribed dimensions of perfectionism and athlete burnout.