Emotion regulation and aggression

This review considers the impact of deliberate emotion regulation on aggression, by integrating findings from recent emotion regulation research with a contemporary model of aggressive behavior, the General Aggression Model. First, it considers how individuals who under-regulate anger and other emotions may be more likely to behave aggressively in an attempt to repair, terminate, or avoid uncomfortable emotional states. Second, it explores how over-regulation of emotion may lead to aggressive behavior by increasing negative affect, reducing inhibitions against aggression, compromising decision making processes, diminishing social networks, increasing physiological arousal and hindering the resolution of difficult situations. Finally, it reviews three skills thought to underlie deliberate emotion regulation: emotional awareness, emotional acceptance and proficiency in a variety of emotion regulation strategies. Treatment encompassing all of these skills may improve an individual's ability to regulate difficult emotion states more adaptively and thereby lessen aggressive behavior.     

Effects of Dohsa‐hou relaxation on body awareness and psychological distress1

Relaxation is one of the most frequently used methods for treating psychological and physical problems. Many relaxation methods are effective treatments for various psychological problems. Body awareness could be an important component of body‐oriented psychological treatment. In this study, a self‐report measure for the assessment of body awareness was developed, and its psychometric characteristics and relationships with other psychological constructs were examined. The effect of Dohsa‐hou relaxation was investigated using the developed Body Awareness Scale (BAS). The results showed that the BAS had good internal consistency and test‐retest reliability, and that it was associated with related psychological constructs. Dohsa‐hou relaxation led to increased body awareness and decreased psychological distress. The BAS can be a useful instrument in the field of body‐oriented psychotherapy research and related treatment methods, and increased body awareness has an important role in Dohsa‐hou relaxation therapy.     

The multi-factor structure of the Brief Self-Control Scale: Discriminant validity of restraint and impulsivity

The Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004) was developed to assess dispositional self-control as it is conceptualized by contemporary theoretical perspectives; however, concerns regarding its unidimensionality and validity remain. This article addresses these concerns using three samples to define, confirm and test a multi-factor version of the BSCS. Results of Study 1 (n = 909) identified two factors of the BSCS: restraint and impulsivity. Results of Study 2 (n = 364) confirmed that the 2-factor structure fit the data well and performed better than 1-factor structures. Finally, results from Study 3 (n = 175) demonstrated the utility of the multi-factor BSCS in predicting self-reported affective and behavioral outcomes. Implications for research and theoretical development are discussed.     

Investigating associations between empathy, morality and psychopathic personality traits in the general population

Although atypical moral and empathy processing are considered core features of psychopathic personality, little is known about how these constructs are associated with psychopathic traits in the general population. One-hundred and twenty-four adult males from the community were administered the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale 4 Short Form, as well as a wide battery of affect, empathy and morality tasks and questionnaires. Our findings indicate that both core affective-interpersonal, as well as lifestyle-antisocial features of psychopathy are associated with weaker empathic responses to fearful faces. However, only the unique variance of the affective-interpersonal features is associated with weaker empathic response to happy stories, lower propensity to feel empathic concern and less difficulty in making decisions on moral dilemmas. In contrast, the unique variance of the lifestyle-antisocial features is associated with greater propensity to feel empathic concern. These preliminary findings extend previous research and suggest that, while the joint variance between affective-interpersonal and lifestyle-antisocial features might drive some ‘deficits’ associated with psychopathy, there also appears also to be unique ‘deficits’ associated with the core affective-interpersonal features, particularly in relation to affective aspects of moral processing.     

Evaluation of a Combined Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Interpersonal Process Group in the Psychotherapy Training of Clinical Psychologists

It is now widely acknowledged that both content and process elements of psychotherapy play a part in client treatment outcomes. Despite this, there are pressures on Australian clinical psychology training programs to teach evidence‐based approaches in a relatively short time frame. Producing clinical psychology graduates who have an adequate level of competence in evidence‐based practice and meeting the demands of professional accreditation requirements can mean that less time is available to teach the process elements of psychotherapy. The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a clinical psychology psychotherapy training program that combines an interpersonal process group with a cognitive behavioural therapy training model that incorporates self‐reflection and self‐practice. Eleven participants who participated in the training in 2008 completed the Counseling Self‐Estimate Inventory at pre‐ and post‐training. Significant improvements on the majority of the subscales of this inventory were found. A separate sample of nine trainees and clinical psychology registrars who also previously completed the program attended individual interviews in 2010 aimed at gaining their perspective regarding various aspects of the program. Self‐practice of cognitive behavioural therapy techniques was found to be important in the identification and management of trainees’ own core beliefs, and to their appreciation of how challenging this process may be for clients. The interpersonal process group was described by participants as enhancing their competency as psychotherapists. Common themes included the experience of anxiety and a high level of emotion, and understanding how this experience might be similar for clients; increased self‐awareness; and increased competence in process issues. Many participants believed the process and content components of training were equally important to their development as psychotherapists.     

Handedness shapes children's abstract concepts

Can children’s handedness influence how they represent abstract concepts like kindness and intelligence? Here we show that from an early age, right‐handers associate rightward space more strongly with positive ideas and leftward space with negative ideas, but the opposite is true for left‐handers. In one experiment, children indicated where on a diagram a preferred toy and a dispreferred toy should go. Right‐handers tended to assign the preferred toy to a box on the right and the dispreferred toy to a box on the left. Left‐handers showed the opposite pattern. In a second experiment, children judged which of two cartoon animals looked smarter (or dumber) or nicer (or meaner). Right‐handers attributed more positive qualities to animals on the right, but left‐handers to animals on the left. These contrasting associations between space and valence cannot be explained by exposure to language or cultural conventions, which consistently link right with good. Rather, right‐ and left‐handers implicitly associated positive valence more strongly with the side of space on which they can act more fluently with their dominant hands. Results support the body‐specificity hypothesis ( Casasanto, 2009 ), showing that children with different kinds of bodies think differently in corresponding ways.     

Assessment of working memory components at 6years of age as predictors of reading achievements a year later

The ability of working memory skills (measured by tasks assessing all four working memory components), IQ, language, phonological awareness, literacy, rapid naming, and speed of processing at 6 years of age, before reading was taught, to predict reading abilities (decoding, reading comprehension, and reading time) a year later was examined in 97 children. Among all working memory components, phonological complex memory contributed most to predicting all three reading abilities. A capacity measure of phonological complex memory, based on passing a minimum threshold in those tasks, contributed to the explained variance of decoding and reading comprehension. Findings suggest that a minimal ability of phonological complex memory is necessary for children to attain a normal reading level. Adding assessment of phonological complex memory, before formal teaching of reading begins, to more common measures might better estimate children’s likelihood of future academic success.