The Body Appreciation Scale: development and psychometric evaluation

Body image has been conceptualized and assessed almost exclusively in terms of its negative dimensions. Therefore, a measure reflecting body appreciation, an aspect of positive body image, was developed and evaluated via four independent samples of college women. Study 1 (N = 181) supported the Body Appreciation Scale's (BAS) unidimensionality and construct validity, as it was related as expected to body esteem, body surveillance, body shame, and psychological well-being. Study 2 (N = 327) cross-validated its unidimensionality. Study 3 (N = 424) further upheld the construct validity of the BAS, as it was: (a) related as expected to appearance evaluation, body preoccupation, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology and (b) unrelated to impression management. Studies 1 and 3 also indicated that the BAS predicted unique variance in psychological well-being above and beyond extant measures of body image. Study 4 (N = 177) demonstrated that its scores were stable over a 3-week period. All studies supported the internal consistency reliability of its scores. The BAS should prove useful for researchers and clinicians interested in positive body image assessment.     

Affective reactions to real-life stressors and the role of physical activity in sports students – An Ambulatory Assessment study

Students are exposed to a variety of stressors that can negatively affect their health and performance. Using an Ambulatory Assessment approach, this study investigated whether and how positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) changed in response to real-life stressors in sports students. In addition, the study investigated how physical activity (PhyA) moderated affective reactions to stressors. 62 participants of a German university (m = 23, f = 38, d = 1; age: M = 21.55 years, SD = 2.47) reported their daily stressors, affective states and PhyA (context, intensity and duration) six times per day via smartphone over five days (30 prompts per participants). To test the hypotheses multilevel models were calculated. Stressor context predicted affective reactions. PA was lower and NA was higher when general (financial problems) or academic (exam periods) stressors were reported. General PhyA had a positive effect on sports students affect (higher PA, lower NA). However, when PhyA was performed in exercise classes within their study program and a stressor was reported, PA decreased. The results showed that certain stressors interact negatively with affective states. Furthermore, the results suggested that PhyA, depending on the context where it occurred, may also induce negative affective changes in this target group of sport students. More studies need to examine how PhyA moderates affective reactions to stressors and examine the influences of context specific PhyA (e.g., type of PhyA) in more detail.     

T-PALS framework to assess children who stutter with coexisting disorders: A tutorial

The purpose of this paper is to present a tutorial on a diagnostic framework developed to assess children who stutter and exhibit co-existing disorders. While we have guidelines for treating these children, there are no specific guidelines for assessing them. We provide a rationale for the development of T-PALS with support from the literature. The T-PALS framework assesses 5 foundational key elements for the child: Temperament (T), Pragmatics (P), Articulation/phonology (A), Language (L), and Stuttering (S). Both qualitative and quantitative measures are used within each dimension. This framework is discussed with reference to using two clinical case examples. T-PALS observation data are presented as well as treatment suggestions for each case. We conclude that T-PALS may be a useful framework for both clinicians and researchers, working with children who present with stuttering and comorbid conditions. Clinicians are encouraged to reach beyond the traditional focus on solely assessing the stuttering behavior, even when that is the main concern for referral, and to consider a broader view of the child. It is hoped that this more integrative approach to assessment may yield a more holistic diagnostic picture of a dual diagnosis child from which treatment goals can be derived.     

刺激结构对视觉定位的影响

本实验采用多点定位作业,结合部分报告法,研究视觉刺激的整体结构对定位成绩的影响。所呈现的刺激为1、2、3或4个颜色点。其中2、3、4点刺激分别是直线、正三角形和正方形。结果发现,当呈现时间较长时,1点和2、3、4点的定位误差无显著差异。但是1点的定位反应时却显著少于2、3、4点。这提示出现视觉定位的结构效应。而当呈现时间较短时,却没有这种结构效应。实验还发现,这种结构效应并不因刺激结构的不同而有区别。     

A neuro-cognitive defense of the unified self

The topic of the self remains one of considerable controversy, and many arguments have been put forth suggesting the intuitive concept of self must be in some way mistaken – in part based on results in the cognitive and neural sciences. In this article I offer the alternative positive proposal that “the self” may indeed refer to a physical/computational system within the brain. To do this, I draw on empirical work regarding the neural basis of consciousness and decision-making, and on philosophical work regarding ecological control, unified group perspectives, and functional/mechanistic explanation. The work I review jointly supports the conclusion that a “core-circuit” of interacting cortical regions – the global workspace network – can be understood as a unified system for consciously perceiving and deciding, and thus fulfills many of the roles intuitively assigned to the self. I conclude that this self-concept need not be mistaken given current empirical knowledge.     

互联网——心理学研究的新工具

互联网作为一种新的工具,在心理学研究中得到越来越多的使用。文章介绍了基于互联网的心理学研究的历史和现状,并分析了这种新研究工具的优点,如更高的效度,多样化的被试,操作更方便更高效,费用更低廉等。同时也客观地指出了新研究工具的局限性,如并不是所有的心理学研究都可以在互联网上实现,控制不够严格等。但是作为一种新的研究工具,互联网应该得到心理学工作者更多的重视。     

Using trait–state models to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of global self-esteem from adolescence to adulthood

The present research used a latent variable trait–state model to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of self-esteem during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Analyses were based on ten administrations of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) spanning the ages of approximately 13–32 for a sample of 451 participants. Results indicated that a completely stable trait factor and an autoregressive trait factor accounted for the majority of the variance in latent self-esteem assessments, whereas state factors accounted for about 16% of the variance in repeated assessments of latent self-esteem. The stability of individual differences in self-esteem increased with age consistent with the cumulative continuity principle of personality development.     

The Practice of Suicide Assessment and Management by Marriage and Family Therapists

Abstract

Over 90% of mental health providers encounter suicidal clients. However, the majority of marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are not exposed to suicide-specific trainings within their clinical coursework. Due to the lack of consistent training protocols for suicide assessment and management among MFTs, this qualitative study identified common MFT responses to suicidal clients, including assessment of risk severity and intervention modalities. Responses were then compared to best practices for suicidal clients. Participants inconsistently adhered to best practices identified in the larger field of mental health, revealing the need for increased MFT training on suicide to ensure appropriate and effective care.     

Pliers,not fingers: Tool-action effect in a motor intention paradigm

Tool-use representations have been suggested to be supported by the representation of hand actions and/or by the representation of tool actions. A major issue is to know which one of these two representations is preferentially activated when people intend to use a tool. To address this issue, we developed a paradigm in which, in 20% of trials, participants had to press a button and actually use pliers to move an object in response to a predefined target symbol. Importantly, two masks hiding the symbols performed “opening” or “closing” actions before symbols appeared. In Experiment 1, participants used normal pliers: Hand’s opening actions induced pliers’ opening actions and vice versa for hands’ closing actions. Results indicated a compatibility effect between masks’ actions and pliers’ actions. Participants were faster to press the button in response to the target symbol when opening and closing actions of the masks were congruent with the corresponding actions of the hand. In Experiment 2 participants used inverse pliers: Hand’s opening actions involved pliers’ closing actions and vice versa. In this situation, results showed that the congruency of masks’ actions occurred with pliers’ actions and not hand’s actions. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that intention of use is preferentially based on the representation of tool actions, and have important implications for the domain of neuropsychology of tool use and the theories of goal-directed behavior.