Development of the Spanish short version of Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory

Background/Objective: Masturbation has historically been a sexual behaviour associated with negative connotations, as a consequence of traditional orthodox positions, despite its positive impact on health. The instruments developed to measure the attitude towards masturbation are scarce, and none of them have been validated in the Spanish adult population. This study aims to propose a short version of the Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory (NATMI) and examine their psychometric properties (reliability and evidence of validity) in the Spanish adult population. Method: A total of 4,116 heterosexual adults aged 18-83 years (M = 40.58; SD = 12.24; 54.64% women) participated in the study. In addition to the NATMI, they answered other scales to assess sexual attitudes, sexual desire, propensity to become sexually excited/inhibited and sexual functioning. Results: Analysis of the construct validity of the NATMI resulted in a reduced version of ten items grouped into a single factor explaining 66% of the variance (ordinal alpha = .95). The evidence of validity is clear, as subjects with negative and positive attitude towards masturbation differed in religiousness, frequency of masturbation, erotophilia, positive attitude towards sexual fantasies, sexual inhibition and sexual functioning. Conclusions: The Spanish short version of NATMI provides reliable and valid measures in the Spanish adult population.     

Engaging in imagery versus verbal processing of worry: Impact on negative intrusions in high worriers

Chronic, excessive, and uncontrollable worry is the defining characteristic of generalised anxiety disorder. Worry largely consists of verbal thought and it has been postulated that this predominance of verbal thought in worry may contribute to its perseveration. In an investigation of this issue, high worriers were trained to engage in either imagery or verbal processing. Mentation was sampled before and after a five-minute period of worry during which participants engaged in either imagery of the worry topic or verbal processing of the worry topic. Verbal worry resulted in a significant increase in negative intrusions, consistent with previous research. Furthermore, imagery was associated with a decrease in negative intrusions. The results support the theory that the predominantly verbal nature of worry may be responsible for the uncontrollability and maintenance of worry.     

Holistic representation of negative numbers is formed when needed for the task

Past research suggested that negative numbers are represented in terms of their components—the polarity marker and the number (e.g., Fischer & Rottmann, 2005 Fischer, M. and Rottmann, J. 2005. Do negative numbers have a place on the mental number line?. Psychology Science, 47(1): 22–32.  [Google Scholar]; Ganor-Stern & Tzelgov, 2008 Ganor-Stern, D. and Tzelgov, J. 2008. Negative numbers are generated in the mind. Experimental Psychology, 55(3): 157–163.  [Google Scholar]). The present study shows that a holistic representation is formed when needed for the task requirement. Specifically, performing the numerical comparison task on positive and negative numbers presented sequentially required participants to hold both the polarity and the number magnitude in memory. Such a condition resulted in a holistic representation of negative numbers, as indicated by the distance and semantic congruity effects. This holistic representation was added to the initial components representation, thus producing a hybrid holistic-components representation.     

The distinctiveness of hardiness, positive emotionality, and negative emotionality in National Guard soldiers

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to investigate the distinctiveness of hardiness (using the Short Hardiness Scale; Bartone, 1995) from the broader personality traits of negative emotionality and positive emotionality (NEM and PEM; assessed with items from the MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales); in a sample of 981 Army National Guard soldiers. Exploratory factor analyses demonstrated that hardiness items loaded on a separate factor from PEM and NEM items, and confirmatory factor analysis suggested that hardiness is not simply a sub-facet of either PEM or NEM. However, subsequent regression analyses found that hardiness did not predict symptoms of PTSD or depression beyond the effects of PEM and NEM among combat exposed soldiers.     

How do supporters perceive positive and negative psychological momentum changes during a simulated cycling competition?

ObjectiveThe present study examined changes in sport supporters' psychological momentum (PM) during a simulated cycling competition through the lens of the dynamical systems approach.DesignParticipants were asked to support one of two competing cyclists involved in a race that was displayed on a screen in a lecture hall.MethodThe race scenario was manipulated so that the image of the supported cyclist underwent either positive or negative momentum. At regular intervals, participants indicated their PM perceptions during the race.ResultsPM perceptions rapidly changed at the onset of both the positive and negative momentum sequences and then remained stable, reflecting negative hysteresis. Supporters tended to anticipate the future performance of a given athlete on the basis of their current performance. Moreover, this anticipatory tendency was stronger during the positive momentum sequence than during the negative momentum sequence.ConclusionThese results provide initial insights into how PM perceptions of sport supporters change during a competition.     

A critical evaluation of cognitive inhibition in dissociative identity disorder as inferred by negative priming in the flanker task: Limitations and the episodic retrieval alternative

Studies examining negative priming in dissociative identity disorder (DID) using the flanker task have reported emotional context effects. Significant negative priming is evident when individuals with DID are assessed in a context deemed emotionally neutral, while in contexts designed to elevate anxiety, DID samples display reduced negative priming. Limitations and considerations are discussed around statistical power, generalizability and reliability, and the use of diagnostic groups over specific clinical symptoms. The negative priming findings in this growing body of work have been interpreted with reference to the functioning of cognitive inhibitory mechanisms. Explored is how the episodic retrieval account of negative priming, with its reliance on memory mechanisms, could account for the DID findings. Encoding and retrieval possibilities are discussed and it is concluded that a failure to encode the prime trial distractor stimulus, in contexts of heightened anxiety, could explain the experimental findings from an episodic retrieval perspective.     

The phenonenological idealism controversy in light of possible worlds semantics

In the paper there is presented the semantic interpretation of idealism/realism controversy which is one of the most essential issues in Ingarden’s phenomenological project of ontology. The procedure of semantic paraphrase which is contemporary developed by Woleński, is the main interpretative tool. In the central part of the paper, there is formulated the formal theory of the semantic framework underlying idealism/realism discourse. Finally, there are formulated some notes showing that intentional conception of negation may be used for defending various idealistic positions.

The relationship between personality and affect over the lifespan

This study compared the trait and emotion perspectives of personality development by examining relationships between extraversion, neuroticism, positive and negative affect across the lifespan. A total of 533 volunteers: 228 children and early adolescents (8 to 15 years), 163 late adolescents and young adults (16 to 29 years) and 142 adults (30 to 68 years) completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Extraversion correlated significantly with positive affect and neuroticism with negative affect in each age group. As predicted by the emotion perspective, correlations were significantly stronger for adults than children and early adolescents. In addition, extraversion-positive affect and neuroticism-negative affect factors explained less variance for children and early adolescents compared to those of adults.     

Modeling trait and state variation using multilevel factor analysis with PANAS daily diary data

This study used daily diary data to model trait and state Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Data were collected from 364 college students over five days. Intraclass correlation coefficients suggested approximately equal amounts of variability at the trait and state levels. Multilevel factor analysis revealed that the model specifying two correlated factors (PA, NA) and correlated uniqueness terms among redundant items provided the best fit. Trait and state PA and NA were generally associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and three types of self-esteem (performance, academic, social). The coefficients describing these relationships differed somewhat, suggesting that trait and state measurement may have different predictive utility.     

外在奖励对内在动机的影响

一直以来,奖励,无论是物质奖励还是精神奖励,都被作为一种重要的激励方式应用在社会生活的各个方面,而在教学活动中,则更是因行为主义的影响而尤为重视奖励的作用。近年来,有越来越多的证据表明以控制行为为目的奖励存在破坏内在动机、阻碍创造力发挥、使得被奖励的活动价值丧失,以及对达成目标不能给出有益信息等负面影响,这些影响已经极大地破坏了学习的积极性。Kohn提出的3C理论或可在指导教育教学实践排除奖励的消极影响。