自我记忆的"错误"和"歪曲"

人们关于自我的记忆经常会发生“错误”和“歪曲”,造成这种状况的原因有三：其一是“压抑”,其二是“肯定性的错觉”,其三是“个体历史建构和保持”。它们是人们进行心理防卫的方式,其目的是使自我保持一种积极的、具有一致性和稳定性的状态。     

群际情境下向上社会比较信息对自我评价的影响

以大学生为被试作了两个实验,研究群际情境下向上社会比较信息对自我评价的影响。实验1的结果表明,对于多数派群体的成员来说,来自内群体的向上社会比较信息会提高其自我评价,即产生同化效应,而来自外群体的向上社会比较信息会降低其自我评价,即产生对比效应;对于少数派群体的成员来说,无论向上社会比较信息来自内群体还是外群体,都对其自我评价几乎不产生影响。实验2表明,多数派群体成员在自我评价上的内群体同化效应依赖于群际对比。     

A translational evaluation of renewal of inappropriate mealtime behavior

The term renewal describes the recurrence of previously extinguished behavior that occurs when the intervention context changes. Renewal has important clinical relevance as a paradigm for studying treatment relapse because context changes are necessary for generalization and maintenance of most intervention outcomes. The effects of context changes are particularly important during intervention for pediatric feeding disorders because children eat in a variety of contexts, and extinction is an empirically supported and often necessary intervention. Therefore, we used an ABA arrangement to test for renewal during intervention with 3 children diagnosed with a feeding disorder. The A phase was functional reinforcement of inappropriate mealtime behavior in a simulated home setting with the child's caregiver as feeder, B was function‐based extinction in a standard clinic setting with a therapist as feeder, and the return to the A phase was function‐based extinction in a simulated home setting with caregiver as feeder. Returning to Context A resulted in renewal of inappropriate mealtime behavior across children, despite the caregivers' continued implementation of function‐based extinction with high levels of integrity.     

The relationship between the experience of stuttering and demographic characteristics of adults who stutter

PurposeThis study aims to examine the association between adults’ experience of stuttering and their age, gender and marital status, as well as to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the OASES-A.MethodsThe Hebrew version of the OASES-A was administered to 91 adults-who-stutter. The validity of the translated version was evaluated using a subset of 43 participants, who also completed three additional instruments: (a) a Perceived Stuttering Severity (PSS) self-rating scale, (b) the Situation Avoidance Behavior Checklist (SABC), (c) the Students Life Satisfaction scale (SLSS). Finally, the correlations between the participants’ OASES-A scores and their age, gender and marital status were calculated.ResultsA negative correlation was found between the participants’ OASES-A impact scores and their age (p < 0.01). In addition, married participants exhibited lower OASES-A impact scores compared with unmarried participants (p < 0.05). On the other hand, the speakers’ gender was not associated with OASES-A impact scores.Resultsrevealed high internal consistency of the Hebrew OASES-A, and moderate to strong correlations with the additional examined instruments. Finally, results of the Hebrew version of the questionnaire were comparable with those obtained in other languages.ConclusionOur results indicated that, within our cohort, age and marital status are significantly associated with the personal experience of stuttering, whereas gender is not. In addition, the Hebrew version of the OASES-A is valid and comparable with equivalent versions in other languages. This facilitates the application of the OASES-A in future clinical and research settings.     

N-of-1 study of weight loss maintenance assessing predictors of physical activity,adherence to weight loss plan and weight change

Objective: Behaviour change interventions are effective in supporting individuals to achieve clinically significant weight loss, but weight loss maintenance (WLM) is less often attained. This study examined predictive variables associated with WLM.

Design: N-of-1 study with daily ecological momentary assessment combined with objective measurement of weight and physical activity, collected with wireless devices (Fitbit?) for six months. Eight previously obese adults who had lost over 5% of their body weight in the past year took part. Data were analysed using time series methods.

Main outcomes measures: Predictor variables were based on five theoretical themes: maintenance motives, self-regulation, personal resources, habits, and environmental influences. Dependent variables were: objectively estimated step count and weight, and self-reported WLM plan adherence.

Results: For all participants, daily fluctuations in self-reported adherence to their WLM plan were significantly associated with most of the explanatory variables, including maintenance motivation and satisfaction with outcomes, self-regulation, habit, and stable environment. Personal resources were not a consistent predictor of plan adherence.

Conclusion: This is the first study to assess theoretical predictions of WLM within individuals. WLM is a dynamic process including the interplay of motivation, self-regulation, habit, resources, and perceptions of environmental context. Individuals maintaining their weight have unique psychological profiles which could be accounted for in interventions.     

Reward-priming impacts visual working memory maintenance: Evidence from human electrophysiology

Reward can benefit visual processing of reward-associated objects in a non-strategic way. Recent studies have suggested that such influence extends also to visual working memory (VWM) representations of reward-associated stimuli. However, it is not clear yet which mechanisms underlie the behavioural effects in VWM tasks: reward could directly impact on our ability to maintain representations in VWM or it could influence memory indirectly via priming of attentional selection. To distinguish between these alternatives we measured event-related potential indices of selective attention – the N2pc – and VWM maintenance – the CDA (contralateral delay activity) – while participants completed a VWM task. Results show that reward outcome in one trial caused similarly coloured targets to be strongly represented in VWM in subsequent trials, as expressed in a larger-amplitude CDA This was not preceded by a corresponding effect on attentional selection, in so far as our key manipulation had no impact on the N2pc. In a second experiment, we found that reward priming produced a behavioural benefit that emerged over time, suggesting that the representations of reward-associated items stored in VWM are more resistant to interference and decay. We conclude that when the task stresses VWM maintenance, it is at this representational level that reward will have impact.     

Relationships between perceived social support and retention among patients in methadone maintenance treatment in mainland China

The study purpose was to explore relationships between perceived social support and retention in mainland Chinese patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Data collection included baseline information, perceived social support, and retention. A total of 1212 patients completed the cross-sectional survey; 809 (66.7%) perceived good social support and 458 (37.8%) had been re-admitted. Despite controlling baseline information, past retention did not significantly influence perceived social support. At the two-year follow-up, 527 (43.5%) patients terminated MMT. Patients with poorer perceived social support were more likely to terminate treatment, with hazard ratios of 1.31 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10–1.57 without controlling baseline information and past retention) and 1.25 (95% CI: 1.04–1.51 controlling baseline information and past retention). Thus, while MMT retention does not significantly influence perceived social support, good perceived social support is a strong predictor of retention.     

“How much do you like your name?” An implicit measure of global self-esteem

We introduce a single-item implicit measure of global self-esteem. The measure is based on the mere-ownership effect and asks participants to indicate how much they like their name. Six studies attested to the validity of this measure. In addition to showing high test-retest reliability (r = .85), the studies found that Name-Liking was (a) unrelated to impression management, (b) positively related to the Name-Letter-Task, the Self-Esteem IAT, explicit self-esteem measures, and self-reported subjective well-being, (c) more strongly related to explicit measures of global than domain-specific self-esteem, (d) more strongly related to self-esteem judgments made spontaneously as well as under cognitive load, and (e) predicted observer-reported anxiety during an anxiety-inducing interview whereas an explicit measure of self-esteem did not.     

How believing in affirmative action quotas protects White men’s self-esteem

We propose that White men derive a psychological benefit from believing that affirmative action is a quota-based policy. Three studies provide evidence that quota beliefs protect White men’s self-esteem by boosting their sense of self-competence. Study 1 found a positive relationship between quota beliefs and self-esteem that was mediated by self-perceived competence. In Studies 2 and 3, the belief in affirmative action quotas—whether measured or experimentally manipulated—protected White men’s self-esteem from self-image threatening feedback. Only participants who did not believe in quotas reported a lower self-esteem after being told they had performed poorly on an intelligence test. As in Study 1, this effect was mediated by self-perceived competence. In all, these studies suggest that the belief that affirmative action is a quota policy may persist, in part, because it benefits White mens’ self-esteem.