Differentiation of Self and Social Justice Commitment Mediated by Hope

This study tested a theoretical model of hope mediating the relationship between differentiation of self and social justice commitment among graduate students (N = 202) in the helping professions. The theory was based primarily on the social justice philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr., Cornel West, and Paulo Freire using a cultural psychology approach. Results generally supported the theoretical model. Implications are considered for both training and future research on social justice.     

Personality Traits and Relationship Satisfaction in Intimate Couples: Three Perspectives on Personality

Personality traits are important predictors of relationship satisfaction. However, the majority of previous study findings are based on self‐perceptions of personality. Thus, by means of the self‐, partner‐, and meta‐perceptions of personality, the present study focused on three different perspectives on the Big Five personality traits to examine dyadic associations with relationship satisfaction of intimate couples. The study was based on the first measurement occasion of the Swiss longitudinal study ‘Co‐Development in Personality: Longitudinal Approaches to Personality Development in Dyads across the Life Span’ and included data of 216 couples. The main analyses were based on Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model. Three general findings emerged. First, the three personality perspectives represented related, albeit distinct, constructs, and showed incremental validity with respect to relationship satisfaction. Second, neuroticism was negatively related to relationship satisfaction, whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to relationship satisfaction across all perspectives. Third, substantial associations between e xtraversion and relationship satisfaction were exclusively evident in terms of the partner‐ and meta‐perception. The present results contribute to the literature by showing that each perspective is essential for the understanding of the role of personality for relationship satisfaction. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology     

超文本环境下大学生自我调节学习的特征

随着计算机网络技术的出现和普及,超文本也开始逐渐成为人们阅读和学习的主要信息呈现方式。为了深入地了解大学生在超文本环境下的自我调节学习特点,采用口语报告的方法,使用修订的自我调节学习的过程模型对75名大学生进行研究。结果表明,超文本学习环境中大学生自我调节学习表现出对目标、区分有效信息、时间分配、选择新的信息资源、对情境的利用等过程的使用偏好。优生在目标、学习判断、略读过程上的使用率显著高于差生,差生在求助和无效搜索过程上的使用率显著高于优生。超文本学习环境下大学生自我调节学习存在着过程使用偏好,优差生在自我调节过程中表现出不同的使用偏好。     

Identification With All Humanity: The role of self‐definition and self‐investment

Identification With All Humanity (IWAH) relates to higher levels of concern and supportive behavior toward the disadvantaged, stronger endorsement of human rights, and stronger responses in favor of global harmony. So far, IWAH has been conceptualized as a one‐dimensional construct describing the degree with which one identifies with all humans as a superordinate ingroup. However, recent group identification models suggest a multi‐dimensional model to provide a more differentiated approach toward the understanding of the highest level of social identification. Using principal axis (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analyses, we suggest that IWAH sub‐divides into two dimensions—global self‐definition and global self‐investment. Study 2 revealed that global self‐investment was a stronger predictor for both convergent measures (e.g., social dominance orientation and authoritarianism) and behavioral intentions than global self‐definition. Finally, in Study 3, we manipulated IWAH to test its causal effect on donation behavior. Participants in the experimental condition, compared with the control condition, showed higher global self‐investment, which in turn predicted greater giving to global charity. These findings suggest that two dimensions with different behavioral outcomes underlie IWAH.     

Beliefs About the True Self Explain Asymmetries Based on Moral Judgment

Past research has identified a number of asymmetries based on moral judgments. Beliefs about (a) what a person values, (b) whether a person is happy, (c) whether a person has shown weakness of will, and (d) whether a person deserves praise or blame seem to depend critically on whether participants themselves find the agent's behavior to be morally good or bad. To date, however, the origins of these asymmetries remain unknown. The present studies examine whether beliefs about an agent's “true self” explain these observed asymmetries based on moral judgment. Using the identical materials from previous studies in this area, a series of five experiments indicate that people show a general tendency to conclude that deep inside every individual there is a “true self” calling him or her to behave in ways that are morally virtuous. In turn, this belief causes people to hold different intuitions about what the agent values, whether the agent is happy, whether he or she has shown weakness of will, and whether he or she deserves praise or blame. These results not only help to answer important questions about how people attribute various mental states to others; they also contribute to important theoretical debates regarding how moral values may shape our beliefs about phenomena that, on the surface, appear to be decidedly non‐moral in nature.     

Exploring Decision Making Around Therapist Self‐Disclosure in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Background

Therapist self‐disclosure (TSD) usage varies greatly among different psychotherapy orientations. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that there are reasons for its judicious use, and a small number of researchers have proposed guidelines for how TSD should be used to help therapists across psychotherapy models make decisions around disclosure. However, there is almost no literature specifically exploring how cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) practitioners make decisions around employing TSD within the CBT framework.

Objective

This study aimed to explore how experienced CBT practitioners make decisions around TSD.

Method

In‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted with six clinical psychologists who were trained and experienced in CBT, and the interviews were analysed thematically.

Results

There were two overarching themes in terms of how they made decisions to self‐disclose: (A) the rules for TSD use, which included sub‐themes (a) it must have a clear purpose, (b) it must fit, (c) the therapist must maintain boundaries, and (d) the therapist must always reflect on his/her use of TSD; and (B) how they use TSD, which included subthemes of (a) using it as a tool for change and (b) using it to manage the therapeutic relationship.

Conclusion

Participants’ decisions on whether or not to self‐disclose were strongly influenced by the CBT model, and this process went beyond what is suggested in the transtheoretical literature. Understanding this process may lead to the development of CBT‐specific guidelines for making TSD‐related decisions.     

Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy Change in Italian High School Students

The authors explored the effects of a structured‐group career intervention among 280 Italian high school students. Hierarchical linear models indicated the intervention's effectiveness in increasing career decision‐making self‐efficacy and, consequently, career exploration, but not in decreasing career choice anxiety. In addition, partial confirmation was found for the moderating effects of participants' expectations and motivation to change on the relationship between career decision‐making self‐efficacy and career choice anxiety. The findings support the development of a systematic vocational guidance program in Italian schools.     

Self‐concept clarity and relationship satisfaction at the dyadic level

Self‐concept clarity is an individual resource that is associated with couple relationship well‐being. In two dyadic studies, the authors investigated whether and how self‐concept clarity has implications for both partners' relationship satisfaction. Study 1 tested and supported the hypothesis that self‐concept clarity concurrently predicts own and partner's relationship satisfaction through couple identity in a sample of 202 dating couples. Study 2 tested and supported the hypothesis that self‐concept clarity predicts longitudinal change in own and partner's relationship satisfaction through positive (i.e., supportive and common) dyadic coping behaviors in a sample of 97 married couples. The findings clarify and expand the benefits of self‐concept clarity for partners' relational well‐being.     

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.     

Reaching Across the DMZ: Identity Uncertainty and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula

Drawing on uncertainty‐identity theory (Hogg, 2012), we explore the effects of uncertainty concerning a specific social identity on group identification and attitudes toward subgroup integration and separation in South Koreans' nested identity context (N = 148). All variables were measured. Path analysis revealed, as predicted, that superordinate identity uncertainty weakened superordinate identification and subgroup identity uncertainty weakened subgroup identification. We also found that subgroup identity uncertainty strengthened superordinate identification. This effect was stronger for those who perceived their superordinate group prototype and subgroup prototype to be distinct and nonoverlapping. Furthermore, superordinate identity uncertainty decreased reunification intentions by weakening superordinate identification. Subgroup identity uncertainty increased reunification intentions by strengthening superordinate identification only for those who perceived their superordinate group prototype and subgroup prototype to be distinct and nonoverlapping. Implications for uncertainty identity theory and intergroup relations are discussed.