Danger Ideation Reduction Therapy for Obsessive–Compulsive Checking: Preliminary Findings

Danger Ideation Reduction Therapy (DIRT) is a cognitive treatment package developed in the mid-1990s to treat obsessive–compulsive (OC) washing. DIRT is solely directed at decreasing threat expectancies and does not involve direct or indirect exposure. The effectiveness of the DIRT package for OC washers has been examined, and to date a number of publications, including two randomised controlled trials, support its efficacy. Recently, the DIRT package was modified to treat people with the OC checking subtype. In the current study, three adult OC checkers received DIRT in 12 to 14 individual 1-hr sessions conducted by a clinical psychologist. At posttreatment, substantial and clinically significant reductions in scores on a range of standardized outcome measures of obsessive–compulsive disorder symptom severity were apparent for all three participants. Crucially, these improvements were maintained at 4-month follow-up. Although further research is clearly warranted, these preliminary findings suggest that DIRT for checkers may prove as effective as DIRT for OC washers.     

Ponzo错觉解释的合理性：倾斜恒常性理论的局限

倾斜恒常性理论是一种新的解释Ponzo错觉的理论,但是似乎存在一些局限。本研究采用调节法通过两个实验考察了四种Ponzo错觉版本在各种条件(视角和水平线段间距)下的错觉量情况,以此来检验倾斜恒常性理论。实验一中,对称Ponzo错觉变异版本在50mm时的错觉量情况和Prinzmetal(2001)的结果相似,但是在85mm和120mm时得到了较多的错觉量,这和倾斜恒常性理论的理论预期不符。实验二对不对称Ponzo错觉的考察得到了和实验一类似的结果,只有50mm时的情形符合倾斜恒常性理论预期。通过以上实验得到水平线间距和视角因素都是产生Ponzo错觉的重要因素,而倾斜恒常性理论过分强调了背景线的倾斜诱导效应,忽略了其他结构因素对Ponzo错觉的影响,所以倾斜恒常性理论具有一定的局限性,不能有效地解释Ponzo错觉的产生机制。     

组织中上下级的双向信任：影响及机制

研究采取双向信任的视角,同时考虑组织中员工感知到的来自上级的信任(即,被信任感)和员工对上级信任对员工心理和行为的影响及机制。以737名企业员工为被试、运用问卷调查法、采用结构方程模型分析数据,结果显示：下级的被信任感与对上级的信任正相关;下级对上级的信任对下级工作绩效的影响主要通过心理安全的完全中介作用实现;而下级的被信任感分别通过感激和心理授权的完全中介作用影响下级工作绩效和满意度。     

Individual differences in the perception of similarity and difference

Thematically related concepts like coffee and milk are judged to be more similar than thematically unrelated concepts like coffee and lemonade. We investigated whether thematic relations exert a small effect that occurs consistently across participants (i.e., a generalized model), or a large effect that occurs inconsistently across participants (i.e., an individualized model). We also examined whether difference judgments mirrored similarity or whether these judgments were, in fact, non-inverse. Five studies demonstrated the necessity of an individualized model for both perceived similarity and difference, and additionally provided evidence that thematic relations affect similarity more than difference. Results suggest that models of similarity and difference must be attuned to large and consistent individual variability in the weighting of thematic relations.     

Changing categorization of self can change emotions about outgroups

Drawing on Intergroup Emotions Theory [Mackie, D. M., Maitner, A. T., & Smith, E. R. (in press). Intergroup emotions theory. In T.D. Nelson (Ed.), Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, New York: Erlbaum.], we propose that a perceiver’s emotional reactions toward other social groups can change in response to situationally induced shifts in self-categorization. American students were led to self-categorize as Americans or as students and reported their anger and respect towards Muslims and police. Results indicated that in reaction to Muslims, participants felt more anger and less respect when categorized as Americans than when categorized as students. In reaction to police, participants felt less anger and more respect when categorized as Americans than when categorized as students. These results support and extend IET, and suggest that in addition to prejudice reduction interventions that focus on recategorization of the target, perceiver recategorization of the self is a viable means of changing emotional reactions to social targets.     

Epistemic comparative conditionals

The interest of epistemic comparative conditionals comes from the fact that they represent genuine ‘comparative epistemic relations’ between propositions, situations, evidences, abilities, interests, etc. This paper argues that various types of epistemic comparative conditionals uniformly represent comparative epistemic relations via the comparison of epistemic positions rather than the comparison of epistemic standards. This consequence is considered as a general constraint on a theory of knowledge attribution, and then further used to argue against the contextualist thesis that, in some cases, considering a new counter- possibility can raise the epistemic standard of knowledge attribution. Instead, the paper shows that considering a new counter-possibility can only lower the epistemic position of a putative knower. Moreover, since the comparison, by the nature of conditionals, is free from any commitment to the truth-values of specific knowledge attributions, my conclusion is free from the debate between contextualism and invariantism on whether the truth-value of a knowledge attribution can actually vary with context.     

Violent Victimization in the Community and Children’s Subsequent Peer Rejection: The Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation

This paper describes a short-term longitudinal study of the relation between violent victimization in the community and peer rejection among 199 children (mean age = 9.02 years) attending two urban Los Angeles area elementary schools. We used a multi-informant approach to assess victimization by community violence, peer group victimization, peer rejection, and impairments in emotion regulation. These data were collected annually for two consecutive school years. Violent victimization in the community predicted later peer rejection after accounting for the effects of initial levels of peer rejection. Analyses indicated that this relation was mediated by deficient emotion regulation skills. In addition, we found evidence that victimization by community violence and peer rejection are reciprocally related over time. The developmental implications of these findings are discussed.     

A Preliminary Study on the Use of Mobile Phones amongst Migrant Workers in Beijing

The past decade has witnessed the rapid growth in the number of mobile phone users in China. According to a survey conducted amongst migrant workers and reported in this study, mobile phones have become sufficiently affordable for an overwhelming majority of migrants. Drawing on examples from Beijing, this article discusses the implications of mobile phone usage among migrant workers in China. Through an analysis of their stories about their daily lives, this paper attempts to explicate migrant workers’ mobile phone usage against a background of their alienated situation in Beijing. The author explores the responses of the migrants to their situation in relation to the social usage of mobile phone and specifically introduces and discusses four concepts for understanding patterns of migrant mobile phone use: feigned presence, concern in absence, jianghu relations, and romantic relations. The paper ends with the conclusion that the patterns of mobile phone usage contribute to changes in migrant workers’ way of life. Residual problems and avenues of future research that arise from this study are also discussed in the conclusion.

Acoustic features of infant crying related to intended caregiving intervention

The present study investigated the acoustic features of crying associated with intended caregiving intervention. One hundred eighty‐eight parents (138 females, 50 males) viewed a videotape depicting a healthy 4‐week‐old infant progressing from fussing to crying over the course of 4 minutes, and indicated if and when they would pick up the infant in a real‐life situation. There was a distinct peak in responding corresponding to an increase in duration but not fundamental frequency of the infant's cries. This finding is discussed in terms of the existing empirical literature. It is hypothesized that, whereas frequency may convey information about a newborn's neurological integrity and health status at birth, duration and other acoustical variables provide information about slightly older, normal infants' level of distress. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychodynamic Conceptualization and Treatment of Suicidal Patients

This paper discusses psychodynamic perspectives to the conceptualization and treatment of suicidal patients. A review of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic conceptualizations is provided, along with representative case examples of these phenomena. Empirical studies are also reviewed, noting how recent research provides some meaningful insight into the object relations of suicidal patients. Finally, treatment issues are discussed, including comments about transference, dreams, and countertransference. It is concluded that a psychodynamic model is of value when treating patients with suicidal ideation and impulses.