Personality styles and suggestibility: A differential approach

This study addresses the relationship between personality styles measured with the Portuguese adaptation of the Millon Index of Personality Styles Revised – MIPS-R and interrogative suggestibility assessed by the Portuguese adaptation of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale – GSS1. Hypotheses predicted individual differences in suggestibility and that these differences correspond to differences in individuals’ personality styles. The study was conducted with a sample of 258 individuals (M_age = 31.8 years, SD = 12.0). Results showed that there were individual differences in suggestibility and that these differences corresponded to certain personality characteristics, mainly related to the Thinking Styles and some Behaving Styles.     

Sex in the City: The ambiguity of female mating strategies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the limitations of evolutionary explanations of female mating strategies, and to present an alternative theory that accounts for the ambiguity of mating strategies throughout a woman's life. While mating strategies are considered to be discrete entities, it is clear that women's decision making in everyday life is based on mutually fused, ambiguous courses of actions. The current perspective addresses the commonality of female mating experiences while highlighting the uniqueness of each woman's mating strategy and outlines a multi-level perspective on strategies of women's reproductive decision making.     

Mental Health among Youth in South Australia: A Survey of Flourishing,Languishing, Struggling,and Floundering

The Complete State Model of Mental Health was used to describe the prevalence of flourishing, languishing, struggling, and floundering in life in a sample of young South Australians (n = 3,913; 13–17 years, 52% female). Categorisation was based on the relative proportion of mental health and mental illness symptoms reported on standardised measures and the association of these categories to health‐risk behaviour. Variability in categories and health‐risk behaviour due to gender or region was investigated. Results indicated that a disturbingly small proportion of adolescents (<50%) were flourishing in life, that poorer states of mental health were associated with increased health‐risk behaviour, and that the propensity to engage in health‐risk behaviour did vary by gender and region. The current study extends the platform from which positively focused mental health strategies can be tailored and launched to meet the mental health needs of adolescents.     

Disentangling the Relationships Among Self-Reflection,Insight, and Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Dysfunctional Attitudes and Core Self-Evaluations

Central to many psychological schools of thought is the notion that self-reflection leads to self-insight which, in turn, leads to enhanced well-being. However, empirical research has found that although self-insight is typically associated with well-being, self-reflection is frequently not associated with self-insight or well-being. Past attempts to understand this conundrum have tended to focus on the role of ruminative self-refection. Using a different approach this study investigates the roles of dysfunctional attitudes and positive core self-evaluations. Using data from 227 participants, two key findings are reported: first, dysfunctional attitudes suppress the relationship between self-reflection and self-insight; and second, positive core self-evaluations mediate the relationship between self-insight and subjective well-being. These two findings imply that a path exists from self-reflection to subjective well-being through self-insight and positive core self-evaluations. This path model was found to be a good fit. Implications for future research and positive psychological practice are discussed.     

Toward a Metric for Mental Functions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between the incidence of decubitus ulcers and the level of spinal cord injury, sex, race, level of intellectual functioning, and level of academic achievement. A total of 114 subjects with spinal cord injuries were surveyed and tested at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, Fishersville, Virginia. The results of this study indicated no relationship between the incidence of decubitus ulcers and the demographic or personality factors studied.     

Development of Inhibition as a Function of the Presence of a Supernatural Agent

In this study the author examined the developmental differences in inhibition and cognition of 4–8-year-old children as a function of the suggested presence of a supernatural agent. Previous evolutionarily-relevant research has suggested that humans are naturally primed to think in terms of supernatural agents and that, given the correct context, individuals readily accept novel supernatural entities and alter their behavior accordingly. All children in this study played 4 games designed to assess their present level of inhibitory and cognitive development. Children in the experimental condition were also introduced to an invisible Princess Alice and were told that she was watching during the games. Following these measures, all children engaged in a resistance-to-temptation task. Results revealed that cognitively advanced children were more likely to express belief in Princess Alice than were less cognitively advanced children. This research provides support that cognitive maturity, rather than immaturity, may be necessary for children to express belief in novel supernatural agents.     

Analytical psychology and the ghost of Lamarck: did Jung believe in the inheritance of acquired characteristics?

Whether Jung was a Lamarckian or not has always been a hotly debated topic, both within the post‐Jungian community and amongst scholars with an interest in Jung in the wider academic community. Yet surprisingly few substantial pieces of work have been dedicated to it and, to my mind, no one has yet managed to do justice to all the subtleties involved. The scholars who have claimed that Jung is a Lamarckian have, for the most part, oversimplified the debate by failing to discuss the passages in which Jung appears to be defending himself against Lamarckism; the scholars who have defended Jung against Lamarckism, however, have as a rule not adequately dealt with the question of whether these passages actually get Jung off the hook. This paper will attempt to correct this imbalance by putting forward four key passages spanning Jung's career that all represent conclusive evidence that Jung was indeed a Lamarckian. After discussing these, it will then deal in detail with the passages in which Jung appears to be defending himself against Lamarckism, making the case that they do not represent a defence against Lamarckism at all and have therefore generally been misinterpreted by many scholars.     

Addressing Cultural Factors in Development of System Interventions

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to address various issues concerning multicultural interventions at a system level. Diversity is presented through a different conceptual approach and specific implications for school psychological practice are addressed. In this theoretical context an alternative model of school psychological services that was developed in the Greek educational system is presented and a primary intervention program is described as a paradigm of multicultural system/community intervention. Finally, the components of a transnational approach to multicultural system/community interventions that provides the basic procedural guidelines to developing effective, culturally sensitive interventions in the school environment is proposed.     

The glass half-full or a hopeful outlook: Which explains more variance in interpersonal suicide risk in a psychotherapy clinic sample?

Recent research has suggested that constructs in the field of positive psychology may be important for understanding suicide risk. Specifically, both hope theory and dispositional optimism have been linked to lower levels of suicidal ideation and interpersonal suicide risk. Despite these encouraging findings, no study has investigated the relationships between hope, optimism, and suicide risk in a clinical sample. The current study aimed to address this gap and to determine if hope or optimism was more important for understanding suicide risk as operationalized by the interpersonal-psychological theory and suicidal ideation. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both hope and optimism predicted lower levels of burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, but were not significant predictors of suicidal ideation. Further, results revealed that when both hope and optimism were entered into a hierarchical regression in the final step, only optimism remained significant. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Coping in High-Risk Snow-Sports: A Qualitative Exploration of Alpine Racing and Freestyle Athletes’ Experiences

This study examines how semi-elite student snow-sport athletes utilize process and trait coping strategies to combat risk-taking, potential loss and trauma, and other stressors integral to their sport participation. Factors influencing coping strategy preference are also explored. Semistructured interviews were used to explore 10 participants’ experiences; the narratives were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five master themes emerged from the analysis: Challenges to Overcome; Taking Action; Changing Perspectives; Staying in Control; and Underlying Influences. The findings highlight how participants develop and utilize preferred coping strategies, although the unpredictable nature of snow-sports can result in situation-specific process coping. Findings are discussed in relation to the differences between racing and freestyle disciplines.