Failure of serial taste-taste compound presentations to produce overshadowing of extinction of conditioned taste aversion

Two experiments were conducted to study overshadowing of extinction in a conditioned taste aversion preparation. In both experiments, aversive conditioning with sucrose was followed by extinction treatment with either sucrose alone or in compound with another taste, citric acid. Experiment 1 employed a simultaneous compound extinction treatment and found results indicative of overshadowing of extinction. By contrast, Experiment 2, in which extinction treatment involved serial compound presentations, failed to obtain evidence of overshadowing of extinction. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that the serial presentation of two tastes was processed as equivalent to the separate presentation of the tastes. The results are discussed in relation to: (1) Convergent evidence from research on latent inhibition, (2) competing theories of learning and, (3) their possible adaptive value in food-selection learning.     

Evidence for indirect loss of significance effects on violent extremism: The potential mediating role of anomia

Psychological research suggests that violent extremism (e.g., terrorism) stems partly from existential motives, such as individuals’ need to achieve significance in life after experiencing failure, ostracism, or humiliation (Significance Quest Theory; SQT). Parallel investigations from sociology and criminology established similar findings by linking anomia—a syndrome including feelings of meaninglessness, powerlessness, isolation, self-estrangement, and normlessness—with violent behavior. In line with SQT, this contribution tested if anomia could mediate Loss of Significance effects on violent extremism. Accordingly, three studies conducted in France highlight indirect effects of exposure to discrimination on legitimation of political violence (Study 1, cross-sectional, minority population sample, N = 110), violent behavioral intentions (Study 2, experimental, undergraduate sample, N = 249), and support for ISIS fighters (Study 3, experimental, undergraduate sample, N = 221) through anomia. A subsequent study shows this indirect effect to be robust when controlled for Social Dominance Orientation and Political Extremism (Study 4, cross-sectional, undergraduate sample, N = 279). A final investigation re-analyzing data collected in Turkey highlights a reverse effect when the independent variable tapped into social inclusion (rather than exclusion; Study 5, cross-sectional, undergraduate sample, N = 321). This indirect effect was also robust to Political Extremism and Intolerance as control variables. These results support the usefulness of considering anomia as a proximal predictor of violent extremism in a SQT perspective.     

Mapping grief: A study in practice using a quantitative and qualitative approach to exploring and addressing the range of responses to loss

The Adult Attitude to Grief (AAG) scale was devised for an earlier study (Machin, 2001) to test the validity of a concept of loss, which proposed that grief reactions fall broadly into three categories — ‘overwhelmed’, ‘balanced’ and ‘controlled’. There was statistical support for the proposed differences but the AAG scale, more importantly, provided insight into the diverse reactions taking place in individual bereaved respondents. This paper describes a second study undertaken to examine the clinical usefulness of the AAG scale with clients receiving help within the Psychological Services Operating Unit of the North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare (NHS) Trust. The scale has been used both in its original form with bereaved clients and in a modified form with clients having distress symptoms associated with other losses, such as relationship breakdown or the onset of chronic illness. The use of the AAG scale in this clinical setting suggests that, both as an assessment tool and as a cue for therapeutic dialogue, it provides a promising way of mapping the general and particular characteristics of response to loss in individual clients. Consideration is also given to varying therapeutic approaches needed to help clients regain the equilibrium disturbed by their grief.     

After the Terror: A Book and Further Thoughts

There are great goods desired by all of us, and the lack of themmakes for bad lives. One sample of bad African lives involves aloss of 20 million years of living time. The questions raised bythese and other facts are to be answered by the Principle ofHumanity, about bad lives and rationality. It is superior tomorality of relationship and all else, and in a way is undeniable.The principle together with other things issues in six propositions.One gives us a moral responsibility, our politicians at our head,for the terrorism of September 11. To be ordinary is not to beinnocent. Another proposition is that the Palestinians have a moralright to their terrorism. The latter proposition can be given stillmore support than in the book from which this paper derives.     

Production blocking and idea generation: Does blocking interfere with cognitive processes?

Production blocking (group members must take turns expressing their ideas) is an important cause of productivity loss in brainstorming groups. However, it is not yet clear why production blocking has this detrimental effect. We hypothesized that delays between the generation and articulation of ideas, arising when group members wait for their turns, interfere with the cognitive process of generating ideas. In three experiments, production blocking was simulated for individuals working at computer terminals. Production blocking interfered with idea generation in two ways. First, it disrupted the organization of idea generation when delays were relatively long. Second, it reduced the flexibility of idea generation when delays were unpredictable. Implications for group information processing are discussed.     

Mementos and the endowment effect

This research provides evidence for a new moderator of the endowment effect: having a memento of the endowed object. Three studies adapting classic endowment effect paradigms and using a variety of endowment objects and mementos demonstrate that having a memento of an endowment increases willingness to trade the endowment and decreases selling prices for the endowment. We provide evidence that mementos attenuate the endowment effect regardless of whether the memento is a separate small gain when facing the loss of the endowment or a small part of the original endowment that is kept. Examining mementos in context of the endowment effect not only provides insight into the psychology underlying the reluctance to part with one's endowment but also other consumer disposition behaviors.     

The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to PTSD,Depression, Poly-Drug Use and Suicide Attempt in Reservation-Based Native American Adolescents and Young Adults

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with numerous risk behaviors and mental health outcomes among youth. This study examines the relationship between the number of types of exposures to ACEs and risk behaviors and mental health outcomes among reservation‐based Native Americans. In 2011, data were collected from Native American (N = 288; 15–24 years of age) tribal members from a remote plains reservation using an anonymous web‐based questionnaire. We analyzed the relationship between six ACEs, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, physical and emotional neglect, witness to intimate partner violence, for those <18 years, and included historical loss associated symptoms, and perceived discrimination for those <19 years; and four risk behavior/mental health outcomes: post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression symptoms, poly‐drug use, and suicide attempt. Seventy‐eight percent of the sample reported at least one ACE and 40 % reported at least two. The cumulative impact of the ACEs were significant (p < .001) for the four outcomes with each additional ACE increasing the odds of suicide attempt (37 %), poly‐drug use (51 %), PTSD symptoms (55 %), and depression symptoms (57 %). To address these findings culturally appropriate childhood and adolescent interventions for reservation‐based populations must be developed, tested and evaluated longitudinally.     

Effects of a Self-Help Program on Depressed Mood for Women with an Unfulfilled Child Wish

This randomized controlled trial aimed to examine the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral self-help program (CBS) with minimal coaching in improving depressed mood for women with a permanent unfulfilled child wish. Participants completed pretest, posttest, and follow-up questionnaires and were randomly allocated to CBS (n = 27) or a waiting list condition (WLC, n =27). Respondents who followed the CBS improved significantly on depression scores compared to the WLC. This positive effect remained at follow-up. This study suggests that a low-resource, low-cost self-help program could be an effective intervention in reducing depressed mood in women living with the loss of a desired child.     

Exposure,Resource Loss,and Posttsunami Trauma

This study analyzed whether survivors’ resource loss mediates the effects of exposure on posttsunami trauma. Fourteen months posttsunami, 416 survivors were interviewed from the nine worst-affected habitations of the Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu (India). Exposure was measured using a checklist; trauma and resource loss were assessed using inventories. Findings indicate that the indirect effects of tsunami exposure on trauma via resource loss were a more potent predictor than the direct effects of exposure on trauma. Resource loss was a vehicle through which the effects of exposure passed on to posttsunami trauma.     

Crossover of burnout from leaders to followers: a longitudinal study

The primary purpose of this 6-month two-wave longitudinal study among 104 Chinese leader–follower dyads is to investigate whether burnout could cross over from leaders to followers, and if so, whether this crossover process could be mediated by changes of followers’ job and personal resources. As expected, the structural equation modelling results show that after controlling for follower burnout at T1, leader burnout at T1 is negatively related to changes of followers’ job and personal resources over a period of 6 months, which in turn are negatively related to follower burnout at T2. Our longitudinal study has demonstrated that resource loss plays a mediating role in the crossover of burnout from leaders to followers. The implications of these findings for the intervention of burnout in the work context are discussed.