Cognitive defusion and self-relevant negative thoughts: examining the impact of a ninety year old technique

Cognitive defusion techniques are designed to reduce the functions of thoughts by altering the context in which they occur, rather than the attempting to alter the form, frequency, or situational sensitivity of the thoughts themselves. Applied technologies designed to produce cognitive defusion seem to lead to reductions in the believability of negative thoughts, but defusion techniques are generally only parts of complex packages and the role of defusion techniques per se is note yet known. The present study examined the impact of a cognitive defusion technique first described by Titchener nearly 90 years ago: rapidly repeating a single word. In series of eight single-case alternating treatment designs, this defusion technique was compared to a distraction task, and to a thought control task on reductions in the discomfort and believability of self-relevant negative thoughts. The cognitive defusion technique reduced both discomfort and believability more so than the comparison approaches. Control studies showed that the effect was probably not due to demand characteristics.     

Changes in the structure of children's isometric force variability with practice

This study examined the effect of age and practice on the structure of children's force variability to test the information processing hypothesis that a reduction of sensorimotor system noise accounts in large part for age-related reductions in perceptual-motor performance variability. In the study, 6-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and young adults practiced on 5 consecutive days (15 trials/day), maintaining for 15-s trials a constant level of force (5 or 25% of maximum voluntary contraction) against an object using a pinch grip (thumb and index finger). With increasing age, the amount of force error and variability decreased, but the sequential structure of variability increased in irregularity. With practice, children reduced the amount of variability by changing the structure of the force output so as to be more similar to that of their older counterparts. The findings provide further evidence that practice-driven changes in the structure of force output, rather than a decline in the amount of white noise, largely account for age-related reductions in the amount of force variability.     

The planning and execution of sequential eye movements: saccades do not show the one target advantage

The present experiment examined the one-target advantage (OTA) with regard to saccadic eye movements. The OTA, previously found with manual pointing responses, refers to the finding that movements are executed faster when the limb is allowed to stop on the target compared to the situation where it has to proceed and hit a second target. Using an adapted limb movement OTA task, saccades of 5 degrees and 15 degrees were made to (a) a single target (one-target), (b) one target and immediately to another target without a change in direction (two-target-extension), and (c) one target and immediately back to the start location (two-target-reversal). Unlike manual movements, the movement times for the initial saccade in the two-target-extension condition were not prolonged compared to either of the other two conditions. Moreover, this pattern of results was found for both the shorter and longer amplitude saccades. The results indicate that the OTA does not occur in the oculomotor system and therefore is not a general motor control phenomenon.     

Behavioral treatment of insomnia in older adults: an open clinical trial comparing two interventions

Fifty-five insomniacs, 60 years or above, participated in a behavioral treatment program, comparing two interventions (sleep hygiene+stimulus control vs sleep hygiene+relaxation tape). Half of the subjects were randomized to a waiting-list condition prior to treatment. No significant changes were observed during the waiting-list period. During the treatment period however, the subjects improved on several sleep parameters, and treatment gains were maintained at a 6-month follow-up. The effects of treatment were greater for nocturnal measures (e.g. sleep onset latency and total sleep time) as compared to daytime measures (e.g. life satisfaction, daytime alertness) and not-targeted behavior (medication use). There were no differences in treatment effects for the two interventions.     

The Meta-Cognitive Beliefs Questionnaire: development of a measure of obsessional beliefs

A 67 item self-report questionnaire called the Meta-Cognitive Beliefs Questionnaire (MCBQ) was developed to assess endorsement of beliefs about the importance of control and negative consequences associated with unwanted, ego-dystonic intrusive thoughts, images and impulses. The MCBQ and a battery of questionnaires that assessed symptoms and cognitions of worry, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and depression were administered to large samples of undergraduate students. Beliefs about control of intrusive thoughts and perceived negative consequences due to uncontrolled mental intrusions had a unique significant relationship with obsessions, and to a lesser extent, worry. These findings are consistent with current cognitive behavioral theories that suggest an important role for meta-cognitive beliefs in the pathogenesis of obsessions.     

Strategies of control,aggression, and morality in preschoolers: an evolutionary perspective

Moral reasoning, moral affect, social problem solving skills, and social preferences were assessed in 163 ethnically mixed preschoolers (2.86-5.95 years). Participants were rated by their teachers on prosocial and coercive strategies of control, success at resource control, and aggression (overt and relational). Based on their employment of coercive and prosocial strategies of resource control, the children were categorized as bistrategic controllers, coercive controllers, prosocial controllers, noncontrollers, or typicals. Teacher-rated relational aggression was positively associated with moral maturity in girls. Bistrategic controllers, although aggressive, were morally mature and preferred play partners by their peers. The results are discussed in terms of hypotheses that arise from evolutionary theory which suggests that highly effective resource controllers would be simultaneously aggressive and yet well aware of moral norms. The findings are contrasted with alternative hypotheses that might arise variously from traditional and prevailing approaches.     

大学生心理压力感量表编制理论及其信、效度研究

本研究在对心理压力感理论维度分析的基础上,编制了大学生心理压力感量表。量表的因素分析结果表明：(1)大学生心理压力主要有两方面,一是个人自身压力包括家庭压力、适应压力、健康压力、恋爱压力、自卑压力和挫折压力：一是社会环境压力包括人际压力、择业压力、情绪压力、学校环境压力和学业压力。(2)通过信、效度检验,大学生心理压力感量表的理论维度结构合理,具有良好的信度,达到心理测量学的相关要求。(3)心理压力感量表的各维度对大学生的心理健康水平具有良好的预测作用,可以作为评估大学生心理压力水平的有效测量工具。     

Development of interception of moving targets by chimpanzees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes</Emphasis>) in an automated task

The experiments investigated how two adult captive chimpanzees learned to navigate in an automated interception task. They had to capture a visual target that moved predictably on a touch monitor. The aim of the study was to determine the learning stages that led to an efficient strategy of intercepting the target. The chimpanzees had prior training in moving a finger on a touch monitor and were exposed to the interception task without any explicit training. With a finger the subject could move a small "ball" at any speed on the screen toward a visual target that moved at a fixed speed either back and forth in a linear path or around the edge of the screen in a rectangular pattern. Initial ball and target locations varied from trial to trial. The subjects received a small fruit reinforcement when they hit the target with the ball. The speed of target movement was increased across training stages up to 38 cm/s. Learning progressed from merely chasing the target to intercepting the target by moving the ball to a point on the screen that coincided with arrival of the target at that point. Performance improvement consisted of reduction in redundancy of the movement path and reduction in the time to target interception. Analysis of the finger's movement path showed that the subjects anticipated the target's movement even before it began to move. Thus, the subjects learned to use the target's initial resting location at trial onset as a predictive signal for where the target would later be when it began moving. During probe trials, where the target unpredictably remained stationary throughout the trial, the subjects first moved the ball in anticipation of expected target movement and then corrected the movement to steer the ball to the resting target. Anticipatory ball movement in probe trials with novel ball and target locations (tested for one subject) showed generalized interception beyond the trained ball and target locations. The experiments illustrate in a laboratory setting the development of a highly complex and adaptive motor performance that resembles navigational skills seen in natural settings where predators intercept the path of moving prey. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article if you access the article at . A link in the frame on the left on that page takes you directly to the supplementary material.     

Response to Difficult Patients in Group Analysis: The Personification of I:A/M

The author focuses on the application of Hopper's proposal of an additional basic assumption (I:A/M) using a model of clinicians' theories: bridging theory, psychological theory, and clinical theory (Michels, 1999). This paper will describe the potential for advances in understanding particular group formations seen in clinical practice and other settings.     

教师心理素质的隐含研究

本研究旨在运用隐含研究方法揭示教帅应具备的心理素质及其结构。为此,本研究进行了一个预备测试与3个正式测试。研究结果表明：①创造性,责任感,教育效能感等21项特性是教师重要的心理品质;②在这些心理品质中,客观公正性、移情性、角色认同、有恒性、监控陛、责任感、非权势等11项心理品质被教师、家长、学生共同认定为最重要最基本的心理品质;③人们心目中教师心理品质由工作动因,工作行为、行为调控三个维度构成的;④综合三项测试结果,本研究认为教师心理素质是由3个维度、10项基本特性构成的。此外,文章还分析了这一结论与以前研究结果的关系及隐含研究方法对于该项研究的适用性。