Contrived motivating operations alter delay‐discounting values of disordered gamblers

The present study required 9 disordered gamblers to make hypothetical selections between smaller and larger amounts of money at varying delays. Participants were also required to respond to the task given the contrived hypothetical conditions of earning twice or half as much as they did at their current jobs. The results demonstrated how participants’ delay discounting was altered via contrived motivating operations, strengthening the argument that discounting may be a state variable.     

Sacrificing Value

ABSTRACT

When is sacrifice – and particularly self-sacrifice – called for? This question turns out to be difficult to answer, for it tends to arise when values conflict, and hence the answer to it depends on how conflicts of values are to be resolved. If values are constructed, and if there is no single right way to construct them or prioritize them when they conflict, though there are identifiable ways in which the construction of values can go wrong, we may be left in a position of ambivalence about what should be sacrificed. In cases of conflict in which self-sacrifice is one of the options, ambivalence may be particularly appropriate. In part this is because there may be in such cases special sources of plurality and incommensurability of values, because the conflict is likely to be between something that is valued by a social group, and something that is valued particularly by an individual who has to consider self-sacrificing. And in part it is because individuals may have trouble balancing self-regarding and other-regarding concerns in the process of value construction. This paper elaborates these complications, and presents cases in which we might suspect that someone has self-sacrificed too much or too little.     

Pathological Dissociation and Its Relationships with Aggression and Delinquency in a College Student Sample in Hong Kong

Pathological dissociation is widely regarded as a cross-culturally occurring condition related to trauma and adversity and is an important construct in the mental health field. Yet, the frequency of pathological dissociation in both clinical and nonclinical populations in Hong Kong remains unknown. In addition, the relationship of pathological dissociation with aggression and delinquency requires further investigation. To investigate these relationships, we administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale-Taxon (DES-T), the 5-item Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-5), selected sections from the Self-Report Version of the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule (SR-DDIS), the Reactive–Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), and a delinquent behaviors checklist to 177 college students in Hong Kong. The findings suggest that pathological dissociation is not as rare as it is traditionally believed to be in Hong Kong. In our sample, 4.52% of the participants may have a DSM-5 dissociative disorder (including other specified dissociative disorder) while 9.60% met the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Our findings indicate that the RPQ total score and delinquency may be more characteristic of BPD than of pathological dissociation. In addition, while reactive aggression was related to pathological dissociation and BPD symptoms in both genders, proactive aggression was related to pathological dissociation and BPD symptoms only in females. Although the findings of this study are preliminary and the results should be interpreted with caution, the study provides the first data regarding pathological dissociation and its relationship with aggression and delinquency in Hong Kong. Some implications for research and practice are highlighted. Further investigation of pathological dissociation in Hong Kong is necessary. In addition, more studies are essential to further examine the relationships between pathological dissociation, aggression, and delinquency in both clinical and nonclinical populations.     

青少年的时间透视、应对方式与互联网使用的关系

通过问卷法调查了589名青少年(M=15 07,SD=1 37)的互联网使用状况。研究发现不同时间透视占优个体可以通过应对方式预测青少年的病理性互联网使用(Pathological Internet Use,PIU)。进一步说,青少年群体中存在的严重PIU是类似于物质使用的一种新的心理行为问题,但严重PIU可能具有不同于物质使用的某些特点,即现在定向占优个体比未来定向占优个体更容易感知到PIU,但不同时间定向占优个体都可能感知到PIU。研究证实青少年更多采用"问题解决"一种应对方式与较少使用"幻想、发泄"两种应对方式,有利于其受益互联网使用。     

Murder: A psychotherapeutic investigation

This paper suggests that it is theoretically necessary and clinically useful to make a distinction between two types of psychic encapsulation within the broader literature. The proposed distinction, as it relates to these psychic structural manifestations, is illustrated here as applied to anorexia. The author suggests that psychic encapsulation is commonly encountered in work with anorexics, and that each type seems to imply a somewhat different therapeutic course. The distinction is made between anorexic patients who appear to display evidence of autistic/autistoid encapsulation as opposed to those who seem to manifest non-autistoid/later traumatic encapsulation – termed secondary adjunctive encapsulation in this paper. Defensive encapsulations are associated with pathological organisations of the personality – both within and beyond these structures, they exert an organising power over central mental processes. Psychic encapsulation and pathological organisations are defensive structural developments – the result of psychic trauma. Clinical material from three cases is presented to illustrate the arguments.     

Nothing ventured nothing gained: Strong associations between reward sensitivity and two measures of Machiavellianism

Recent theoretical work on the Life History Theory and empirical findings on Machiavellianism suggest that Machiavellian individuals are motivated to acquire short-term benefits and prioritize situations with high potential rewards. Accordingly, in our study, we investigated the associations between reward/punishment sensitivity and Machiavellian interpersonal tactics with self-report measures. Moreover, as a first attempt, we investigated the correlates of Machiavellianism and the behavioral preference for rewards with the IOWA Gambling task (IGT). The results showed robust positive associations of Machiavellian behavioral characteristics with Sensitivity to Reward, and a moderately negative correlation with Sensitivity to Punishment. This finding was further supported by IGT: Machiavellians tended to make reward-oriented decisions.     

Personality,gambling motives and cognitive distortions in electronic gambling machine players

This study examined gambling motives, distorted beliefs about gambling, and personality traits in a paid community sample of frequent electronic gambling machine (EGM) players from Manitoba, Canada. Participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index, the Gambling Motives Questionnaire, the Informational Biases Scale, and the NEO PI-R in group testing sessions. The Five Factor Model facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were divided into ‘aspects’ that align with self-regulation and the Behavioral Approach and Inhibition systems of revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. Regression analysis found that problem gambling severity scores were independently predicted by older age, being female, having distorted gambling beliefs, and by gambling to win money and to cope with negative emotional states. Problem gambling scores were also correlated positively with Withdrawal (N) and Volatility (N), and negatively with Enthusiasm (E), Compliance (A), and Industriousness (C). Mediation tests found that low scores on the Industriousness facet of Conscientiousness were associated with increased problem gambling severity through an effect on the gambling to cope motive. Distorted beliefs about gambling also mediated low Industriousness, as well as high Withdrawal and Volatility. Poor self-regulation and avoidance motivation contribute to problem gambling among frequent EGM players through increased cognitive distortion and escapism.