Psychosis,symbol, affectivity 1: etiopathogenesis and treatment through analytical psychology

This is the first of two papers concerning our study into an integrated approach to psychotic disorders, conducted at the University of Palermo’s Psychiatry Unit Polyclinic over approximately 15 years. Here we will explore and reflect upon the acute psychotic condition mainly from a theoretical and conceptual perspective, while in the second paper we will explore the clinical perspective. From the point of view of psychopathology, and in the light of C.G. Jung’s conceptualization of analytical psychology, as well as calling on contributions from other authors from the systemic-relational and post-psychoanalytic field, we will clarify the ideas developed over these last few years by our team. From a more speculative perspective we will advance new interpretive hypotheses in an attempt to thoroughly understand the nature of the psychotic condition, both on a psychodynamic relational and a neuroscientific level. The paper describes how we revised our understanding of psychosis from a brain disease to a process aimed at the rearrangement of psychic functioning, as anticipated by John Weir Perry nearly 40 years ago.     

Linguistic features of dysfluencies in Parkinson Disease

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine dysfluency characteristics of individuals with Parkinson Disease (PD) relative to linguistic features of grammatical class and position within word. Few studies have reported dysfluency characteristics of PD relative to these characteristics. Those that do report on these characteristics include one case study and a study of six individuals with PD. No previous research is known to have examined dysfluency related to grammatical class and position within words for a large sample of individuals with PD.MethodDysfluencies from 32 individuals with PD were analyzed according to position within a word and grammatical class.ResultsParticipants produced significantly more dysfluencies in the initial position of words compared to medial or final positions, and a significantly higher percent dysfluency for content words versus function words.ConclusionEffects of linguistic features of grammatical class and position within a word on dysfluencies are present within a population with PD and are similar to the linguistic features associated with developmental stuttering. Clinical implications of the effect of linguistic features on speech dysfluencies in PD are discussed.     

Antiwomen But Proquota: Disaggregating Sexism and Support for Gender Quota Policies

Previous research on support for gender quotas focuses on attitudes toward gender equality and government intervention as explanations. We argue the role of attitudes toward women in understanding support for policies aiming to increase the presence of women in politics is ambivalent—both hostile and benevolent forms of sexism contribute in understanding support, albeit in different ways. Using original data from a survey conducted on a probability-based sample of Australian respondents, our findings demonstrate that hostile sexists are more likely to oppose increasing of women's presence in politics through the adoption of gender quotas. Benevolent sexists, on the other hand, are more likely to support these policies than respondents exhibiting low levels of benevolent sexism. We argue this is because benevolent sexism holds that women are pure and need protection; they do not have what it takes to succeed in politics without the assistance of quotas. Finally, we show that while women are more likely to support quotas, ambivalent sexism has the same relationship with support among both women and men. These findings suggest that aggregate levels of public support for gender quotas do not necessarily represent greater acceptance of gender equality generally.     

未来时间洞察力与大学生职业决策自我效能感的关系:领悟社会支持与自尊的链式中介

为考察未来时间洞察力对大学生职业决策自我效能感的影响及其作用机制,本研究采用未来时间洞察力量表、领悟社会支持量表、自尊量表和职业决策自我效能感量表,对756名高校学生进行调查。结果表明:(1)未来时间洞察力、领悟社会支持、自尊、职业决策自我效能感两两之间存在显著正相关;(2)社会支持和自尊在未来时间洞察力与职业决策自我效能感之间起显著的中介作用。具体为三条中介路径:一是社会支持的单独中介作用; 二是自尊的单独中介作用; 三是社会支持和自尊的链式中介作用。研究揭示了未来时间洞察力与大学生职业决策自我效能感的关系及其作用机制,拓展了大学生职业决策自我效能感的影响因素,对大学生的职业指导具有一定的现实意义。     

权力感对道德判断的影响及其理论解释:基于CNI模型的视角

权力感指个体对控制他人和自身的能力的感知。现有权力对道德判断的影响研究主要使用传统两难困境范式,围绕权力感影响主体道德判断的功利论倾向与道义论倾向展开,且研究观点尚未达成共识。由于传统两难困境范式的局限性,研究者开发了道德判断CNI模型探究权力感对道德判断的影响,该模型为两者之间的关系提供了新的解释路径。未来研究可关注CNI模型视角下不同类型权力感对道德判断的影响以及探讨特质性权力感与情境性权力感对个体道德判断差异的联合作用。     

Automatic gaze to the nose region cannot be inhibited during observation of facial expression in Eastern observers

Humans can extract a great deal of information about others very quickly. This is partly because the face automatically captures observers’ attention. Specifically, the eyes can attract overt attention. Although it has been reported that not only the eyes but also the nose can capture initial oculomotor movement in Eastern observers, its generalizability remains unknown. In this study, we applied the “don’t look” paradigm wherein participants are asked not to fixate on a specific facial region (i.e., eyes, nose, and mouth) during an emotion recognition task with upright (Experiment 1) and inverted (Experiment 2) faces. In both experiments, we found that participants were less able to inhibit the initial part of their fixations to the nose, which can be interpreted as the nose automatically capturing attention. Along with previous studies, our overt attention tends to be attracted by a part of the face, which is the nose region in Easterner observers.     

Alcohol use and dating violence among college students

IntroductionNumerous studies have focused on the association of dating violence (DV) and alcohol use. However, little research has as yet assessed their co-occurrence in short timeframes.ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate alcohol use in the two hours preceding DV and in the two hours following DV.MethodCollege students (n = 649, 71% females, mean age = 19.8) reported their experience of DV and their hazardous drinking on self-administered questionnaires. They also reported their alcohol use in the two hours preceding – as well as following – a specific DV event (i.e. insult between dating partners).ResultsChi-square tests outline that alcohol use in the two hours preceding an insult is associated with alcohol use in the two hours following an insult. Regressions show that higher scores of hazardous drinking puts students at risk of insulting or being insulted in a context of alcohol use.ConclusionThe findings can contribute to DV prevention programs among college students.     

Mapping people's positions regarding the acceptability of somatic gene therapy

IntroductionAs gene therapy entails potential drawbacks, studies are needed in order to know people's opinions regarding its use.ObjectivesThe present study examined French people's positions regarding somatic gene therapy.MethodA sample of 224 adults living in various areas in France was presented with 32 realistic scenarios that were created by orthogonally combining the levels of four factors: the type of illness (e.g., hemophilia), the probability of transmission of the pathogenic gene, the technique used (e.g., transfer of a functional gene just after birth), and le probability of success of the therapy.ResultsThrough cluster analysis, six qualitatively different positions were found: Never very acceptable (8% of the sample, mostly males and more educated people), Legalist (17%, mostly people who have been informed of the legal and technical aspects of the therapy), Depends on the chances of success (18%), Fully acceptable after birth (5%), Fully acceptable before birth (8%), and Quite always acceptable (33%, mostly older people with children).ConclusionAlthough it has some few detractors, the recourse to gene therapy seems to be well accepted by a majority of the participants, and this high level of acceptation hold whether the pathology considered is hemophilia, immunodeficiency, propensity to develop cancer, or cardiovascular pathology.     

Factorial validation and measurement invariance of the French version of the multidimensional competitive orientation inventory (FVMCOI) in the sport field

IntroductionLittle is known about the importance of the adaptive, maladaptive and neutral facets of competitive orientations among French athletes.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to test the factorial validation and measurement invariance of the French version of the multidimensional competitive orientation inventory (FVMCOI) from the original version (MCOI, Orosz et al., 2018), which included 12 items and four factors (i.e., hypercompetitive orientation, self-developmental competitive orientation, anxiety-driven competition avoidance, and lack of interest toward competition).MethodA series of three complementary studies was carried out with a total sample of 891 competitors.ResultsFollowing cross-cultural validation methods a preliminary version of the FVMCOI was constructed and the clarity of its items was established (study 1). Then, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) confirmed that the four-factor model for the FVMCOI was factorially valid, and consistent with the model of the original version. As such, the multiple-group invariance tests showed that the FVMCOI was partially invariant across both age and gender and fully invariant across type of sport, level of competition and over time (study 2). Finally, the concurrent validity of the FVMCOI was demonstrated through its expected relationships with achievement goals, competitive aggressiveness and anger in sport (study 3).ConclusionThe establishment of the FVMCOI extends the research in sport psychology by allowing an extensive psychometric study of the MCOI in the sport domain and providing deeper insights into the healthy, unhealthy, and neutral nature of competitive orientation in this context. The FVMCOI's potential practical applications in sport context, with some limitations and perspectives of this study, are also discussed.     

Safety of micro-mobility: Riders’ psychological factors and risky behaviors of cargo TTWs in China

Cargo two- or three-wheeled vehicles (TTWs), as a new form of micro-mobility, have become a popular mode of urban cargo transportation in China. Cargo TTW riders’ psychological factors and risky behaviors lead to a number of accidents. A questionnaire is designed by comprehensively considering these factors and behaviors of cargo TTW riders that includes eleven risk factors to quantitatively analyze the risky behaviors based on structural equation modeling (SEM). One thousand three hundred nineteen participants reported using cargo TTWs on a questionnaire distributed across the country. The characteristics of riding behavior data are analyzed to verify the three-layer risk theoretical framework of “Psychological factors (Personality traits/specific factors) - Psychological acceptability of risks (confidence/perception/attitude) - Risky behaviors”. The results show that anger has a strong direct effect on riding violations, while normlessness and altruism have a direct effect on riding errors. Workload has a weak but direct effect on risky behaviors, and riding feedback has a weak and mixed effect. In addition, high-risk groups are identified by analysis of variance (ANOVA) with rider population attributes. These quantitative analyses can help guide safety countermeasures to mitigate accidents involving cargo TTWs.