Persistent effects of subliminal stimulation: sex differences and the effectiveness of debriefing

Persistent and non-trivial effects of unconscious stimuli have been reported (Sohlberg & Birgegard, 2003). This raises the ethical question of whether informing participants about such stimuli effectively returns them to a normal state. Two experiments (sex-mixed, N = 70 and 118) tested two kinds of debriefing to participants following subliminal (tachistoscopic) attachment-related or control stimulation. Measures were the Beck Depression Inventory, Structural Analysis of Social Behavior, and Retrospective Attachment. Results showed persistent effects. Simple debriefing about the stimulus was effective in preventing these, while more elaborate debriefing also describing the effects and mechanisms for them was less effective. Persistent effects were also strongly related to participant sex, but debriefing effects were similar in men and women with regard to the purpose of debriefing. The findings have implications for ethical recommendations for subliminal research, and suggest that this unexplored area requires more attention.     

《科学》和《自然》杂志2015年的两篇心理学文章

本文评述了《科学》和《自然》杂志2015年的两篇文章。《科学》上的文章“心理科学的重现性”对100项心理学实验进行了重复验证。结果表明,只有大约多于1/3的原始研究能够重复。该文章对出现这样结果的原因作了分析,并指出这不是心理学的挫折。我们强调科学精神在于它的不确定性,因而科学才能处在不停的探索中。《自然》上的文章“P值仅仅是冰山的一角”,批评了个别心理学杂志禁用P值的做法,指出研究者应该在实验设计、数据处理等实验的前期阶段下功夫,才能防止心理科学的坍塌。我们结合国内研究生培养的现状,就改进心理学研究生的实验训练提出了建议。     

组织行为与领导力研究的进展与前沿

本文首先简要介绍了组织行为和领导力的研究特色和该领域国内外的研究现状。从中可以看出, 在过去的10多年中, 中国学者在该领域中进步快速, 并蕴含巨大的潜力。随后, 比较了国际和国内学术界的研究话题和采用的方法, 指出国内目前研究存在的问题。文章的第三部分介绍了当今组织行为和领导力领域在理论、方法和研究范式上的创新。针对当前中国经济和社会发展的现状, 文章指出了学者可以重点关注的领域。学者可以借鉴学术界已有的理论和方法, 选择恰当的角度对这些问题进行深入而系统的探索。为此, 本文第三部分还介绍了几项近年来具有重大影响的研究, 旨在启发学者关注中国社会的重要现象, 敏锐地发现适合本学科研究的问题, 并以严谨且有创造力的方式去开展研究, 进而对国际学术界做出贡献。     

道德具身认知的理论研究*

具身认知作为一种新兴思潮,强调身体经验及身体与环境的相互作用对于个体抽象概念及认知的作用。从具身认知的角度出发,考察身体和道德认知加工的关系已成为现今道德心理学和神经科学的研究热点。本文结合以往道德具身认知研究,介绍了概念隐喻理论、知觉符号理论、模拟感觉运动隐喻理论和进化理论四种道德具身认知理论,讨论并分析了现有理论研究中存在的矛盾与问题。未来的研究可在多文化背景下进行,并依靠认知神经科学技术对道德的具身认知机制进行更深入的探究。     

Fostering Client Creativity in Family Therapy: A Process Research Study

Creativity has been shown to enhance problem solving, and to increase flexibility and adaptability—qualities associated with positive therapeutic outcomes. Literature related to therapist and/or client creativity is primarily anecdotal. Empirical literature addressing how therapists can facilitate the creativity of their clients in family therapy is scarce. In this study, the researchers used process methodology to code the behavior of therapists and clients in 31 videotaped family therapy sessions. Results show a significant positive correlation between interventions that induce positive affect and the creative client behaviors of optimism and playfulness.     

A Research Tool to Increase Attention to Experimental Materials: Manipulating Presentation Format

Experimental approaches require researchers in a variety of applied business disciplines to design experimental materials. This research is often busy and difficult to secure high-level professionals; thus, researchers must ensure sufficient attention to experimental materials to provide usable data. The current study suggests an experimental design feature to encourage participants to thoroughly process information contained in experimental materials. Based on Reynolds' (1992) selective attention strategy (SAS) model, variations in presentation format were expected to influence the relative salience of information presented. Two aspects of presentation format were manipulated to increase salience: display (paragraph vs. bullet point) and typeface (standard vs. bold underlined). Results indicate display improved ability to retrieve information, but typeface did not. Implications for the design of experimental materials are discussed.     

Ecological Momentary Assessment Research in Behavioral medicine

Behavioral medicine research often seeks to examine relatively complex theoretical models and clinical processes. Traditional designs, based on retrospective self-report in the natural environment or laboratory-based studies, cannot assess complex and temporally dynamic psychological, behavioral, and physiological processes in the natural environment. An alternate research approach, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), provides a method to collect such data. This research approach and these data allow investigation of a number of research questions not amenable to other data collection methods. Examples of research questions uniquely suited for EMA data include, but are not limited to: (1) the comparison of retrospective data to momentary data; (2) evaluation of physiological and psychosocial processes in the natural environment; (3) the relation of symptoms and other disease processes to characteristics of the natural environment; and (4) examination of dynamic changes in psychosocial variables that may mediate improvement following treatment. Despite the strengths of EMA data, a number of challenges exist – including logistic, analytic, and interpretation problems – to the easy implementation of EMA approaches in behavioral medicine.     

Using action research to develop an assessment system in a voluntary sector counselling service

Voluntary sector low and no cost counselling services very often find themselves overwhelmed by clients. This paper describes how one agency decided to deal with this problem by introducing a system of assessment for differential contracts. A piece of action research enabled the development and introduction of a model of assessment that reflected the values of the agency. The guiding principle of the assessment was that the client's way of managing in the world was the best guide to clinical need. The different lengths of contract are described, together with the criteria for deciding which might be appropriate for a client. The model was introduced on the understanding that it could and would be continuously monitored. The reactions of counsellors and clients that were gathered in a review of the working of the model a year later are described.     

Cultural diversity: Mapping the experiences of students on an international counsellor training programme

This research study explores one part of a diverse counselling training landscape in the shape of an international postgraduate education and training programme for counsellors. The research sample includes participants from Tanzania, the Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Iceland, Japan, Greece, Portugal, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Cultural diversity is examined in relation to the learning and development of international counselling students. Qualitative analysis of interview data is used to identify issues related to student expectations, the process of becoming a counsellor and student learning outcomes. Some issues in counsellor training appear to be shared across all international students, while other issues arise from specific cultural backgrounds of students. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Daydreaming, Consciousness, and Self-Representations: Empirical Approaches to Theories of William James and Sigmund Freud

In honor of Saul Rosenzweig's lifelong efforts to provide empirical tests of psychoanalytic theories, this paper has focused on a series of research approaches to examining the concepts of William James and Sigmund Freud relating to waking fantasy, ongoing thought, and beliefs about the self. Studies involving projective methods, psychometric analyses of self-report questionnaires, laboratory tests of daydreaming during signal-detection tasks, thought-sampling during natural daily activities and psychological correlates of actual-self and ideal-self discrepancies are described. Clinical applications of these methods are also presented. The findings in general point to the value of James's conception of conscious thought as an important basis along with cognitive unconscious processes for studying clinical phenomena, personality, and even the metaphors of dreams. Rosenzweig's emphasis on formal research testing of psychoanalytic processes is supported.