Strategies of professional assistance after traumatic deaths: Empowerment or disempowerment?

Dyregrov, K. (2004). Strategies of professional assistance after traumatic deaths: Empowerment or disempowerment? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 45, 181–189. Referring to research and theory in the field, this discussion paper addresses the more overarching question of current strategies for professional assistance to populations bereaved by traumatic death. The issues and controversies that have long surrounded the “medicalization” of mental health arise anew with respect to the medicalization and professionalization of psychosocial help for people who have been traumatically bereaved. Who should provide what help and how? To what extent should the bereaved be expected to help themselves, receive help and support from friends and family, or even the wider community; and to what extent should the bereaved be able to access appropriate professional help when they are in crisis? Recent studies have indicated that bereaved parents want to receive help from mainstream crisis psychology, and this is not always available. Families experiencing traumatic bereavement are not able to access appropriate services along the same lines as those suffering similar levels of somatic complaints. It is argued that the main factors contributing to this situation are the lack of knowledge and inadequate organization of services; the fact that somatic issues take priority over psychosocial difficulties and dysfunction, and curative services over prophylactic intervention; and particularly the de‐medicalization ideology. By not listening to the needs of user groups, the de‐medicalization movement disempowers rather than empowers users – the very opposite of the desired effect.     

Using video modeling and reinforcement to teach perspective-taking skills to children with autism

We evaluated video modeling and reinforcement for teaching perspective-taking skills to 3 children with autism using a multiple baseline design. Video modeling and reinforcement were effective; however, only 2 children were able to pass an untrained task, indicating limited generalization. The findings suggest that video modeling may be an effective technology for teaching perspective taking if researchers can continue to develop strategies for enhancing the generalization of these new skills.     

A Practitioner's Perspective of Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children

In this paper, the report by the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children is discussed from a practitioner's perspective. The many and notable strengths are described, including the comprehensive review of the topic, the balanced manner of the report's conclusions, and the way in which the report was written. The weaknesses of the report also are presented.     

Full statistical mediation of the relationship between trauma and depressive symptoms

Owing to the potentially devastating effects of trauma‐induced depression, explaining the relationship between trauma and depressive symptoms is important. In this study, we measured lifelong exposure to potentially traumatic events and depressive symptoms in 370‐female undergraduates. We also measured anxiety, past negative time perspective and dissociation as potential mediators. Trauma exposure and depressive symptoms were related with a small but significant effect size (r = .16). Trauma was not associated with dissociation. We found that past negative time perspective and anxiety were full statistical mediators of this trauma‐depressive symptoms relationship. These two mediators combined accounted for all of the variance in that association. Anxiety accounted for more of the variance than past negative time perspective. A proposed explanation is that trauma both affectively elevates anxiety and cognitively creates an enduring focus on the events. Chronic anxiety and a past negative time perspective may lead to depression over time. The clinical implications are possible explanations as to why some treatments work.     

“We want the world and we want it now”: Materialism,time perspectives and problem spending tendency of Chinese

Chinese consumers' spending has been expanding rapidly in the past decade, and along with it household and credit card debt. The present research collected evidence to triangulate the contention that materialism is positively related with Chinese's problem spending tendency (PST), and that present‐time‐perspective (PTP) and future‐time perspectives (FTP) interact systematically with materialism to affect PST. A survey of the general population in Macao, China (Study 1; N = 239) confirmed that materialism was positively correlated with PST. An interaction between materialism and PTP intensified the relationship, whereas an interaction with FTP weakened the relationship. Another survey with a sample of university students (Study 2; N = 223) again found positive relationships among PST, materialism, and PTP, as measured by temporal discount rate. But further exploration showed that PST was only related with temporal discounting among high materialists, but not among low materialists. Study 3 experimentally examined the causal effects of materialism and FTP on PST. When being primed of an orientation towards materialism (n = 33), the participants' planned consumption doubled that of the control group (n = 31). A FTP prime interacted with materialism prime and put a “damper” on participants' planned spending (n = 29), compared to their counterparts who were not primed of such a time perspective.     

Time perspective and environmental engagement: A meta-analysis

Environmental issues entail both a social conflict (private vs. public interests) and a temporal conflict (short- vs. long-term interests). This paper focuses on the role temporal concerns play in influencing environmental engagement by quantitatively integrating results of studies that assessed the associations between time perspective and proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors. The meta-analysis included a total of 19 independent samples and 6,301 participants from seven countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States). Results showed that the associations between time perspective and proenvironmental behaviors were higher than those for proenvironmental attitudes. Supporting predictions, the associations between future time perspective and proenvironmental behaviors were strong and nontrivial compared to those for the combined past-present time perspective. The findings indicate that future time perspective seems to play an important role in influencing individuals' attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Perspective-taking and depth of theory-of-mind reasoning in sequential-move games

Theory-of-mind (ToM) involves modeling an individual's mental states to plan one's action and to anticipate others' actions through recursive reasoning that may be myopic (with limited recursion) or predictive (with full recursion). ToM recursion was examined using a series of two-player, sequential-move matrix games with a maximum of three steps. Participants were assigned the role of Player I, controlling the initial and the last step, or of Player II, controlling the second step. Appropriate for the assigned role, participants either anticipated or planned Player II's strategy at the second step, and then determined Player I's optimal strategy at the first step. Participants more readily used predictive reasoning as Player II (i.e., planning one's own move) than as Player I (i.e., anticipating an opponent's move), although they did not differ when translating reasoning outcome about the second step to optimal action in the first step. Perspective-taking influenced likelihood of predictive reasoning, but it did not affect the rate at which participants acquired it during the experimental block. We conclude that the depth of ToM recursion (related to perspective-taking mechanisms) and rational application of belief-desire to action (instrumental rationality) constitute separate cognitive processes in ToM reasoning.     

Besoin de cognition,besoin d’évaluer,besoin de clôture : proposition d’échelles en langue française et approche socio-normative des besoins dits fondamentaux

Introduction and objectivesAfter leading a validation of questionnaires about three fundamental needs in French language (need for cognition, closing and evaluation), we tested in two studies that fundamental needs could be subjected to social constraints and could be considered differently than exclusively like stable personality characteristics and motivational drivers of action.MethodUsing the paradigm of judges (study 1) and the paradigm of identification (study 2), the results argue for a normative approach, at least as regards the need for cognition and assess.ResultsThe results of the first study show that individuals consider more favorably targets with strong need rather than low need and especially in social contexts with high social utility (that is to say, the professional context in comparison with the friendly context). The results of the second study show that when the questionnaires about needs “as would a person having been previously well or poorly assessed” participants get higher scores high on the need for cognition questionnaire in the first case than in the second. The results regarding the need for closure are more mixed.ConclusionThe results are discussed in a socio-normative perspective.     

Sex differences of parental phubbing on online hostility among adolescents: A moderated mediation model

To explore the relationship between parental phubbing (PP) and adolescent online hostility and its' psychological mechanism, 689 Chinese adolescents were recruited to complete a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. We took cyber flaming (CF) as an overall category for hostile online communication to investigate the relationship between PP and CF and the mediating role of perspective-taking (PT) in this relationship and examined whether there is a sex difference in this process. After controlling the average daily online time, the results showed that PP predicted adolescent CF positively. The relationship between PP and CF was partially mediated by PT. The effect of PP on PT was moderated by sex, with the result being significant only for boys. Related findings and future directions were discussed.     

视觉观点采择需要抑制控制的参与：一项负启动研究

从抑制控制模型出发,采用负启动范式考察视觉观点采择的认知机制。实验1采用自身体转换任务(N=35) 、实验2采用圆点数量判断任务(N=33)分别考察成人在完成二级和一级视觉观点采择任务时是否需要抑制控制的参与。结果发现,成人在完成两类视觉观点采择任务时均出现了负启动效应,说明当他人观点和自我观点不一致时,个体需要抑制自我的观点才能成功采择他人的观点。