Cultural identity in Siberia and in analytical practice

This paper discusses the main features of Siberian identity formed throughout the historical development of Siberia under the influence of social, economic, geographical, climatic, and other factors. Siberian cultural identity is closely connected with the mythology and ancient religion of the indigenous peoples of Siberia – shamanism, whose rituals, images, symbols, and motifs are often manifested in the clients’ dreams. Following an in‐depth study of Siberian history and culture, I formulate a complex of homelessness rooted in a deep collective trauma that left its imprint on people’s psyche. Three clinical cases presented in the paper reveal a deep relationship between cultural complexes and collective traumas on the one hand, and individual complexes and traumas, on the other. My psychotherapeutic practice shows that a client’s awareness of their history and culture brings them closer to the meaning and source of their suffering, which, in turn, helps them find their own way of individuation, rather than relive the transgenerational trauma of their ancestors.     

On the advantage of autobiographical memory pliability: implantation of positive self-defining memories reduces trait anxiety

This paper is devoted to the mechanism of the positive construction of autobiographical memory. Positive construction consists of the spontaneous transformation of memories in the direction of the subjective enhancement of self-competence in past activities to anticipate improvement over time. We speculated that trait anxiety may indicate a failure to exhibit this mechanism that results in a deficit of affirmative self-esteem. We hypothesised that the implantation of positive self-defining memories in anxiety-evoking domains would decrease trait anxiety. One hundred twenty adults recollected three negative self-defining memories. Then, half of the participants imagined episodes of desired behaviour that differed from the originally recollected ones either in discussion or in hypnosis. Thirty participants experienced a hypnotic state without any references to memories, and the rest formed the control group. Subjects from the “Memory Implantation in Hypnosis” group became unable to distinguish the originally reported memories from the imagined ones, exhibited decreased trait anxiety scores after a 4-month delay, and reported enhanced self-esteem. In contrast, the participants from the “Hypnosis with no reference to the past” group exhibited decreased scores at a short delay but later returned to their original scores. These findings highlight the power of cured episodic-like autobiographical memory for updating the self.     

Effect of self-focused attention on post-event processing in social anxiety

The study investigated the relationship between self-focused attention (SFA) and post-event processing (PEP) in social anxiety. SFA is the process of directing attention to internal stimuli during a social interaction. PEP is a detailed review of performance following an interaction. Highly socially anxious students (N = 82) were randomly assigned to a high SFA (n = 40) or low SFA condition (n = 42) and completed baseline measures of social anxiety, depression, trait SFA, and trait rumination. After SFA was manipulated via instructions, participants engaged in a 5-min unstructured conversation with a confederate, followed by a manipulation check. PEP was assessed the next day online. The high SFA group reported a similar amount of positive PEP but more frequent negative PEP over the 24-h period compared to the low SFA group. These results provide support for a causal relationship between SFA and PEP and have important applications for the development of effective cognitive-behavioural interventions.     

Suppressed semantic information accelerates analytic problem solving

The present study investigated the limits of semantic processing without awareness, during continuous flash suppression (CFS). We used compound remote associate word problems, in which three seemingly unrelated words (e.g., pine, crab, sauce) form a common compound with a single solution word (e.g., apple). During the first 3 s of each trial, the three problem words or three irrelevant words (control condition) were suppressed from awareness, using CFS. The words then became visible, and participants attempted to solve the word problem. Once the participants solved the problem, they indicated whether they had solved it by insight or analytically. Overall, the compound remote associate word problems were solved significantly faster after the problem words, as compared with irrelevant words, were presented during the suppression period. However this facilitation occurred only when people solved with analysis, not with insight. These results demonstrate that semantic processing, but not necessarily semantic integration, may occur without awareness.     

Why do I hate thee? Conflict misperceptions and intergroup mistrust

Members of partisan social groups often exaggerate how much their own opinions differ from those of their rivals. In the present two studies, partisans estimated their own and their rivals' attitudes toward different issues related to the social conflict and also made a variety of evaluative judgments about their own and the rival group. The authors found that (a) partisans perceive more disagreement with their rivals about values that are central to their own sides' ideological position than those that are central to their rivals' position and (b) perceptions of disagreement about the partisans' own central values are what predicts partisans' global evaluations of members of the outgroup (e.g., disliking, trait stereotypes, perceived similarity). Furthermore, partisans believed their adversaries were motivated by an opposition to the partisans' own core values rather than by promotion of the adversaries' core values. Discussion concentrates on the theoretical and applied implications of these findings.     

Personality dominance and preferential use of the vertical dimension of space: evidence from spatial attention paradigms

Previous research has shown that dominant individuals frequently think in terms of dominance hierarchies, which typically invoke vertical metaphor (e.g., "upper" vs. "lower" class). Accordingly, we predicted that in spatial attention paradigms, such individuals would systematically favor the vertical dimension of space more than individuals low in dominance. This prediction was supported by two studies (total N= 96), which provided three tests involving two different spatial attention paradigms. In all cases, analyses controlling for speed of response to horizontal spatial probes revealed that more dominant individuals were faster than less dominant individuals to respond to probes along the vertical dimension of space. Such data support the metaphor-representation perspective, according to which people think in metaphoric terms, even in on-line processing tasks. These results have implications for understanding dominance and also indicate that conceptual metaphor is relevant to understanding the cognitive-processing basis of personality.     

Academic Success of Mexican Origin Adolescent Boys and Girls: The Role of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting and Cultural Orientation

To understand the role that Mexican origin parents play in their children's academic success, this study used structural equation modeling to evaluate the associations of parents' parenting practices (warmth, monitoring, harshness, and academic involvement) and cultural orientations (enculturation and acculturation) with their adolescents' grades, classroom behavior, and association with peers who get into trouble at school. Data were obtained from teachers, mothers, fathers, and male and female adolescents in 560 Mexican origin families living in the southwest U.S. Results indicated that mothers' and fathers' parenting practices and cultural orientations were linked to adolescents' academic outcomes. However, there were differences for boys and girls. Results are discussed in relation to parent and adolescent gender roles and implications for intervention.     

Spatial learning in the holeboard impairs an early phase of long-term potentiation in the rat hippocampal CA1-region

Long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) are considered as cellular models for learning and memory. We studied the impact of holeboard training on LTP in the rat CA1 hippocampal region. In 7-week-old Wistar rats a recording electrode was chronically implanted into the hippocampal pyramidal cell layer of the CA1 of the right hemisphere and a stimulation electrode into the contralateral CA3 region.Two groups of animals received a spatial holeboard training of 10 or 15 trials over 2 days on a fixed pattern of baited holes. The last trial was performed 15 min after a primed burst stimulation of the contralateral CA3, which resulted in LTP in the ipsilateral CA1. A pseudo-trained group that received a 10 trial training with changing patterns of baited holes after each trial and a group that remained in the recording chambers during the experiments served as controls. Experimental rats significantly improved their spatial performance with increasing numbers of trials, indicated by decreasing times to pick up all food pellets and by decreasing numbers of reference memory errors. A learning-related impairment of CA1-LTP measured in both the population-spike amplitude as well as the fEPSP could be noted. These results show that specific (pattern-training), but not unspecific (pseudo-training) spatial information processing prior to electrical stimulation can severely affect LTP in hippocampal area CA1.     

The vertical nature of dominance-submission: Individual differences in vertical attention

Dominance-submission has been linked to verticality in studies of metaphor, judgment, and online processing. In all cases, dominance has been associated with higher locations in vertical space, whereas submission has been associated with lower locations in vertical space. The present studies sought to extend this class of vertical metaphors to individual differences in spatial attention. Two studies were conducted. In both, dominance-submission was assessed as an individual difference variable and covert spatial attention tasks were used to assess biases in vertical selective attention. As predicted, dominant individuals were faster to respond to higher spatial probes, whereas submissive individuals were faster to respond to lower spatial probes. These results reinforce a vertical theory of dominance-submission, importantly extending it to individual differences and basic processes of selective attention. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of embodiment, metaphor, personality, and attention.