Hypnotizability, imaginative involvement, and anxiety

Forty-five undergraduate students were investigated to determine the relationship between hypnotizability, imaginative involvement (absorption), and anxiety responses. Hypnotizability was measured independently with the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS), and imaginative involvement was measured with the Absorption Scale (ABS). The results indicated moderate significant correlations between CIS, ABS, and several of the anxiety measures. In particular self-reported physiological aspects of anxiety/activation were associated with the CIS and the ABS. Three of the subjects reported having panic attacks. These subjects also exhibited high hypnotic responsiveness, and their scores on the ABS and several of the anxiety scales were considerably elevated as compared with the group mean level.     

Psychological stress-factors and concentrations of immunoglobulins and complement components in humans

Relationships between two types of occupational stress, one chronic and one acute, and plasma immunoglobulin and complement components were measured. The first group comprised female primary school teachers ( N =40) subjected to long-lasting work stress. The second group comprised male merchant navy students ( N =38) subjected to a series of short-lasting fear-inducing 20 meter drops in a life boat specially built for rescue operations from oil platforms. Significant correlations were found between personality factors, immunoglobulins and complement components in the teacher group, but not amongst the merchant navy students. For the teachers, personality traits correlated negatively with concentrations of IgA and IgG. IgM concentrations correlated with the more immediate work-related problems reported by the teachers. In a multiple regression analysis, psychological factors explained between 32% (IgM) and 15% (IgG) of the interindividual variance, when sex, age and job seniority and employment factors were controlled for. Psychological factors may therefore, at least on longlasting occupational stress groups, correlate with immune processes. The data support the concept of the importance for psychological factors in immunological function.     

On Intelligence III: Examining developmental implications of Cattail's broad ability theory and of an alternative neo-Spearman model

Developmental implications of Cattell's theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence and of an alternative neo-Spearman hierarchical model of broad ability factors are considered. A comprehensive re-evaluation of available longitudinal data originally interpreted to support Cattell's theory indicates that the support for Cattell's hypotheses of Gf-Gc relationships is highly questionable. Previously published data on broad abilities (see e.g. Undheim, 1976; 1978; 1981 a ) as well as the present results are seen to be more easily consistent with the implications of the neo-Spearman hierarchical model formerly developed (Undheim, 1981 b ).     

On Intelligence IV: Toward a restoration of general intelligence

The present paper points to the limitations of a focusing on narrow primary factors of intelligence and argues for broad-factor structuring of ability data. Recent studies of such broad attributes would suggest a "rapprochement" between Spearman's general intelligence model and Cattell's theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence. Discussing the neo-Spearman organization of abilities thus proposed, the paper argues, however, that the conceptualization of intelligence suggested by this structural model is more akin to Thomson's "sampling" model than to the "power" model of both Spearman and Cattell. The possible role of these interpretations of ability data in future research on intelligent behavior is discussed.     

Does executive control relate to sacrificial behavior during conflicts of interests?

Why is it that some people are better able to sacrifice their own immediate interest for the sake of their partner than others? We conducted two studies to test whether an individual's level of executive control plays a role in answering this question. Study 1 demonstrated that executive control is related to the tendency to continue a frustrating task to benefit one's partner. Study 2 replicated this effect by using two different indicators of sacrifice: a behavioral sacrifice measure and a questionnaire on the intention to make major sacrifices for one's partner. Together, our findings suggest that higher levels of executive control facilitate prorelational behavior when facing various conflicts of interests in a romantic relationship.     

The relative impact of workplace bullying as a social stressor at work

Hauge, L. J., Skogstad, A. & Einarsen, S. (2010). The relative impact of workplace bullying as a social stressor at work. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 426–433. Exposure to workplace bullying has been argued to be a severe social stressor and a more crippling and devastating problem for affected individuals than the effects of all other work‐related stressors put together. However, few studies have explicitly investigated this assumption. In a representative sample of the Norwegian working population, the present study investigated the relative contribution of workplace bullying as a predictor of individual and organizational related outcomes after controlling for the well‐documented job stressors of job demands, decision authority, role ambiguity and role conflict. Bullying was found to be a significant predictor of all the outcomes included, showing a substantial relative contribution in relation to anxiety and depression, while for job satisfaction, turnover intention and absenteeism, more modest relative contributions were identified. Workplace bullying is indeed a potent social stressor with consequences similar to, or even more severe than, the effects of other stressors frequently encountered within organizations. Thus, the finding that bullying has a considerable effect on exposed individuals also when controlling for the effects of other job stressors demonstrates bullying as a serious problem at workplaces that needs to be actively prevented and managed in its own right.     

Examination stress, personality and self-reported physical symptoms

Thirty-nine undergraduate students were investigated to determine the effects of examination stress on self-reported physical symptoms and sensations. Testing was undertaken six weeks prior to a final examination (phase I), immediately after the written part of the examination was over (phase II), and 12–14 days afterwards, but before an oral examination (phase III). The results showed that examination stress was associated with an increase in state anxiety and self-reported physical symptoms with the exception of heart-complaints which showed a gradual decline over the three experimental phases. In phase III, all symptom measures showed a reduction below baseline levels and below the control group's levels. Correlation analyses revealed that symptom scores were associated with variables reflecting psychological vulnerability (e.g. Recent stress and Neuroticism) and dysphoric affect, especially anxiety. The results are discussed in light of theories of attribution, attentional focusing and phychophysiological activation.     

Personality, examination stress and serum concentrations of immunoglobulins

In the first part of the study, 10 undergraduate students were tested to determine the effects of examination stress on serum concentrations of immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM and IgE). Testing was undertaken six weeks prior to a final written examination, at the time of the examination, and 12–14 days after the examination. A control group consisted of students not taking an examination. The results demonstrated a small but significant decrease in IgM during the observed period. However, there were no other significant effects. In the second part of the study, correlations between baseline serum levels of immunoglobulins and psychological variables in a sample consisting of 40 undergraduate students were examined. The results demonstrated a significant relationship between IgM concentrations and psychological variables reflecting acute or chronic psychological load, e.g. social alienation, anxiety/tension, depressive mood, and emotional and bodily complaints. There were no significant correlations between the psychological variables and IgA, IgG or IgE. Multiple regression analysis showed that 34% of the variance in IgM levels could be explained by the variables Somatic complaints and Social alienation. Immunoglobulin levels were not significantly correlated with serum Cortisol or prolactin concentration.     

Semantic activation due to synonym, antonym, and rhyme production

Semantic activation due to priming, and the time course of its dissipation, were examined. Following a word presentation, the subject performed one of three tasks: synonym, antonym, or rhyme production. The first presentation of a word together with the task was the primer. The second presentation of the same word occurred after 0 to 4 intervening words. Effects of priming were looked for in the speed of the first response to the second presentation of the word. A production facilitation occurred when synonym production was primed by antonym production to the same word, the primed word immediately following the primer. Facilitation decreased with increasing number of interpolated tasks. No effect was found when antonym production was primed by synonym production to the same word. The results are discussed in terms of spreading-activation due to active use of the associative link between the concept and its antonyms.     

Interactive effects of noise and neuroticism on recall from semantic memory

Subjects recalled names of countries during 8 or 5 min. (Experiments 1 and 2) or performed a set of brief (40 sec) tasks recalling items from semantic or factual memory (Experiment 3), either in silence or in intermittent white noise (95 dB (A)). Noise interfered consistently with the performance of "neurotic" subjects (i.e., subjects scoring above the median on the EPI scale of neuroticism) but had little effect on that of "stable" ones. Performance was not significantly related to extraversion, nor to self-rated activation, and it was uncorrelated with neuroticism in the no-noise condition. An interpretation of the results emphasizing the distracting effects of noise is discussed.