Rearing practices and impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms in relation to inflated responsibility and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms

Smári, J., Rúrik Martinsson, D., & Einarsson, H. (2010). Rearing practices and impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms in relation to inflated responsibility and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 392–397. The aim of the study was to investigate potential precursors of inflated responsibility (responsibility attitudes) and obsessive‐compulsive (OCD) symptoms. It was argued that both parental overprotection and impulsivity, separately and in interaction with each other, contribute to inflated responsibility and OCD symptoms. In a large sample of young adults (N = 570), self‐report measures of OCD symptoms (OCI‐R), responsibility attitudes (RAS), anxiety/depression (HADS), rearing practices (EMBU), present and past impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms (IMP/HY) were administered. Overprotection as well as IMP/HY were found to predict OCD symptoms as well as inflated responsibility. Finally, a significant interaction was found between IMP/HY and overprotection with regard to both OCD symptoms and inflated responsibility. This effect reflected that IMP/HY was more strongly related to OCD symptoms and responsibility in people who had not been overprotected than in people who had been. Conversely overprotection was related to OCD symptoms and responsibility in people low but not in people high in IMP/HY. The results seem to indicate that the inadequacy between offer and need for parental control may play a role in the development of OCD symptoms.     

Malingering dissociative identity disorder: objective and projective assessment

Verification of dissociative identity disorder presents challenges given the complex nature of the illness. This study addressed the concern that this disorder can be successfully malingered on objective and projective psychological tests. 50 undergraduate women were assigned to a Malingering or a Control condition, then completed the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Dissociative Experiences Scale II. The Malingering group were asked to simulate dissociative identity disorder; controls received instructions to answer all materials honestly. Analysis indicated that malingerers were significantly more likely to endorse dissociative experiences on the Dissociative Experiences Scale II in the range common to patients with diagnosed dissociative identity disorder. However, on the Rorschach there were no significant differences between the two groups. Results suggest that the assessment of dissociative identity disorder requires a multifaceted approach with both objective and projective assessment tools. Research is needed to assess these issues in clinical populations.     

Rorschach indicators of Multiple Personality Disorder.

The increase in reported cases of Multiple Personality Disorder underscores a great need to differentiate clearly this from other psychiatric disorders and from simulation of Multiple Personality Disorder. Two sets of Rorschach signs have been advanced as clinical markers by their developers, namely Barach and also Wagner, Allison, and Wagner. As the Wagner signs are prevalent in much of the research on Rorschach responses in Multiple Personality Disorder, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate these signs using Wagner's administration and the resulting Rorschach protocols of 16 Multiple Personality Disorder patients and 16 psychiatric controls. Analysis indicated that this system was deficient in correctly classifying these 32 protocols. A new marker, the Splitting Response, emerged, however, which was more useful. This response, in combination with at least one Dissociative response, produced an accuracy rate of 94%. These new criteria may be useful aids in the detection of Multiple Personality Disorder from Rorschach protocols. Replication is urged.     

Weeping: Evidence for a cognitive theory

According to a two-factor cognitive theory of weeping, schema-incongruent information and efforts to assimilate it create arousal; resolution, giving up of the schema, and cessation of the assimilation efforts result in arousal reduction and may be associated with emotional tears. To assess these predictions, female subjects were shown an emotional film under one of two conditions. In one condition only schema-induction and incongruity phases were viewed, while the other condition viewed the complete film (i.e., schema-induction, incongruity, and resolution). Consistent with expectations, incongruity was associated with increased stress and depressed mood. Only subjects who viewed the complete film reported significant decreases in these states. The final scene, assumed to trigger schema change, produced the greatest amount of weeping.This paper is adapted from a portion of a doctoral dissertation conducted by the first author. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Walter Katkovsky and Raymond Ditrichs. A version of this paper was presented at a meeting of the Western Psychological Association, May 1986.     

Weeping propensity and the effects of laboratory expression or inhibition

Theories of emotional weeping indicate that expression through tears is healthy, but laboratory research has produced mixed results. Fifty women viewed a sad videotape under instructions to either express or inhibit crying. Mood and stress levels were measured before and after viewing, and skin conductance was monitored continuously. Subjects also reported their crying frequency in the past month. A median split on crying intensity divided subjects into two groups; subjects included in analyses were those in the expression condition who reported strong reactions, and those in the inhibition condition who did not. Thirty-five participants fit these categories. The results indicated that moods became more negative from pre- to postmovie for both groups. Skin conductance, or arousal level, was higher at the end of the movie in the inhibition than in the expression condition. On the stress measure, condition and natural crying propensity interacted, so that subjects with the highest stress levels were those whose behavior in the study was inconsistent with their natural tendencies. The results are discussed in the context of earlier research on behavioral inhibition and emotional regulation.Supported by a Small Research Grant to the first author.     

Social reactions to the expression of emotion

Abstract

Weeping has traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness, and laughter as a sign of health. In the current study, attitudes and reactions toward emotional expressions were evaluated in a laboratory setting. Subjects (n = 168) viewed a movie with a confederate who cried, laughed, or expressed no emotion; they then engaged in 3 minutes of videotaped interaction. Results indicated that men were liked best when they cried, and women when they did not. Criers were seen as more depressed and emotional than individuals who laughed, but not as more feminine. More personal conversations were initiated in the Control condition, and contagion occurred in the Laugh condition, where moods were most positive. These results are consistent with other research which suggests that gender role expectations of emotional expression, especially crying, may have changed in recent years; they also demonstrate that reactions to others' expressions depend upon the expression and also the expressor.