Asymmetries in the perceptual span for Israeli readers

Native Israeli readers read Hebrew and English text as their eye movements were monitored. A window of text moved in synchrony with their eye movements and the window was either symmetrical about the fixation point or offset to the left or right. When subjects were reading Hebrew, the perceptual span was asymmetric to the left and when they were reading English it was asymmetric to the right. The results point out the importance of attentional factors in reading.     

Generating interior search directions for multiobjective linear programming

A new multiobjective linear programming (MOLP) algorithm is presented. The algorithm uses a variant of Karmarkar's interior-point algorithm known as the affine-scaling primal algorithm. Using this single-objective algorithm, interior search directions are generated and used to provide an approximation to the gradient of the (implicitly known) utility function. The approximation is guided by assessing locally relevant preference information for the various interior directions through interaction with a decision maker (DM). The resulting algorithm is an interactive approach that makes its progress towards the solution through the interior of the constraints polytope.     

Sensation seeking and the aversive motivational system

Sensation seeking (SS) has traditionally been viewed as a phenomenon of the appetitive motivational system. The limited SS research exploring contributions from the aversive motivational system reveals greater anxious reactivity to dangerous activities among low sensation seekers. The present study extends this line of work by comparing levels of fear and anxiety during anticipation of predictable and unpredictable aversive stimuli across high- and low-SS groups. Low sensation seekers displayed greater fear-potentiated startle (FPS) to predictable aversive stimuli, and only those low on SS showed FPS and skin conductance response effects during experimental contexts in which aversive stimuli were delivered unpredictably. Findings implicate enhanced apprehensive anticipation among those low on SS as a potential deterrent for their participation in intense and threatening stimulus events.     

Family Relationships,Leaving Home,and Adjustment to Military Service

Associations between family relationships and individual adjustment were studied within a sample of 19-year-old soldiers during their first weeks of basic training. Results showed that family relationships partly explained soldiers' closeness to best friends, number of social nominations, and commanders' ratings of soldiers' military and social competence. In addition, family relations explained soldiers' perceived social competence as assessed via closeness to best friends and number of sociometric nominations. Together, the results reiterate the role played by the family and attitudes toward offspring leaving home and toward their adjustment to military service.     

“Wondering” and Beyond: Discussion of Arietta Slade's “Reflective Parenting Programs”

Arietta Slade describes the development of two reflective parenting programs that are based on Fonagy's and his colleagues' construct of reflective functioning. The merits of focusing on a defined theoretical construct are that it enables the conceptualization of the parent and child experiences that should be targeted and outlined in an intervention program. The discussion questions the extent to which parents, and in particular those with difficult histories, can be open to this intervention. The psychoanalytic literature has shown that parent–child interactions are affected by parents' past experiences that might be projected or attributed to their children. It is suggested that the intervention program should also address the parent and his or her past. Helping parents to arrive at a more integrated understanding of their own development could help them to be more open to the experiences of their children.     

To Seek or Not to Seek: The Relationship Between Help Seeking and Job Performance Evaluations as Moderated by Task-Relevant Expertise

The present study explored the relationship between level of employees' help-seeking behavior and their overall job evaluations. It was hypothesized that employees would seek more help from others whom they perceive as more knowledgeable than they are and that they would seek more help from superiors than from coworkers. Regarding the link between amount of help seeking and performance evaluations, it was predicted that the relationship between amount of help seeking and evaluations of overall job performance are curvilinear and affected by the perceived expertise of the helper. Study participants were employees of a chemical plant, and they reported on the amount of help seeking that they engaged in with superiors and coworkers. Data on the perceived expertise of the help seeker and the help giver in any helping interaction were collected. Most recent job performance evaluations as reported by participants' superiors served as a measure of job performance. The analyses indicate that in line with prediction, the relationships between help seeking and performance evaluations were curvilinear. These relationships were moderated by the help seeker's relative task-relevant expertise. The theoretical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

On Loneliness,Narcissism, and Intimacy

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Understanding emerging adulthood from a goal-setting perspective

The chapter first introduces the concept of emerging adulthood as a period of life that is characterized by instabilities and fluctuations. Then, the role of goal setting and aspirations in individual development during this stage of life is discussed. Following this, seven chapters of the present special issue are introduced, and the ways in which goal processes affect individual trajectories and outcomes are discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of future perspectives in the field, such as the need to investigate the relationships between goals and goal adjustment, the need to carry out cross-cultural comparisons, as well as the need to develop intervention based on goal and aspiration framework.     

Dynamics of goal pursuit and personality make-up among emerging adults: typology, change over time, and adaptation

In recent years young people's lives have been characterized by postponement of developmental timetables, inconsistencies of transitions, and loss of direction in life. Data from a longitudinal study of Israeli young adults show that the capacity for setting realistic work and love goals reflects inner strengths and is associated with adaptive outcomes. Less-articulated love and work goals are associated with underlying personality difficulties and are predictive of less stable and less adaptive outcomes. The interplay of goal constellations and personality constructs, and its association with adaptive and less adaptive outcomes is presented and discussed.