Effects of mood induction on ratings of self and experimenter

The relationship between depressed mood and subject's trait ratings of self and experimenter was examined. Mood was induced by having subjects (N = 31) view a depressing or control film. Subjects then rated themselves and the experimenter on personality traits related to supportiveness and general ability. Measurement of subject's mood indicated that the mood induction was effective. "Depressed" individuals rated themselves more negatively on the combined personality traits than did controls. "Depressed" individuals rated the experimenter more negatively for supportiveness traits, but slightly more positively for general ability traits than did control subjects. Results are discussed in terms of research on the effects of depression on self-devaluation and support seeking.     

Retrieved information in intentionality ratings of other persons' behaviors

Participants (N = 153) rated intentionality (with a confidence rating) of 10 behaviors from the observer's perspective. There were three conditions of behaviors: behavior-only, behavior with-reason, or behavior with-cause conditions. Significant differences between the means for all of the behavior conditions were found for both intentionality and confidence ratings, and interactions of Condition x Behavior also significant. When the intentionality values were transformed with a V-shaped function, the means of the transformed values significantly increased along with the mean confidence rating in the with-reason and with-cause conditions. In addition, the across-participant correlations between intentionality and confidence for each behavior were negative when the intentionality mean was near the minimum, and the correlations were positive when the intentionality mean was large; this trend was close to a linear function. These findings suggest that the intentionality rating was based on both a binary judgment and a confidence value.     

The relationship between prototype ratings of personality and self and interpersonal functioning with an adolescent inpatient sample

Personality pathology is conceptualized, in part, as impairments in self and interpersonal functioning. Although most of the research has focused on adult samples, fewer have looked at this relationship in adolescent samples. This paper investigates the relationship between clinician-rated personality prototypes, the Shedler–Westen Assessment Procedure-Prototype Matching Adolescent Version (SWAP-A-P) derived from the SWAP-II-A, and a measure of self and interpersonal functioning, the Social Cognition and Object Relation Scale-Global Rating (SCORS-G). Clinicians rated 66 adolescents hospitalized at a safety net teaching hospital in the northeast. The patient's individual and group therapist rated the patients at discharge using the SWAP-A-P and the SCORS-G at discharge blind to each other's ratings. Results showed that more severe personality pathology was linked with more impairments in self and interpersonal functioning.     

Discrepancies between self and observer ratings of depression. The relationship to demographic, clinical and personality variables

BACKGROUND: The observer-rated Hamilton depression scale (HamD) and the self-report Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) are among the most commonly used rating scales for depression, and both have well demonstrated reliability and validity. However, many depressed subjects have discrepant scores on these two assessment methods. The present study evaluated the ability of demographic, clinical and personality factors to account for the discrepancies observed between BDI and HamD ratings. METHOD: The study group consisted of 94 SCID-diagnosed outpatients with a current major depressive disorder. Subjects were rated with the 21-item HamD and completed the BDI and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. RESULTS: Younger age, higher educational attainment, and depressive subtype (atypical, non-melancholic) were predictive of higher BDI scores relative to HamD observer ratings. In addition, high neuroticism, low extraversion and low agreeableness were associated with higher endorsement of depressive symptoms on the BDI relative to the HamD. In general, these predictive variables showed a greater ability to explain discrepancies between self and observer ratings of psychological symptoms of depression compared to somatic symptoms of depression. LIMITATIONS: The study does not determine which aspects of neuroticism and extraversion contribute to the observed BDI/HamD discrepancies. CONCLUSIONS: Depression ratings obtained with the BDI and HamD are frequently discordant and a number of patient characteristics robustly predict the discrepancy between these two rating methods. The value of multi-modal assessment in the conduct of research on depressive disorders is re-affirmed.     

Internalized weight bias: ratings of the self, normal weight, and obese individuals and psychological maladjustment

Current measures of internalized weight bias assess factors such as responsibility for weight status, mistreatment because of weight, etc. A potential complementary approach for assessing internalized weight bias is to examine the correspondence between individuals’ ratings of obese people, normal weight people, and themselves on personality traits. This investigation examined the relationships among different measures of internalized weight bias, as well as the association between those measures and psychosocial maladjustment. Prior to the beginning of a weight loss intervention, 62 overweight/obese adults completed measures of explicit and internalized weight bias as well as body image, binge eating, and depression. Discrepancies between participants’ ratings of obese people in general and ratings of themselves on both positive and negative traits predicted unique variance in measures of maladjustment above a traditional assessment of internalized weight bias. This novel approach to measuring internalized weight bias provides information above and beyond traditional measures of internalized weight bias and begins to provide insights into social comparison processes involved in weight bias.     

Self-disclosure on the Internet: the effects of anonymity of the self and the other

The effects of anonymity on self-disclosure were investigated in a CMC (computer-mediated communication) situation by separately manipulating the anonymity of the self and the other. It was hypothesized that anonymity of the self would enhance disclosure, whereas anonymity of the other would decrease it. Female undergraduate students (n = 60) were randomly assigned to a 2 (self: anonymous or non-anonymous) x 2 (other: anonymous or non-anonymous) experimental design. The anonymity of the self and the other was manipulated in the profile, such as the photo, name, and sex of the self or the other, on the computer screen. The results indicated that anonymity of the self decreased the feeling of anxiety, but had no effect on disclosure, whereas anonymity of the other decreased the feeling of closeness and decreased the intimacy of disclosure.     

Self-enhancement tendency in self and other evaluations: an examination of 'better-than-average effect'

The purpose of this study was to examine self-enhancement tendency of Japanese people when evaluating self and others, and study the relation between the tendency and self-esteem. In Study 1, subjects were asked to evaluate themselves and an average undergraduate of their age in terms of several attributes. Results showed that self-evaluations were more favorable than evaluations of the average undergraduate on such personality attributes as kindness and diligence, which they rated more important, and less favorable on such attributes as appearance, sociability, and financial resource. In addition, subjects with low self-esteem were likely to appraise themselves more negatively than those with high self-esteem, but the two groups showed the same level of self-enhancement when rating themselves on personality attributes. In Study 2, subjects provided percentile rankings of themselves on ten attributes in relation to undergraduates of their age. Results indicated that more than half of the subjects thought that they were above average (better-than-average effect) on such personality attributes as kindness.     

Memory for actions in children with autism: self versus other

In order to ask whether autism is associated with difficulty in self-monitoring we gave a group of children and adolescents with autism a task in which they themselves had to remember whether they or another person had performed certain actions. In our first experiment, three groups of participants had to recall whether placements of picture cards had been made by themselves or by the experimenter. The participants with autism performed at a much lower level than the two comparison groups and, unlike the comparison groups, were not better at recalling their own placements. A second experiment tested the prediction arising from the monitoring-deficit account that the children with autism would be unimpaired when the placement of the items did not alternate between self and other. This prediction was confirmed moderately well. Additionally, in contrast to that of the comparison groups, the performance of the participants with autism was unaffected by whether self or other displaced the items. This is consistent with the existence of a monitoring deficit.     

Psychiatric morbidity and hostility in hypertension

In a large survey of subjects aged between 35 and 64, no difference was detected in the amount of psychiatric morbidity, determined by response to the General Health Questionnaire, between those with hypertension and those with normal pressure. This finding also obtained if only those subjects ignorant of their own blood pressure level were considered for the same comparison. As a result of administration of a standardized psychiatric interview and a hostility questionnaire to 108 hypertensive and normotensive subjects of a special study, differences in the expression of hostility were demonstrated between the 2 groups. Subjects with hypertension appear to demonstrate more hostility and be less self-critical than a normotensive group. This finding could reflect the effect of recent diagnosis and treatment of hypertension or be associated with the hypertensive state itself.     

大学生自我和谐与人格特征的关系研究

大学阶段是青少年学生人格形成的关键时期,大学生的自我和谐水平对于他们健全人格的形成有重要影响,本研究采用自我和谐量表和艾森克人格问卷成人版,对139名大学生进行了调查,结果表明大学生的自我和谐程度一般,人格发展状况较好;自我和谐各分量表及总分与艾森克人格问卷成人版各分量表有相关性;性格外向、情绪稳定、态度温和的大学生自我和谐性高于性格内向、情绪起伏大、倔强的大学生。     

COMT158 polymorphism and hostility.

The main study was designed primarily to compare the clinical effects of four antipsychotics in 157 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. The secondary genetic study, reported here, is based on a subset of 60 patients who consented to genotyping assays. Based on previous work with the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) 158 polymorphism, we hypothesized that the Met-Met homozygotes would be more hostile than the heterozygotes and the Val-Val homozygotes. Hostility ratings at baseline were used to test this hypothesis. The Met-Met homozygotes (N = 7) were found to have significantly higher levels of hostility than the other patients (N = 53). The hypothesis was thus supported. The finding should be replicated in a larger sample.     

大学生偶像崇拜与自我概念的关系研究

本研究采用问卷法,抽取临沂大学400名非心理学专业的学生,考察他们偶像崇拜的结构特征、类型,以及偶像崇拜的态度与自我概念的关系。结果发现:(1)大学生偶像崇拜的对象以影视明星和企业家为主并多为实质性欣赏。(2)偶像崇拜给大学生带来的积极影响主要是励志和增添生活乐趣,消极影响主要是爱看电视,浪费时间和上课分心。(3)男性大学生较女生更容易产生高程度的偶像崇拜。(4)偶像崇拜态度中个人情感这一因子与自我概念中生理自我这一维度呈负相关;偶像崇拜态度中临界病态这一因子与自我概念的总分及其各维度之间均呈负相关。(5)对青少年偶像崇拜态度影响显著的因素是生理自我、自我认同和自我概念总分等因素。     

What does potential for hostility measure? Gender differences in the expression of hostility

We examined the construct validity of Potential for Hostility (PH) for healthy undergraduate males and females. In Study 1, 45 males and 76 females were rated for PH. Subjects then completed the Cook Medley Hostility Scale (Ho) and a trait negative affectivity (NA) scale. For males, PH correlated with Cynicism, a subscale of the Ho, but was unrelated to NA. However, for females, PH was unrelated to self-reported hostility and minimally related to NA. In Study 2, 52 males and 91 females again were rated for PH in addition to state NA; subjects also provided self-reported state NA and PH measures. For males, convergence was found between observed and self-reported PH scores, but no such relation was found for females; only self-reported and observed state NA predicted females' PH rating. Thus, the Structured Interview method of hostility assessment may not be measuring the same hostility construct in females as it is in males.This research was supported by a grant to K. Davidson from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick.     

Childhood emotional abuse,self/other attachment,and hopelessness in African-American women

There is evidence that individuals emotionally abused as children endorse more hopelessness, a precursor of suicidal behavior in adulthood. However, there has been little focus on this association among African-Americans or on factors that may mediate the childhood emotional abuse (CEA) – adult hopelessness link. The present study examined whether CEA is linked to hopelessness in adulthood in African-American women suicide attempters and if adult self and other attachment models mediate this association. Participants included 116 African-American women recruited from a large, urban hospital. Results revealed that CEA had no direct effect on hopelessness in adulthood, but did have an indirect effect on hopelessness through attachment models. Bootstrapping analyses showed that higher levels of CEA were related to more negative self and other attachment models, which were then linked to higher levels of hopelessness. Implications for targeting attachment in suicide intervention programs are discussed.