Target personality characteristics and self-disclosure: An exploratory study

This study investigated the influence of target personality characteristics on self-disclosure. Using the Bem Q-Sort Technique, the subjects (71 male and 73 female undergraduate students) described the personality of the person to whom they disclose the most and the personality of the person to whom they disclose the least, as well as their own personality. Factor analysis revealed that there were several personality types to whom people disclose the most and the least. The various types are described and discussed. Results supported the hypothesis that both males and females prefer disclosing to individuals who are perceived as similar to themselves in personality. This finding has important implications for the therapeutic relationship with regard to matching therapist and client.     

The effects of pretraining on the bar-pressing performance of VMH-lesioned rats

Ventromedial hypothalamic lesioned rats preoperatively trained on an FR-128 schedule displayed postoperative improvements in performance which were a direct function of the degree of hyperphagia. The postoperative performance by the pretrained VMH-lesioned animals did not significantly differ from that of control animals during short test sessions following periods of deprivation, but substantially exceeded that of controls with continuous opportunity to respond. The increase in the number of pellets obtained was achieved by increases in both the meal size and the rate of bar-pressing. Previous attempts to account for the deficit in performance by nonpretrained VMH-lesioned animals in terms of decreased motivation or lowered activity are rejected in favor of an explanation based on a modification of affective response following such lesions.     

The effects of a recipient's openness and conveyance to a third party of the self-disclosure on changes in the discloser's liking and self-disclosure

One hundred and ninety-nine university students (101 males, 98 females) served in a study designed to examine various factors affecting a discloser's degree of liking of and self-disclosure to a recipient. Specifically, the effects of (1) the recipient's degree of openness (high, low), (2) whether or not the recipient conveyed the discloser's self-disclosure to a third party (yes, no), and (3) the intimacy of self-disclosure by the discloser (high, low) were assessed in terms of (a) change in self-disclosure by the discloser and (b) change in liking by the discloser. Results confirmed the hypotheses that: (1) the degree of openness of the recipient and the conveyance of self-disclosure by the recipient would interact with change in the discloser's liking of and self-disclosure to the recipient, and, (2) the degree of openness of the recipient and the intimacy of self-disclosure would interact with change in the discloser's liking of and self-disclosure to the recipient. Moreover, females were found to be more sensitive than males to conveyance by the recipient.     

The effects of small vessel disease and amyloid burden on neuropsychiatric symptoms: a study among patients with subcortical vascular cognitive impairments

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) affect the quality of life of patients with dementia and increase the burden on caregivers. We aimed to evaluate how small vessel disease (SVD) such as lacunae or white matter hyperintensities (WMH), and amyloid burden affect NPS. We recruited 127 patients with subcortical vascular cognitive impairment who were assessed with brain magnetic resonance imaging, Pittsburgh compound-B (PiB) positron emission tomography and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI). To explore the association between lacunae, WMH, or PiB retention ratio and NPS, we performed multivariate regression analysis after controlling for possible confounders. Each additional lacuna, especially in the frontal region, was associated with higher odds of depression, apathy, aberrant motor behavior, nighttime behavior, appetite changes, and higher score of total NPI; larger WMH volume, especially in the frontal region, was associated with higher odds of apathy and higher score of total NPI. Furthermore, for the effects of lacunae or WMH on total NPI score we set Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes as the mediator. Greater PiB retention ratio was associated with higher odds of delusions and irritability. The SVD and amyloid pathologies did not show interactive effects on NPS. Our findings suggested that SVD and amyloid burden independently affected specific NPS.     

The cognitive mechanisms underlying deception: An event-related potential study

The cognitive view on deception proposes that lying comes with a cognitive cost. This view is supported by the finding that lying typically takes longer than truth telling. Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide a means to unravel the cognitive processes underlying this cost. Using a mock-crime design, the current study (n = 20) investigated the effects of deception on the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV), the Lateralized Readiness Potential (LRP), the Correct Response Negativity (CRN), and the stimulus-locked N200 and P300 components. In line with previous research, lying resulted in more errors, longer reaction times (RTs) and longer RT standard deviations compared to truthful responses. A marginally significant effect suggested a stronger CNV for the anticipation of lying compared to the anticipation of truth telling. There were no significant deception effects on the stimulus- and the response-locked LRPs. Unexpectedly, we found a significantly larger CRN for truth telling compared to lying. Additional analyses revealed an enhanced N200 and a decreased P300 for lying compared to truth telling. Our results support the cognitive load hypothesis for lying, yet are mixed regarding the response conflict hypothesis. Results are discussed with regard to the specific characteristics of our design and their theoretical and applied implications.     

The effect of physician self-disclosure on patient self-disclosure and patient perceptions of the physician

ObjectivesPhysician self-disclosure is typically seen as patient-centered communication because it creates rapport and is seen as an expression of empathy. Given that many physician behaviors affect patients differently depending on whether they are shown by a female or male physician, we set out to test whether physician self-disclosure affects patients’ intentions to self-disclose and patients’ perceptions of their physicians depending on physicians’ gender.MethodTwo hundred and forty-four participants were recruited and randomly assigned to read one of 4 vignettes as if they were the patient in the dialogue (analogue patient design). They were then asked to report how they would react to the physician and how they perceived the him or her.ResultsPhysicians who self-disclosed were perceived as more empathic than physicians who did not, regardless of physician and patient gender. Physician self-disclosure had an effect on the behavioral intentions of the analogue patients, and this was moderated by physician gender. Analogue patients indicated to be more willing to self-disclose to female than to male physicians who self-disclosed.ConclusionIt is important to consider physician gender when training physicians in patient-centered communication because the same behavior can have different effects on patients depending on whether it originates from a female or a male physician.Practical implicationsPhysicians can use self-disclosure to express empathy. When female physicians do so, they might obtain more personal information from patients, which can positively affect diagnosis and treatment.     

The interactive effects of counselor gender,physical attractiveness and status on client self-disclosure

Investigated client self-disclosure and client perception of counselors (as expressed in counselor evaluations) as a function of the sex, attractiveness and status of the counselor, and the sex of the client. Counselor gender and attractiveness were established by means of stimulus photographs; counselor status was defined in terms of education and experience. Ss (160 college students) first rated their counselors on intelligence and empathy; they then completed Jourard's Self-Disclosure Questionnaire while role-playing clients in therapy. A four-factor between-Ss analysis of disclosure scores revealed that clients disclosed more of themselves to male than to female counselors when the counselors were high in either status or attractiveness. Results supported the hypothesis that the effect of counselor gender on client disclosure depends on an interaction of counselor gender with other counselor variables.     

Effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy for diagnostically heterogeneous groups: a benchmarking study

Researchers have recently suggested that the commonalities across the emotional disorders outweigh the differences, and thus similar treatment principles could be applied in unified interventions. In this study, the authors used a benchmarking strategy to investigate the transportability of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depression to mixed-diagnosis groups. Patients (N = 143) attended 10 2-hour sessions of group CBT plus a 1-month follow-up. Changes in anxiety and depression were indexed by effect sizes, reliable change, and clinically significant change and then benchmarked to previous efficacy and effectiveness studies. Symptoms of depression and anxiety significantly improved, and mixed-diagnosis groups compared favorably with diagnosis-specific CBT, suggesting that unified treatments are an effective, efficient, and practical method of treatment delivery.     

An investigation of interpretive bias in insomnia: an analog study comparing normal and poor sleepers

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Cognitive theories state that psychological disorders are associated with, and are possibly maintained by, interpretive biases, which are tendencies to make threatening interpretations of ambiguous stimuli. Recent models of insomnia have highlighted the importance of cognitive processes. The aim of this study was to empirically evaluate whether an interpretive bias is present in poor sleepers. DESIGN: A mixed-design analysis of covariance was employed with group (normal sleepers vs poor sleepers) as a between-subjects variable and sentence type (insomnia-related vs anxiety related) as a within-subjects variable. The dependent variables were the extent to which participants interpreted insomnia-related and anxiety-related sentences as having a threatening meaning. Sleepiness was used as a covariate. SETTING: Treatment and research clinic at a university department of psychiatry. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-one normal and 34 poor sleepers. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: A set of ambiguous scenarios were administered to participants who gave open-ended and forced-choice interpretations of the scenarios. Each scenario could be interpreted in a threat (insomnia or anxiety)-related or neutral manner. Even after controlling for sleepiness, poor sleepers were found to make significantly more threat-related interpretations of ambiguous scenarios than did normal sleepers. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that there is a bias toward threat-related interpretations among poor sleepers and that the exploration of biased interpretations may be an important avenue for future research among individuals who meet full diagnostic criteria for insomnia.     

The effects of self-compassion components on shame-proneness in individuals with depression: An exploratory study

To date, there is no evidence regarding how self-compassion's components, self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness could work as distinct interventions. Thus, the main objective of the present study was exploring the effects that the three separate components of self-compassion would have on shame-proneness levels in individuals with clinical depression. All the participants (n = 122) with a diagnostic of Major Depressive Disorder were randomized in four experimental groups: the self-kindness exercises group, the mindfulness exercises group, the common humanity one and the control group. Results indicated that levels of depression and shame-proneness, as measured by BDI-II, TOSCA-3 and ESS decreased from baseline to post-intervention, but no significant differences were observed between groups. Therefore, we cannot conclude that one self-compassion component is more efficient than the others, but the present study does offer, though, a strong starting point for more complex, future studies.     

The neural correlates of cognitive effort in anxiety: effects on processing efficiency

We investigated the neural correlates of cognitive effort/pre-target preparation (Contingent Negative Variation activity; CNV) in anxiety using a mixed antisaccade task that manipulated the interval between offset of instructional cue and onset of target (CTI). According to attentional control theory (Eysenck et al., 2007) we predicted that anxiety should result in increased levels of compensatory effort, as indicated by greater frontal CNV, to maintain comparable levels of performance under competing task demands. Our results showed that anxiety resulted in faster antisaccade latencies during medium compared with short and long CTIs. Accordingly, high-anxious individuals compared with low-anxious individuals showed greater levels of CNV activity at frontal sites during medium CTI suggesting that they exerted greater cognitive effort and invested more attentional resources in preparation for the task goal. Our results are the first to demonstrate the neural correlates of processing efficiency and compensatory effort in anxiety and are discussed within the framework of attentional control theory.     

Valence matters: An electrophysiological study on how emotions influence cognitive performance in children

Emotional stimuli have been found to influence cognitive performance in children, but it is not clear whether this effect varies with the cognitive demands of the task. In this study, we examined how emotional expressions influenced cognitive performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) in early and middle childhood under varying cognitive control demands. Two groups of children (4.5–6.0 and 7.0–8.5 years) completed a modified flanker task where the stimuli were faces displaying task-irrelevant emotional expressions. Emotional influence varied depending on emotional valence: Accuracy was greater for happy targets, while response time and N2 latency were longer for angry targets. In younger children only, angry targets elicited a larger late frontal negativity. Cognitive control demands did not modulate the effect of emotions on behavioral performance or ERPs, contrasting with findings in adults. Findings are discussed in relation to the dual competition model and previous work demonstrating a positivity bias in children.     

The role of therapist self-disclosure in psychotherapy: A qualitative review

Over 90% of therapists self-disclose to clients (Mathews, 1989; Pope, Tabachnick, & Keith-Spiegel, 1987; Edwards & Murdock, 1994), however, the implications of therapist self-disclosure are unclear, with highly divergent results from one study to the next. The goal of this paper was to review the empirical literature relevant to therapist self-disclosure, and provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect, and are affected by, therapist self-disclosure. Findings are organized into an integrated model examining the who, what, when, why, and how of therapist self-disclosure. In addition, training implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

The long-term effects of the Kangaroo Mother Care intervention on cognitive functioning: Results from a longitudinal study

This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) intervention on the intellectual and attentional functioning of young adults born with low birth weight. Three hundred infants were randomly assigned at birth in one of two interventions, KMC or traditional care (TC), and completed cognitive tests at adulthood (19–21 years after recruitment). The main results show that participants with a neurological vulnerability at 6 months had higher IQ and sustained attention scores at adulthood if they had received KMC than if they had received TC.     

The effects of apolipoprotein E on non-impaired cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis

Nearly twice as many participants are represented in the current literature than were available at the time of the last major meta-analytic neurocognitive examination of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon allele combinations [Small, B.J., Rosnick, C.B., Fratiglioni, L., Backman, L., 2004. Apolipoprotein E and cognitive performance: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Aging 19, 592-600]. The meta-analysis in the current study sought to specifically examine (1) small effects and (2) possible moderating variables associated with ApoE allele combinations that may have been undiscoverable in previous examinations of smaller data sets. A total of 77 studies, representing 40,942 cognitively healthy adults were identified for inclusion in the current meta-analysis (random effects design). Results were congruent with the previous meta-analytic findings indicating that carriers of ApoE allele 4 (?4) perform significantly worse on measures of episodic memory, executive functioning, and overall global cognitive ability. In addition, the current analysis revealed a small effect suggesting that ApoE allele 4 adversely impacts perceptual speed. In contrast to earlier studies, the results also indicate that increases in age result in significantly larger differences between ApoE ?4 carriers and ApoE non-?4 carriers on measures of episodic memory and global cognitive ability. ApoE ?4 exerts broad, but specific, adverse small effects on a range of neurocognitive functions in cognitively healthy adults.     

The influence of interviewer self-disclosure and verbal reinforcement on personality tests

The effects of prior interview experiences on subsequent test responding were examined by comparing the influence of three interviewer behaviors: interviewer self-disclosure, interviewer verbal reinforcement of self-referent statements, and direct instructions to be self-disclosive. Performance was contrasted with a control interview condition characterized by no interviewer self-disclosure or self-referent reinforcement and with a no-interview condition. Responses on measures of self-disclosure and anxiety indicated that female Ss tended to be more self-disclosive than males in general, but were relatively uninfluenced by experimental condition. For male Ss, verbal reinforcement increased self-disclosure relative to the interviewer self-disclosure condition. Interviewer self-disclosure was shown to result in more favorable perceptions of the self and the interviewer, particularly for males, and greater social evaluative anxiety for females. Both these factors are discussed as possibly counteracting the modelling effects of interviewer self-disclosure. An interpretation of the results in terms of interactions between S sex, interviewer sex, and experimental condition is proposed and implications for related research discussed.