Monday, September 17, 2018

Approximately 16% of all participants were classified as having illusory mental health, & scored significantly lower on scales indicative of interpersonal problems and structural personality dysfunctions

Patients with illusory mental health: A challenge for psychotherapeutic treatment and empirical research in psychotherapy. Carsten Spitzer, Oliver Masuhr, Ulrich Jaeger, Sebastian Euler. Psychotherapeut, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00278-018-0299-8

Abstract: There is practically no systematic knowledge about patients in psychotherapy, who have scores in the healthy range of symptom-related self-report questionnaires and thus are termed patients with illusory mental health. This explorative study involving 6585 psychotherapy inpatients analyzed the frequency in the total sample and whether or not they differ from patients with clinically relevant symptoms with respect to sociodemographic features, interpersonal problems and impairments of their personality structure. Approximately 16% of all participants were classified as having illusory mental health. These were numerically slightly younger than patients with relevant symptoms but other differences regarding sociodemographic characteristics did not emerge. Patients with illusory mental health scored significantly lower on scales indicative of interpersonal problems and structural personality dysfunctions. The diagnostic and therapeutic implications of these findings and associated challenges for empirical psychotherapeutic research are discussed.

Inconsistent with the original study, participants' distrust of atheists (and gays and lesbians) did not vary by secular authority reminders

Crawford, Jarret. 2018. “Replication of Gervais & Norenzayan (2012) Study 3.” PsyArXiv. September 17. doi:10.31234/osf.io/th9bp

Abstract: Gervais and Norenzayan (2012) conducted three studies examining the effects of reminders of secular authority reduced distrust in atheists. They concluded that reminders of secular authority (compared to a control condition) reduced distrust specifically of atheists, but not other outgroups (i.e., gays and lesbians). We conducted a preregistered, high-powered replication of Study 3 of Gervais and Norenzayan (2012). Inconsistent with the original study, we did not observe the hypothesized interaction effect. In other words, participants' distrust of atheists (and gays and lesbians) did not vary by secular authority reminders.

The upright walking posture group showed significantly improved psychological states including less low arousal negative affect, less sleepiness, less pain & marginally greater feelings of power than the slumped walking posture group

The effects of walking posture on affective and physiological states during stress. Jessie Hackford, Anna Mackey, Elizabeth Broadbent. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.09.004

Highlights
•    An experimentally altered walking style impacted psychological states during stress.
•    Walking style also impacted physiological states during stress.
•    Changing the way a person walks may improve their responses to stress.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Embodiment theory proposes that motor processes are associated with emotions and cognitions. Previous research has shown that walking posture can influence affective memory bias. This study further investigated this theory by looking at the effects of an upright versus slumped walking posture on psychological and physiological states when faced with a psychological stressor.

Methods: Seventy-three healthy adults completed baseline self-report measures of affect, power, and sleepiness, and physiological measures of blood pressure, galvanic skin response, and skin temperature. After walking in their usual posture, the same self-report and physiological measures were obtained. Participants were then randomly allocated into one of two groups where they were asked to walk in either an upright posture or a slumped posture. While walking, participants underwent a psychological stressor. After experimental walking, the same self-report and physiological measures were obtained.

Results: The upright walking posture group showed significantly improved psychological states including less low arousal negative affect, less sleepiness, less pain and marginally greater feelings of power than the slumped walking posture group. Physiologically, the upright walking posture group showed significantly lower systolic blood pressure, galvanic skin response, and marginally lower skin temperature than the slumped walking posture group.

Limitations: This was a short-term laboratory-based experiment and results may not generalise to other situations.

Conclusions: Walking posture can affect both psychological and physiological states. Applications of these findings may have implications for improving mental and physiological health.

There was a honeymoon effect during the marriage year; happiness levels were significantly higher than the baseline within 3 years of marriage; marriage, on average, enhances happiness more and longer for women than for men

Marriage and Happiness: Evidence from Taiwan. Hung-Lin Tao. Journal of Happiness Studies, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-018-0029-5

Abstract: Using Taiwan’s PSFD data and within-between panel data models, this study investigated the relation between marriage and happiness. It did not find a selection effect, indicating that there is no statistical evidence that married people were happier two or more years before getting married. There was a honeymoon effect during the marriage year. Several samples were constructed to investigate whether happiness level quickly returned to the baseline after marriage. The results of most samples showed that the happiness levels were significantly higher than the baseline within 3 years of marriage. Although the happiness level after the fourth year of marriage is not significant, its magnitude is not small, indicating a diversity of happiness status after 3 years of marriage. Marriage, on average, enhances happiness more and longer for women than for men.

Keywords: Happiness Marriage Set-point hypothesis Full adaptation Partial adaptation

While the predicted correlation does not replicate for every single available measure of support for inequality, the overall data pattern strongly suggests that for males, but not females, upper‐body strength correlates positively with support for inequality

Upper‐Body Strength and Political Egalitarianism: Twelve Conceptual Replications. Michael Bang Petersen, Lasse Laustsen. Political Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12505

Abstract: Animal models of conflict behavior predict that an organism's behavior in a conflict situation is influenced by physical characteristics related to abilities to impose costs on adversaries. Stronger and larger organisms should be more motivated to seek larger shares of resources and higher places in hierarchies. Previous studies of human males have suggested that measures of upper‐body strength are associated with measures of support for inequality including Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), a measure of individual differences in support for group‐based hierarchies. However, other studies have failed to replicate this association. In this article, we reexamine the link between upper‐body strength and support for inequality using 12 different samples from multiple countries in which relevant measures were available. These samples include student and locally representative samples with direct measures of physical strength and nationally representative samples with self‐reported measures related to muscularity. While the predicted correlation does not replicate for every single available measure of support for inequality, the overall data pattern strongly suggests that for males, but not females, upper‐body strength correlates positively with support for inequality.