The role of unsafe schemas and insecure attachment responses in PTSD symptomatology after traumatic adulthood experiences : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The most common disorder resulting from trauma is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Empirical research affirms the effectiveness of several cognitive-behavioural therapies in treating PTSD symptomatology; however additional complications including interpersonal difficulties, treatment resistance and the simultaneous development of other disorders, such as depression and alcoholism, often impedes the effective treatment of PTSD. The aim of the present study was to provide a deeper understanding of specific cognitive-emotional schemas related to PTSD symptomatology. Unsafe schemas involving perceptions of severe threat regarding a person's sense of safety, control and invulnerability; and internal working models (IWMs) involving generalized attachment related perceptions and feelings regarding the self and others, were the schemas that were investigated. Participants were volunteers from the general community, responding to written or verbal advertisements regarding the study. A total of 188 participants filled out four self-report questionnaires about their own psychological and behavioural responses to a past traumatic event. The questionnaires gathered demographic data, details about the traumatic event and information about the degree to which PTSD symptoms, unsafe schemas and IWMs were elicited. The findings indicated that a threatened sense of control was the highest significant predictor for both intensity and length of time of PTSD symptoms. Although moderately strong significant correlations were found between PTSD symptomatology and the other unsafe schemas (threatened safety and threatened invulnerability) these variables did not predict intensity or length of time that PTSD symptoms were experienced. Negative IWMs of others predicted both intensity and length of time of PTSD, whereas negative IWMs of the self predicted only intensity of PTSD symptoms.Positive IWMs did not significantly predict PTSD symptomatology. Several other statistical comparisons confirmed that unsafe schemas and negative IWMs of others both appear to play a significant role in chronicity of post-traumatic symptomatology. The findings generated several important practical implications for the treatment of traumatized individuals, which were discussed along with limitations of the study and directions for future research. Potential explanations for the findings of the research in relation to previous research findings were also proposed

From cognitive maps to spatial schemas

A schema refers to a structured body of prior knowledge that captures common patterns across related experiences. Schemas have been studied separately in the realms of episodic memory and spatial navigation across different species and have been grounded in theories of memory consolidation, but there has been little attempt to integrate our understanding across domains, particularly in humans. We propose that experiences during navigation with many similarly structured environments give rise to the formation of spatial schemas (for example, the expected layout of modern cities) that share properties with but are distinct from cognitive maps (for example, the memory of a modern city) and event schemas (such as expected events in a modern city) at both cognitive and neural levels. We describe earlier theoretical frameworks and empirical findings relevant to spatial schemas, along with more targeted investigations of spatial schemas in human and non-human animals. Consideration of architecture and urban analytics, including the influence of scale and regionalization, on different properties of spatial schemas may provide a powerful approach to advance our understanding of spatial schemas

Career Success Schemas and their Contextual Embeddedness: A Comparative Configurational Perspective

We introduce career success schemas as critical for understanding how people in different contexts perceive and understand career success. Using a comparative configurational approach, we show, in a study of 13 countries, that two structural characteristics of career success schemas\u2014complexity and convergence\u2014differ across country contexts and are embedded in specific configurations of institutional factors. Adopting complexity and convergence as primary dimensions, we propose a taxonomy of career success schemas at the country level. Based on this taxonomy, we contribute to the understanding of subjective career success across countries, discuss the importance of schemas for organisational career systems in multinational enterprises, and propose specific guidelines for future comparative careers research

Through the Eyes of Jurors: The Use of Schemas in the Application of \u27Plain-Language\u27 Jury Instructions

“Through the Eyes of Jurors” is the first law journal article to consider all of the major cognitive psychology studies that examine how “schemas,” or the preexisting notions jurors have about the law, shape jurors’ use of jury instructions, even when those jurors are given “plain-language” instructions. This Article examines the social science research on schema theory in order to advance our understanding of how schemas continue to influence jurors’ use of jury instructions, even when those jurors are given “plain language” instructions. A significant body of legal literature has examined jurors’ use and understanding of jury instructions, and many scholars have recommended methods to improve juror comprehension of instructions. This Article takes that analysis a step further, and argues that even when given “plain-language” jury instructions, jurors will still be influenced by their preconceived ideas of what the “law” is—in other words, by the preexisting schemas they have for legal concepts. Furthermore, these schemas are often legally incorrect, and findings from the social sciences suggest that—even when given plain-language jury instructions with the correct legal standard—jurors may still apply these legally inappropriate schemas. This Article synthesizes the results and underlying theories derived from those findings in order to examine the impact these schemas have on jury decisionmaking, and on jurors’ use of jury instructions, and to identify ways lawyers and judges can counteract inappropriate existing schemas and activate legally appropriate schemas before jurors are introduced to the facts they are expected to interpret. Specifically, courts should use principles of cognitive and educational psychology to develop jurors’ schemas for the applicable legal concepts to make their schemas better organized and therefore more accessible. Such schemas would allow for more thoughtful judgment and better, more accurate decisionmaking

Organization of Physical Interactomes as Uncovered by Network Schemas

Large-scale protein-protein interaction networks provide new opportunities for understanding cellular organization and functioning. We introduce network schemas to elucidate shared mechanisms within interactomes. Network schemas specify descriptions of proteins and the topology of interactions among them. We develop algorithms for systematically uncovering recurring, over-represented schemas in physical interaction networks. We apply our methods to the S. cerevisiae interactome, focusing on schemas consisting of proteins described via sequence motifs and molecular function annotations and interacting with one another in one of four basic network topologies. We identify hundreds of recurring and over-represented network schemas of various complexity, and demonstrate via graph-theoretic representations how more complex schemas are organized in terms of their lower-order constituents. The uncovered schemas span a wide range of cellular activities, with many signaling and transport related higher-order schemas. We establish the functional importance of the schemas by showing that they correspond to functionally cohesive sets of proteins, are enriched in the frequency with which they have instances in the H. sapiens interactome, and are useful for predicting protein function. Our findings suggest that network schemas are a powerful paradigm for organizing, interrogating, and annotating cellular networks

Understanding the Role of Attachments and Schemas: A Model for Working with Sex Offenders

The purpose of this project is to research, develop, present, and evaluate a training module to increase knowledge of the role of attachments and schemas in working with sex offenders and to provide a model for working with sex offenders. Research Questions: 1. To what extent will a training module on the role of attachments and schemas increase attendees’ understanding of these topics? 2. Will a training module increase the likelihood that attendees will apply this knowledge of attachments and schemas in their work with clients