Word Association Profiles of Alcoholics

A group of 100 alcoholic outpatient men were compared to 100 control participants, matched for race, age, and occupational status on 15 scales of the Karp Objective Word Association Test. Consistent with 2 of the 3 specific hypotheses of this study, a one-way multivariate analysis of variance found significant differences between the groups, with alcoholics offering more rejections (nonresponses) and more hostile associations than controls. Unexpectedly, alcoholics offered more synonyms than controls, congruent with a more positive diagnostic picture

Alexithymia and affect pathology among adult male alcoholics

The present study attempts to validate earlier findings of a positive relationship between the severity of alexithymia and symptoms of affect pathology among alcoholics. One hundred adult male outpatient alcoholics were given instruments to assess alexithymia and symptoms of affect pathology. Controlling for alcoholism severity, Pearson Product Moment Correlations demonstrated that the severity of alexithymia was significantly correlated with dysphoria and affect intolerance, as well as with certain interpersonal difficulties resulting from these affective disturbances. Such findings support the usefulness of the alexithymia construct in the understanding and treatment of affect pathology and its consequences among alcoholics

Predicting psychological mindedness from personality style and attachment security

The aim of this study was to increase the construct validity of the Psychological Mindedness Scale (PM Scale) by investigating its relationship to well-established measures of personality style (NEO Five-Factor Inventory) and attachment security (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment). Personality and attachment variables functioned as differential predictors of psychological mindedness (PM). Openness to experience emerged as the best predictor of PM, followed by Extraversion, Neuroticism (inversely related to PM), and Attachment to Peers. Neither attachment to Mother nor Attachment to Father predicted PM. The results of this study indicate that PM is related positively to healthy, rather than pathological, personal and interpersonal constructs

Addicted patients with personality disorders: Traits, schemas, and presenting problems

We evaluated the association of Structure Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II) severity and personality traits, early maladaptive schemas, and presenting symptoms in 41 methadone-maintained patients meeting criteria for either antisocial, borderline, avoidant, or depressive personality disorder. Correlational analyses indicated that the severity of each personality disorder was associated with a unique profile of presenting problems and underlying traits and schemas. The evaluation of multiple psychological indicators appears to be a useful method for case conceptualization and planning interventions within a promising individual therapy model that focuses both on substance abuse and psychiatric symptoms and maladaptive schemas and coping styles

Deconstructing dependency in a five-factor world: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Meta-analysis of studies assessing the relation between interpersonal dependency test scores and five-factor model (FFM) domain scores revealed that dependency scores are positively correlated with FFM Neuroticism and Agreeableness scores and negatively correlated with FFM Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness scores. The magnitudes of these correlations were all in the small-to-moderate range, and comparable score intercorrelations were obtained when participants’ dependency levels were assessed by means of a trait dependency questionnaire, dependent personality disorder questionnaire, or dependent personality disorder interview. These findings have implications for researchers’ efforts to deconstruct dependency into its basic trait elements and for the dimensional approaches to personality disorders being considered for future versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Denial and self-denigration in the Draw-A-Person profiles of alcoholics

The present study attempts to cross-validate earlier findings that alcoholics tend to use more denial and are more demeaning of their characters than controls on the objective-projective Apperceptive Personality Test. One hundred nonalcoholic, nonpatient controls were matched to 100 outpatient alcoholics on age, race, and social class. All subjects were given the objective-projective Draw A Person Questionnaire, which was scored for 14 scales. As hypothesized and consistent with the earlier findings, alcoholics used more denial and were more often demeaning of their drawn characters than were controls. These and other exploratory findings are dis cussed

Psychological mindedness and awareness of self and others

The major goal of this study was to explore the relationship among psychological mindedness (PM) and several facets of awareness, including a general sense of mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; Brown & Ryan, 2003), as well as more specific awareness of self (selfconsciousness scale; Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) and others (Interpersonal Reactivity Index; Davis, 1980). Participants were 103 undergraduate students at an urban liberal arts college. Results indicated that PM (PM Scale; Conte, Plutchik, Jung, Picard, Karasu, & Lotterman, 1990) is related to mindfulness, private self-consciousness, as well as cognitive and affective indices of empathy. Self-consciousness and empathy explained a significant amount of variance in PM in a simultaneous-entry multiple regression. These findings support theoretical claims that PM involves awareness of self and others

The social nature of saintliness and moral action: A view of William James’s Varieties in relation to St.Ignatius and Lawrence Kohlberg

This article argues that William James’s thinking in The Varieties and elsewhere contains the view that social institutions, such as religious congregations and schools, are mediators between the private and public spheres of life, and are necessary for transforming personal feelings, ideals and beliefs into moral action. The Exercises of St Ignatius and the Just Community moral education approach serve as examples. Criticisms of the more commonly held view that James recognised only individual personal experiences as valid religious expressions are marshalled. Furthermore, we argue that moral action or saintliness, the ultimate expression of religious faith according to James, is fundamentally social. The commonalities that the phenomenologies of moral action of St Ignatius and Lawrence Kohlberg have with William James’s view are used to support the argument

Psychological mindedness and cognitive style

Psychological mindedness (PM) is theorized to be a cognitively toned personality variable, yet, there is a paucity of research addressing the cognitive components of PM. This study was intended to redress this issue by testing the empirical associations between PM and Ambiguity Tolerance, as measured by the Revised Scale for Ambiguity Tolerance (Mac- Donald, 1970); Locus of Control, as measured by the Locus of Control Scale (Rotter, 1966); and Magical Thinking, as measured by the Magical Ideation Scale (Eckblad & Chapman, 1983). The results indicated that PM is positively associated with ambiguity tolerance, whereas it is inversely related to external locus of control and magical thinking. These findings suggest a cognitive style profile for PM that includes flexibility, a sense of personal agency, and a propensity for realistic thinking. High-PM individuals are likely to bring these cognitive resources to bear in psychotherapy, a tendency that might explain why high PM patients make better use of treatment