Signal detection in pathological skin picking : findings from non - clinical sample

Aim of the study. The present study investigated the role of general impulsivity in pathological skin picking (PSP). Material and methods. Three groups of participants: university students who pick their skin and experience distress and/or functional impairment caused by picking (n = 27), students who pick their skin but do not experience distress and/or functional impairment caused by picking (n = 19), and students without history of skin picking (n = 43) were administered the task based on the search for the emotionally neutral signal hidden among distractors. It was predicted that individuals suffering from PSP should present an impulsive reaction style, i.e. they should search for the signal faster than individuals without history of PSP and should react to irrelevant stimuli rather than missing the correct reaction. Results. Participants with severe picking performed as quickly and correctly as controls, thus not revealing an impulsive reaction pattern. Students with milder forms of picking reacted more slowly than the others gradually diminishing their performance as the task was extended. Discussion. Individuals with severe PSP symptoms are not characterized by general impulsiveness defined as a tendency to react quickly and carelessly. Skin picking behaviors of different severity may be associated with different signal detection patterns. Conclusions. The results of the current study indicate that skin picking is not a homogeneous condition. They also provide that skin picking behavior in ‘severe’ pickers and non – ‘severe’ ones may have different underlying psychological mechanism

Negative affectivity moderates the relationship between attentional control and focused skin picking

Very little is known about the cognitive functioning of people with body-focused repetitive behaviours and the few existing studies provide mixed findings. The aim of this study was to investigate the interplay between attentional control, negative affectivity, and focused skin picking. We hypothesized that the control of attention is associated with focused style of skin picking and that this relationship is moderated by negative affectivity. The final sample consisted of 273 non-clinical subjects (79% women) aged 18 to 54 years; study variables were assessed using questionnaires. Moderation analysis was conducted, followed by a simple slope analysis, and the Johnson-Neyman technique was used to probe the interaction effect. We found that at the low level of negative affectivity, the relationship between attentional control and focused skin picking is negative, but not at the higher levels of this trait. Interestingly, when negative affectivity reaches very high intensity, the association between attentional control and skin picking becomes positive. This relationship seems to be quite complex and may depend on the way that cognitive abilities are used by the individual, as well as on the stage of cognitive processing that they are applied to. Further studies using behavioural measures of attention are needed to better understand this issue

Perspektywy czasowe studentów w kontekście cenionych przez nich wartości

The aim of the thesis is to research the connections between time perspective and values of university students. The following investigative methods were used: The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) and Schwartz’s Portraits Value Questionnaire (PVQ-21). The group consisted of 127 students of Pedagogical University in Cracow. The results obtained show connections between temporal orientation and the values esteemed by the students. A positive correlation was found between Present-Hedonistic scale and following values: Hedonism, Stimulation and Self-direction, and negative correlation with Benevolence and Tradition. The Future perspective was positively associated with Conformity, Tradition, Achievements, Self-direction and Universalism, and negatively with Hedonism. Past-Positive is positively connected with Conformity and Tradition. Past-Negative – positively with Power and negatively with Stimulation and Self-direction

Female secondary school and university students dreams and personality factors

The aim of the thesis is to research the connections between “Big Five” personality factors and dreams of female secondary school and university students. The following investigative methods were used: a questionnaire concerning the issue of dreams and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) by Costa and McCrae. The group consisted of 397 women. The research resulted in conhrmation of hypotheses about the connections between the content of dreams with four out of hve personality factors: neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness

Student Time Perspective and Well-Being

Prezentowane badanie miało na celu uzyskanie odpowiedzi na pytanie: Jakie są związki między perspektywami czasowymi a wymiarami psychologicznego dobrostanu u studentów? W badaniu posłużono się następującymi metodami: Kwestionariuszem Postrzegania Czasu Zimbardo oraz Skalami Psychologicznego Dobrostanu Ryff. W badaniu wzięło udział 127 studentów Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego w Krakowie. Badania pokazały, że perspektywy: przeszła negatywna oraz fatalistyczna teraźniejsza są negatywnie związane z dobrostanem. Pozytywnie z poczuciem dobrostanu łączą się perspektywy: przyszła oraz przeszła pozytywna. Co do skali teraźniejszej hedonistycznej nie stwierdzono jednoznacznych związków z dobrostanem. Jednak gdy wysokie wyniki w tej skali są zrównoważone wysokimi wynikami na skali przyszłościowej, wyższe jest również poczucie dobrostanu (niektórych aspektów). Wysoka orientacja na przyszłość okazała się w przypadku studentów związana pozytywnie z dobrostanem niezależnie od tego, czy jest zrównoważona perspektywą teraźniejszą hedonistyczną czy nie. Przedstawiono również propozycje kierunków pracy nad uzyskaniem optymalnej perspektywy czasowej, która będzie sprzyjała dobrostanowi.The aim of the thesis is to research the connections between time perspective and well-being of university students. The following investigative methods were used: The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory and Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being. The group consisted of 127 students of the Pedagogical University in Cracow, Poland. The research demonstrated that the negative past and fatalistic present were negatively associated with all aspects of well-being. The future and the past were positively associated with most of the well-being scales. In relation to the present-hedonistic scale no clear connections to well-being were found. However, if high results in that scale are balanced with high results in the future scale, the feeling of well-being is also higher (for some aspects). High future orientation was, in this case, always positively connected with well-being, regardless of the fact whether it was balanced with present-hedonistic perspective or not. Suggestions for future research directions on obtaining optimal time perspective, conducive to well-being, were presented

The picture of middle-aged women’s dreams and mid-life crisis

Results of research, which will be referred in the article, refers to the picture of youthful and current dreams of middle-aged women and relationships between: the sense of fulfillment of dreams from the 16-24 age period, possession of current dreams and intensification of mid-life crisis. The research problem was formulated based on the Levinson theory (Levinson et al., 1978, 1996). In research, on the ground of literature, were formulated hypotheses of connections between the picture of dreams with the intensification of the midlife crisis. The following methods were used: the structured interview concerning dreams (Kałużna, 2005), The Midlife Crisis Questionnaire (version for women by Oleś and Baranowska, 2003). In research participated women aged 35-50 with the secondary education and higher. Results: realizing youthful dreams by middle-aged women correlates negatively with the result of Midlifecrisis Questionnaire. This means, that the women, who have the feeling of having realized their youthful dreams experience a lesser intensification of mid-life crisis, and specifically a lesser intensification of its negative components. Women, whose youth dreams had autonomic source, in mid-life have lesser intensification of mid-life crisis. That women, whose actual dreams are limited to satisfying basic needs, have biggest tendency to negative estimation of life

Indywidualne koncepcje studentów na temat właściwego wykorzystywania czasu

One of the basic conditions of human life (and the ways of experiencing it) is that it is temporal and the our lifetime is limited. Today we observe fast technological changes, access to a lot of information and frequent necessity to execute tasks quickly, which is why many people experience limits of time necessary to perform their action. Conscious of their own mortality, people also experience the limits of their own lifetime. In this context, the question, what would it mean for a given individual “to make proper use of time” seems to be quite important. Research was conducted on a group of 127 students. The objective of the research was to obtain answers to exploratory questions: What are the individual concepts of that, what does “proper time use” mean for students (both in short-term perspective and lifetime perspective). In order to discover the individual concepts of “proper time use”, a questionnaire containing open questions was constructed. Th e questions were connected with three time use perspectives: a week of study, a week of holidays and the whole life. It corresponds with the division made by Popiołek (2010) into two perspectives, in which time is captured by the man: every day time and lifetime. Answers were categorized. The most frequent criteria of “proper time use” were: attaining objectives (74%), pleasure and seeking sensations (61%), relations with other people (49%), personal development (34%) and life satisfaction (30%). Definite majority of the answers were general and pointed to a lack of deeper reflection on their lives, on “how I would like to make use of my lifetime”. The results obtained may have application value – based on them, initial postulates were proposed for work on increasing self-consciousness of students in the respect of time management

Psychological Concepts of Wisdom

Dokonano przeglądu psychologicznych koncepcji mądrości. Koncepcje C.G. Junga i E. Eriksona ujmują mądrość jako finalne stadium rozwoju osobowości, przejawiające się integracją i nadaniem życiu sensu. Mądrość ujmowano również jako najwyższe stadium rozwoju poznawczego: rozwinięcie myślenia relatywistycznego i dialektycznego (Riegel 1973; Kramer 2003; Labouvie-Vief 1982). Według modelu wiedzy eksperckiej zespołu P.B. Baltesa (Baltes, Staudinger 1995) mądrość obejmuje bogatą wiedzę deklaratywną i proceduralną oraz świadomość ich ograniczoności, odniesienie do sensu życia, kierowanie życiem i rozwojem, uwzględniając dobro osobiste i powszechne, odniesienie do wartości i tolerancję oraz cnoty charakteru przejawiające się w działaniu (Baltes, Glück, Kunzmann 2004). R.J. Sternberg definiuje mądrość jako zastosowanie ukrytej oraz jawnej wiedzy dla wspólnego pożytku, przez: równoważenie interesów osobistych, interpersonalnych i pozaosobowych, w krótkim i długim okresie oraz adaptację, modyfikację i zmianę środowiska (Sternberg 2001). M. Straś-Romanowska (2011) zwraca uwagę na duchowy aspekt mądrości. Możemy mówić o różnych sposobach „istnienia” mądrości: 1) mądrość jako ideał, 2) mądrość jako jakość, którą człowiek może nabywać w rozwoju, 3) mądrość jako fenomen obecny w potocznych wyobrażeniach.Psychological concepts of wisdom were reviewed in the article. C.G. Jung and E. Erikson’s concepts describe wisdom as the final stage of personality development, manifesting itself in integration and making life meaningful. Wisdom was also described as the highest stage of cognitive development: developing relativist and dialectic thinking (Riegel 1973; Kramer 2003; Labouvie-Vief 1982). According to the expert knowledge model of P.B. Baltes’ team (Baltes and Staudinger, 1995), wisdom encompasses rich declarative and procedural knowledge, the consciousness of their limitations, a reference to the sense of life, managing life and development taking into account personal and common good, relating to values, tolerance and virtues of character that manifest in actions (Baltes et al. 2004). R.J. Sternberg defines wisdom as the use of secret and explicit knowledge for common benefit by balancing personal, interpersonal and non-personal interest, both short and long-term, together with environment adaptation, modification and change (Sternberg, 2001). M. Straś-Romanowska (2011) draws our attention to the spiritual aspect of wisdom. We can talk about different ways, in which wisdom “exists”: 1) wisdom as perfection, 2) wisdom as a quality, that can be acquired by the man during development, 3) wisdom as a phenomenon present in common imagination

Dreams of Modern Women in Different Developmental Periods

The objective of the research was to present the image of women’s dreams in different age groups. Research questions were asked on the content and form of female dreams in individual developmental stages and inter-group differences. 509 women participated in the research, representing three age groups: 16–18, 20–24 and 35–50 year old. The following research methods were used: a structured interview and a questionnaire concerning the issue of dreams. The following results were obtained: university students’ dreams (in comparison to high school students) are more frequently split, long-term, complex and refined. In case of high school and university students split dreams are the more common kind, whereas in middle age single dreams are more common. In the period of university studies, more women have long-term dreams, whereas in the middle age, only short-term. In the relation-connected dream group, the dreams concern mostly the future of children. In the middle age personal dreams (concerning travel, wishes, hobby, interest, personal development) are more numerous than the relation-connected ones or professional ones. With high school and university students the most frequent are the professional dreams, then relation-connected and finally personal dreams. Modern students of secondary schools and modern students of universities dream about carrier and a high material status more often than women in the past. Preliminary suggestions about the use of the knowledge about women’s dream in education and pedagogical practice were also presented in the article

Do individual wisdom concepts depend on value?

Psychological wisdom concepts were reviewed. 304 people aged 18-85 were tested with use of a questionnaire aimed at learning individual (popular) wisdom concepts. Popular wisdom concepts take into account broad declarative and procedural knowledge, life experience of a person and the features of his/her character. Explicitly, under a half of respondents take the following wisdom criteria into account (also acknowledged by the psychological concepts): balancing own profits with concern for others and relation to existential problems, such as sense and direction of life. The respondents lack the consciousness that wisdom is associated with: acting for common (global) good, deep and conscious reflection of value system (consciousness of subjective value system relativity, reflecting on the issue of objective values), the consciousness of limited nature of knowledge and logical thinking and developing relativistic and dialectic thinking. 5 clusters were differentiated, representing popular wisdom concept types. In order to verify the hypothesis about the connection between popular wisdom concepts and the value system of the research participants, value questionnaires were used: Scheler’s (SWS) and Schwarz’s Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ). The hypothesis was confirmed. Popular wisdom concepts (what people consider to be wisdom) are connected with values appreciated by them