Responses of football fans to relegation of their team from the English Premier League: PTS?

Objectives : To measure the level of psychological distress caused to supporters of a football team by relegation from the English Premier League. The relationship between age, sex and psychological distress are examined. Method : Opportunity sample cross-sectional survey. Participants were approached through networks of fans and through e-mail networks. Participants were supporters (n = 65) of two relegated premiership football teams. Participants completed the Impact of Event Scale. Results : Mean total Impact of Event Scale scores indicated a clinically significant degree of psychological distress for the majority of respondents. Age or sex of the participants did not predict Impact of Event Scale scores. Conclusions : The results are discussed in terms of the magnitude of Impact of Event Scale scores in relation to other stressors. It is concluded that the impact of such s porting events is psychologically significant. The psychological literature has considered traumatic stress responses to a number of stressors such as threats to life, threats to psychological well-being, threats to physical/ psychological well-being of others, witnessing traumatic events and involvement in a human or natural disaster

The Impact of Social Deprivation on Paranoia, Hallucinations, Mania and Depression: The Role of Discrimination Social Support, Stress and Trust

The negative implications of living in a socially unequal society are now well documented. However, there is poor understanding of the pathways from specific environmental risk to symptoms. Here we examine the associations between social deprivation, depression, and psychotic symptoms using the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a cross-sectional dataset including 7,353 individuals. In addition we looked at the mediating role of stress, discrimination, trust and lack of social support. We found that the participants' neighbourhood index of multiple deprivation (IMD) significantly predicted psychosis and depression. On inspection of specific psychotic symptoms, IMD predicted paranoia, but not hallucinations or hypomania. Stress and trust partially mediated the relationship between IMD and paranoid ideation. Stress, trust and a lack of social support fully mediated the relationship between IMD and depression. Future research should focus on the role deprivation and social inequalities plays in specific manifestations of psychopathology and investigate mechanisms to explain those associations that occur. Targeting the mediating mechanisms through appropriate psychological intervention may go some way to dampen the negative consequences of living in an unjust society; ameliorating economic injustice may improve population mental health

Paranoid beliefs and conspiracy mentality are associated with different forms of mistrust: A three-nation study

Paranoia and conspiracy are terms typically used interchangeably. However, although the underlying content of these types of beliefs might be similar (e.g., seeing others as powerful and threatening), recent research suggests that these constructs differ in important ways. One important feature shared by both constructs is excessive mistrust but this aspect might play different roles in each belief system. In this study we explored the strength of associations of different trust predictors (i.e., trust in institutions, trust in sources of information, perceptual trust, and interpersonal trust) between conspiracy mentality and paranoid beliefs. We tested this association in a large representative multinational sample (United Kingdom n = 2025; Spain n = 1951; and Ireland n = 1041). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor model of conspiracy and paranoid beliefs in each nation sample. Path and equality of constraints analysis revealed that paranoia was more strongly associated with perceptual mistrust (bias towards mistrusting unfamiliar faces) whereas conspiracy was more strongly associated with mistrust in political institutions. Although interpersonal mistrust and trust in social sources of information were associated significantly with conspiracy their association with paranoid beliefs was stronger. These findings clarify the role of different trust processes in both belief systems. Limitations of this study are discussed

Pain, placebo, and cognitive penetration

Funder: Leverhulme Trust; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000275There is compelling evidence that pain experience is influenced by subjects’ cognitive states such as expectations and beliefs. In this paper, we explore one specific form of such influence, namely placebo analgesia, and examine its relevance for a debate in philosophy of mind and cognitive science the cognitive penetration of perceptual experience. In short, this refers to the epistemologically problematic influence of a subject’s beliefs, expectations, and desires on their perceptual experience. We begin by summarising the cognitive penetration debate, and single out as particularly important a form of cognitive influence on experience that we term Radical Cognitive Penetration. We go on to argue at least some cases of placebo analgesia constitute compelling instances of Radical Cognitive Penetration and are resistant to debunking explanations. Nonetheless, we urge caution in extrapolating from the cognitive penetration of pain experience to broader conclusions about the cognitive penetration of perceptual experience. Instead, we suggest that the cognitive penetration of pain experience raises distinctive psychological, epistemological, and ethical issues of its own.This work was supported by the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Leverhulme Trust, under Grant RC-2015-067

Stump-harvesting for bioenergy probably has transient impacts on abundance, richness and community structure of beetle assemblages

Harvesting of tree stumps for bioenergy is popular and, although the environmental impact has been considered with respect to ecosystem processes, there have been fewer studies on the impact of stump-harvesting on biodiversity. We carried out pitfall-trap surveys of beetle communities at eight plots across four sites (four plots were clear-fells where stumps remained and four were clear-fells where stumps were harvested). Initially, we recovered 7743 beetles when stumps were extracted but still on site (Year 1). All beetles were identified to family level and ground beetles and wood-associated beetles to species level. One year after stumps were extracted, the survey was repeated. In this collection, 2898 individual beetles were recovered. In Year 1, stump-harvesting had a negative impact on beetle abundance and richness. However, 1year after stumps were removed, there were no significant differences in these variables at any site. At the community level, stump-harvesting weakly but significantly, affected carabid composition. Oneyear after stumps were removed, stump-harvesting had no effect on community composition. Stump-harvesting initially negatively affects beetle abundance, family-richness and carabid species richness, as well as community structure, although any effects are not large, are site-specific and are probably not persistent. © 2017 The Royal Entomological Societ

Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors

Paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories both involve suspiciousness about the intentions of others but have rarely been studied together. In three studies, one with a mainly student sample (N = 496) and two with more representative UK population samples (N = 1,519, N = 638) we compared single and two-factor models of paranoia and conspiracy theories as well as associations between both belief systems and other psychological constructs. A model with two correlated factors was the best fit in all studies. Both belief systems were associated with poor locus of control (belief in powerful others and chance) and loneliness. Paranoid beliefs were specifically associated with negative self-esteem and, in two studies, insecure attachment; conspiracy theories were associated with positive self-esteem in the two larger studies and narcissistic personality traits in the final study. Conspiracist thinking but not paranoia was associated with poor performance on the Cognitive Reflection Task (poor analytical thinking). The findings suggest that paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories are distinct but correlated belief systems with both common and specific psychological components

Evaluation and decentralised governance: Examples of inspections in polycentric education systems

Across Europe schools and other service providers increasingly operate in networks to provide inclusive education or develop and implement more localized school-to-school improvement models. As some education systems move towards more decentralized decision-making where multiple actors have an active role in steering and governing schools, the tasks and responsibilities of Inspectorates of Education must also change. This paper reflects on these changes and suggests ‘polycentric’ inspection models that fit such a decentralized context. Examples of inspection frameworks and methods from Northern Ireland, England and the Netherlands are provided, as well as a brief discussion of the potential impact of such ‘polycentric’ models

Assessing the factorial validity and the internal reliability of the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ); PTSD and complex PTSD among survivors of sexual violence in Ireland

AIMS: To assess the factorial validity and internal reliability of the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) among a treatment-seeking sample of survivors of sexual violence in Ireland. In addition, to assess the diagnostic rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) among the samples. METHODS: Participants were adult survivors of sexual violence (N = 114) in receipt of therapeutic support at the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. The ITQ was utilised to measure PTSD and CPTSD symptoms and confirmatory factor analysis was employed to assess the factorial validity of the ITQ. Composite reliability was employed to assess the internal reliability of the ITQ scale scores. RESULTS: The confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that a six-factor correlated model and a two-factor higher model were good representations of the latent structure of the ITQ, both models are consistent with the conceptualisation of CPTSD. All ITQ subscales possessed satisfactory internal reliability except for the affective dysregulation subscale. Of the sample, 56.1% met the criteria for CPTSD and 20.2% met the criteria for PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The ITQ captured a distinction between PTSD and CPTSD symptoms and produced reliable scores within the sample, but replication with a larger sample size is required. In addition, the study findings demonstrated that CPTSD was relatively common among those seeking psychological support following sexual violence