Antisocial behavior: Dimension or category(ies)?

Classificatory systems (DSM-IV, ICD-10) use different criteria for defining a rather common antisocial disorder, traditionally referred as psychopathy. Most empirical studies of this phenomenon use Cleckley's operational definition that was applied and amended in Hare's revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R). In modern literature, the fact that there is less than a perfect correspondence between classificatory systems and Hare's PCL-R is often cited as an indication that antisocial behavior is not confined to a distinct category of people but is rather a continuous personality dimension. In order to further elucidate the nosology of antisocial behaviors, a Psychopathy Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) based on Cleckley - Hare's criteria and consisting of 40 binary items was administered to 339 men (135 prisoners and 204 members of the general population). Four distinct clusters of respondents were identified by means of hierarchical cluster analysis: Psychopathic type (characterized by high positive scores on dimension of Unemotionality; Antisocial type (characterized by high positive scores on Social deviance dimension); Adapted type (characterized by negative scores on all dimensions); and Hyper-controlled type (characterized by extremely negative scores on dimension Social deviance accompanied with positive scores on Unemotionality dimension). Additional comparison with MMPI profiles which classified prison sample in two groups ("Psychopathic profiles" and "Non- Psychopathic profiles") shows that there is no expected compatibility between MMPI and PAQ. We conclude that Antisocial type can be treated as a distinct category, while Psychopathic type displays characteristics of dimensional distribution

Stressful Life Events and Personality Traits in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus

The onset and aggravation of symptoms in patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) are related to psychosomatic constitution and stress involvement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of stressful life events and neuroticism as a personality trait in patients with OLP. A total of 32 patients with clinically and histopathological proven cases of OLP (16 with the nonerosive and 16 with erosive form), along with 31 healthy controls without oral lesions matched for age and sex were included in the study. Neurotic tendency and intensity of anxiety, depression, and negative affects and the number and type of stressful life events were investigated by the instruments Big Five Plus Two and Holmes and Rahe`s Social Readjustment Rating Scale, respectively. Data about life experience in war and its consequences were also collected. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed significantly greater anxiety, depression and negative affects tendency, as well as greater intensity and number of experienced stressful life events compared with controls (P&lt;0.01). The distribution of subjects with at least one stressful event (P&lt;0.01), family matters (P&lt;0.01) and war experiences (P&lt;0.05) was significant in the OLP group. The logistic regression results (OR=1.97) indicate that with each new stressful event a person is about two times more likely to get OLP. The degree, number, and type of stressful life changes and neuroticisms tendency independently play an important role in the onset or reactivation of OLP, depending on the individual’s psychological constitution and the large differences in each person’s ability to cope and their particular reactions to stress.</p

Positive and negative affect in illusion of control

Research regarding the illusion of control was dominated by the studies examining the effect of depressive affect on the overestimation of control over uncontrollable events. However, the relative contributions of high Negative Affect (NA) and low Positive Affect (PA), as underlying dimensions of depressive states, has remained unclear. This study researched how both PA and NA had affected the illusion of control. Two weeks before illusion induction, trait PA and NA of 54 first-year university students were assessed, and just before and after illusion induction task their state forms were estimated. The induction consisted of solving unsolvable tasks and obtaining positive feedback for all the answers. The illusion of control was significantly correlated with all three PA scores, and none of the NA. After controlling for trait measures, the PA after illusion induction remained the only significant predictor of illusion. The relation of positive affect and illusory judgement in maintaining mental health were discussed

ERP correlates of placebo and 'anti-placebo' effects

U ovom istraživanju bavili smo se neuralnim korelatima efekata placebo i 'anti-placebo' poruka putem merenja moždanih talasa (ERP). Umjesto uobičajenog termina nocebo, koristili smo termin 'anti-placebo', budući da poruke koje smo zadavali ispitanicima nisu trebale da proizvedu negativne efekte, već da umanje ili ponište efekat placeba. Primenili smo termalnu draž intenziteta 45 stepeni Celzijusa na kožu podlaktice. Ukupno je 29 studenata uzelo učešća u četiri eksperimentalne situacije: bez analgezije, nakon primene analgezije (korišćenjem EMLA kreme), nakon primene neutralne kreme koja je prezentovana kao analgetik (placebo situacija) i nakon primene EMLA kreme koja je prezentovana kao herbalna krema koja nije zvanično prihvaćena kao medikament ('anti-placebo' situacija). Neposredno nakon stimulacije, od ispitanika je zatraženo da procene nivo neprijatnosti na subjektivnoj skali osetljivosti 1-10, a nakon toga im je zadat kognitivni eksperiment, tokom koga su mereni ERP odgovori. Rezultati su pokazali tri glavna ERP efekta. U ranom efektu, sve tri eksperimentalne situacije koje su podrazumevale primenu anelgezije (tj. dve situacije sa farmako-anelgezijom + situacija sa placebo-aneglezijom) pokazale su različite profile ERP efekata u odnosu na situaciju u kojoj nije primenjena anelgezija. Ovaj rezultat smo interpretirali kao rano očekivanje da bilo koja vrsta anelgezije (uključujući placebo) treba da proizvede nekakav efekat, za razliku od situacije u kojoj nije bilo primene analgezije. Središnji ERP efekat je demonstrirao duže trajanje ERP efekata u situaciji sa 'anti-placebom' i u situaciji bez analgezije, dok su u situaciji sa primenom analgezije i u placebo situaciji ovi efekti bili mnogo kraci. Ovaj nas je rezultat naveo na zaključak da, na neuralnom planu, sugerisanje da je neki lek 'anti-placebo' proizvodi sličan profil ERP ili sličnu mentalnu aktivnost kao u situaciji bez leka. Ovaj rezultat poziva na preispitivanje preporuka lekara da neki lekovi nisu baš dobri, jer ovakve sugestije mogu potencijalno i nesvesno da umanje inače pozitivan efekat koji placebo ima tokom tretmana. Na kraju, u poznom efektu smo takođe uočili razlike između četiri eksperimentalne situacije, ali su ove razlike u vezi sa redosledom izlaganja eksperimentalnih situacija, te smo ih interpretirali kao artefakt eksperimentalnog dizajna.In the study we observed the effects of placebo and ''anti-placebo' messages on the neural activities registered through the event related potentials (ERP). Instead of commonly used term nocebo, we used the term 'anti-placebo', given that the message we delivered was not supposed to induce the negative effects, but just to diminish the effect of placebo. Thermal stimulus of 45 degrees of Celsius was applied on the skin of 29 students in a four different experimental situations: without analgesia, after receiving dermal analgesic EMLA Cream, after receiving neutral skin cream presented as an analgesic (placebo situation), and after receiving again EMLA Cream, but presented as the herbal analgesic not officially accepted as a medicament ('anti-placebo' situation). Immediately after stimulation, participants were asked to estimate the level of 'unpleasantness' of the stimuli on the subjective scale ranging from 1-10, and to start a cognitive experiment, during which the ERP responses were measured. Results showed three main ERP effects. In the early effect, we noticed that all three experimental situations with analgesia (that is, two conditions with the pharmaco-analgesia + the condition with the placebo analgesia) showed a different ERP effects in comparison to the condition with no analgesia. We interpreted these results as early expectancies that any analgesic (including placebo) should produce some effect in comparison to no-analgesic condition. In the medium effect, we observed significantly longer durations of the ERP effects in the situation of the 'anti-placebo' and no-analgesia, whereas in the analgesia and placebo condition these effects were much shorter. This result led us to the conclusion, that on the neural level, our suggestion of 'bad medicament' (similar to situation of no-medicament) caused a specific mental activity registered on ERP This effect is the one which calls into a question doctors' recommendations (which contain negative connotation) of medicaments, as they could potentially and unconsciously diminish a valuable impact that the placebo could have during a treatment. Finally, in the late effect, we also observed significant differences across the four experimental conditions, but these differences were directly correspondent with the order of presentation of experimental situations, and we interpret them as an artefact of the experimental design

Negative feedback, beliefs and personal goals in prediction of dysfunctional emotions

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) demonstrates good results in evaluation therapy researches. However, some of its basic concepts, as well as theory as a whole itself, did not receive satisfactory empirical support so far, in comparison to other cognitive models (Beck, Lazarus etc.). Quasiexperimental study was designed to test the role that (1) negative feedback (A) and (2) irrational beliefs (B) both play in formation of dysfunctional negative emotions, in the context of significant personal goals (in our case value of potential award - G). ABC theoretical model received limited support: statistically significant three-times interaction A x B x G was found in predicting general negative emotional state, as well as anger. In contrast with that, ANOVA showed only main effect of irrational beliefs (as continuous variable) to be significant in predicting emotions of anxiety and depression. Findings are discussed in the context of REBT theory of emotions, as well as their possible practical applications. Limitations of the study were also mentioned.

Cognitive functioning of educationaly deprived pre-school children

The research has included 96 Roma elementary-school pupils from the first grade, 7 years and 6 months old on average, and 78 pre-school children, (6 years and 1 month old on average), out of which number there were 37 Roma pupils and 41 non-Roma pupils. The cognitive functioning has been tested with a battery consisted of 5 tests, which was based on the (adapted) Wechsler’s scales and the linguistic competence test. The results have shown a significant lagging of Roma children behind the control group and test norms. The Analyses of Covariance have pointed to a significant influence of the father’s educational background on the test score, but the difference between groups remained notable even when that variable was kept under control. However, the Item Analyses revealed a number of items that turned out to be evidently "unfair" toward Roma children, and their elimination contributed to the annulling of differences among groups in the Analyses of Covariance for a particular number of tests. The data has been interpreted by the authors as a proof of necessity and possibility to adapt tests for the needs of testing the educationally neglected children. The fact that the greatest differences have been noticed in the tests saturated with the factors of visual-motor coordination and memory has been justified by the authors with the Roma children’s lack of experience of manipulation with toys and possible attention deficit as a consequence of absence of stimulative environment

Some psychometric characteristics of the Beck's Hopelessness Scale

The study tested reliability and construct validity of Serbian translation of Beck's Hopelessness scale on a sample of patients diagnosed as a depressive, anxious and anxious-depressive disorder. Scale was found to have a high degree of internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.91). Principal component analysis, with Scree-test as the criterion of extraction, provided single factor as the best solution. Hopelessness Scale highly correlated with symptoms of depression, low self-concept and depressive automatic thoughts which the authors interpreted as the confirmation of Beck's theory. The hypothesis that hopelessness is construct specific to depression and not to anxiety is, also, confirmed

Relations among positive and negative affect, dysphoria and anxiety1

According to Tellegen et al.'s Two-factor model, commonalities between depression and anxiety are due to their shared variance with Negative affect (NA), a broad dimension of general distress. Low Positive affect (PA), a dimension of pleasurable emotions, is believed to be uniquely related to depression. In this study, we tested these basic assumptions. A sample of 141 students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad filled out a state measure of PA, NA, and basic emotions (SIAB-PANAS), a depression scale (BDI-II), and a state anxiety scale (STAI-S). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to estimate the unique contributions of PA, NA, and basic emotions in the prediction of dysphoria and anxiety. The hypothesis that NA is a general dimension related to both dysphoria and anxiety was supported. Sadness and fear added incrementally to the prediction of both criteria. However, contrary to our hypothesis, PA was related to both dysphoria and anxiety. Joviality, attentiveness, and self-assurance were better predictors of anxiety than dysphoria. Methodological and clinical implications of the results were discussed

Cognitive content structure of anxious and depressive patients

There were three aims of the study: to determine psychometric properties of Serbian translation of Beck's Cognition Check List, to analyze factor structure of both subscales of Check List and to check the relationship among determined dimensions of the subscales. Patients with depressive anxiety and mixed diagnoses participated. Results suggest that subscale of depressive cognitions is of satisfactory reliability and both concurrent and divergent validity. Subscale of anxious cognitions has satisfactory internal consistency, but is weakly correlated with anxiety symptoms and is not discriminatively valid. Principal components analysis of depressive cognitions subscale yielded three factors that corresponded to the elements of Beck's "Negative Cognitive Triad". Analysis of anxious subscale did not provided dimensions hypothesized by Beck, but three dimensions, which correspond to three groups of anxious symptoms, where identified. Results indicate possibility of applying Beck’s Content Specificity Hypothesis on separation of specific anxiety or phobic disorders

Serbian adaptation of the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS): Its facets and second-order structure

Although the PANAS is widely used in affect research there are some controversies regarding its structure. Two related studies were reported providing evidence that a Serbian adaptation of the PANAS represents a valid and reliable measure of self-reported affect. Study 1 (N = 455), showed that its psychometric properties and correlates obtained in a Serbian sample are highly comparable to those reported in the American validation study. Additionally, a hierarchical structure of specific affects within the PANAS was explored via a second-order confirmatory analysis. Results showed that Joviality, Self-Assurance, and Attentiveness can be regarded as lower-order factors of Positive Affect, whereas Fear, Self- Disgust, and Hostility seem to represent lower-order factors of Negative Affect. Study 2 (N = 87) demonstrated differential momentary activations of the identified lower-order factors in the real-life situation of taking an exam. The construct validity of the specific subscales was supported. Among the subscales, Self-Disgust had inadequate psychometric properties. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179006