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Biomedical subjects

R Sharrock

Publications and source records attributed to R Sharrock.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Intelligence, previous convictions and interrogative suggestibility: a path analysis of alleged false-confession cases.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between interrogative suggestibility and previous convictions among 108 defendants in criminal trials, using a path analysis technique. It was hypothesized that previous convictions, which may provide defendants with interrogative experiences, would correlate negatively with 'shift' as measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (Gudjonsson, 1984a), after intelligence and memory had been controlled for. The hypothesis was partially confirmed and the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Explanations by professional care staff, optimism and helping behaviour: an application of attribution theory.

It is demonstrated first that staff explanations of problem behaviour can be reliably coded using a modified form of the Attributional Style Questionnaire; and second, that staff explanations are related through staff optimism to anticipated helping behaviour. This supports the hypothesis that, in professional staff, an important determinant of helping is optimism arising from attributions of a patient's problems. The influence of affective judgements, as emphasized in Weiner's (1986) theory of helping behaviour, is not supported.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Pseudologia Fantastica: a case study of a man charged with murder.

A case of Pseudologia Fantastica is presented in a man charged with murder. Psychological assessment revealed him to be highly compliant and suggestible, consistent with early research (Healy and Healy, 1915) which showed pathological liars to be suggestible to misleading information. A specific dyslexic disorder is also demonstrated, and the possible mechanisms behind the man's lying considered. Some implications regarding the reliability of the man's varying confessions to the police are discussed, and parallels are drawn between this case and that of Timothy Evans, who in 1950 was hanged for murder.

Compulsive Behavior↗
PubMed1987

Cued recall in depression.

An experiment is reported in which a depressed and a control group were tested on free recall, cued recall and recognition memory for a prose passage. As expected from previous work the depressives tended to show less impairment on recognition than on free recall. However, contrary to what some theories would predict, cued recall performance was no better than free recall. The implications of this finding for the nature of the depressive memory deficit for neutral materials are discussed. It seems that neither the amount of verbal output required, nor the need to generate retrieval cues, are critical factors.

Cues↗
PubMed1986

Processing of phobic stimuli.

The hypothesis tested in the present experiments is that phobics show poor focused attention for phobic stimuli. A test of the hypothesis was undertaken using spider phobics' performance in a recognition memory task involving dead spiders as an index of processing. The first experiment confirmed the hypothesis of poorer processing of spider stimuli in phobics, but only for big spiders on a post hoc division of spider stimuli. These were interpreted as being the more arousing. There was also a tendency for desensitization to improve spider recognition. The second experiment investigated recognition memory under 'ordinary' and 'elaborated' processing conditions, but the hypothesis of poorer spider recognition in phobics was confirmed only in a post hoc correlational analysis for the elaborated processing condition. The hypothesis is related to findings that long-term benefit from exposure treatments is facilitated by focused attention.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Colour naming of phobia-related words.

A version of the Stroop test was developed which requires colour naming of spider words. Spider phobics were severely retarded on this task, but not on the conflicting colour-word Stroop or a Stroop with more general threat words. Desensitization of phobics significantly reduced interference on the Spider Stroop. A third experiment examined the retest properties of the Stroop and the value of equivalent forms. The explanation of the Spider Stroop effect and its usefulness as an outcome measure are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Description and measurement of concentration problems in depressed patients.

Depressed patients commonly complain of concentration problems, yet these have seldom been the focus of systematic investigation. A structured interview about concentration problems was administered to a group of relatively severely depressed patients. Problems in reading and watching television were the most common, and were highly correlated with each other. Direct report of the number of concentration lapses on a reading task was the most generally satisfactory task-performance correlate of complaints of reading/TV concentration problems. Evidence both from this task and from the interview suggests that depressive concentration problems may often be due to 'mind-wandering'. The correlations with concentration problems with the severity and endogeneity of depression and with state anxiety were generally similar.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Relationships between spider constructs in phobics.

An index of tight construing was derived from a Kelly grid in which the elements were spiders. This index, the coefficient of concordance, corresponds to the average correlation between constructs. Concordance was significantly higher in spider phobics than controls, in line with the hypothesis that emotional disorders are associated with higher correlations between symptom-related constructs (i.e. 'tight' construing). Desensitization, though it reduced phobic anxiety, had no effect on concordance.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Fear and time estimation.

It has been claimed that fear shortens time-estimates. Contrary to this view, 35 spider-phobic subjects give longer estimates of a short interval spent observing a spider than 18 non-phobic controls. The phobics' estimates are also more variable.

Discrimination Learning↗