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In this study we aimed at training a nurse to apply communication techniques in order to become more therapeutic in her successive interpersonal relations. Along the research we found categorization problems that were considered and analysed.
Cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) has been identified as a potential mechanism linking a variety of psychosocial processes to the development of cardiovascular disease. Although the effects of hostile and supportive social stimuli on CVR have been studied extensively, less is known about the effects of a second major dimension of social relations--dominance versus submissiveness. In the present study, 45 married couples participated in an interaction task involving the assertion of differing opinions. Subjects also provided ratings of their typical level of dominance versus submissiveness in relation to their spouse. Consistent with predictions derived from related conceptual models of psychological determinants of CVR, blood pressure reactivity was positively associated with perceptions of the spouse as dominant. At the highest level of perceived spouse dominance, CVR was attenuated, again consistent with prediction. Results are discussed in terms of the usefulness of conceptual models of interpersonal relations and motivation as guides in studying the social determinants of CVR, as well as the value of marital interactions as a context for understanding CVR.
This study investigated self-reported anger, hostility, interpersonal aggressiveness, and self-confidence in 19 Type A and 11 Type B adolescent boys ages 15 and 16. It was hypothesized that Type As would report greater trait anger and aggressiveness, less confidence in interpersonal relating, and would endorse a pattern of expression of anger and aggressiveness that would differ from Type Bs. No significant differences were found between Type As and Type Bs on measures of global anger and aggressiveness, and no significant relationship between interpersonal hostility and self-confidence was demonstrated. Type As, however, were found to be more likely than Type Bs to report that they lose their temper and that they act in physically aggressive, verbally aggressive, and passive aggressive ways. Results were discussed in terms of the similarity of this pattern in Type A adolescent boys to that described for adult Type A men.
The increase in homicide in Copenhagen during the years from 1959 to 1983 was investigated in a material of 251 defendants of homicide examined by a psychiatrist. During the period the change in the pattern of female homicide was only slight. The rise in the consumption of alcohol and drugs in the general population was found related to the increase in the rate of homicide committed by male - mostly alcoholic - substance abusers. Further was noticed an increase in homicide involving victims outside the family of the defendant. This trend was most prominent among the youngest of the defendants. The results are commented by referring to recent changes in interpersonal relations and to the conditions for socialization of the rising generation of today.
Normal subjects typically categorize acquaintances on bipolar dimensions consisting of pairs of contrasting descriptive adjectives by using positive adjectives in the golden section ratio, i.e. 62 percent cent of the time. This study compared the performance of thought-disordered and non-thought-disordered schizophrenics on a similar task, using acquaintances and inanimate objects. Subjects generated six evaluatively positive figures (three acquaintances and three objects) and six negative figures (three acquaintances and three objects) and categorized them and themselves using either pole of 12 pairs of contrasting descriptive adjectives. Positive adjectives were assigned to objects 59.2 per cent and to acquaintances 62.8 per cent of the time. Overall, positive adjectives were assigned 61.0 per cent of the time. There were no differences between TD and NTD subjects. Subjects rated acquaintances positively (62.0 per cent) significantly more often than objects (P less than 0.05). Results supported the fundamental nature of the GS in interpersonal relations and the idea that schizophrenics identify with and differentiate themselves from others in the same way as normals.
Openness to Experience is one of the 5 broad factors that subsume most personality traits. Openness is usually considered an intrapsychic dimension, defined in terms of characteristics of consciousness. However, different ways of approaching and processing experience lead to different value systems that exercise a profound effect on social interactions. In this article, the author reviews the effects of Openness versus Closedness in cultural innovation, political ideology, social attitudes, marital choice, and interpersonal relations. The construct of Openness and its measures could profitably be incorporated into research conducted by social psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and historians.
Touch and touch avoidance are important facets of interpersonal relations. Touch avoidance has been related to sex, but the relationship between touch and sex roles has not been widely substantiated. 259 undergraduate students participated in a procedure designed to test the relationship between sex, sex roles, and same-sex and opposite-sex touch avoidance. Significant differences were reported between men and women on same-sex touch avoidance but not on opposite-sex touch avoidance. Participants high on androgyny reported less same-sex and opposite-sex touch avoidance than did subjects low on androgyny. No interactive effect between sex and androgyny was found for either same-sex or opposite-sex touch avoidance. Regression procedures indicated predictive models for sex and androgyny in relation to same-sex and opposite-sex touch avoidance. Specific conclusions regarding the relationships among sex, androgyny, and touch avoidance were stated.
A group of obese children between 6-12 years of age is compared with Lavik's questionaire which serves as base for statistical analysis (critical ratio). Meaningful differences appear in several behavioral areas: aggressiveness, interest in sexuality, impaired interpersonal relations, increased anxiety and depressive tendencies. Important differences are to be noted also comparing obese boys and girls.
Although not true in all countries, older adults are the developmental age group at highest risk for death by suicide in the United States. Our knowledge of suicide in the elderly is, however, limited. The psychological characteristics for suicide cannot be attributed primarily or even solely to being old. One avenue to understanding this complicated act in the elderly is suicide notes. Despite their limitations, suicide notes contain special revelations of the human mind and there is much one can learn from them about suicide in the older adult. This paper outlines the sparse literature on the topic of suicide notes of the older adult and then presents the author's own life-span research related to the elderly. The research indicated that long-term instability was critical in understanding suicide in the older adult. However, indirect expressions (e.g., ambivalence, unconscious implications) were much less frequently observed in the notes of the elderly than other adults. The research also found that older males often wrote about painful problems in their interpersonal relations in their final letters and this pain was significant in making their final decision. Future research, specifically regarding a protocol analysis based on a review of the research on suicide in the elderly, will be discussed.
This multimethod research linked the Big Five personality dimensions to interpersonal conflicts. Agreeableness was the focus because this dimension is associated with motives to maintain positive interpersonal relations. Converging responses to both hypothetical conflicts and to diary records of actual daily interpersonal conflicts across a two-week period were assessed. Agreeableness was expected to moderate affective responses and tactical choices during conflicts. Patterns of daily conflict were related to self-reported reactions to hypothetical conflicts and to teacher-rated adjustment in adolescents. As predicted, Agreeableness was related to responsiveness to conflict. Agreeableness differences and use of destructive tactics in conflict were significantly related to evaluations of the individual's adjustment by knowledgeable raters. Among the Big Five dimensions, Agreeableness was most closely associated with processes and outcomes during interpersonal conflict.
The conceptual point of departure of this study was Cantril's "patterns of human concerns" as reflecting reality worlds. Subjects were 805 "on-time" retirees and 260 kibbutz members (who do not retire) interviewed at three points in time. We asked two questions: Can modal themes in this map of concerns be identified as characteristic of an Israeli cohort of the young elderly? Do gender, class, and retiree/kibbutz status lead to meaningful differences in mapping the world? A quite common modal pattern of concerns was found in the retiree sample, with a central focus on family and interpersonal relations. Commonalities between the different sociocultural groups seemed more striking than the differences.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) has been a widely used diagnostic entity. However, opinions about its descriptive validity differ considerably. Hitherto, three diagnostic systems have been developed, those by DSM-III, Akhtar and Thomson, and Kernberg. This paper compares these three systems with respect to concordance among diagnostic criteria, and conceptual themes around which the criteria cluster. The results indicate low concordance among the specific criteria used in these systems but a consensus about the conceptual themes describing self-experience, interpersonal relations and other aspects of NPD. This suggests that NPD is comprised of some core characteristics. However, a reconceptualization of the understanding of NPD must precede further empirical investigations.
It is the purpose of this article to offer additional clarification of H. S. Sullivan's three-way division of cognitive experience. The investigation involves an analysis of C. S. Peirce's phenomenological categories of experience and their three Sullivanian parallels, i.e., prototaxis, parataxis, and syntaxis. It will be argued that the utilisation of these categories will provide psychiatrists with the following:(1) a set of non-psychiatric criteria for clarifying the underlying principles of psychiatric claims, (2) a broader base for analysing the nature of interpersonal relations, and (3) an additional means of preserving the self-correcting character of inter-personal psychiatry as a theory.
To promote therapeutic educational activities for nursing personnel in order to decrease stress, to improve interpersonal relations and the search for self-knowledge are the objectives of the courses promoted by the Departament of Nursing of FCM and by The Continued Education Nursing Service of the University Hospital of UNICAMP. Respiration, relaxation, body sensibilization and awareness, and theater interpretation techniques were taught in the following courses: The Hospital and Human Relations, Dance and Creativity, Yoga and Mental Relaxation. The estrategy employed was "group experience", with the participation of nurse's aides, nurses technicians, practical nurses, and registered nurses during working hours in 15 to 20 meetings per course. "Individual statements" written by the participants were used as a research tool, and the method employed was content analysis. The evaluation demonstrated that the "experience" facilitated relations among the members of the work team, opened the space for effective communication, favored self-knowledge, and helped with the problem solving. The analysis demonstrated the importance of the continuity of alternative courses to help employes improve their relations with themselves, with others and with their work, and to properly value their health/learning.
A crew of four (three males and one male) were isolated for 60 days in hyperbaric chambers at DLR, Cologne, Germany. The aim of the study was to investigate how group functioning, relations with ground control, and interaction between crew members would change during isolation. A broad array of methods was used, including analysis of communication, peer ratings, questionnaires, and a post-isolation interview. The main findings are: 1. Group functioning declined at three times, immediately before and after the start of isolation, and in weeks 2 and 5; 2. Conflicts were often focused on project management. 3. Crew members showed a marked tendency to deny team conflicts, making them vulnerable to "group think;" 4. Towards the end of isolation, social factors were given more importance than task-related factors; 5. Lasting antagonism between two of the male crew members were noted, which made one of them withdraw from interaction, while the other one--the most dominant crew member--developed an alliance with the Commander. Several findings in this study are consistent with our earlier results from the ISEMSI study. The existence of several interpersonal issues has been identified, which are also likely to occur during actual space missions. Many of the interpersonal problems could probably be prevented or reduced through behavioral and sensitivity training, composition of crews according to compatibility, and monitoring of group functioning during the flight. We suggest that future simulation studies should be directed towards gaining practical experience in how to influence interpersonal relations in a desirable way. The joint training of ground crew and chamber crew created good co-operation between the two crews, but the adjustment to management requires more experience and new training procedures. The lack of formalized rules caused serious frustrations and negative feelings in both crews towards project management. Data from management and principal investigators were not available, but we suggest that such information should be collected in future simulation studies.
The clinical course of 289 patients with primary non-bipolar major depression without concurrent alcoholism was compared with that of 79 patients with non-bipolar major depression with concurrent alcoholism. Neither patient group suffered from dysthymia or current drug abuse. Contrary to expectations, the two groups did not differ on time to recovery from the major depression, time to relapse into a subsequent major depression, or various cross-sectional clinical ratings at 2 years. The two groups did differ on psychosocial status. Although they were equally impaired at index, the alcoholism group maintained significantly lower levels of psychosocial functioning throughout the 2-year follow-up period. Interpersonal relation with spouse was particularly worse among the alcoholic group.
Thirty-nine children who had been abused an average of 5 1/2 years earlier and 14 children who had been admitted to the hospital with nonorganic failure to thrive (NOFTT) 13 years earlier were studied to look at similarities and differences in their development. Each group was studied in relation to a comparison group matched for age, sex, social class, and ethnic background. The abused children and those with NOFTT were similar in their language ability, and were significantly behind their comparison groups in language development, reading age, and verbal intelligence. The abused children, but not the group who had NOFTT, were significantly behind their comparison group in general intelligence, interpersonal relations, and self-concept, but in contrast to the children with NOFTT they were not delayed in social maturity. The long-term adverse sequelae of these two conditions emphasize the need for a long-term, child-centered approach.
Data relevant to stress and strain were analyzed separately for police officers with high and low workloads. Although these groups of officers were not found to differ in demographic characteristics or on overall levels of stress and strain, the sources of stress and strain were remarkably different. For the low workload officer, the sources of stress and strain appear to be difficulties in interpersonal relations with peers, community, and especially with supervisors. These difficulties appear to be mediated by effects on self-evaluation. The sources of stress and strain among high workload officers appear to be stress-producing events in their lives in general, as well as in performing the job of patrol officer and in dealing with crime and related matters. The differences between high and low workload officers can be explained by social comparison theory, by identity theory, or by Selye's stress theory.