PSYCHNOTES

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SEPTEMBER 26, 2010
Generally, individuals with low self-esteem are just as socially skilled as well as interested in social interaction with members of the opposite sex as those with high self-esteem. However, the greater they perceive the risk in a social situation for rejection or a negative outcome, the more individuals with low self-esteem are likely to engage in protective or avoidant behaviors (Cameron, et.al, 2010).

What this indicates is that those with low self-esteem could be just as effective socially and be accepted by the opposite sex, except that their own negative self-perceptions get in the way. They believe they aren't socially competent and won't be liked or accepted, and therefore, don't engage socially as much as they could. Less opportunity means less success.


SEPTEMBER 24, 2010
When someone tells an attentive and enthusiastic listener about a positive event in his or her life, the degree of the story-teller's enjoyment of the event increases as well as positive feelings. Conversely, the listener's lack of interest in the positive event or negative reaction such as envy could decrease the story-teller's positive perception of the event. This effect was not explainable by just engaging in a positive social interaction and the resulting increase in positive mood.

Most likely, the process of telling a personal story that is valued by someone else leads to an increase in positive social interactions with the listener as well as allowing the story-teller to savor the memory of the event (Reis, et.al., 2010).


SEPTEMBER 21, 2010
Generally, when attachment anxiety, the extreme fear of abandonment, is high in a relationship, the couple reports decreased satisfaction with the relationship. This tends to be especially true when a high level of conflict occurs.

Interestingly, though, Saavedra et.al. (2010) found that when the couples were taught mindfulness skills, the fear of abandonment decreased and satisfaction increased. Therefore, they suggest that when an individual has attachment anxiety, it may be easier as well as effective to focus on learning the mindfulness techniques than directly trying to change the abandonment fears.





SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
Marital disillusionment, defined as a decrease in love and affection, the tendency to see the spouse as unresponsive to needs and ambivalence about the relationship, early in marriage tends to predict those couples who are more likely to get divorced. Niehuis and Bartell (2006) developed a questionnaire that can show disillusionment in marriage. They found that this questionnaire is related to dissatisfaction in marriage and increased risk for divorce.



SEPTEMBER 17, 2010
Although practice on a Wii cognitive training task improves performance on that task in adults over 50, it does not transfer to everyday tasks (Ackerman et.al., 2010). This research shows that older adults are capable of learning novel information, however, it questions whether the tasks on Wii software are directly relevant to everyday life. Therefore, in spite of the improvement on the game tasks, using brain training software may not impact overall cognitive ability.


SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
Attachment security develops early in life based upon a child's experience with primary caretakers. Such experiences teach them whether or not they can trust that others will meet their needs. People low in attachment security have difficulty trusting others and will often experience a great deal of anxiety in relationships.

After assessing attachment security in young couples researchers Holland and Roisman (2010) found that higher attachment security predicted a year later the quality of a romantic relationship. Those who are low in attachment security were more likely to have problems in their relationship.



SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
With increased work demands, employees are likely to experience the effects of stress including emotional exhaustion, increased physical complaints, and reduced productivity. However, Sonnentag et.al. (2010) followed workers over a year to determine the diffence between those who experienced more stress effects and those who coped more effectively.

Primarily, they showed that workers who were able to emotionally detach from work during their off-hours had significantly less impact from difficult work situations. Emotional detachment consists of various methods that allow a person to not engage in work, not think about work, and to wind down and relax during their work hours.



SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
Computer use has been shown to be related to less mental decline with aging. In addition, people who regularly computers had a better ability to more easily switch tasks indicating mental flexibility which tends to decline with age. In fact, this finding was even stronger for those with intellectual or educational weaknesses. Therefore, the researchers (Tun and Lachman, 2010) suggest that resources need to be provided for those with low incomes to have greater access to computers.



SEPTEMBER 7, 2010
Although how a person responds to failure to attain goals may be associated with depression, setting high goals, in itself, is not related to vulnerability for depression. However, individuals prone to mania may be more likely to set statistically unlikely, or extreme, goals especially those related to reward such as money or fame.



SEPTEMBER 3, 2010
Researchers (deGraff et.al., 2010) examining online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals with depression found that those who tend to be more optimistic with a coping strategy style focused on change were more likely to benefit from online CBT. They also found that individuals more susceptible to depression due to family history of depression and those with more severe depression were likely to benefit from a combination of standard in-office therapy and online CBT.



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