Psychological Bulletin (PSYCHOL BULL)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Would a Specifier for Callous-Unemotional Traits Enhance the Diagnosis of Conduct Disorder? A Comprehensive Review

  Paul J. Frick, James V. Ray, Laura C. Thornton, Rachel E. Kahn
  Psychological Bulletin 04/2013; In press.
• Article: Cognition, action, and object manipulation.

  David A. Rosenbaum, Kate M. Chapman, Matthias Weigelt, Daniel J. Weiss, Robrecht van der Wel
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  ABSTRACT: Although psychology is the science of mental life and behavior, little attention has been paid to the means by which mental life is translated into behavior. One domain in which links between cognition and action have been explored is the manipulation of objects. This article reviews psychological research on this topic, with special emphasis on the tendency to grasp objects differently depending on what one plans to do with the objects. Such differential grasping has been demonstrated in a wide range of object manipulation tasks, including grasping an object in a way that reveals anticipation of the object's future orientation, height, and required placement precision. Differential grasping has also been demonstrated in a wide range of behaviors, including 1-hand grasps, 2-hand grasps, walking, and transferring objects from place to place as well as from person to person. The populations in which the tendency has been shown are also diverse, including nonhuman primates as well as human adults, children, and babies. The tendency is compromised in a variety of clinical populations and in children of a surprisingly advanced age. Verbal working memory is compromised as well if words are memorized while object manipulation tasks are performed; the recency portion of the serial position curve is reduced in this circumstance. In general, the research reviewed here points to rich connections between cognition and action as revealed through the study of object manipulation. Other implications concern affordances, Donders' law, naturalistic observation, and the teaching of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  Psychological Bulletin 08/2012; 138(5):924-946.
• Article: Distinguishing how from why the mind wanders: a processing occurrence framework for self-generated thought.

  Smallwood
  Psychological Bulletin 01/2012;
• Article: Limitations of the motivational intensity model of attentional tuning: Reply to Harmon-Jones, Gable, and Price (2011).

  Ronald S. Friedman, Jens Förster
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  ABSTRACT: In an integrative review, we concluded that implicit affective cues—rudimentary stimuli associated with the onset of arousing positive or negative emotional states and/or with appraisals that the environment is benign or threatening—automatically moderate the scope of attention by Friedman & Förster (see record 2010-17510-008). In their comment, Harmon-Jones, Gable, and Price (see record 2011-08310-001) contended that their own recent research, aimed at demonstrating that motivational intensity moderates the relationship between affective state and attentional tuning, requires a tempering of our conclusions. However, Harmon-Jones et al. portrayed these conclusions neither accurately nor comprehensively and offered an insufficient critical assessment of their own competing account. More important, they failed to establish a compelling alternative explanation for the multitude of specific findings we reviewed (Friedman & Förster, 2010). Therefore, although the work of Harmon-Jones et al. is provocative, it leaves critical issues unresolved and does not yet demand a reconsideration of either our basic assumptions or our overall conclusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  Psychological Bulletin 04/2011; 137(3):513-516.
• Article: Cognitive processes, trauma, and dissociation—Misconceptions and misrepresentations: Reply to Bremner (2010).

  Timo Giesbrecht, Steven J. Lynn, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Harald Merckelbach
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  ABSTRACT: In a recent review (see record 2008-11487-001), we critically evaluated the research literature on cognitive processes in dissociation. In a comment, Bremner (see record 2009-24669-001) has voiced reservations about our contention that evidence for the causal role of trauma in dissociation is limited. In this reply, we argue that Bremner’s arguments are unconvincing and that a closer examination of the dissociation literature only strengthens the basis for our conclusions. Specifically, we show that dissociation exhibits a robust association with fantasy proneness and that Bremner’s criticisms regarding our operationalization of dissociation are unfounded. Moreover, we demonstrate that heightened levels of fantasy proneness, suggestibility, and cognitive failures are related to the propensity to develop pseudomemories, which in turn may account for why dissociation is related to self-reported, but not objective, trauma. We conclude that there is little evidence for the gross cognitive deficits (e.g., interidentity amnesia, memory fragmentation) that many scholars have claimed accompany dissociative symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  Psychological Bulletin 12/2009; 136(1):7-11.
• Article: Are alcohol expectancies associations, propositions, or elephants? A reply to Wiers and Stacy (2010).

  Antony C. Moss, Ian P. Albery
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  ABSTRACT: We provide a response to a commentary by Wiers and Stacy (see record 2009-24669-003) on our model of the alcohol–behavior link (see record 2009-09537-002). Whereas Wiers and Stacy generally supported our model, they took issue with our conceptualization of the alcohol expectancy construct. We address the major concerns of Wiers and Stacy by demonstrating that our own view is consistent with basic cognitive scientific conceptualizations of the nature of associative and propositional reasoning within a dual-systems framework. In clarifying these issues, we maintain that although the predictions presented by Wiers and Stacy are important and useful in this area, they are predictions that can be derived from our original formulation of the alcohol–behavior link. We conclude that this kind of useful debate can only aid the generation of conceptually consistent and testable models that will advance the understanding of the alcohol–behavior link. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  Psychological Bulletin 12/2009; 136(1):17-20.
• Source

  Available from: psychexperiment.net

  Article: Stress and specificity: Reply to Miller (2009).

  Thomas F Denson, Marija Spanovic, Norman Miller
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  ABSTRACT: T. F. Denson, M. Spanovic, and N. Miller meta-analytically tested the hypotheses that specific appraisals and emotions would predict cortisol and immune responses to laboratory stressors and emotion inductions. Although the cortisol data supported the integrated specificity hypothesis, G. E. Miller raised questions concerning the extent to which the immunity data supported specificity. The authors respond to these concerns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).
  Psychological Bulletin 11/2009; 135(6):857-8.
• Article: How does sexual minority stigma "get under the skin"? A psychological mediation framework.

  Mark L Hatzenbuehler
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  ABSTRACT: Sexual minorities are at increased risk for multiple mental health burdens compared with heterosexuals. The field has identified 2 distinct determinants of this risk, including group-specific minority stressors and general psychological processes that are common across sexual orientations. The goal of the present article is to develop a theoretical framework that integrates the important insights from these literatures. The framework postulates that (a) sexual minorities confront increased stress exposure resulting from stigma; (b) this stigma-related stress creates elevations in general emotion dysregulation, social/interpersonal problems, and cognitive processes conferring risk for psychopathology; and (c) these processes in turn mediate the relationship between stigma-related stress and psychopathology. It is argued that this framework can, theoretically, illuminate how stigma adversely affects mental health and, practically, inform clinical interventions. Evidence for the predictive validity of this framework is reviewed, with particular attention paid to illustrative examples from research on depression, anxiety, and alcohol-use disorders.
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):707-30.
• Article: Children's understanding of second-order mental states.

  Scott A Miller
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  ABSTRACT: The most popular topic in theory-of-mind research has been first-order false belief: the realization that it is possible to hold false beliefs about events in the world. A more advanced development is second-order false belief: the realization that it is possible to hold a false belief about someone else's belief. This article reviews research directed to second-order false belief and other forms of higher order, recursive mentalistic reasoning. Three general issues are considered. Research directed to developmental changes indicates that preschoolers typically fail second-order tasks and that success emerges at about age 5 or 6, although results vary some with method of assessment. Research directed to the consequences of second-order competence has revealed positive relations with a number of other aspects of children's development. Finally, measures of both language and executive function relate positively to performance on second-order tasks; the causal bases for the correlations, however, remain to be established. This article concludes with suggestions for future research.
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):749-73.
• Source

  Available from: motives.com

  Article: Beyond the pleistocene: using phylogeny and constraint to inform the evolutionary psychology of human mating.

  Paul W Eastwick
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  ABSTRACT: Evolutionary psychologists explore the adaptive function of traits and behaviors that characterize modern Homo sapiens. However, evolutionary psychologists have yet to incorporate the phylogenetic relationship between modern Homo sapiens and humans' hominid and pongid relatives (both living and extinct) into their theorizing. By considering the specific timing of evolutionary events and the role of evolutionary constraint, researchers using the phylogenetic approach can generate new predictions regarding mating phenomena and derive new explanations for existing evolutionary psychological findings. Especially useful is the concept of the adaptive workaround-an adaptation that manages the maladaptive elements of a pre-existing evolutionary constraint. The current review organizes 7 features of human mating into their phylogenetic context and presents evidence that 2 adaptive workarounds played a critical role as Homo sapiens's mating psychology evolved. These adaptive workarounds function in part to mute or refocus the effects of older, previously evolved adaptations and highlight the layered nature of humans' mating psychology.
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):794-821.
• Article: Psychosis as a risk factor for violence to others: a meta-analysis.

  Kevin S Douglas, Laura S Guy, Stephen D Hart
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  ABSTRACT: The potential association between psychosis and violence to others has long been debated. Past research findings are mixed and appear to depend on numerous potential moderators. As such, the authors conducted a quantitative review (meta-analysis) of research on the association between psychosis and violence. A total of 885 effect sizes (odds ratios) were calculated or estimated from 204 studies on the basis of 166 independent data sets. The central tendency (median) of the effect sizes indicated that psychosis was significantly associated with a 49%-68% increase in the odds of violence. However, there was substantial dispersion among effect sizes. Moderation analyses indicated that the dispersion was attributable in part to methodological factors, such as study design (e.g., community vs. institutional samples), definition and measurement of psychosis (e.g., diagnostic vs. symptom-level measurement, type of symptom), and comparison group (e.g., psychosis compared with externalizing vs. internalizing vs. no mental disorder). The authors discuss these findings in light of potential causal models of the association between psychosis and violence, the role of psychosis in violence risk assessment and management, and recommendations for future research.
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):679-706.
• Source

  Available from: berkeley.edu

  Article: Overnight therapy? The role of sleep in emotional brain processing.

  Matthew P Walker, Els van der Helm
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  ABSTRACT: Cognitive neuroscience continues to build meaningful connections between affective behavior and human brain function. Within the biological sciences, a similar renaissance has taken place, focusing on the role of sleep in various neurocognitive processes and, most recently, on the interaction between sleep and emotional regulation. This review surveys an array of diverse findings across basic and clinical research domains, resulting in a convergent view of sleep-dependent emotional brain processing. On the basis of the unique neurobiology of sleep, the authors outline a model describing the overnight modulation of affective neural systems and the (re)processing of recent emotional experiences, both of which appear to redress the appropriate next-day reactivity of limbic and associated autonomic networks. Furthermore, a rapid eye movement (REM) sleep hypothesis of emotional-memory processing is proposed, the implications of which may provide brain-based insights into the association between sleep abnormalities and the initiation and maintenance of mood disturbances.
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):731-48.
• Source

  Available from: cf.ac.uk

  Article: Property transmission: an explanatory account of the role of similarity information in causal inference.

  Peter A White
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  ABSTRACT: Many kinds of common and easily observed causal relations exhibit property transmission, which is a tendency for the causal object to impose its own properties on the effect object. It is proposed that property transmission becomes a general and readily available hypothesis used to make interpretations and judgments about causal questions under conditions of uncertainty, in which property transmission functions as a heuristic. The property transmission hypothesis explains why and when similarity information is used in causal inference. It can account for magical contagion beliefs, some cases of illusory correlation, the correspondence bias, overestimation of cross-situational consistency in behavior, nonregressive tendencies in prediction, the belief that acts of will are causes of behavior, and a range of other phenomena. People learn that property transmission is often moderated by other factors, but under conditions of uncertainty in which the operation of relevant other factors is unknown, it tends to exhibit a pervasive influence on thinking about causality.
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):774-93.
• Article: "Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations": Correction to Chida and Hamer (2008).

  Yoichi Chida, Mark Hamer
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  ABSTRACT: Reports an error in "Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations" by Yoichi Chida and Mark Hamer (Psychological Bulletin, 2008[Nov], Vol 134[6], 829-885). There is an error in Table 1. On p. 840 the entry for Hill et al. 1987 should be Masters et al. 2004. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-14745-003.) This meta-analysis included 729 studies from 161 articles investigating how acute stress responsivity (including stress reactivity and recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, autonomic, and cardiovascular systems) changes with various chronic psychosocial exposures (job stress; general life stress; depression or hopelessness; anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect; hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior; fatigue, burnout, or exhaustion; positive psychological states or traits) in healthy populations. In either the overall meta-analysis or the methodologically strong subanalysis, positive psychological states or traits were associated with reduced HPA reactivity. Hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior was associated with increased cardiovascular (heart rate or blood pressure) reactivity, whereas anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect was associated with decreased cardiovascular reactivity. General life stress and anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect were associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery. However, regarding the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, there were no associations between the chronic psychosocial factors and stress reactivity or recovery. The results largely reflect an integrated stress response pattern of hypo- or hyperactivity depending on the specific nature of the psychosocial background. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).
  Psychological Bulletin 10/2009; 135(5):793.
• Article: Children’s understanding of second-order mental states.

  Scott A. Miller
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: The most popular topic in theory-of-mind research has been first-order false belief: the realization that it is possible to hold false beliefs about events in the world. A more advanced development is second-order false belief: the realization that it is possible to hold a false belief about someone else’s belief. This article reviews research directed to second-order false belief and other forms of higher order, recursive mentalistic reasoning. Three general issues are considered. Research directed to developmental changes indicates that preschoolers typically fail second-order tasks and that success emerges at about age 5 or 6, although results vary some with method of assessment. Research directed to the consequences of second-order competence has revealed positive relations with a number of other aspects of children’s development. Finally, measures of both language and executive function relate positively to performance on second-order tasks; the causal bases for the correlations, however, remain to be established. This article concludes with suggestions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  Psychological Bulletin 08/2009; 135(5):749-773.
• Article: A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between attentional bias and subjective craving in substance abuse.

  Matt Field, Marcus R Munafò, Ingmar H A Franken
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  ABSTRACT: Theoretical models of addiction suggest that attentional bias for substance-related cues should be associated with self-reported craving. The authors evaluated the strength of the association by performing a meta-analysis on 68 independent data sets from which correlation coefficients between subjective craving and attentional bias indices were derived. Additional stratified analyses were conducted to identify any variables that might moderate the association between craving and attentional bias. The primary meta-analysis indicated a significant, albeit weak (r=.19), association between attentional bias and craving. Stratified analyses revealed that the association was larger for illicit drug and caffeine craving than for alcohol and tobacco craving, larger for direct measures of attention (eye movement measures and event-related potential measures) than for indirect behavioral measures of attentional bias, and larger when craving strength was high than when it was low (all ps<.05). The size of the correlation did not differ among patients in treatment and individuals who were not seeking treatment. These results suggest that attentional bias and craving are related phenomena, although the relationship is generally modest and appears to be moderated by various factors. Theoretical implications are discussed.
  Psychological Bulletin 08/2009; 135(4):589-607.
• Article: Source monitoring 15 years later: what have we learned from fMRI about the neural mechanisms of source memory?

  Karen J Mitchell, Marcia K Johnson
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  ABSTRACT: Focusing primarily on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this article reviews evidence regarding the roles of subregions of the medial temporal lobes, prefrontal cortex, posterior representational areas, and parietal cortex in source memory. In addition to evidence from standard episodic memory tasks assessing accuracy for neutral information, the article considers studies assessing the qualitative characteristics of memories, the encoding and remembering of emotional information, and false memories, as well as evidence from populations that show disrupted source memory (older adults, individuals with depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, or schizophrenia). Although there is still substantial work to be done, fMRI is advancing understanding of source memory and highlighting unresolved issues. A continued 2-way interaction between cognitive theory, as illustrated by the source monitoring framework (M. K. Johnson, S. Hashtroudi, & D. S. Lindsay, 1993), and evidence from cognitive neuroimaging studies should clarify conceptualization of cognitive processes (e.g., feature binding, retrieval, monitoring), prior knowledge (e.g., semantics, schemas), and specific features (e.g., perceptual and emotional information) and of how they combine to create true and false memories.
  Psychological Bulletin 08/2009; 135(4):638-77.
• Article: For over a century, Psychological Bulletin has been the leading source of systematic review articles for the entire discipline of psychology. Editorial.

  Stephen P Hinshaw
  Psychological Bulletin 08/2009; 135(4):511-5.