Interest is increasing in developing universal interventions to prevent depression in adolescents that are brief enough to be scaled up. The aim of this study was to test the effects on depressive ...symptoms, cognitive schemas, and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Hormones of an intervention focused on teaching an element of an incremental theory of personality, namely, the belief that people can change. We also examined whether grade level moderated the effects of the intervention. A double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was conducted with 867 Spanish adolescent participants (51.9% boys, Grades 8–10) randomly assigned to an incremental theory intervention (
n
= 456) or an educational control intervention (
n
= 411). The adolescents completed measures of depressive symptoms and negative cognitive schemas at pretest, at 6-month follow-up, and at 12-month follow-up. A subsample of 503 adolescents provided salivary samples for cortisol and DHEA-S testing. In 8th grade, adolescents who received the incremental theory intervention displayed a greater decrease in depressive symptoms and cognitive schemas and a lower increase in DHEA-S. Moreover, in adolescents who received the intervention, the rate of adolescents with high depression scores decreased by almost 18% whereas in the control group, the rate increased by 37%. Surprisingly, the effects of the intervention were in the opposite direction among adolescents in 9th grade. These data indicate that a brief universal intervention could prevent depressive symptoms under some conditions, but developmental characteristics can moderate the effectiveness of this approach.
Openness/Intellect in a 50-Item IPIP Instrument Ingram, Paul B.; Boan-Lenzo, Candace; Vuyk, M. Alexandra
Journal of psychoeducational assessment,
12/2013, Volume:
31, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The M5-50 is a five-factor theory instrument based on the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) that has had difficulties with the five-factor model fitting well. The openness domain’s factor ...structure has a history of concerns that might relate to the connected yet distinguishable facets of openness/intellect. This study explored the factor structure and interdomain correlations within the openness domain of the M5-50 in 255 college students. Results indicate that no significant interdomain correlations exist between Openness and the other M5-50 domains. In addition, results suggest that having one factor convey the aspects of the openness domain construct does not explain the structure of the domain as well as a three-factor solution; the three-factor solution in the M5-50 includes commonalities to the distinct IPIP facets of artistic interests and intellect while the third factor demonstrates less emergent facets of the domain. Implications of the findings include a suggested review of the openness domain in the M5-50 and interpretations of openness/intellect in vocational settings.
The conceptualization of being human and the theory of personality in Rogers' work are mainly based on 'axioms' of the organism and the actualizing tendency, which is assumed to be inherent in the ...organism. In spite of their primary importance for the theory of the person-centered approach, these axioms are not distinct and are likely to be misunderstood. This is because Rogers does not distinguish between the organism or the body as a biological substratum and the organismic experience as a psychological category. These phenomena need to be placed on different epistemological and ontological levels. To explicate the term subjectivity, a fundamental distinction will be made here between the body as a physical entity and organismic experience, which is not considered as a predetermined development process regulated only by conditions of worth that are represented in the self.
Cloninger's Unified Biosocial Theory of Personality postulates a relationship between the relative functional activity of central serotonergic, dopaminergic, and noradrenergic neurotransmitter ...systems, and the strength of three elemental dimensions of personality. These dimensions are Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking, and Reward Dependence, respectively. Accordingly, we predicted that neuroendocrine responses to serotonergic challenge would correlate with Harm Avoidance scores, but not with Novelty Seeking or Reward Dependence scores. We examined the relationship between the prolactin and cortisol responses to a 12.5-mg intravenous clomipramine challenge and these personality dimensions as measured by Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire in 32 healthy subjects. The cortisol response correlated only with Harm Avoidance scores, as predicted; however, prolactin response did not correlate with Harm Avoidance scores. Instead, it demonstrated an inverse relationship with Novelty Seeking scores. There was a positive relationship of baseline prolactin with Harm Avoidance in a post hoc analysis. Cortisol response to serotonergic challenge may be a better indicator for responsivity of serotonergic systems as they relate to the personality dimension of Harm Avoidance than is prolactin. Prolactin responses may be overly affected by dopaminergic influences; however, baseline prolactin may still be a valid indicator of serotonergic tone.
Child‐Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is an approach to play therapy that focuses on the life of the individual through a relationship between the client and therapist. It focuses on relating to the ...child in ways that will release the child's inner‐directional, constructive, forward‐moving, creative, and self‐healing powers in the play session. The child‐centered theory of personality is based on three concepts: the person, phenomenal field, and self. CCPT is based on the principles of Rogers's theory of nondirective therapy which is characterized by three core conditions: congruence between the therapist and the client, unconditional positive regard toward the client, and empathy with the client. The eight basic principles of nondirective play therapy set forth by Virginia Axline provide the foundation for child‐centered play therapy as it is practiced today. The most famous case of child‐centered play therapy is the story of 5‐year‐old Dibs, the boy in search of self.
Jungian analytical psychology can be seen as a meta‐psychology of individuation, the path by which each human being, through an inward journey of conscious engagement with the collective unconscious, ...becomes who she or he is meant to be. Jung's principal interests in spiritualism, paranormal and occult phenomena, symbolism, and the psychology of religion, along with his research, clinical practice, writing—and the training of Jungian analysts, underscore the importance of his work to psychodynamic psychology in general and specifically to transpersonal psychology. The architecture of Jung' theory is instrumental to the foundation of Washburn's theoretical approach, particularly Jung's theory of the unconscious, archetypes, complexes, ego‐self axis, and the transcultural comparative study of mysticism, alchemy, spiritual and wisdom traditions, historiography, mythology, religion, philosophy, art, symbols and symbolism, and cultural anthropology.
Chapter 5 - Anxiety and Harm Avoidance Markett, Sebastian; Montag, Christian; Reuter, Martin
Neuroimaging Personality, Social Cognition, and Character,
2016
Book Chapter
Harm avoidance is a biologically informed conceptualization of trait anxiety. It reflects the heritable tendency to react strongly to punishment or frustration by inhibiting ongoing behavior. Harm ...avoidance has been discussed in particular as a risk factor for major depression and anxiety disorders. In order to derive biomarkers for these disorders, it is imperative to understand the neural implementation of harm avoidance in the normal range. In this chapter, we review the personality neuroimaging literature through a harm avoidance lens: a total of 41 empirical studies using different imaging techniques in different modalities are reviewed. Studies point toward a network comprising a frontal, a temporal, and a cingulo-insular complex. Results provide an ample ground for future research that is needed to derive a full functional model of the neural implementation of harm avoidance.
The present paper examines three models of personality and behavior
- the dispositional approach, represented by the CEP questionnaire
(Pinillos), the adjustment approach (represented by the Bell
...questionnaire) and the behavioral approach (represented by the PES
scale of MacPhyllamy and Lewinsohn) - with respect to the prediction
of depression. The specific results show that variables from the first two are
good predictors of depression and that the PES scale from the behavioral
approach is a weaker predictor. Second, the position is taken that there are
unrecognized relationships among different psychological tests and the present
study investigates such relationships among the three scales as they are used
in the prediction of depression. The relationships found are analyzed in a
unifying theory that calls for additional studies of the interrelationships of
tests in prediction for the purpose of organizing the field's excessive
diversity in tests and theories and of elaborating the theory.
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