Browse Our Latest Psychology and Behavioral Science Journals
Psychological journals are peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journals that publish original work in some areas of psychology. The most common publications include cognitive, health and clinical psychology, applied, developmental, biological, social, experimental, and educational psychology, and psychoanalysis.
Behavioral Sciences
A PRISM-teszt papír-ceruza változatának alkalmazása a krónikus gerinceredetű fájdalom vizsgálatában
Application of the paper-and-pencil version of the PRISM test in chronic pain patients of spinal origin
ABSZTRAKT
Elméleti háttér: A gerinceredetű krónikus fájdalom multidimenzionális, komplex élmény, amelynek mérésére önbeszámoló alapú és megfigyeléses standardizált vizsgáló eljárások egyaránt rendelkezésre állnak. A tesztek és tünetbecslő skálák előnye, hogy a fájdalomélmény meghatározói elkülönülten vizsgálhatók a segítségükkel, bár a felvételük időigényes és komplexitásuk miatt a kitöltésük nehézséget jelenthet, ezért ezek az eszközök a klinikumban csak korlátozottan használhatóak. Cél: Kutatásunkban azt vizsgáljuk, hogy a PRISM-teszt (Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure, Betegség és Szelf Képi Reprezentációs Vizsgálata) önkitöltéses papír–ceruza tesztként alkalmazva miként képes megragadni a fájdalomélmény különböző dimenzióit, így milyen előnyökkel járhat a használata a klinikai gyakorlatban. Módszerek: 104 krónikus gerinceredetű fájdalommal élő beteg vett részt a kutatásban, közülük 38 férfi és 66 nő, átlagéletkoruk 58 (SD = 15,75) év. Eredmények: A PRISM-teszt változói közül az Én-kör és a fájdalomkör közötti távolság (SIS), illetve a körök elhelyezkedése mentén létrehozott változók képesek voltak megragadni a fájdalom és a különböző pszichés tényezők közötti összefüggéseket, míg a fájdalmat szimbolizáló kör területe (IPM) erre nem volt alkalmas. A PRISM-teszttel nyerhető kvantitatív adatok alapján a SIS-érték szignifikáns, negatív irányú kapcsolatot mutat a fájdalomkatasztrofizációval (r s = –0,24; p = 0,023), a fájdalommal kapcsolatos tehetetlenséggel (r s = –0,27; p = 0,010), a fájdalomhoz fűződő munkával kapcsolatos mozgástól való félelemmel és elkerülő magatartással (r s = –0,21; p = 0,040), illetve a depresszió (r s = –0,43; p < 0,001) és az állapot- (r s = –0,35; p = 0,006), illetve vonásszorongás (r s = –0,23; p < 0,000) mértékével. Emellett szignifikáns különbség mutatkozott a fájdalom katasztrofizációja (Z = –2,432; U = 582,5; p = 0,015), a rumináció (Z = –2,249; U = 637,5; p = 0,025), a tehetetlenség (Z = –2,492; U = 577,5; p = 0,013), a munkával (Z = –2,404; U = 678,5; p = 0,016) és fizikai aktivitással (Z = –1,961; U = 772,5; p = 0,050) kapcsolatos, illetve összesített (Z = –2,399; U = 643,5; p = 0,016) félelem-elkerülési hiedelmek, illetve a depresszió (Z = –3,188; U = 640, p = 0,001) és a vonásszorongás (Z = –2,592; U = 656,5; p = 0,010) mértékében azok között, akiknek a fájdalomköre sértette az Én-kör határait és akiknek a fájdalom- és Én-köre kívül esett egymáson. Következtetések: A PRISM rajzteszt bizonyíthatóan képes megragadni a fájdalomélmény – kezelés szempontjából – releváns meghatározóit, így klinikailag hasznos vizsgáló eljárásnak tekinthető. Klinikai alkalmazhatóságával kapcsolatban beigazolódott, hogy az eszköz alkalmas azon betegek azonosítására, akik számára hasznos lehet átfogó pszichológiai vizsgálat a szomatikus kezelésüket megelőzően.
Abstract
Background and aims
Impaired value-based decision-making is a feature of substance and behavioral addictions. Loss aversion is a core of value-based decision-making and its alteration plays an important role in addiction. However, few studies explored it in internet gaming disorder patients (IGD).
Methods
In this study, IGD patients (PIGD) and healthy controls (Con-PIGD) performed the Iowa gambling task (IGT), under functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We investigated group differences in loss aversion, brain functional networks of node-centric functional connectivity (nFC) and the overlapping community features of edge-centric functional connectivity (eFC) in IGT.
Results
PIGD performed worse with lower average net score in IGT. The computational model results showed that PIGD significantly reduced loss aversion. There was no group difference in nFC. However, there were significant group differences in the overlapping community features of eFC1. Furthermore, in Con-PIGD, loss aversion was positively correlated with the edge community profile similarity of the edge2 between left IFG and right hippocampus at right caudate. This relationship was suppressed by response consistency3 in PIGD. In addition, reduced loss aversion was negatively correlated with the promoted bottom-to-up neuromodulation from the right hippocampus to the left IFG in PIGD.
Discussion and conclusions
The reduced loss aversion in value-based decision making and their related edge-centric functional connectivity support that the IGD showed the same value-based decision-making deficit as the substance use and other behavioral addictive disorders. These findings may have important significance for understanding the definition and mechanism of IGD in the future.
Szív-ügyünk. A szívkoszorúér-megbetegedések bio-pszicho-szociális szempontjai, az elsődleges, másodlagos és harmadlagos megelőzés lehetőségei
Heart matters. The bio-psycho-social aspects of coronary heart disease, and the ways of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention
Abstract
Introduction
Traumatic life events (TLE) and difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) can be considered risk factors for the development of gambling disorder in adolescents and young adults.
Methods
The aim of the present study was to examine the differences in TLE, ER strategies, positive and negative affect, and gambling severity in a clinical sample of individuals undergoing treatment for gambling disorder (92.8% males; Mage = 24.83, SD = 3.80) and a healthy control group (52.4% males; Mage = 15.65, SD = 2.22). The relationship between the variables was assessed and the mediating role of ER in the relationship between TLE and gambling in the clinical sample was analysed.
Results
The results showed higher scores in gambling severity, positive and negative affect, ER strategies and TLE in the clinical sample. In addition, the severity of gambling was positively correlated with TLE, negative affect and with rumination. TLE were also correlated positively with negative and positive affect, rumination ER strategies, plan focus, positive reinterpretation, and catastrophizing. Finally, rumination mediated the relationship between TLE and gambling severity.
Conclusions
These findings may have relevant implications for the prevention, understanding and treatment of gambling disorder.
Abstract
Background and aims
COVID-19 resulted in the shutdown of almost all sporting competitions and most venue-based gambling opportunities. This study examines how wagering operators in Australia responded, by examining their advertising.
Methods
The study compared Twitter activity during lockdown (March–May 2020) to the previous year for four major wagering operators.
Results
Wagering operators continued to advertise in earnest, changing their marketing mix to include more race betting content, as races continued to operate. Most also promoted the only sports available, such as table tennis or esports. When sports resumed, sports betting advertising quickly returned to normal, or exceeded previous levels. Despite more content being available in the case of two operators, engagement from the public during lockdown was similar to or lower than previously.
Discussion and conclusion
These results indicate that gambling operators can adjust quickly to major changes. These shifts appear to have been successful, with the increase in race betting during this period almost completely offsetting the decreases in sports betting. This is likely due in part to changes in advertising, which have been associated with increased betting activity, particularly amongst vulnerable people. Responsible gambling messages were virtually non-existent on Twitter, which contrasts with mandatory requirements in other media. The study highlights that regulatory changes to advertising, e.g., banning some content, are likely to be met with substitution of content, rather than reduction, unless advertising volume is also capped. The study also highlights the adaptive capacity of the gambling industry in the face of major disruption to supply.
Abstract
Background
Despite recent research linking lifetime classic psychedelic use to positive mental health outcomes, little work has explored the role played by classic psychedelics in healthy users' ability to cope with ordinary, yet stressful, life situations.
Aims
This study begins to fill this gap by exploring whether lifetime classic psychedelic use is associated with attenuated or exacerbated psychological distress in unemployed job seekers.
Methods
Drawing on openly-available data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2013–2019) on 208,136 adults in the United States, this study tests whether lifetime classic psychedelic use interacts with employment status to predict differences in respondents' psychological distress experienced in the last 30 days.
Results
After adjusting for sociodemographics, health factors, and other substance use, unemployed job seekers with lifetime classic psychedelic use are found to report greater psychological distress relative to unemployed job seekers without lifetime psychedelic use. No differences in psychological distress based on lifetime classic psychedelic use were found in employed individuals.
Conclusion
This study suggests that lifetime classic psychedelic use (of indoleamines specifically) may exacerbate stressful phases of life and provides context to previous studies linking lifetime classic psychedelic use to predominantly positive mental health outcomes in healthy populations.
Declaration of interest/funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Furthermore, the author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
Abstract
Background and aims
Many new digital gambling-like activities such as loot boxes, esports betting, skin betting, and token wagering have recently emerged and grown in popularity. This scoping review aimed to: (a) synthesize the existing empirical research literature on gambling-like activities and their associations with gambling and video gaming behaviors, including problem gambling and video gaming; (b) identify sociodemographic, psychological, and motivational factors associated with engagement in gambling-like activities; and (c) identify research gaps and areas for further research.
Methods
A systematic search of Ovid, Embsco, and ProQuest databases and Google Scholar was conducted in May 2021 and last updated in February 2022. The search yielded a total of 2,437 articles. Articles were included in the review if they were empirical studies that contained quantitative or qualitative results regarding the relationship between gambling-like activities and gambling or gaming.
Results
Thirty-eight articles met inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Overall, the review results suggest that all forms of gambling-like activities were positively associated with gambling and gaming with small to medium effects. Gambling-like activity participation was also positively associated with mental distress and impulsivity. Gaps identified included a lack of inquiry into skin betting and token wagering, a lack of diversity in the research methods (i.e., mainly cross-sectional surveys), and a paucity of research that includes more ethnically, culturally, and geographically diverse populations.
Discussion
Longitudinal studies with more representative samples are needed to examine the causal link between gambling-like activities and gambling and video gaming.
Abstract
Background and aims
For the first time, the ICD-11 provides the diagnosis compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) that can be assigned for pornography use disorder (PUD). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of PUD and associated consequences in Germany, to identify the psychotherapy demand among likely PUD (lPUD) cases and the treatment supply in different psychotherapeutic settings, to survey psychotherapists' level of expertise regarding PUD, and to identify predictors for psychotherapy demand.
Methods
Four studies were conducted: 1. Online study in the general population (n = 2070; m = 48.9%, f = 50.8%, d = 0.2%), 2. Survey among practicing psychotherapists (n = 983), 3. Survey of psychotherapists in psychotherapeutic outpatient clinics (n = 185), 4. Interviews with psychotherapeutic inpatient clinics (n = 28).
Results
The estimated prevalence of lPUD in the online study was 4.7% and men were 6.3 times more often affected than women. Compared to individuals without PUD, individuals with lPUD more often indicated negative consequences in performance-related areas. Among lPUD cases, 51.2% of men and 64.3% of women were interested in a specialized PUD treatment. Psychotherapists reported 1.2%–2.9% of lPUD cases among their patients. 43.2%–61.5% of psychotherapists stated to be poorly informed about PUD. Only 7% of psychotherapeutic inpatient clinics provided specific treatments to patients with PUD. While, among other factors, negative consequences attributed to lPUD were predictive for psychotherapy demand, weekly pornography consumption, subjective well-being, and religious attachment were not.
Discussion and conclusions
Although PUD occurs quite often in Germany, availability of mental health care services for PUD is poor. Specific PUD treatments are urgently needed.
Abstract
Background and aims
Dysfunction of the striatum, a brain region part of the mesolimbic reward system, is a key characteristic of addictive disorders, but neuroimaging studies have reported conflicting findings. An integrative model of addiction points to the presence or absence of addiction-related cues as an explanation for hyper- or hypoactivation, respectively, of the striatum.
Methods
To test this model directly, we investigated striatal activation during monetary reward anticipation in the presence versus absence of addiction-related cues using functional MRI. Across two studies, we compared 46 alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients with 30 matched healthy controls; and 24 gambling disorder (GD) patients with 22 matched healthy controls.
Results
During monetary reward anticipation, hypoactivation of the reward system was seen in AUD individuals compared to HCs. Additionally, a behavioral interaction was seen where gambling cues made participants, across groups, respond faster for bigger, but slower for smaller rewards. However, no striatal differences were seen in response to addiction-related cues between AUD or GD patients and their matched controls. Finally, despite substantial individual differences in neural activity to cue-reactivity and reward anticipation, these measures did not correlate, suggesting that they contribute independently to addiction aetiology.
Discussion and Conclusions
Our findings replicate previous findings of blunted striatal activity during monetary reward anticipation in alcohol use disorder but do not support the idea that addiction-related cues explain striatal dysfunction as suggested by the model.
„Aki keres, az talál?” – A szándékértelmezés szerepe a 36 hónapos gyerekek modellalapú keresési teljesítményében
‘He Who Seeks, Shall Find?’ – The role of intentionality in 36-months performance in the replica-based retrieval task
Háttér és célkitűzések
A vizuális szimbólumok jelentős szerepet játszanak mindennapi életünkben, mivel az indirekt tanulás fontos támogatói. Ahhoz, hogy gazdagodhassunk a szimbólum hordozta információból, értenünk kell szimbólum és referense szimbolikus kapcsolatát, ami hároméves kor előtt nem magától értetődő. Jelen kutatás célja a vizuális szimbólummegértés közvetítő mechanizmusának azonosítása, és ezen keresztül a kisgyermekek vizuális szimbólummegértésének facilitálása volt a gyerekek számára kevéssé ismerős háromdimenziós vizuális szimbólumok esetében.
Módszer
Kutatásunkban harminckét hároméves vett részt véletlenszerűen kísérleti és kontroll feltételbe sorolva. A szorosan illesztett személyek közti elrendezést alkalmazó kísérlet lehetővé tette, hogy a két feltételben alkalmazott procedúra különbségét a szimbólumértés feltételezett közvetítő mechanizmusára korlátozzuk. Ez a különbség a manipulációs fázis során alkalmazott szimbólumok eredetében volt. Míg a kísérleti feltételben használt vizuális szimbólumokat a felnőtt szándékosan hozta létre (társas eredet), a kontroll feltételben véletlenül talált rá az előre elkészített tárgyakra (társas eredet hiánya). Ezt követően minden résztvevő ugyanabban a manipulációs fázistól független modellalapú keresési helyzetben vett részt, ahol az alkalmazott szimbólumok eredetéről már nem állt rendelkezésre információ.
Eredmények
A két feltétel résztvevőinek szimbólumalapú keresési teljesítményét Mann–Whitney-próbával összehasonlítva szignifikáns, nagy hatáserősségű különbség igazolódott a kísérleti feltétel javára, U = 77, p = 0,04, η 2 = 0,14. Vagyis, ha hozzáférhetővé tesszük a szimbólum-létrehozás társas eredetét, jobb teljesítményt eredményez a modellalapú keresési feladat során.
Következtetések
A szimbólummegértés és -használat hatékonyan facilitálható, ha a háromévesek rövid tapasztalatot szerezhetnek a szimbólum-létrehozás társas eredetéről. E tapasztalat hatására sikeresebben használják fel a szimbólum hordozta információt egy problémamegoldási helyzetben. Vagyis képesek tapasztalatukat általánosítani olyan szimbólumokra, melyek társas eredete nem hozzáférhető.
