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
Abstract
Background and aims
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing high-levels of physician stress and burnout1. In order to help treat frontline colleagues who were diagnosed with acute stress disorder, we chose a non-psychedelic, ketamine micro-dose treatment strategy for symptom management.
Methods
We provided care virtually, and all patients were prescribed sublingual ketamine once daily. Each patient was evaluated using the NIH-PROMIS CAT assessments for stress, depression, anxiety, and PTSD via a remote, HIPAA compliant patient self-reporting platform. Progress was tracked and assessed against a baseline value obtained prior to the start of treatment. Patient progress was evaluated at a 4–6-week interval. Patients did not report any significant side effects to the treatment regimen.
Results
100% (25/25) of patients experienced improved anxiety, 92% (23/25) experienced improved stress, 96% (24/25) experienced improved PTSD, and 91% (20/22) experienced improved depression.
Conclusions
While we cannot draw definitive conclusions from the association demonstrated by this data, we believe these results demonstrate that further research into the efficacy of daily, short-term ketamine micro-doses for treatment of acute stress disorder is warranted.
A Serdülő Reziliencia Kérdőív (READ) magyar nyelvű adaptációja
Hungarian adaptation of the Resilience Scale for Adolescents
Háttér és célkitűzések
A tanulmány célja a Hjemdal és munkatársai (2006) által kidolgozott Serdülő Reziliencia Kérdőív hazai adaptációja, amely alkalmas serdülők és fiatal felnőttek személyes és környezeti erőforrásainak mérésére.
Módszer
Magyar középiskolásokból és egyetemistákból (M = 18,85 év, SD = 2,39) álló mintán (Nközépiskolás = 490; Negyetemista = 593) ellenőriztük a kérdőív szerkezetét, belső megbízhatóságát, konstruktív validitását, illetve a reziliencia kapcsolatát demográfiai és pszichológiai jellegű változókkal.
Eredmények
A feltáró és megerősítő faktorelemzés szerint az ötfaktoros struktúra jellemző a kérdőívre, amelyet a célorientáció, a családi összetartás, a szociális kompetencia, a társas támogatottság és a magabiztosság alskálák alkotnak. A reziliencia kérdőíven a nemek között a társas támogatás és a magabiztosság alskálán találtunk különbséget, az életkor tekintetében pedig szintén a társas támogatás alskálán különböztek a 15–18 évesek és a 18–24 évesek pontszámai. Az észlelt társas támogatás pozitív irányú összefüggést mutatott a rezilienciával, a problémaviselkedés megjelenése azonban negatív irányút, ami alátámasztotta a Serdülő Reziliencia Kérdőív konstruktív validitását.
Következtetések
Az eredmények alapján kialakított 28 tételes kérdőív alkalmasnak bizonyult a serdülők és fiatal felnőtt rezilienciájának felmérésére, illetve azon belül a környezeti és személyes erőforrások elkülönítésére. A Cronbach-alfa-mutatók alapján minden alskála és a teljes skála belső megbízhatósága megfelelő mértékű. A kérdőív emiatt alkalmas lehet további feltáró kutatásokban való alkalmazásra.
Abstract
Sex differences in jealousy are a well-established research finding that suggests men (relative to women) will find the sexual components of an infidelity more distressing, whereas women (relative to men) will find the emotional components of an infidelity more distressing. This study uses a relatively novel sample of participants (individuals who engage in consensual non-monogamy) to test both cultural and evolutionary influences on jealousy. In our study using hypothetical scenarios, we found that men (relative to women) were more upset about the sexual components of the infidelity and that women (relative to men) were more upset about the emotional components of the infidelity. This occurred in both samples to the same magnitude suggesting that the differences between the men and women may be driven by evolutionary influences. Additionally, we found a main effect of relationship type such that participants who engaged in consensual non-monogamy had lower levels of jealousy overall. As such, this study provides relatively unique evidence for the ultimate origins of sex differences in jealousy.
Abstract
Background and Aims
The hallucinogenic drug psilocybin is being widely tested in humans for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Psilocybin and other psychedelics are proposed to work through serotonin 2a (5-HT2a) receptors, which are tightly linked to immune function. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of a single dose of psilocybin on a panel of cytokines, chemokines, and peptides in the short term (24 h) and long term (seven days) in female rats.
Methods
Female rats were given a dose of psilocybin (20 mg kg−1, i.p.} or a dose of synthetic interstitial fluid. At 24 h, the control group and one group of rats were anesthetized, and blood was withdrawn by intracardiac puncture. In a third group of rats, blood was withdrawn after seven days. Serum was analyzed by a separate lab (Eve Laboratories, Calgary, Canada) for 27 immunomodulators.
Results
Serum levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, MCP-1, IP-10, G-CSF, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-13, and leptin were significantly increased compared to controls after 24 h and were increased further after 7 days. Most of the other assays showed this same pattern of increase, although not statistically significant.
Conclusions
Psilocybin induces the release of multiple immune factors, consistent with a generalized activation of the immune system, which can persist for at least seven days after a single dose. These findings may relate to the mechanism of action. The implications of these findings require additional research to determine how these finding relate to the clinical effects of psilocybin.
Abstract
Artistic behavior as aesthetically enhancing activities is conceptualized as a functionally autonomous activity within the evolved human behavioral repertoire. Accordingly, it should be intrinsically motivated, and it might also be expected to be temporally stable and domain specific. Preferential freely-pursued activities reflect intrinsic motivation and offer a valuable measure of artistic motivation. We used a large decades-long real-life public Brazilian data set from university applications to test these ideas. We analysed data on extra-class activities from 674.699 late-adolescents applying for university courses between 1987 and 2004, mostly between 17 and 19 years of age; approximately half men and half women. We found that 27% of individuals reported that Artistic/cultural activities were the leisure-time activity they participated in most frequently, and 32% reported they spent the longest period of free-time doing Artistic-activities (theater/cinema, music, dance, art-craft/plastic arts). Interestingly, from this whole sample, only less than 3% actually applied for artistic careers, which suggests that the prevalence of prioritizing artistic activities is higher than commonly assumed and includes not only professional artists, but also many hobbyists, amateurs and dedicated fans. Further, artistic careers applicants prioritize art almost three times more than the total of applicants, suggesting its specificity. After controlling for inconsistency of answer options during the period, prioritizing both Artistic/cultural and Artistic-activities remained temporally stable, as predicted. Despite limitations, overall results supported the hypotheses that artistic behavior is more intrinsically motivated, domain specific, and temporally stable. This plausibly demonstrates that artistic propensity has at least partly an evolved nature.
Abstract
Aim
This study examines narratives describing complex psychedelic experiences after smoking N,N-dimethyltryptamine.
Methods
The narrative accounts examined here were gathered from a variety of online sites and analyzed in order to discover themes, categories and patterns in the phenomenon of the resulting psychedelic experiences.
Results
Subjects reported seeing complex and unusual visual and synesthetic phenomena, leaving this world and entering into extraordinary places, encounters with a variety of strange entities, interactions with unusual objects and a wide variety of powerful feelings. The general categories of Places, Objects, Entities and Feelings were found in the phenomena experienced by people who smoked N,N-Dimethyltryptamine. These provided a framework within which more detailed subcategories were found and the range of most frequent to least frequent experiences were identified.
Discussion
While DMT experiences are commonly described by people smoking N,N-dimethyltryptamine as indescribable, unique to everyone and taking place in a single domain called Hyperspace or the Hyperdimension, this research found distinct subcategories of frequently visited Places as well as frequently encountered Entities, Objects and Feelings. From these a more comprehensive understanding can be developed of the unusual and profound experiences resulting from inhalation of N,N,-Dimethyltryptamine.
Abstract
Background and aims
Theories posit that the combination of external (e.g. cue exposure) and internal (e.g. attention biases) factors contributes to the development of game craving. Nevertheless, whether different components of attentional biases (namely, engagement bias and disengagement bias) play separate roles on game craving has not been fully elucidated. We aimed to examine the associations between two facets of attentional biases and game craving dynamics under a daily life setting.
Methods
Participants (110 regular internet game players) accomplished the modified attentional assessment task in the laboratory, after which they entered a 10-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to collect data on their momentary game craving and occurrence of game-related events at five different time points per day.
Results
We found that occurrence of game-related events was significantly associated with increased game craving. Moreover, attentional disengagement bias, instead of engagement bias, bore on the occasional level variations of game craving as moderating variables. Specifically, attentional disengagement bias, not engagement bias, was associated with a greater increase in game craving immediately after encountering a game-related event; however, neither attentional engagement bias nor disengagement bias was associated with the craving maintenance after a relatively long period.
Discussion and conclusions
The present study highlights the specific attentional processes involved in game craving dynamics, which could be crucial for designing interventions for attentional bias modification (ABM) in Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) populations.
Abstract
Background and aims
Internet use has become an important part of daily living. However, for a minority it may become problematic. Moreover, problematic use of the Internet/smartphone (PUIS) has been associated with low physical activity. The present study investigated the temporal associations between three types of PUIS (i.e., problematic smartphone use [PSPU], problematic social media use [PSMU] and problematic gaming [PG]) and physical activity among Taiwanese university students.
Methods
A six-month longitudinal survey study comprising three time points for assessments was conducted. From the original 974 participants, a total of 452 completed all three waves of an online survey comprising the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) assessing physical activity level, Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) assessing PSPU, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) assessing PSMU, and Internet Gaming Disorder Short Form (IGDS9-SF) assessing PG.
Results
The linear mixed effects model found positive temporal associations of PSMU and PG with physical activity level (PSMU: B = 85.88, SE = 26.24; P = 0.001; PG: B = 36.81, SE = 15.17; P = 0.02). PSPU was not associated with physical activity level (B = 40.54, SE = 22.99; P = 0.08). Additionally, the prevalence rates were 44.4% for at-risk/PSPU, 24.6% for at-risk/PSMU, and 12.3% for at-risk/PG.
Discussion and Conclusions
PSMU and PG unexpectedly demonstrated correlations with higher physical activity level. The nature of these relationships warrants additional investigation into the underlying mechanisms in order to promote healthy lifestyles among university students.
Abstract
Background
Accumulating evidence suggests brain structural and functional alterations in Internet Use Disorder (IUD). However, conclusions are strongly limited due to the retrospective case-control design of the studies, small samples, and the focus on general rather than symptom-specific approaches.
Methods
We here employed a dimensional multi-methodical MRI-neuroimaging design in a final sample of n = 203 subjects to examine associations between levels of IUD and its symptom-dimensions (loss of control/time management, craving/social problems) with brain structure, resting state and task-based (pain empathy, affective go/no-go) brain function.
Results
Although the present sample covered the entire range of IUD, including normal, problematic as well as pathological levels, general IUD symptom load was not associated with brain structural or functional alterations. However, the symptom-dimensions exhibited opposing associations with the intrinsic and structural organization of the brain, such that loss of control/time management exhibited negative associations with intrinsic striatal networks and hippocampal volume, while craving/social problems exhibited a positive association with intrinsic striatal networks and caudate volume.
Conclusions
Our findings provided the first evidence for IUD symptom-domain specific associations with progressive alterations in the intrinsic structural and functional organization of the brain, particularly of striatal systems involved in reward, habitual and cognitive control processes.
