Female Fertility Affects Men's Linguistic Choices

We examined the influence of female fertility on the likelihood of male participants aligning their choice of syntactic construction with those of female confederates. Men interacted with women throughout their menstrual cycle. On critical trials during the interaction, the confederate described a picture to the participant using particular syntactic constructions. Immediately thereafter, the participant described to the confederate a picture that could be described using either the same construction that was used by the confederate or an alternative form of the construction. Our data show that the likelihood of men choosing the same syntactic structure as the women was inversely related to the women's level of fertility: higher levels of fertility were associated with lower levels of linguistic matching. A follow-up study revealed that female participants do not show this same change in linguistic behavior as a function of changes in their conversation partner's fertility. We interpret these findings in the context of recent data suggesting that non-conforming behavior may be a means of men displaying their fitness as a mate to women

Self-esteem is associated with premorbid adjustment and positive psychotic symptoms in early psychosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Low levels of self-esteem have been implicated as both a cause and a consequence of severe mental disorders. The main aims of the study were to examine whether premorbid adjustment has an impact on the subject's self-esteem, and whether lowered self-esteem contributes to the development of delusions and hallucinations.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A total of 113 patients from the Thematically Organized Psychosis research study (TOP) were included at first treatment. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess present symptoms. Premorbid adjustment was measured with the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS) and self-esteem by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Premorbid social adjustment was significantly related to lower self-esteem and explained a significant proportion of the variance in self-esteem. Self-esteem was significantly associated with the levels of persecutory delusions and hallucinations experienced by the patient and explained a significant proportion of the variance even after adjusting for premorbid functioning and depression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There are reasons to suspect that premorbid functioning is an important aspect in the development of self- esteem, and, furthermore, that self-esteem is associated with the development of delusions and hallucinations.</p

Financial and Psychological Risk Attitudes Associated with Two Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Nicotine Receptor (CHRNA4) Gene

With recent advances in understanding of the neuroscience of risk taking, attention is now turning to genetic factors that may contribute to individual heterogeneity in risk attitudes. In this paper we test for genetic associations with risk attitude measures derived from both the psychology and economics literature. To develop a long-term prospective study, we first evaluate both types of risk attitudes and find that the economic and psychological measures are poorly correlated, suggesting that different genetic factors may underlie human response to risk faced in different behavioral domains. We then examine polymorphisms in a spectrum of candidate genes that affect neurotransmitter systems influencing dopamine regulation or are thought to be associated with risk attitudes or impulsive disorders. Analysis of the genotyping data identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene encoding the alpha 4 nicotine receptor (CHRNA4, rs4603829 and rs4522666) that are significantly associated with harm avoidance, a risk attitude measurement drawn from the psychology literature. Novelty seeking, another risk attitude measure from the psychology literature, is associated with several COMT (catechol-O-methyl transferase) SNPs while economic risk attitude measures are associated with several VMAT2 (vesicular monoamine transporter) SNPs, but the significance of these associations did not withstand statistical adjustment for multiple testing and requires larger cohorts. These exploratory results provide a starting point for understanding the genetic basis of risk attitudes by considering the range of methods available for measuring risk attitudes and by searching beyond the traditional direct focus on dopamine and serotonin receptor and transporter genes

Prise en charge de la rumination

International audienc

Prise en charge de la rumination

International audienc

Self-esteem, social adjustment and suicidality in affective disorders

Self-esteem (SE) and social adjustment (SA) are often impaired during the course of affective disorders; this impairment is associated with suicidal behaviour. The aim of the present study was to investigate SE and SA in unipolar or bipolar patients in relation to demographic and clinical characteristics, especially the presence of suicidality (ideation and/or attempt). Forty-four patients, 28 bipolar and 16 unipolar, in remission for at least 3 months, and 50 healthy individuals were examined through a structured clinical interview. SE and SA were assessed by the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the social adjustment scale, respectively. The results have shown that bipolar patients did not differ from controls in terms of SE, while unipolar patients had lower SE than bipolars and controls. No significant differences in the mean SA scores were found between the three groups. Suicidality during depression was associated only in bipolar patients with lower SE at remission; similar but not as pronounced was the association of suicidality with SA. It is concluded that low SE lasting into remission seems to be related to the expression of suicidality during depressive episodes of bipolar patients, while no similar pattern is evident in unipolar patients.Journal Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Déficits de la conscience autonoétique et de la mémoire autobiographique : résultats d’une intervention cognitive dans la schizophrénie

Cette étude évalue les effets d’une intervention cognitive nommée Self-Awareness Therapy (SAT) sur les capacités de voyage mentale dans le temps perturbées dans la schizophrénie. Sept patients ont participé à la SAT, quatre patients ont participé à un programme intégratif de thérapies psychologiques et six patients ont poursuivis leur traitement habituel. Avant et après les interventions, les patients ont complété le TEMPau, pour l’évaluation de la conscience autonoétique et de la mémoire autobiographique, ainsi que le TeMA, pour l’évaluation de la mémoire autobiographique et de la projection de soi au sein d’évènements futurs. Des analyses statistiques intragroupes et individuelles ont été utilisées. Après leur participation à la SAT, les patients rappellent significativement plus d’évènements spécifiques passés au TEMPau et d’évènements spécifiques futurs au TeMA. Ces résultats soutiennent l’idée que, dans la schizophrénie, la récupération de souvenirs passés spécifiques et la projection de soi au sein d’évènements futurs spécifiques peuvent être améliorées sous certaines conditions.The study evaluates the effects of a cognitive intervention called Self-Awareness Therapy (SAT) on abilities of mental time travel in deficit in schizophrenia. Among whole schizophrenia participants, seven participated in SAT, four took part in the Integrative Program Therapy (IPT) and six followed a treatment as usual. Before and after interventions, participants were asked to complete TEMPau for autonoetic awareness and autobiographical memory such as TeMA, for autobiographical memory and projection into future events. Intragroups and individual statistical analyses were conducted. The participants of SAT intervention reported more specific past TEMPau and future specific events on TeMA after therapy. Results support that, in schizophrenia, the retrieving of past specific memories and projection into future specific events could be improved under certain conditions only