Niall Galbraith

Dialectical thinking: A cross-cultural study of Japanese, Chinese, and British students

Peng and Nisbett found that Chinese people are more apt to engage in dialectical thinking (DT) than Americans. We gave the Dialectical Self Scale questionnaire and 10 pairs of opposing opinions to high school and university students of Japanese, Chinese, and British nationality. We asked them to fill in the questionnaire, to rate how strongly they agreed with each opinion, and to rate how wise it is to think dialectically. The scores on the questionnaire were higher among Easterners than among Westerners and higher among university students than among high school students. But the results of opinion agreement indicated that the dialectical tendency was stronger among the Chinese and British than among the Japanese. Furthermore, however, Japanese participants judged DT as wiser than Chinese and British did, and Chinese university students believed it was wiser than Chinese high school students did. We propose that this effect is attributed to Marxist education in China.

Causal attribution of mental illness in South-Eastern Nigeria.

Background: Understanding of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa has remained under-researched in spite of the high and increasing neuropsychiatric burden of disease in the region. Aims: This study investigated the causal beliefs that the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria hold about schizophrenia, with a view to establishing the extent to which the population makes psychosocial, biological and supernatural attributions. Method: Multi-stage sampling was used to select participants (N = 200) to which questionnaires were administered. Results: Mean comparison of the three causal models revealed a significant endorsement of supernatural causation. Logistic regressions revealed significant contributions of old age and female gender to supernatural attribution; old age, high education and Catholic religious denomination to psychosocial attributions; and high education to biological attributions. Conclusions: It is hoped that the findings would enlighten, augment literature and enhance mental health care service delivery.

The methamphetamine problem: Commentary on … Psychiatric morbidity and socio-occupational dysfunction in residents of a drug rehabilitation centre†

This paper introduces the reader to the characteristics of methamphetamine. Explored within are the drugs effects on those who consume it as well as the history and prevalence of its use. The highly addictive nature of methamphetamine is compounded by its affordability and the ease with which it is produced, with North America and East Asia having become established as heartlands for both consumption and manufacture. The paper discusses recent cultural depictions of the drug and also the role that mental health professionals may take in designing and delivering interventions to treat methamphetamine addiction.

Investigating the Facebook experience through Q Methodology: Collective investment and a ‘Borg’ mentality

Several recent studies have explored social networking sites, such as Facebook, in light of the uses and gratifications approach. However, research has tended to ignore the latter part of this paradigm. This article uses Q methodology to explore user experiences of Facebook, allowing further exploration of gratification from site usage. Four distinct viewpoints were found: Facebook as a superficial environment; Facebook as a valid and valuable social environment; Facebook as an environment of surveillance; and Facebook as a destructive environment. Although the viewpoints show elements of user satisfaction, some users view Facebook in an almost entirely negative way. The article concludes by theorising a model of Facebook usage, drawing upon a metaphor from Star Trek, specifically an analogy with the Borg. It is argued that a level of ‘collective investment’ resides over social networks that may sometimes promote compliance.

Autonomous motivation mediates the relation between goals for physical activity and physical activity behavior in adolescents

Overall, 544 children (mean age ± standard deviation = 14.2 ± .94 years) completed self-report measures of physical activity goal content, behavioral regulations, and physical activity behavior. Body mass index was determined from height and mass. The indirect effect of intrinsic goal content on physical activity was statistically significant via autonomous (b = 162.27; 95% confidence interval [89.73, 244.70]), but not controlled motivation (b = 5.30; 95% confidence interval [−39.05, 45.16]). The indirect effect of extrinsic goal content on physical activity was statistically significant via autonomous (b = 106.25; 95% confidence interval [63.74, 159.13]) but not controlled motivation (b = 17.28; 95% confidence interval [−31.76, 70.21]). Weight status did not alter these findings.

Pathways to mental healthcare in south-eastern Nigeria

In sub-Saharan Africa, traditional and faith healers provide competing services alongside biomedical professionals. This may be associated with delays in reaching specialised mental health services, and hence with longer duration of untreated illness. As first line care constitutes a crucial stage in accessing of psychiatric care, investigating pathways to mental healthcare can highlight help-seeking choices. This study explored the pathways to care for mental illness preferred by a non-clinical sample of the population in south-eastern Nigeria. Multistage sampling was used to select participants (N = 706) who completed questionnaires on help-seeking. Results showed a significant preference for biomedical (90.8%) compared to spiritual (57.8%) and traditional (33.2%) pathways. Higher education predicted preference for the biomedical model, while low education was associated with traditional and spiritual pathways. Protestants preferred the spiritual pathway more than did Catholics. The use of biomedical care is potentially undermined by poor mental health infrastructure, a lack of fit between the culture of biomedical care and the deep-seated cultural/religious worldviews of the people, stigma surrounding mental illness, and the likelihood of a social desirability bias in responses. A complementary model of care is proposed.

Ideological vs. Instrumental Barriers to Accessing Formal Mental Health care in the Developing World: Focus on South-eastern Nigeria

The striking gaps in formal mental health care in the developing world are largely traceable to Instrumental and Ideological Barriers. Focusing on south-eastern Nigeria, the study aimed to establish the relative weight, significance and determinants of these barriers for prioritised policy interventions. Multistage sampling method was used to select participants (n = 706) to whom questionnaires were administered. Ideological Barriers (cultural and mental health literacy constraints) were more significantly perceived (84.8%) than Instrumental Barriers (systemic and financial impediments) (56.6%). The study demonstrated the primacy of improved knowledge in plugging the gap in conventional mental health care in a region ironically defined more by systemic and material poverty. This is instructive for prioritised policy interventions with an indication that even if facilities and socio-economic status improve, services will likely be underused without greater improvement in people’s conceptualisation of mental illness. It equally underscored the need for cultural competence in mental health service provision.

Physical Attractiveness and Altruism in Two Modified Dictator Games

ABSTRACT Several studies find that male individuals are more altruistic toward attractive women, suggesting altruism may serve as a courtship display. Many studies exploring this phenomenon have used vignettes and facial images. We tested the sexual selection hypothesis as an explanation for altruistic behavior, where players played the dictator game with “live” participants. Two studies were conducted (Study 1, n = 212; Study 2, n = 188) where we manipulated stakes and anonymity between participants to explore the relationship between the dictator’s allocations and their perceived attractiveness of the recipient. We found no relationship between attractiveness and altruism. Dictators were consistently fair when allocating stakes, irrespective of the recipients’ attractiveness.

Different combinations of perceptual, emotional, and cognitive factors predict three different types of delusional ideation during adolescence.

Abstract Although adolescence is a particularly sensitive period for the development of schizotypy (Walker and Bollini [Schizophr Res 54:17–23, 2002]), there has been relatively limited research on the psychological factors that specifically predict delusional beliefs during adolescence. We studied 392 school students aged 11 to 16 years with a battery of behavioral and psychometric measures. Anxiety and negative-other schemas mediated the relationship between hallucinatory experiences and paranoid beliefs; anxiety mediated the relationship between hallucinatory experiences and grandiose beliefs; anxiety and self-negative schemas mediated the relationship between hallucinatory experiences and “other delusions” (Schneiderian/reference/misidentification). Furthermore, a jump-to-conclusions (JTC) bias moderated the relation between anxiety and other delusions: scores in the other delusions category were highest in adolescents who had both high anxiety and a JTC bias. Sex and age had only weak effects upon delusional belief. Our findings provide novel data by highlighting the different factors that underpin three delusional subtypes during the vulnerable period of adolescence.

A systematic review of the traits and cognitions associated with use of and belief in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Abstract Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is widespread despite the controversy over its effectiveness. Although previous reviews have examined the demographics and attitudes of CAM users, there is no existing review on the traits or cognitions which characterise either CAM users or those who believe in CAM effectiveness. The current systematic review set out to address these gaps in the literature by applying a narrative synthesis. A bibliographic search and manual searches were undertaken and key authors were contacted. Twenty-three papers were selected. The trait openness to experience was positively associated with CAM use but not CAM belief. Absorption and various types of coping were also positively associated with CAM use and belief. No other trait was reliably associated with CAM use or belief. Intuitive thinking and ontological confusions were positively associated with belief in CAM effectiveness; intuitive thinking was also positively associated with CAM use. Studies researching cognitions in CAM use/belief were mostly on non-clinical samples, whilst studies on traits and CAM use/belief were mostly on patients. The quality of studies varied but unrepresentative samples, untested outcome measures and simplistic statistical analyses were the most common flaws. Traits and cognition might be important correlates of CAM use and also of faith in CAM.