Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework.

For more than 30 years, the posttraumatic model (PTM) and the sociocognitive model (SCM) of dissociation have vied for attention and empirical support. We contend that neither perspective provides a satisfactory account and that dissociation and dissociative disorders (e.g., depersonalization/derealization disorder, dissociative identity disorder) can be understood as failures of normally adaptive systems and functions. We argue for a more encompassing transdiagnostic and transtheoretical perspective that considers potentially interactive variables including sleep disturbances; impaired self-regulation and inhibition of negative cognitions and affects; hyperassociation and set shifts; and deficits in reality testing, source attributions, and metacognition. We present an overview of the field of dissociation, delineate uncontested and converging claims across perspectives, summarize key multivariable studies in support of our framework, and identifyempirical pathways for future research to advance our understanding of dissociation, including studies of highly adverse events and dissociation.

Clarifying the structure and nature of left-wing authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism has been the subject of scientific inquiry for nearly a century, yet the vast majority of authoritarianism research has focused on right-wing authoritarianism. In the present studies, we investigate the nature, structure, and nomological network of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA), a construct famously known as "the Loch Ness Monster" of political psychology. We iteratively construct a measure and data-driven conceptualization of LWA across six samples (N = 7,258) and conduct quantitative tests of LWA's relations with more than 60 authoritarianism-related variables. We find that LWA, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation reflect a shared constellation of personality traits, cognitive features, beliefs, and motivational values that might be considered the "heart" of authoritarianism. Relative to right-wing authoritarians, left-wing authoritarians were lower in dogmatism and cognitive rigidity, higher in negative emotionality, and expressed stronger support for a political system with substantial centralized state control. Our results also indicate that LWA powerfully predicts behavioral aggression and is strongly correlated with participation in political violence. We conclude that a movement away from exclusively right-wing conceptualizations of authoritarianism may be required to illuminate authoritarianism's central features, conceptual breadth, and psychological appeal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Stepping Outside the Echo Chamber: Is Intellectual Humility Associated With Less Political Myside Bias?

In recent years, an upsurge of polarization has been a salient feature of political discourse in America. A small but growing body of research has examined the potential relevance of intellectual humility (IH) to political polarization. In the present investigation, we extend this work to political myside bias, testing the hypothesis that IH is associated with less bias in two community samples (N1 = 498; N2 = 477). In line with our expectations, measures of IH were negatively correlated with political myside bias across paradigms, political topics, and samples. These relations were robust to controlling for humility. We also examined ideological asymmetries in the relations between IH and political myside bias, finding that IH-bias relations were statistically equivalent in members of the political left and right. Notwithstanding important limitations and caveats, these data establish IH as one of a small handful psychological features known to predict less political myside bias.

Belief in Unconscious Repressed Memory Persists.

On the basis of converging research, we concluded that the controversial topic of unconscious blockage of psychological trauma (i.e., repressed memory) remains very much alive in clinical, legal, and academic contexts. In his commentary, Brewin (this issue, p. 443) conducted a cocitation analysis and concluded that scholars do not adhere to the concept of unconscious repression. Furthermore, he argued that previous survey research did not specifically assess unconscious repression. Here, we present critical evidence that runs counter to his claims. First, we inspected his cocitation analysis and found that some scholars support notions that are closely related to unconscious repression. Furthermore, we conducted another analysis on the basis of articles' similarity. Again, we found examples of scholars specifically endorsing unconscious repressed memories. Second, as opposed to what Brewin reports, recent survey research now exists that bears directly on people's beliefs regarding unconscious repression. This work reveals that large percentages of people (e.g., students and eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing [EMDR] clinicians) endorse the concept of unconscious repressed memories. The belief in unconscious repressed memory can continue to contribute to harmful consequences in clinical, legal, and academic domains (e.g., false accusations of abuse).

Third time's the charm or three strikes you're out? An updated review of the efficacy of dolphin-assisted therapy for autism and developmental disabilities.

CONTEXT: Dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) is a popular form of animal-assisted therapy for autism spectrum disorders and other psychological conditions. OBJECTIVE: In this review, our third, we analyze the most recent DAT studies in terms of construct and internal validity criteria to determine if there is empirical support for DAT. METHOD: To ensure a systematic review, we searched for peer-reviewed studies on DAT by submitting relevant search terms to Google Scholar from 2007 to 2020, conducted a further search of all DAT papers in several peer-reviewed journals, and reviewed reference sections of DAT articles to ensure a thorough review of the literature between 2007 and the present. RESULTS: The DAT literature continues to be marked by several weaknesses in both internal and construct validity that preclude confident inferences regarding the intervention's efficacy. CONCLUSION: There is still insufficient evidence that DAT has therapeutic value.

A Plea for Preregistration in Personality Disorders Research: The Case of Psychopathy.

In response to a crisis of confidence, several methodological initiatives have been launched to improve the robustness of psychological science. Given its real-world implications, personality disorders research is all too important to not follow suit. The authors offer a plea for preregistration in personality disorders research, using psychopathic personality (psychopathy) as a prominent case example. To suit action to word, the authors report on a preregistered study and use it to help refute common misconceptions about preregistration as well as to illustrate that the key strength of preregistration: transparency outweighs its (perceived) disadvantages. Although preregistration will not conclusively settle the many debates roiling the field of psychopathy and other personality disorders, it can help to verify the robustness of empirical observations that inform such debates.

Do Psychopathic Traits Statistically Protect Against PTSD? A Retrospective Study of Vietnam Veterans.

Although psychopathy traits are traditionally associated with maladaptivity, certain traits may statistically buffer against risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research suggests that psychopathy traits are differentially associated with PTSD, as boldness traits are negatively related to PTSD whereas disinhibition features are positively related. The authors sought to clarify the relations between psychopathy and PTSD in a large sample of Vietnam veterans (N = 2,598) and to examine the statistical interactions among (a) psychopathy traits and (b) combat exposure and psychopathy traits in predicting PTSD. Results indicate that psychopathy traits are differentially associated with PTSD in combat-exposed veterans, although the authors found little evidence that boldness was protective against PTSD. Nonetheless, meanness was significantly, albeit weakly, protective against PTSD in the presence of combat exposure. The authors consider the implications of these findings for future research, including the need to consider fearlessness as a heterogeneous construct, and they examine whether the findings generalize to PTSD in DSM-5.

The Curious Case of Left-Wing Authoritarianism: When Authoritarian Persons Meet Anti-Authoritarian Norms.

Left-Wing Authoritarianism (LWA) has a controversial history in psychology. Some researchers have expressed skepticism about the existence of LWA, whereas others have argued that LWA is a valid construct. In the present article, we offer a framework to reconcile these two perspectives by proposing that ideologically-based authoritarian norms are sometimes in conflict with the processes that create authoritarian individuals. In Western political contexts, authoritarian norms are more likely to occur on the conservative side of the political spectrum; but authoritarian attributes can occur in both conservatives and liberals. In our model, left-wing authoritarians thus often occupy the space where forces influencing authoritarianism are in conflict. We review existing evidence related to the model, present novel evidence related to the model, derive four hypotheses from the model, and discuss criteria for falsifying the model. We conclude by considering the model's place in current research on the complexities of ideology.

Looking under the tinfoil hat: Clarifying the personological and psychopathological correlates of conspiracy beliefs.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to replicate and extend provisional research on the personological correlates of conspiracy beliefs by examining their associations with abnormal- and normal-range personality domain-level traits and, for the first time, lower-order personality facets; we also examined internalizing symptoms. METHOD: The study comprised four samples of community and student participants (Ntotal  = 1,927), and examined the cross-sectional relations between self-reported conspiratorial ideation and measures of (a) the six-factor model of general personality, (b) intellectual humility (IH), (c) traits relevant to certain personality disorder features (narcissism, psychopathy, disinhibition), and (d) internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety, anger). RESULTS: Agreeableness and conscientiousness were significant, albeit modest, negative correlates of conspiracy beliefs, although other general personality dimensions tended to manifest negligible associations. Significant associations between lower-order personality facets and conspiracy beliefs, not evident at the domain level, emerged. Indices of IH were significant negative correlates. Conspiracy beliefs were also associated with a range of personality disorder features and internalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the nonclinical individual prone to conspiratorial ideation is somewhat likely to display a complex mixture of traits including distress, immodesty, impulsivity, and negative affect. Future research should investigate potential multiplicative relations among personological variables in predicting conspiracy beliefs.

Latent variable modeling of item-based factor scales: Comment on Triarchic or septarchic?-Uncovering the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure's (TriPM) Structure, by Roy et al.

We critique Roy et al.'s (2020; this issue) approach to characterizing the item-level factor structure of the three scales of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), in light of the manner in which the TriPM scales were developed, the purposes they were designed to serve, and the growing body of evidence supporting their construct validity. We focus on three major points: (1) The TriPM scales are item-based factor scales - i.e., item sets designed to index broad factors of larger multi-scale (parent) inventories; (2) item-level structural analysis can be useful for representing broad dimensions tapped by such scales, but it cannot be expected to provide an accurate picture of narrower subdimensions (facets) assessed by their parent inventories; and (3) it is critical to consider the nomological networks of the TriPM scales (and other triarchic scale measures) in appraising their effectiveness as operationalizations of the triarchic model constructs. We illustrate the first and second of these points by applying Roy et al.'s analytic approach to the trait scales of the NEO-FFI, which were developed to index broad personality dimensions of the multi-scale NEO-PI-R. We address the third point with reference to the growing body of literature supporting the construct validity of the TriPM scales and demonstrating their utility for advancing an integrative understanding of psychopathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Clarifying Conceptions Underlying Adult Psychopathy Measures: A Construct Validity Metric Approach.

Although the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) ostensibly measure the same construct, they seem to emphasize different conceptions of psychopathy. This study was designed to clarify these differences by testing how well the PCL-R and PPI map alternative conceptions of psychopathy. Construct validity metrics were used to compare patterns of associations between psychopathy measures and 14 theory-relevant criterion variables that were observed in a sample of 1,281 offenders-with patterns of associations that were predicted based on alternative psychopathy conceptions. PCL-R total scores were most consistent with Karpman's affective dysfunction-centered secondary conception, and PPI total scores were most consistent with the McCords' lovelessness-based conception. Although similarities emerged at the factor level, the PPI demonstrated higher levels of consistency between theory-based predictions and observed relations than did the PCL-R. These results provide direction for refining measures in future research and interpreting PCL-R and PPI scores in current practice.

Belief in unconscious repressed memory is widespread: A comment on Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsworth, and McNeilis (2019).

What does believing in repressed memory mean? In a recent article in this journal, Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsworth, and McNeilis (2019, Study 3) argued that when people are asked to indicate their belief in repressed memory, they might actually think of deliberate memory suppression rather than unconscious repressed memory. They further argued that in contrast to belief in unconscious repressed memory, belief in deliberate memory suppression is not scientifically controversial. In this commentary, we show that they are incorrect on both counts. Although Brewin and colleagues surveyed people to indicate their belief in deliberate memory suppression, they neglected to ask their participants whether they (also) believed in unconscious repressed memory. We asked people from the general population whether they believed that traumatic experiences can be unconsciously repressed for many years and then recovered. In 2 studies of the general population, we found high endorsement rates (Study 1 [N = 230]: 59.2% [n = 45]; Study 2 [N = 79]: 67.1% [n = 53]) of the belief in unconscious repressed memory. These endorsement rates did not statistically differ from endorsement rates to statements on repressed memory and deliberate memory suppression. In contrast to what Brewin et al. argued, belief in unconscious repressed memory among lay people is alive and well. Finally, we contend that Brewin et al. overstated the scientific evidence bearing on deliberate repression (suppression). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Skirting the issue: What does believing in repression mean?

We show that, in contrast to Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsowrth, and McNeilis (2019), large proportions of laypersons believe in the scientifically controversial phenomenon of unconscious repressed memories. We provide new survey data showing that when participants are asked specific questions about what they mean when they report that traumatic memories can be repressed, most provide answers strongly consistent with unconscious repression. Our findings continue to show that researchers, legal professionals, and clinicians should be wary of invoking unconscious repression in their work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Construct validity of youth psychopathic traits as assessed by the Antisocial Process Screening Device.

The study of psychopathic traits in youth is in its nascent stages and the nature and the structure of these traits is still poorly understood. In one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of the construct validity of the widely used Antisocial Processing Screening Device (APSD), we used two independent samples of youth, one community (N = 2203) and one clinic-referred (N = 534), ages 4 to 19 (51% female), to investigate the external correlates of the Callous-unemotionality (CU), Narcissism, and Impulsivity dimensions of youth psychopathy. We used parent reports of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology, personality, and aggressive behavior to examine the pattern of associations between psychopathic trait dimensions and relevant external correlates. Across both samples, CU was positively related to all forms of externalizing psychopathology and aggression, mostly unrelated to internalizing psychopathology, and negatively related to agreeableness and conscientiousness. Narcissism and Impulsivity were positively related to externalizing psychopathology, and aggression, negatively related to agreeableness and conscientiousness, and weakly positively related to internalizing psychopathology. In most cases, each dimension of the APSD manifested statistically significantly different relations with these external correlates. Many of our findings replicate and extend work conducted with both youth and adults, although others suggest that these dimensions do not distinguish among psychopathological domains in conceptually expected ways. Broadly speaking, these findings provide evidence that psychopathic traits in youth are best characterized by a multidimensional model and bear implications for models integrating normative with pathological personality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The jigsaw puzzle of fraudulent health claims: Missing psychological pieces.

Fraudulent health claims have become an inescapable fixture of the contemporary information (or misinformation) landscape. MacFarlane, Hurlstone, and Ecker (2020) provided a five-fold framework for conceptualizing susceptibility to fraudulent health claims, and proposed potential remedies for each driver of these claims. We build on their analysis by arguing that a complete account of fraudulent health claim susceptibility additionally requires a thoroughgoing consideration of (a) individual differences in cognitive styles and personality traits, (b) innumeracy and statistical illiteracy, and (c) persuasive appeals involving logical fallacies and commonplaces. We further contend that dual processing models of cognition may help to synthesize a variety of psychological variables relevant to fraudulent health claim vulnerability. In conjunction with our commentary, MacFarlane's framework underscores the broader point that complex, multifactorial psychological phenomena demand complex, multifactorial psychological explanations and solutions.

Microaggression Research and Application: Clarifications, Corrections, and Common Ground.

In this issue, Williams (pp. 3-26) responds to my 2017 critique in this journal of the scientific status of the microaggression research program (MRP). In some cases, she presents helpful data that partially address several of my recommendations for enhancing the MRP's rigor. Nevertheless, because she appears to misconstrue many of my arguments regarding the MRP, many of her rebuttals are not relevant to my criticisms. Furthermore, her assertions notwithstanding, Williams does not effectively address my concerns regarding the (a) excessively fuzzy boundaries of the microaggression construct, (b) psychometric hazards of relying exclusively on subjective reports when detecting microaggressions, and (c) hypothesized causal impact of microaggressions on mental health. In other cases, Williams appears to draw causal inferences from correlational data and conflate within-group with between-group differences. Although several of Williams's recommendations for MRP research are worth considering, I contend that some others are unlikely to be conducive to a scientific approach to microaggressions. The MRP remains a promising but provisional research program that would benefit from greater openness to outside criticism. I conclude with a discussion of areas of potential common ground in microaggression research and application.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Two Empathy Measures: A Comparison of the Measurement Precision, Construct Validity, and Incremental Validity of Two Multidimensional Indices.

The quality of empathy research, and clinical assessment, hinges on the validity and proper interpretation of the measures used to assess the construct. This study investigates, in an online sample of 401 adult community participants, the construct validity of the Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy (ACME) relative to that of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the most widely used multidimensional empathy research measure. We investigated the factor structures of both measures, as well as their measurement precision across varying trait levels. We also examined them both in relation to convergent and discriminant criteria, including broadband personality dimensions, general emotionality, personality disorder features, and interpersonal malignancy. Our findings suggest that the ACME possesses incremental validity beyond the IRI for most constructs related to interpersonal malignancy. Our results further indicate that the IRI Personal Distress scale is severely deficient in construct validity, raising serious concerns regarding past findings that have included it when computing total empathy scores. Finally, our results indicate that both questionnaires display poor measurement precision at high trait levels, emphasizing the need for future researchers to develop indices that can reliably measure high levels of empathy.

Extending the nomological network of sexual objectification to psychopathic and allied personality traits.

Although the causes and correlates of sexual objectification almost certainly comprise a heterogeneous array of individual difference variables, little is known about sexual objectification perpetration's nomological network. We hypothesized that the broad personality construct of psychopathy would afford a fruitful framework for understanding and statistically predicting sexual objectification and investigated the implications of a host of psychopathic and psychopathy-related traits, including empathy, narcissism, impulsivity, and sadism, for interpersonal sexual objectification perpetration (ISOP). We augmented an extant self-report instrument of behavioral sexual objectification, the Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale-Perpetrator Version (Gervais, DiLillo, & McChargue, 2014), with attitudinal items. Two Mechanical Turk samples (Study 1: N = 401, 53% female, Mage = 36; Study 2: N = 419, 48% female, Mage = 37) were administered the augmented Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale-Perpetrator Version and a battery of well validated self-report instruments describing psychopathic and psychopathy-related traits. Dark personality traits were strongly associated with sexual objectification; sadism, low affective empathy, narcissism, disinhibition, and meanness emerged as the largest correlates. Further, our hypothesis that psychopathic traits would moderate (potentiate) the relation between ISOP attitudes and ISOP behaviors found support in both samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).