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Copyright of Journal of Parapsychology is the property of Rhine Research Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Parapsychology is the property of Rhine Research Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An online survey was undertaken to examine the relationship between the intensity of beliefs in paranormal phenomena and one's worldview. A sample of 141 Australian university students participated in the survey. Statistical analysis showed that paranormal belief is significantly related to various worldviews when these are considered collectively, but no single worldview made an independently significant contribution to the relationship. The collective relationship also was not a strong one, casting doubt on the sufficiency of the worldview hypothesis of paranormal belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An online survey was undertaken to examine the relationship between the intensity of beliefs in paranormal phenomena and two facets of a scientific worldview, namely, an appreciation of the values of science and a disposition to presumptive scepticism. A sample of 202 British residents participated in the survey. The findings indicate that paranormal believers have both a relatively low regard for the values of science and weak dispositional scepticism. These findings are discussed in terms of the worldview hypothesis of paranormal belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past investigations of the relationship between paranormal beliefs and habitual thinking styles typically have two potentially serious shortcomings: they survey paranormal beliefs formed at some time in the past rather than at the time of their generation, and they treat paranormal belief and paranormal disbelief as polar anchors on a single dimension. An online survey of 129 Australian adults avoided these shortcomings by addressing participants' interpretation of a summary of research on dermo-optical perception and relating thinking styles to these beliefs and disbeliefs as evoked in real time. The combined data confirmed the conventionally observed relationships between belief and thinking style, but separate analyses for paranormal belief and paranormal disbelief suggested the relationships arose fundamentally from processes involved in the formation of disbelief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academic discipline of parapsychology has faced major challenges throughout its history. An online survey of members of the Parapsychological Association (PA) was undertaken with the aim of identifying the range of significant problems held to confront parapsychology today. This paper presents a collation of the views of PA members. A sample of 114 people participated in the survey, 95 of whom revealed their perception of parapsychology's principal problems. Many such problems would appear to stem from being forced to work within a hostile academic zeitgeist. The lack of funding for research and teaching, lack of an adequate career path, and lack of ready access to mainstream journals were cited as hindering academics wanting to pursue parapsychological research. Associated issues such as the lack of a conclusive database (despite technological advances), the lack of a widely endorsed theory, and the failure to resolve the experimenter-psi effect also are deemed problematic. Some parapsychologists look to a solution in quantum physics, multidisciplinary research, or practical applications of psi research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Parapsychology is the property of Rhine Research Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Studies cognitive inhibition in dissociative identity disorder compared to depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and psychosis. Weakened cognitive inhibitory functioning; Psychosis sample displayed.

Memory functioning is a central conceptual and phenomenological aspect of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Most empirical work on memory functions in DID has focused on retrieval deficits either within or between dissociated identities. The current study attempted to remedy the scant attention given to working memory functioning. In samples representing the DID, non-clinical, depressed, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychosis populations (n = 10 per group), neutral stimuli were used to examine three markers of working memory functioning: one measuring inhibition; one assessing facilitation; and one measuring interference. With the exception of the psychosis sample all groups displayed significant negative priming in the distractor inhibition condition. Facilitation effects were demonstrated by the DID and PTSD groups only. Interference effects were evident in all samples, though the DID and non-clinical groups demonstrated significantly more interference than the psychosis cohort. Distractor inhibition was related to overall schizotypy scores, and dissociation was related to scores in the facilitation condition. The DID sample displayed a completely distinct functional working memory profile to the psychosis sample when assessed with emotionally neutral stimuli. However, the working memory profile in the DID sample was not entirely dissimilar to the other comparison groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological profiling represents the investigative technique of analyzing crime behaviors for the identification of probable offender characteristics. Profiling has progressively been incorporated into police procedures despite a surprising lack of empirical research to support its validity. Indeed, in the study of sexual murder for the purpose of profiling, very few quantitative, academically reviewed studies exist. This article reports on the results of a 4-year study into Australian sexual murders for the development of psychological profiling. The study involved 85 cases of sexual murder sampled from all Australian police jurisdictions. The statistical procedure of multidimensional scaling was employed. This analysis produced a five-cluster model of sexual murder behavior. First, a central cluster of behaviors was identified that represents common behaviors to all patterns of sexual murder. Next, four distinct outlying patterns--predator, fury, perversion, and rape--were identified that each demonstrated distinct offense styles. Further analysis of these patterns also identified distinct offender characteristics that allow for the use of empirically robust offender profiles in future sexual murder investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined cognitive inhibition, a mechanism of working memory, in dissociative identity disorder (DID). A negative priming procedure was used to assess inhibitory functioning in DID patients, as well as in a general population sample and a psychiatric comparison sample. Results from the first study show a significant interaction between group and experimental condition; the general population sample showed an independently non-significant trend towards negative priming while the two psychiatric groups showed no evidence of negative priming. Using different stimuli and a new priming procedure, Study 2 essentially replicated the findings of Study 1 with the control sample displaying significant negative priming and the two psychiatric samples producing no negative priming. High dissociativity was significantly related to reduced negative priming in Study 2. Findings suggest a relationship between DID and weakened inhibitory functioning and are discussed with reference to the negative priming and dissociation literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although psychological profiling has achieved wide acceptance in law enforcement investigations, there has been little empirical research into the skills required for profiling. One attribute that is frequently cited as quintessential for effective profiling is experience in police investigations. In a study similar in design to Kocsis, Irwin, Hayes, and Nunn, this study examined the importance in profiling of investigative experience by testing groups of homicide detectives, senior police detectives, trainee detectives, police recruits, and undergraduate chemistry students. The chemistry students tended to produce the most accurate profiles of the perpetrator of a closed homicide case. Of all the groups, the chemistry students most consistently outperformed a control group given no information about the case when constructing a profile of the offender. There was also some evidence of an inverse relationship between investigative experience and profile accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminal psychological profiling has progressively been incorporated into police procedures despite a dearth of empirical research. Indeed, in the study of serial violent crimes for the purpose of psychological profiling, very few original, quantitative, academically reviewed studies actually exist. This article reports on the analysis of 62 incidents of serial sexual assault. The statistical procedure of multidimensional scaling was employed in the analysis of this data, which in turn produced a five-cluster model of serial rapist behavior. First, a central cluster of behaviors were identified that represent common behaviors to all patterns of serial rape. Second, four distinct outlying patterns were identified as demonstrating distinct offence styles, these being assigned the following descriptive labels brutality, intercourse, chaotic, and ritual. Furthermore, analysis of these patterns also identified distinct offender characteristics that allow for the use of empirically robust offender profiles in future serial rape investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies objective measurement of paranormal belief. Distinctive features of Rasch models; Importance of differential item functioning; Use of Crawford and Christensen's paranormal belief scale.

Examines the relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy in Australia. Emphasis on explicit cognizance; Possibility of childhood trauma association with dissociative tendencies and schizotypy; Use of hierarchial regression analysis in revealing pathological and nonpathological dissociative tendencies.

ABSTRACT: Recent developments in the study of dissociation prompted a re-examination of the nature of the out-of-body experience (OBE). A questionnaire survey of Australian university students addressed the relation between the OBE and nonpathological dissociation (psychological absorption), pathological mental dissociation, and pathological somatoform dissociation. Both the occurrence of the OBE and the frequency of OBEs were found to be predicted by somatoform dissociation. The findings are discussed with reference to the extent to which the OBE should be considered a pathological phenomenon. A dissociational theory of the OBE is formulated; this depicts the experience as a dissociation between the sense of self and the processing of somatic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the impact of family environment factors to the development of alexithymic tendencies in university students using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Bloom and Naar's Family-Functioning scale. Effective role of expressiveness and age in predicting the total TAS-20 scores; Differential predictiveness of the individual components of alexithymia.

Investigates the relationship of shame and guilt to eating-disorder symptomatology. Predictive utility of proneness to shame and guilt; Prominence of shame over guilt; Other effective predictors eating disorder symptomatology; Views on self-conscious affects as causes or as consequences of eating disturbance.

This study investigated the relationship between the severity of childhood trauma and proneness to victimization in adulthood in a sample of 155 Australian women. A tendency for both violent and nonviolent revictimization was observed. The classical "repetition compulsion" theory of revictimization is less able to accommodate these findings than theories that implicate an effect of childhood abuse on self-concept. Additionally, the factors of peritraumatic dissociation, coping styles, and attachment styles were examined as possible intervening variables in the revictimization relationship. The findings of the study suggest that some coping styles mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and victimization in adulthood, whereas aspects of attachment styles may serve to moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diagnostic taxonomy of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a contentious issue. Commentators are divided as to whether PTSD should remain grouped with the anxiety disorders or conceptualized as a dissociative disorder. This study sought to clarify the issue by investigating the extent to which anxiety and dissociative processes differentially predict the severity of each of the three symptom clusters in PTSD. Seventy-four Australian veterans of the Vietnam War were assessed on measures of dissociation, trait anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Multiple regression analyses showed that all three symptoms clusters were predicted by anxiety, but the clusters differed in the pattern of their relationship with dissociation variables. The failure of pathological dissociation to predict PTSD symptoms prompts a reconsideration of the point at which dissociative mechanisms may impact on this disorder. The findings are consistent with current classification of combat-related PTSD as an anxiety disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study on the relationship between childhood trauma and both pathological and non-pathological dissociation. Method; Results; Discussion.

Investigates the hypothesis that a dysfunction in smooth pursuit eye movements may be associated with a history of child abuse and may be a biological marker of the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. Relationship between eye-tracking performance and a childhood history of physical and emotional abuse; Effect of child abuse on neurophysiological development.

Reports on an assessment of the impact of an undergraduate grief counseling course on the level of death acceptance among its participants. Students' acceptance of the place of death in their own lives was targeted as an index of self-understanding of particular pertinence to professional involvement in grief counseling. Method; Results and discussion.

Examines the relationship between self-report of dissociative tendencies and childhood victimization and neuroticism among adults. Age factor; Relationship between neuroticism and schizotypy; Childhood trauma.

Presents a study which focuses on the effect of shame and guilt, to predictors of dissociative tendencies in Australia. How the capacity for dissociation appears to develop; Information on the diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders; Belief that childhood abuse can evoke unresolved shame and guilt; Outcome of the study.

Presents information on a study which focused on dissociative tendencies and alexithymia. How the study was conducted; Indepth look at the relationship between alexithymia and dissociation; Discussion on the results of the study.

Codependence has been held to be a product of living in a household with an alcoholic parent or, more generally, an outcome of childhood abuse. Codependent traits also have been proposed to have a complementary developmental relationship with narcissism. Australian adults (N = 190) were administered the Codependency Inventory, the Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Narcissistic Personality Disorder scale the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, and the Survey of Traumatic Childhood Events. Results indicated that codependence is not predictable by childhood trauma, and although a relationship between codependence and narcissism was established, it was rather more complex than that anticipated by the literature. These findings substantially weaken the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of codependency, and due caution should be exercised in psychotherapeutic applications of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the possibility that a generalised profile of serial offenders may contribute to the conceptualisation of serial crime. The latter has become immersed in a debate over the minimum number of victims that should be set as the defining criterion. There are several conceptual and practical problems in seeking to define serial crime in terms of minimum victim numbers, and the possibility is raised that a serial criminal might be identified as such after only one offence has been committed. In this light the term “serial crime” is seen as a misnomer. A redefinition of the term is pursued by first identifying the psychological mechanisms characteristic of serial offenders; in this context specific attention is given to the personality characteristics of psychopathy, narcissism, sadism, paraphilic tendencies, fantasy proneness or dissociative tendencies, and compulsiveness. A general definition of serial crime then is proposed, focusing on the psychology of the serial offender regardless of the particular offence mode. As a result of this analysis serial murder, serial rape, and serial arson can be described in terms of specific behaviours evidenced in the crime scene and the style of victimisation; these descriptions may be used to classify serial offenders. Finally, the proposed definition of serial crime is applied to the question, “Can women be serial criminals?”. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The practice of criminal psychological profiling makes frequent appeal to ataxonomic distinction between organised and disorganised offenders. Previous empirical studies claimed to validate this typology nevertheless have been methodologically inadequate. Using arson as a context this study analysed the crime scene characteristics of profit‐motivated and vandalism‐motivated arson offences in an endeavour to reveal the organised/disorganised distinction as an intrinsic feature of offence characteristics. The data supported the presence of an organised/disorganised typology. The typology was found to correspond to coherent patterns in crime scene features, and further, these patterns were consistent with characteristics of offenders that are pertinent to an organised or disorganised lifestyle. Although there are indications that the underlying behaviour syndromes might better be conceptualised as a continuum with the prototypical organised offender at one extreme and the disorganised offender at the other, the study does lend credence to the notion of organised and disorganised criminal offences. In this respect the findings help in a small way to put criminal psychological profiling on a more sound empirical footing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

D Canter and P. Larkin's (1993) Circle Theory of Environmental Range was designed as a means of using the geographical locations of an individual offender's known offences to predict the approximate site of the offender's residential base. Canter and Larkin obtained support for their theory from an investigation of spatial patterns in serial rapists' offences in a few British cities. The present study sought to assess the generality of Circle Theory by examining spatial patterns of serial offences in three crime modalities in the Australian environment Data on 24 serial rapists, 22 serial arsonists, and 27 serial burglars were extracted from the NSW Police Service's files of criminal records. For each case the positions of offences and the domestic base were plotted on a scaled street map. Using a technique defined by Canter and Larkin a circle was constructed to represent the offender's hypothetical criminal range. In most cases of serial rape and arson, the hypothetical criminal range encompassed the known residential base of the offender. This is suggestive of a so‐called marauder pattern of offences for rape and arson, that is, the offender tends to operate from the domestic base and move out in various directions to commit offences. A small minority of rape and arson offences nevertheless exhibited a commuter pattern in which the domestic base falls outside the criminal range. The crime of burglary, on the other hand, showed marauder and commuter patterns in equal proportions A corollary of the marauder model, known as the range hypothesis, also was tested. Results indicated that the domestic base of marauding offenders might be closer to the centre of the criminal range than had been found in Canter and Larkin's British sample. Additionally, no support was found for the proposed existence of a zone around the offender's domestic base in which no offences are committed. Consideration is given to the possible role of geographical and other factors in the spatial distribution of an individual criminal's serial offences. It is concluded that qualified support may be given to the application of Circle Theory to Australian serial crimes, although the marauder model is far from universally predominant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines the correlation between childhood trauma and the origins of paranormal belief. Replication in relation to a specific context; Comparison to a sample of control participants; Components of Irwin's model of the psychological origins and function of paranormal belief.

Tests clinicians' hypothesis on the obsessive need to control among adult children of problem drinkers in a laboratory context. Simulated coin-tossing experiment in a microcomputer; Children of Alcoholics Screening Test; Controlling styles; Indication of external locus of control; Limitations of study.

Presents information on a study which examines the extent to which hostility and powerlessness predict dissociative tendencies. Details on other studies made; Materials and methodology of the study; Relationship between dissociative tendencies and aggression domain.

Studies the relationship between dissociative tendencies and the balance of affective expression among Australian psychology students. Positive relation of dissociation to an imbalance of affect in favor of negative effects; Consistency with the view that trauma-related affects have a mediating role in the development of dissociative tendencies.

The bereaved individual may experience major emotional, physical, and cognitive changes. Counselling can facilitate the course of the grief process and various therapeutic techniques may be employed if there is evidence of complications in grief. In this context, a survey is undertaken of the utility of the principal therapeutic approaches, namely client-centred counselling, Gestalt therapy, Gendlin's focusing technique, rational-emotive therapy, transactional analysis, behaviour therapy, and transpersonal techniques. An eclectic approach to grief counselling is advocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The effects of semantic associations in a newly developed task of visual selective attention were investigated in 48 male and female university students with a view to determining the directional character of the concomitant processing interaction. That is, is the efficiency of naming attended inputs affected by the associative link from unattended to attended input, or by the link from attended to unattended input, or by a mutual, bidirectional link between the concurrent inputs? It was found that processing interaction in this context was a unidirectional effect. Implications of this result for modeling selective attention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keith Augustine has provided a useful survey of the psychological and neurological correlates of near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences. The empirical findings he cites may prove awkward to accommodate under current separationist accounts of these experiences, although proponents of the separationist approach may be able to refine their theories so as to enhance their predictive power in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the relationship between scores on paranormal belief and susceptibility to dissociation in Australian psychology students. Correlation of scores; Paranormal beliefs as defense mechanisms against the uncontrollability of life.

Responds to a study that provided evidence of age and sex differences in the strength of paranormal beliefs. Alternative interpretation of the data in terms of differential item functioning; Conceptual interpretation of the data.