Revista Interamericana de Psicología/Interamerican Journal of Psychology

Overview of the Network Approach and Contributions to Clinical Research and Practice

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

A network approach has been offering an alternative to the conception of psychological disorders as underlying disease. The network assumption views psychological disorders as networks of symptoms of causal interaction. Network analysis offers a unique view of an individual’s system, obtained from data rather than categorization. It allows moving toward specific interventions for specific symptom relationships rather than a protocol approach. In order to provide a current overview of the network approach studies and to present the possible implications for clinical practice, a narrative review of the literature was conducted using the Scopus and PubMed databases. Studies sought to build symptom networks through cross-sectional and time-series data collection methods, allowing analysis of the symptom’s centrality in the inter/intra-individual network, enabling a specific intervention for each patient. Research suggests that changing the connectivity of symptoms and delaying the re-stabilization of an individual's network after a disturbance leads to changing from a healthy to a pathological-stable-state. Monitoring the network dynamics could predict relapse, permitting early intervention in the central symptoms. In conclusion, networks can provide information about the specific psychological mechanisms underlying the development of psychological disorders. However, research is in its infancy, and a consensus on the analysis model is necessary. It is also necessary to consider what types of variables should be included in psychopathological networks.

The aging seen from prison: psychosocial analysis of LGBT old age with womens and men deprived of freedom at the brazilian context of COVID-19

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

The old age is a universal phenomenon that has expanded in the Brazilian population in a remarkable way, including within the prison system. However, the arrival of coronavirus in the penitentiaries of Brazil reinforced the need to look closely at psychosocial vulnerabilities that permeate this environment and affect the incarcerated population. This search seeks to analyze and compare of the social representations of women and men in deprivation of liberty, in view of the conditions that the LGBT’s elderly have to live a safe old age in Brazil. It’s characterized as qualitative research, based on the Theory of Social Representations, of character descriptive and comparative, with cross-sectional data and non-probabilistic sample for convenience. Counted with 28 peoples living in deprivation of liberty in male and female prisons, during the pandemic period in Brazil. It’s evident that in the representations of the participants, old age is not a phase full of tranquility, because there are conditions and resources necessary to live well. Thereis a prevalence of many stereotypes about sexual orientation, the lifestyle, the loneliness in old age, about sexuality among the elderly, which can be justified by the absence of knowledge about the thematic or even the lack of contact with LGBT people.

Validity of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in Diverse Mexican Samples Using Two Different Spanish Translations

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Individual differences in emotion regulation, the use of specific strategies to influence various aspects of one’s emotional thoughts or behaviors, are predictive of individual variation in psychopathology as well as wellbeing. The current manuscript sought to investigate reliability and validity of the emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ) in three different Mexican samples. A Spanish translation previously validated in Spain was used for two samples (student; n = 238 and young school children guardian; n=200). To investigate if language differences led to variation in psychometric properties and factorial structure, an in-house Mexican Spanish translation was used for the third sample (community; n= 617). We found that although reliability, factor structure and validity remained somewhat the same, there were differences in the number of items in each factor. Importantly, consistent with previous research, emotion regulation strategies assessed were associated with predicted outcomes such as mood and anxiety symptoms, resilience, and wellbeing. These results highlight the importance of adapting scales to specific contexts and attending to the characteristics of the sample.

Queer and crip theories in the rupture of hegemonic epistemologies on Psychology

Bruna Amato, Lina Ferrari de Carvalho, Marivete Gesser — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This article aims to establish a relationship between psychology, as a field of production of knowledge and practices, and issues raised by the so-called queer (transviadas) and crip (aleijadas) theories. These theories emerge as a counterpoint to epistemologies that conceive subjects in a universalizing and normalizing way, and take into account how frameworks such as gender, sexuality, race and disability are inscribed in bodies and produce socially, historically and politically situated subjectivities. We understand that their contributions are in the sense of bringing to light the mechanisms of classification, hierarchization and exclusion perpetuated by the ideals of bodynormativity and cisheteronormativity, which confer intelligibility to certain bodies, while relegating abjection to others. Finally, we point out the need for psychology, when challenged by this counter-hegemonic knowledge, to deal with its own implication in the process of adjustment and normalization of dissident modes of existence, as well as in the power relations it maintains through its discourses and practices.

Reversal learning with and without human social cues: effects of scent detection training

Fabricio Carballo, Luciana Amezague, Raúl Marin, Mariana Bentosela — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Reversal learning requires the subjects to inhibit a preponderant response towards a previously reinforced stimulus and change their behavior according to a new stimulus-reward contingency. This paradigm allows for the assessment of behavioral flexibility and inhibitory control, both crucial abilities for highly trained dogs, such as detection dogs. The aim of this study was to determine whether detection training modulates reversal learning with and without human social cues. Thus, detection dogs were compared with untrained pet dogs in a spatial reversal learning task, first using just a spatial cue (right-left, non-social task) and then adding a social cue (position of the experimenter, social task). However, results indicate that there were no differences between the groups in either task. This could be related to the particular characteristics of detection dog training. In addition, overall performance was better in the social task during the initial discrimination, but the inverse pattern was observed during the reversal phase. These differences highlight the importance of human social cues during training.

Art-based Assessment of Disease Experiences in Children and Adolescents with Cancer: Cognitive and Emotional Dimensions

Olimpia Petzold, Darius Razavi — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This study assessed the disease experiences in children and adolescents with cancer through an art-based assessment. It used a longitudinal qualitative research design with inductive content analysis. The study included twenty children (6-17 years old) diagnosed with cancer from the Hospital de Especialidades Pediatricas, Maracaibo, Venezuela. The art-based assessment program consisted of 7 individual sessions in which self-image, family relationships, disease perception, child's experiences at the hospital, concerns about the disease and treatment, and positive feelings were evaluated through art exercises. Two main categories emerged from the analysis: (1) Cognitive Dimension, related to awareness and concerns regarding the disease and treatment, as well as patients' ability to take responsibility for their health, and (2) Emotional Dimension, which covers the positive emotional states, such as fighting spirit, affection towards others, happiness, and hope, along with the negative emotional states which include sadness, anxiety-fear, and anger. The results of this research support previous findings indicating that art-based assessment is a valid and effective tool to evaluate thoughts and emotions in children and adolescents with cancer.

The influence of feedback on detection and recognition memory of fake news: an experimental study from the perspective of signal detection theory

Diana Peralta-Granados, José Alejandro Aristizábal, Julian Tejada — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

The objective of this research was to analyze the effect of immediate feedback on the detection and recognition memory of false and true news, using the Signal Detection Theory. For this, two experiments were carried out; in experiment one no feedback was presented; in experiment 2 immediate feedback was included. The experiments were divided into 2 phases: discrimination and news recognition memory. It included the participation of 93 young people, who judged the veracity or falsity of the news using a forced choice task, in 24 news with two types of attributes, physical and non-physical. The results indicated in experiment one, that the non-physical attributes alter the detection and memory recognition of the news, making the physical attribute of the font color irrelevant. In experiment 2, immediate feedback was found to improve detection, but not recognition, which is impaired by non-physical attributes as in experiment one. These findings show the need to present news readers with different sources of immediate verification to improve their detection, as well as the need to generate good information verification practices in the communication sector.

Conditions matter: considerations on the use of visual stimuli in promoting population attitudes and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Previous studies show that the type of content and format of messages employed in campaigns about COVID-19 can influence the attitudes and behaviors of the population, increasing their commitment and engagement with measures to contain the disease. This study describes two experiments with 998 Brazilian adults, which main objective was to test the possible effects of two types of messages on behavioral attitudes toward the pandemic. One message was informative only, and the other was framed to mobilize empathy in viewers. The results indicate that exposure to both messages contributed to an increase in behavioral intentions of participants, when compared to others who formed a control group. Data also suggest that socioeconomic conditions are an important factor to consider when analyzing the effects of these messages on people’s behavior. We discuss the importance of considering the scientific evidence regarding the format and content of messages aired to the population. We also discuss the need to implement initiatives to protect people in more vulnerable socioeconomic conditions, so that actions in the field of Health Education may effectively contribute to combat the pandemic.

Young athletes’ psychological skills for performance: The role of perceived coaches’ interpersonal styles

María Julia Raimundi, Ignacio Celsi, Carla Otero — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

The aim is to examine the predictive power of perceived coaches’ interpersonal styles and youth athletes’ psychological skills profile, considering the role of gender. One hundred and three athletes (57.30 % male, 42.70 % female) between 15 and 28 years old (M = 20.40, SD = 3.08) participated in the study. Athletes’ psychological skills of motivation, positive coping and attitude control reported higher scores, differences according to gender were found. Likewise, coach’s autonomy support predicted more psychological skills in females, while coach’s controlling behavior predicted inversely positive and negative coping, attentional control and imaginery capability in males.

Analysis of the Associations Between Emotional Memory and Performance in Tasks with Cognitive Demand in Preschoolers

Eliana Ruetti, Verónica Adriana Ramírez — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Background. Emotional and cognitive processing are interconnected. Several researchers studied the association between different cognitive control processes and emotional memory, defined as the long-term storage of information accompanied by activating factors that will later favor its recall. Moreover, cognitive control processes include functions that regulate and coordinate attention, memory, language, inhibitory control, and planning. Method. Since these processes are susceptible to change during development, this study analyzed the associations between emotional memory (free recall and recognition) and cognitive processes (evaluated through Corsi and Stroop tasks) at 4 and 4.5 years of age in children from households with different socio-environmental conditions. Results. Significant correlations were found between: a) free recall of negative images and Stroop performance at 4 and 4.5 years; b) free recall of neutral images and Corsi performance at 4 years; c) recognition of negative and positive images and Stroop performance at 4.5 years; d) recognition of neutral images and socio-environmental conditions at 4.5 years. Conclusions. The results of this investigation allow us to highlight the fundamental relationship between the variables studied in this age of life cycle. These processes are closely linked and need to be analyzed together to provide a greater understanding of their mutual influences throughout child development.