Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty.

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Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review.

Clinical Trials: A Practical Approach

Social Phobia: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment

International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (vol. 10)

Involuntary images and visual memories are prominent in many types of psychopathology. Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and psychosis frequently report repeated visual intrusions corresponding to a small number of real or imaginary events, usually extremely vivid, detailed, and with highly distressing content. Both memory and imagery appear to rely on common networks involving medial prefrontal regions, posterior regions in the medial and lateral parietal cortices, the lateral temporal cortex, and the medial temporal lobe. Evidence from cognitive psychology and neuroscience implies distinct neural bases to abstract, flexible, contextualized representations (C-reps) and to inflexible, sensory-bound representations (S-reps). We revise our previous dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder to place it within a neural systems model of healthy memory and imagery. The revised model is used to explain how the different types of distressing visual intrusions associated with clinical disorders arise, in terms of the need for correct interaction between the neural systems supporting S-reps and C-reps via visuospatial working memory. Finally, we discuss the treatment implications of the new model and relate it to existing forms of psychological therapy.

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Intrusive Images in Psychological Disorders: Characteristics, Neural Mechanisms, and Treatment Implications

A new cognitive therapy (CT) program was compared with an established behavioral treatment. Sixty-two patients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for social phobia were randomly assigned to CT, exposure plus applied relaxation (EXP = AR), or wait-list (WAIT). CT and EXP = AR were superior to WAIT on all measures. On measures of social phobia, CT led to greater improvement than did EXP = AR. Percentages of patients who no longer met diagnostic criteria for social phobia at posttreatment-wait were as follows: 84% in CT, 42% in EXP = AR, and 0% in WAIT. At the 1-year follow-up, differences in outcome persisted. In addition, patients in EXP = AR were more likely to have sought additional treatment. Therapist effects were small and nonsignificant. CT appears to be superior to EXP = AR in the treatment of social phobia. (

Cognitive therapy versus exposure and applied relaxation in social phobia: A randomized controlled trial.

ObjectivePsychological treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are usually delivered once or twice a week over several months. It is unclear whether they can be successfully delivered over a shorter period of time. This clinical trial had two goals: to investigate the acceptability and efficacy of a 7-day intensive version of cognitive therapy for PTSD and to investigate whether cognitive therapy has specific treatment effects by comparing intensive and standard weekly cognitive therapy with an equally credible alternative treatment.MethodPatients with chronic PTSD (N=121) were randomly allocated to 7-day intensive cognitive therapy for PTSD, 3 months of standard weekly cognitive therapy, 3 months of weekly emotion-focused supportive therapy, or a 14-week waiting list condition. The primary outcomes were change in PTSD symptoms and diagnosis as measured by independent assessor ratings and self-report. The secondary outcomes were change in disability, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. E...

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A Randomized Controlled Trial of 7-Day Intensive and Standard Weekly Cognitive Therapy for PTSD and Emotion-Focused Supportive Therapy

Rescripting Early Memories Linked to Negative Images in Social Phobia: A Pilot Study

This study examined the 7-year psychiatric outcome of 202 speech/language (S/L) impaired and control children selected from a community sample at age 5 years. Children with S/L at age 5 years were more likely to be psychiatric cases at age 12.5 years than were normal controls, even if their S/L improved. Controlling for concurrent psychiatric disorder, S/L impairment at age 5 years was still associated with an increased rate of psychiatric disorder at 12.5 years. Psychiatric disorder at age 12.5 years was more likely to co-occur with language disorder than with speech disorder.

Seven‐Year Follow‐Up of Speech/Language Impaired and Control Children: Psychiatric Outcome

Objective: There is a growing body of evidence for the effectiveness of trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but few studies to date have investigated the mechanisms by which TF-CBT leads to therapeutic change. Models of PTSD suggest that a core treatment mechanism is the change in dysfunctional appraisals of the trauma and its aftermath. If this is the case, then changes in appraisals should predict a change in symptoms. The present study investigated whether cognitive change precedes symptom change in Cognitive Therapy for PTSD, a version of TF-CBT. Method: The study analyzed weekly cognitive and symptom measures from 268 PTSD patients who received a course of Cognitive Therapy for PTSD, using bivariate latent growth modeling. Results: Results showed that (a) dysfunctional trauma-related appraisals and PTSD symptoms both decreased significantly over the course of treatment, (b) changes in appraisals and symptoms were correlated, and (c) weekly change in appraisals significantly predicted subsequent reduction in symptom scores (both corrected for the general decrease over the course of therapy). Changes in PTSD symptom severity did not predict subsequent changes in appraisals. Conclusions: The study provided preliminary evidence for the temporal precedence of a reduction in negative trauma-related appraisals in symptom reduction during trauma-focused CBT for PTSD. This supports the role of change in appraisals as an active therapeutic mechanism.

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Jennifer Wild

Papers

Cognitive therapy versus exposure and applied relaxation in social phobia: A randomized controlled trial.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of 7-Day Intensive and Standard Weekly Cognitive Therapy for PTSD and Emotion-Focused Supportive Therapy

Rescripting Early Memories Linked to Negative Images in Social Phobia: A Pilot Study

Seven‐Year Follow‐Up of Speech/Language Impaired and Control Children: Psychiatric Outcome

Cognitive change predicts symptom reduction with cognitive therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.