Biomedical subjects

A Furnham

Publications and source records attributed to A Furnham.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Lay theories of anorexia nervosa.

One hundred sixty-eight subjects completed a 105-item questionnaire that explored their beliefs about the cause, correlates, and cures of anorexia nervosa. The questionnaire was derived from interviews with lay people that concerned their beliefs and theories about anorexia. The three parts of the questionnaire were individually factor analyzed, and an interpretable factor structure emerged for each. While age and body size did not correlate with these factors, sex, personal experience of eating disorders, and being acquainted with an anorexic were significant correlates of a number of factors. Factors associated with cause, correlates, and cure were correlated modestly and significantly. Both the introduction and the discussion consider the differences between "lay" and "scientific" theories of anorexia nervosa.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1992

State and trait differences in depressive self-perceptions.

A number of investigators have interpreted a tendency for depressed people to recall more negative than positive self-referent adjectives as evidence for a depressive self-schema made up of predominantly negative characterological information. We sought to confirm this account by eliciting the subjective self-perceptions of the depressed. Depressed patients and controls were required to rate whether or not a series of positive and negative adjectives applied to them during the previous week, at any time, and generally. The depressed distinguished clearly between these questions and, although describing themselves currently in largely negative terms, described their general state as equally composed of positive and negative elements.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Causal beliefs about depression in depressed patients, clinical psychologists and lay persons.

Non-depressed lay persons have been shown to have extensive and accurate knowledge about depression (Rippere, 1977, 1980 a, b, 1981 a) that is underpinned by a structure that resembles current academic theories of the disorder (Furnham & Kuyken, 1991). In this study a semi-structured interview schedule and a number of rating scales were used to determine and compare the nature and extent of depressed patients', clinical psychologists', and lay persons' beliefs about the causes of depression. We confirmed that depressed patients and non-depressed lay persons alike have relatively extensive beliefs about the causes of depression which are comparable to those held by clinical psychologists. However, depressed patients tend to endorse biological explanations of the causes of depression to a greater extent than clinical psychologists. In contrast, clinical psychologists assign a more important causal role to unconscious processes and childhood vulnerability factors than do either depressed patients or non-depressed lay controls.

Adjustment Disorders↗

PubMed1992

A comparison of academic and lay theories of schizophrenia.

This study investigated lay subjects' theories of schizophrenia. A questionnaire examining the five identified main academic theories of schizophrenia (medical, moral-behavioural, social, psychoanalytic, and conspiratorial) along various dimensions (aetiology, behaviour, treatment, function of the hospital, and the rights and duties of both patients and society) was constructed for use in the study. The results from 106 lay respondents showed that no single model was favoured exclusively but seemed to point to a synthesis of several academic theories. The lay subjects stressed the importance of patient environment in the aetiology of schizophrenia rather than a physiological malfunction, but tended to stress the personal rights of the schizophrenic. The differences between lay and the currently dominant psychiatric models are discussed in terms of the function these models serve for each group.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1992

Relationship between knowledge of and attitudes towards AIDS.

202 subjects completed a questionnaire concerning their knowledge of and attitudes towards AIDS. The knowledge questionnaire had three sections, general knowledge, knowledge of spread and symptoms. Intercorrelations of the sections of the attitudinal measure were factor analysed, and five interpretable factors identified. As in two previously reported studies the correlations among the three knowledge and five attitudinal factors were low and nonsignificant. Implications for health education and attitude change are considered.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1991

Consequences of person-environment incongruence: absenteeism, frustration, and stress.

Two correlational studies using English nurses and working adults are reported that examined the relationship between the three measures of person-environment (P-E) fit as derived from Holland's (1973) theory and three dependent work-related variables. In the first study, the P-E fit measures of congruence, consistency, and differentiation were correlated with two measures of absenteeism, frustration, and various demographic variables. Contrary to predictions, two measures of absenteeism were positively correlated with congruence and consistency. In accordance with the hypothesis, however, frustration was highly negatively correlated with congruence and consistency. In the second study, consistency, but not congruence or differentiation, was significantly negatively correlated with stress, as predicted. These studies provide some support for Holland's theses, although not all hypotheses were supported, both for methodological and theoretical reasons. It is argued that P-E fit measures are useful predictors of occupational behavior in conjunction with other major determinants.

Absenteeism↗

PubMed1990

Lay theories of psychotherapy. I: Attitudes toward, and beliefs about, psychotherapy and therapists.

Two hundred people completed two questionnaires that concerned their beliefs about what psychotherapy clients experience and their attitudes toward psychotherapy. Both questionnaires were shown to have an interpretable factor structure, and these beliefs and attitudal factors were shown to be clearly related. There were no sex, a few age, but a number of educational and "psychological experience" correlates of the belief and attitudinal factors. A canonical correlation produced one factor that seemed readily interpretable, with psychological experience the most powerful correlate of both beliefs and attitudes. The results were discussed in terms of the work on lay beliefs and expectations about therapy and counseling.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Causal attributions for unemployment in Barbados.

The importance of various explanations for unemployment in their country was rated by 468 predominantly young people from the Caribbean island of Barbados. The twenty explanations provided, which were taken from other studies, showed a clear structure. The six factors that emerged from them were lack of effort on the part of the unemployed, lack of ability, failure of trade unions, effects of government policy, regional and world-wide changes, and poor industrial management. Endorsement of these explanations was related to sex, age, and education, but was not related very clearly to employment status.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, personality characteristics and disruptive behaviour in girls.

Disruptive behaviour in school, as defined by teachers, was examined in 44 unselected girls, aged 12-13 years, attending two private schools. Except for the psychoticism (P) scale of the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory (JEPI), such conduct did not appear to be related to the personality characteristics as measured by the JEPI. Autonomic nervous system activity, indexed here by heart rate measures, successfully discriminated between the three behaviourally defined groups. The findings, with data derived from girls, largely confirm earlier exploratory studies with adolescent boys, and have implications for further research and current approaches to management.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Lay theories of homosexuality: aetiology, behaviours and 'cures'.

This study set out to investigate the determinants, structure and relationship between lay people's beliefs about the aetiology (causes) of homosexuality, the attitudes to the behaviours of practising homosexuals and efficacy of 'cures' for homosexuality. Over two hundred and fifty subjects completed a three-part questionnaire, in which they specified their sexual orientation, personal contact patterns with homosexuals amongst other personal details. A factor analysis was performed on each of the three parts of the questionnaire and an interpretable factor structure emerged which suggested that lay people have an integrated 'theory' or schema concerning homosexuality. Lay theories concerning the aetiology, behaviours of, and 'cures' for homosexuality were moderately related to demographic variables such as sex, age and education, but strongly related to sexual orientation and contact with homosexuals. These results are discussed in terms of the literature on lay theories in general, and attitudes to homosexuals in particular.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

The protestant work ethic and type A behaviour: a pilot study.

40 adult subjects completed three measures of the Protestant Work Ethic and a multidimensional measure of the Type A behaviour pattern. The only consistent pattern of correlations was between the "hard-driving" subscale of the Type A measure and all three total PWE scores for Protestant Work Ethic. Results are discussed in terms of the constituent parts of both concepts.

Achievement↗

PubMed1990

Barbadian adolescents' views of the "ideal" family.

An instrument examining the perceptions of "ideal" family functioning was administered to 536 adolescents aged 12 to 18 yr. in Barbados. Analysis indicated fairly extensive differences between the views of male and female students, somewhat fewer differences in age and type of school attended, and very few differences associated with household composition and religious affiliation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

West Indian adolescents' perceptions of family functioning.

A total of 424 Barbadians aged 13-15 years completed the Family Functioning in Adolescence Questionnaire, developed in Australia by Roelofse and Middleton (1985). Findings revealed most adolescents, like their Australian peers, reported fairly favourable perceptions of their families. However, neither total nor sub-scale scores served to discriminate between sub-groups based on sex, age or household structure to any great extent. A re-grouping of items based on results of Varimax analysis also failed to yield many significant group differences, although some directions for future research were indicated. Adolescents not living with their fathers seemed to have a somewhat lower sense of personal security, but in other respects did not report their family life any less favourably than did those living with both natural parents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Overcoming 'psychosomatic' illness: lay attributions of cure for five possible psychosomatic illnesses.

This semi-replicative study was concerned with lay people's beliefs about the importance of 24 different contributors towards overcoming five relatively common illnesses: hypertension, peptic ulcers, asthma, dermatitis and migraine. These illnesses have frequently been regarded as psychosomatic although there is considerable debate as to whether this is so. One hundred subjects completed a 5-page questionnaire indicating how effective 24 factors were to overcoming the five specified illnesses. Factor analysis revealed almost identical clusters for each problem. These were labelled inner control, social consequences, fate, understanding and receiving help. Items clustering on the first and latter two factors were thought of as generally important and those on fate and, to a lesser extent, understanding, less important, although the perceived relevance of the second and third factors differed significantly between problems. Regressional analysis showed that various individual difference factors, age and sex in particular, were related to perceived relevance of the different contributors. The results were discussed in terms of subjects' beliefs concerning the value of self reliance as opposed to professional help, and the importance of understanding lay beliefs about the efficacy of different cures. Comparisons are made with four other studies using basically the same methodology.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1989

Eating-problem patients' conceptions of normality.

Three groups of people--anorexic patients, helping professionals, and a control group--filled out the Eating Attitude Test (Garner & Garfinkel, 1979) three times. The control subjects were asked to fill it out honestly for themselves; as they imagined an ordinary person might complete it; and, finally, as they would expect a patient with an eating disorder to fill it out. The anorexic patients were asked to complete it honestly for themselves; as they imagined an ordinary person might fill it out; and, finally, as they would expect to fill it out when fully recovered. The professionals filled out the questionnaires as they imagined the typical patient with eating disorders might; as they imagined the ordinary person might complete it; and as a recovered patient might complete it. The results provided support for some but not all hypotheses, the most central of which was that there would be a difference between how the patients rated the ordinary person and how control subjects (supposedly ordinary people) rated themselves.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

The Type A behaviour pattern and self-evaluation.

This paper is concerned with how Type A and B subjects perceive themselves. Subjects first completed a unidimensional A type measure, then rated themselves and their ideal selves on various personality traits. As expected, Type A was associated with negative self-ratings and high actual-ideal self-discrepancy scores. However, it is argued that self-evaluation in negative terms by Type As is not necessarily synonymous with low self-esteem. Negative self-ratings may be an important factor in the aetiology and maintenance of the Type A behaviour pattern.

Adult↗