Biomedical subjects

Sarah L Tragesser

Publications and source records attributed to Sarah L Tragesser.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Dimensional models of personality disorder: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition and beyond.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We describe several dimensional models of personality disorders and highlight future directions for the integration of dimensional approaches in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). This review is timely and relevant, given the upcoming revision of DSM (DSM-V). RECENT FINDINGS: Research has identified four common higher order factors that could be used to characterize personality pathology. Evidence supports the inclusion of this dimensional representation of personality disorders in DSM-V, possibly as an adjunct to the traditional categorical classification scheme. A dimensional approach would ameliorate many of the problems associated with the categorical approach. Issues that still need to be addressed are on how to integrate these dimensions into the current classification system in a way that they will be accepted by clinicians and psychopathologists. The clinical utility of the dimensional models must be demonstrated, and the development of a method that combines trait elevations and impairment associated with personality pathology is needed in order to define personality disorder from a dimensional perspective. SUMMARY: Although there may be some initial resistance to the incorporation of the dimensional models in the future diagnostic manuals, researchers and clinicians are expected to benefit from the more reliable and valid portrayal of personality pathology.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

PubMed2005

Teasing: for superiority or solidarity?

Humor among friends is typically regarded as a means of strengthening friendships. However, there may be a side of humor that is used to compete rather than bond (R. D. Alexander, 1986; C. R. Gruner, 1997). In the present studies, the participants were asked to imagine that they were sitting with a group of mixed-sex peers. One of the group (a same-sex friend) made a comment about the participant. Different groups of participants were told that the remark did or did not involve teasing. While the participants imagined they were the target of the remark, they rated their emotional reactions as well as their perceived relationship with the teaser and the character traits attributed to the teaser. The outcomes from analyses of variance of perceived competitiveness, emotional responses, and expected social outcomes largely supported superiority perspectives of humor.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Constructing something funny: levels of associative connection in Tom Swifties.

In the present study, redundancy (low, medium, or high association between the adverb and sentence content) and contextual connection (presence vs. absence of a meaning-based connection between the adverb and other information in the sentence) were manipulated systematically in Tom Swifties (single-sentence wordplays in which a pun is based on the adverb at the end of the sentence). Sixty-nine university students provided ratings of each Swifty's humorousness, cleverness, and coherence and of their reactions to each (tendency to smile, laugh, and groan). Added context led to greater perceived coherence. In keeping with optimal level of arousal arising from resolution of incongruity, an inverted-U redundancy effect was obtained for all scales except "groan." The authors suggest that a social setting is a required but not a sufficient condition for a pun to evoke a groan. It also requires material of greater length that includes some build-up, as found in a fable or shaggy-dog story.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Puns and near puns in fables.

In previous research, (L. G. Lippman, K. Bennington, & I. L. Sucharski, 2002; L. G. Lippman & M. L. Dunn, 2000; L. G. Lippman, I. L. Sucharski, & K. Bennington, 2001), the body of the material (one-liners or fables) had been manipulated to increase its contextual connection to the final word or sentence. In the present study, the body of 6 fables remained constant, and only 1-3 words of the final sentences were manipulated. The pun version had dual connections to the story. Final sentences of 2 other versions had the same meaning, only a single connection to the story, but 1 was related acoustically to the pun. University students, instructed to pretend that someone was telling them each story, rated the fables and their reactions. Compared with its acoustic counterpart, the pun version provoked more reported humor reactions. For the nonpun versions, the one related acoustically to the pun yielded reliably greater reported inclination to smile, suggesting that participants may have inferred or created a pun. The groan, as a communication device, is discussed.

Adult↗