Measuring Immersion, Involvement, and Attention Focusing Tendencies in the Mediated Environment: The Applicability of the Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire.

This study explores the personal predispositions and dependencies while individuals use digital media and communication devices and analyses the statistical features of the Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire (ITQ) that is popular in assessing the personality trait-dependent reaction to mediated environments. The study evaluated 781 healthy graduates and postgraduates, of which 192 were men (average age: 28.6 years) and 589 were women (average age: 28.4 years). We applied several questionnaires to measure immersive tendencies in a mediated environment, adaptive and maladaptive personality predispositions, and problematic Internet use and Facebook addiction scales. We analyze the statistical features of the long and short forms of the Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire. The data obtained support the reliable usage of the short form of the instrument. The factor structure of the questionnaire presents dual facets. First, it indicates an absorptive and immersive tendency in any case of maladaptive tendencies. Second, it reflects an intensive capability to focus on the mediated environment with adequate cognitive control to avoid any contingency of being addicted. The short form of the ITQ is reliable and adequate to assess the relationship between the self-referred and environment-dependent psychological functions.

Adaptive and maladaptive features of schizotypy clusters in a community sample.

Schizotypal personality traits correlate with psychopathology and impaired functional outcome. Yet advantageous aspects of positive schizotypy may exist which could promote resilience and creativity, and several studies have identified a high positive but low negative schizotypy group with some signs of adaptation. The aim of our study was to clarify whether such individuals demonstrate only traits associated with well-being, or they also have traits that predict impairment. Participants (N = 643 students, 71.5% female) completed measures of schizotypy, resilience, self-esteem, self-concept clarity, and absorption. We identified four clusters: an overall low schizotypy, an overall high schizotypy, a disorganised-interpersonal schizotypy and a positive schizotypy cluster. The overall high schizotypy cluster seemed to be the most vulnerable as it was the least resilient and showed widespread maladaptation, whereas the high positive schizotypy cluster had intact self-esteem and high resilience and its elevated absorption may hold the promise for adaptive outcomes such as creativity and positive spirituality. However, the high positive schizotypy cluster lacked self-concept clarity. The results suggest that individuals showing high positive and low negative schizotypy demonstrate features promoting mental well-being to an extent that is higher than in all the other clusters, while their self-concept impairment is similar to that observed in the high and the disorganised-interpersonal schizotypy clusters. Better understanding of these factors could be informative for prevention and treatment of psychosis-spectrum disorders.

[Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40): factors, validity and reliability].

INTRODUCTION: Empirical research in defense mechanisms - a concept that stem from the work of Sigmund and Anna Freud and gave rise to a number of thematic approaches - dates back to the mid-20th century. From the psychometric measure instruments developed since that time, the present investigation was aimed to assess the short form of Defense Style Questionnaire that can be efficiently applied in clinical practice and that was supposed to be used as the sixth diagnostic factor of the new version of DSM. A multi-level validity analysis of DSQ-40 was carried out. METHODS: We applied trait assessing measures for anxiety, avoidant behavior, schizotypal traits and personality disorder diagnostic measures developed for DSM-5. To evaluate discriminant validity we applied instruments that assess the stability of self-esteem and the state of self and that can measure the clarity of self-representations. 670 healthy university students volunteered to participate in the investigation. RESULTS: Based on the applied questionnaires, it was revealed that its inner consistency and validity measures are adequate. Its factors that discriminate neurotic and immature defense styles can be applied to identify persons inclined to use either adaptive or maladaptive defense mechanisms. Our findings correspond to other international research results. CONCLUSION: Our results attest that DSQ-40 is a reliable instrument to assess defense style.

Cognitive fusion and affective isolation: Blurred self-concept and empathy deficits in schizotypy.

This is a cross-sectional nonclinical sample study to examine the different levels of the Ipsiety Disturbance Model (IDM) for schizophrenia spectrum disorders (introduced by Sass and Parnas, 2003). Three faces of schizotypy were studied: diminished self-presence, hyper-reflexivity, and distortion in experience of own self and another person's self-discrimination. A sample of college students (N = 1312) was provided a questionnaire packet that contained the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire Brief-Revisited (SPQ-BR), the Self-Concept Clarity Sale, the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and Interpersonal Reactivity Index measures. Results: higher absorption capabilities predict higher scores on both the SPQ-BR cognitive and SPQ-BR disorganization factors. High scores in cognitive empathy predicted a low score on both SPQ-BR cognitive and SPQ-BR interpersonal scores. In contrast, higher affective empathy predicted high scores on the SPQ-BR interpersonal factor. The deficiency in self-concept clarity predicted an elevated score on the SPQ-BR cognitive, interpersonal, and disorganization schizotypy symptoms. We argue that a lack of self-concept clarity manifested in both the hyperreflexivity level (measured by absorption) and the metallization level (measured by empathy). We argue that the IDM is a reliable way to interpret functioning with different levels of schizotypy.

[Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire Brief Revisited (SPQ-BR) Hungarian adaptation and interpretation of factors].

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire - Brief Revised (SPQ-BR) is to help the diagnosis of schizotypial personality disorders within the framework of the DSM-5 and identification of people with an increased vulnerability towards schizophrenia related symptoms. The aim of our current study is twofold; validation of the SPQ-BR's Hungarian adaptation and investigating it's latent structure. METHODS: The sample consisted of 1702 Hungarian university students and university graduated persons. Exploratory factor analytic procedures were performed, cross-validating their results by the use if confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: The results suggested that the Hungarian SPQ-BR is best represented by a model of the hierarchical structure, reflected by seven first order factors, and two higher order dimensions of positive and negative symptoms. On lower order factors males were shown significantly greater constricted affects, and proneness to eccentric behaviors and unusual perceptions, while females were characterized by higher magical thinking, next to stronger social anxieties. Gender differences in the Ideas of references - Suspicion and odd speech scales were found to be non-significant. Concerning it''s validity with other scales we found that magical thinking and unusual perceptions from the positive symptoms significantly positively correlated with the magical ideation (MI), anxiousness (ASI), and self-concept clarity (SCCS) scales, next to a negative correlation between unusual perceptions and the self-esteem (RSES) scale. Among the negative symptoms the No close friends-Constricted affect and the Ideas of references - Suspicion subscales showed significant negative linear associations with the ASI, SCCS scales. CONCLUSION: The Hungarian version of the SPQ-BR showed adequate psychometrical properties, it was found to be reliable.

[Experiences with the validation of the Hungarian version of Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form: predicting personality disorders based on self-report inventory].

INTRODUCTION: The recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) provided a dimensional model of personality disorders grounded on the empirical validated concept of maladaptive personality traits. Accordingly, based on this model, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form (PID-5-BF) enables the identification of maladaptive personality traits in 5 dimensions: Negative Affect, Detachment, Antagonism, Disinhibition and Psychoticism. Former studies showed, that this self-report measure can reliably predict the likelihood of the development of personality disorders. AIM: We aimed to develop the Hungarian version of the PID-5-BF and to verify its construct-, concurrent-, predictive-, and discriminative validity. METHOD: Based on the results of former studies regarding PID-5-BF, we asked 379 participants to fill out several selfreport measures. Besides PID-5-BF, the Bipolar Rating Scale for the Big Five Personality, the Unconventionality subscale from the Openness scale of the HEXACO model and the Interpersonal Problems-Personality Disorders-25 were also administered. RESULTS: According to the original 5 factor version, the fit of our model was acceptable (CFI = 0,868; RMSEA = 0,061 [90% CI = 0,055 - 0,068]; Cronbach-alpha = 0,61-0,79). In our view, the results vindicate the reliability and validity of the Hungarian PID-5-BF. CONCLUSIONS: According to former studies along with our recent findings, the PID-5-BF can be seen as an effective and reliable self-report scale for clinical studies and at the same time, it may be useful for the psychiatric diagnostic process, mainly in the case of personality disorders. With more clinical data and knowledge, this inventory could be useful for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists in planning of clinical treatment.

Multisensory integration and age-dependent sensitivity to body representation modification induced by the rubber hand illusion.

The aim of the present study was to compare junior and senior healthy participants for their multimodal integration capability. The instrument used for the investigation was the rubber hand illusion (RHI) where synchronous and asynchronous multimodal stimulation were applied. The study focused on assessing the rate of integration for visuo-tactile and visuo-proprioceptive stimuli. METHODS: From a large sample of right-handed volunteers, 50 senior employees (containing younger and middle age adults) and 51 senior retired (senior adults) participants were recruited. RESULTS: The between-subject analyses revealed that individuals both the junior and the senior participants responded to induction of RHI with vivid ownership and disownership experiences and a higher mislocalization error in the synchronous condition. However, the between-group analysis showed that participants in the senior group reported less vivid ownership and less vivid total RHI experiences scores compared to members of the junior group, but no mislocalization error differences were found between the groups. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that when visuo-tactile stimuli synchronously presented, the gain in multisensory integration decreased in seniors group. In contrast, in the case of visuo-proprioceptive synchronous presentation, the efficiency of multisensory integration remained unchanged across the lifespan.