University counseling centers are faced with the challenge of effectively treating bipolar students while also utilizing brief treatment frameworks and managing high patient volumes. Potential destabilization, particularly within the elevated mood phase, poses significant behavioral management issues for university clinicians and administrators,…

It is costly for faculty to deal with cheating. Keith-Spiegel et al. (1998) identified several of these costs and argued that they can be grouped into four categories: emotionality, difficult, fear, and denial. I argue that the emotional and fear costs for faculty make it unlikely that the common approaches to dealing with plagiarism will be…

The phenomenon of spiritual bypass has received limited attention in the transpersonal psychology and counseling literature and has not been subjected to empirical inquiry. This study examines the phenomenon of spiritual bypass by considering how spirituality, mindfulness, alexithymia (emotional restrictiveness), and narcissism work together to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of university students' cognitive distortions in their sense of autonomy. One hundred and three third-year university students from Shanghai, The People's Republic of China, responded to the Cognitive Distortion Scales [Briere, J. (2000). "Cognitive Distortion Scales: Professional…

This article reviews findings from a related study of 15 White racial justice allies, which highlighted the importance of re-articulating a sense of Whiteness. The author explores how the rearticulated sense of Whiteness demonstrated by these students may assist others to mitigate some of the defense mechanism discussed in the Watt (2007)…

Although countering denial, minimization, and externalization of blame is a key component of most interventions for individuals who have been abusive in their intimate relationships, these attributions have only seldom been the focus of empirical investigation. Using a sample of 139 male and female university students, this study examined the…

In this paper we explore an alternative way of characterising the student learning experience, drawing on sociocultural perspectives on learning. Here, learning is not merely the application of an approach to a cognitive task, but a social process of identity formation. In particular, we draw on Gee's concept of Discourse models to identify the…

Results of exploratory research on defense mechanisms and psychiatric symptomatology are reported about Black students enrolled in classes on the campus of one Historically Black College and University. Theoretical influences are twofold: ego mechanisms of defense conceptualized hierarchically and a culture-specific view of defense mechanism…

Interviews with university students selected as high or low in either self-handicapping or defensive pessimism identified personal perspectives on the nature of self-handicapping and defensive pessimism, the perceived reasons why they engage in these strategies and the perceived advantages that follow from them, and the extent to which ego goals…

Investigated psychological effects of teammate's exercise-related sudden death on 10 remaining team members at end of collegiate careers (4 years later). Findings indicated initially similar responses from teammates (shock and disbelief); mixed reactions concerning influence of event on individual lives; deep emotions during interviews; and…

Examines the expectancies, beliefs, coping patterns, and psychological adjustment associated with loss due to death, parental divorce, or illness and the level of disability in a college population. Results indicate that loss groups did not differ from each other or from a no-loss group on cognitive variables, coping, or psychological adjustment.…

Three studies, involving 100, 202, and 254 college students, respectively, examined the effects of positive self-presentational set on the revised edition of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R). Findings suggest that the NEO PI-R is clearly vulnerable to faking and support the condition that profiles derived under socially desirable…

This study administered the Academic Volitional Strategy Inventory to investigate volitional strategies amongst socially anxious college students. Volitional strategies regulate motivation and emotion to aid in the achievement of academic tasks. It was important to examine this phenomenon based upon the premise that socially anxious students have…

Presents a study on the psychodynamics of work in order to analyze students' relationship to their work organization in an economic context characterized by competition, job insecurity, and anxiety about the future. Collective defense mechanisms were identified, including silence, individualism, isolation, and endurance. (Contains 27 references.)…

The role of affect in self-regulated learning was explored, focusing on the effects of two motivational strategies, defensive pessimism and self-handicapping, on the motivational outlook of college students (n=126), use of learning strategies, and performance. It was found that these strategies, which are used to regulate the affective outcomes…