Papers by R. Bachner-Melman
Personality traits have been directly associated with happiness. One consistent finding is a stro... more Personality traits have been directly associated with happiness. One consistent finding is a strong link between extraversion and happiness: extraverts are happier than introverts. Although happy introverts exist, it is currently unclear under what conditions they can achieve happiness. The present study analyzes, generally, how the quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability influence happiness and, specifically, how these factors can lead introverts to be happy. In the present study, 1006 participants aged 18 to 80 (42% males) completed measures of extraversion, neuroticism, quality of social relationships, emotion regulation ability, and happiness. We found that extraverts had significantly higher happiness, quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability scores than introverts. In addition, people with a high quality of social relationships or high emotion regulation ability were happier. Serial mediation analyses indicated that greater levels of extraversion were associated with greater happiness, with small effect size, via two indirect mechanisms: (a) higher quality of social relationships, and (b) higher quality of social relationships followed serially by higher emotion regulation ability. We also found a moderating effect due to the three-way interaction of extraversion, quality of social relationships, and emotion regulation ability: introverts were happier when they had high scores for these two variables, though the effect size was small. These results suggest that the quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability are relevant to our understanding of complex associations between extraversion and happiness.
European Psychiatry, 2017
BackgroundImpairments in social behavior and cognition, such as the ability to identify others’ e... more BackgroundImpairments in social behavior and cognition, such as the ability to identify others’ emotional state, are important features in schizophrenia. Arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OXT) and are nonapeptides that influence social cognition and behavior. Previous studies have shown that the administration of intranasal AVP or OXT may affect the ability to recognize facial emotions. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a single dose of AVP or OXT on social cognition in patients with schizophrenia. The secondary objective of the study was to test for sex-specific effects of intranasal AVP and OXT administration on social cognition.MethodsIn this double-blind, placebo-control, cross-over study, 34 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder, received a dose of AVP, OXT or placebo in three separate meetings. Forty-five minutes after administration, subjects performed facial emotion recognition tasks.ResultsThere were no...
Bio-Psycho-Social Contributions to Understanding Eating Disorders, 2016
When the willingness to place another’s perceived needs above one’s own in a way that causes self... more When the willingness to place another’s perceived needs above one’s own in a way that causes self-harm, the normally positive and necessary characteristic of altruism can become unhealthy. “Pathological altruism” has been the focus of a recent surge of theoretical, philosophical, clinical and empirical interest. This chapter explores its relevance to individuals suffering from eating disorders, who can be viewed as prototypical pathological altruists. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to a poorly defined sense of self and the resulting adaptation to external expectations and devotion to others’ needs. A facade of self-sufficiency, all too often misinterpreted as a sign of health, belies the natural need to receive from others. A fear of losing relationships, a need for approval, and conscious or unconscious anger at self-sacrifice lend a flavor of martyrdom to the act of giving. The endorsement of the thin beauty ideal underlying eating disorders may be seen as a form of pathological altruism, since the biological need to eat is sacrificed to the “needs” or dictates of society concerning body shape. Anecdotal, theoretical, clinical and empirical support for pathological altruism in eating disordered patients is presented, as well as implications for treatment, recovery and prevention.
The International journal of eating disorders, 2014
Efforts have been made to characterize executive functions (EF) in anorexia nervosa (AN) both in ... more Efforts have been made to characterize executive functions (EF) in anorexia nervosa (AN) both in the acute stage of the illness and after weight gain, yet many questions remain. The question of verbal versus visuo-perceptual stimuli in this regard has not been adequately addressed. The aim of this study is to further examine EF in women with past and present AN and to compare their performances in verbal and visual modalities with women who have never suffered from an eating disorder. Thirty-five underweight AN patients, 33 weight-restored patients symptom-free for at least 2 years, and 48 healthy female controls completed the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Sorting Test, so as to evaluate their EF. No differences were observed between the scores of women with current and past AN. Both groups scored lower than controls on most test variables. However, while in the visuo-perceptual domain the performance of the AN groups was worse than that of controls, in the verbal domain th...
Psychiatric Genetics, 2006
Objectives An analysis of 80 British parent-offspring trios by Wei and Hemmings in 2000 revealed ... more Objectives An analysis of 80 British parent-offspring trios by Wei and Hemmings in 2000 revealed thre1e out of five markers within the NOTCH4 locus to be strongly associated with schizophrenia. In our present study, we have examined NOTCH4 markers in large samples of German and Palestinian-Arab origin. Methods Our study population comprised a German case-control sample (n = 512 schizophrenia patients and n = 232 controls) and two independent parent-offspring trio samples of German (n = 159 trios) and Palestinian-Arab (n = 208 trios) descent. We examined a total of ten single nucleotide polymorphisms within the NOTCH4 locus and the adjacent loci, spanning a region of approximately 100 kb. Results Neither single marker nor haplotype analyses showed association with schizophrenia. In addition, analyses of the German case-control and trio samples revealed no significant association between NOTCH4 polymorphisms and early-onset schizophrenia. Conclusions Our results suggest that NOTCH4 is unlikely to play a major role in the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia in the German or the Palestinian-Arab population.
PLoS Genetics, 2005
Dancing, which is integrally related to music, likely has its origins close to the birth of Homo ... more Dancing, which is integrally related to music, likely has its origins close to the birth of Homo sapiens, and throughout our history, dancing has been universally practiced in all societies. We hypothesized that there are differences among individuals in aptitude, propensity, and need for dancing that may partially be based on differences in common genetic polymorphisms. Identifying such differences may lead to an understanding of the neurobiological basis of one of mankind's most universal and appealing behavioral traits-dancing. In the current study, 85 current performing dancers and their parents were genotyped for the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4: promoter region HTTLPR and intron 2 VNTR) and the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a: promoter microsatellites RS1 and RS3). We also genotyped 91 competitive athletes and a group of nondancers/nonathletes (n ¼ 872 subjects from 414 families). Dancers scored higher on the Tellegen Absorption Scale, a questionnaire that correlates positively with spirituality and altered states of consciousness, as well as the Reward Dependence factor in Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, a measure of need for social contact and openness to communication. Highly significant differences in AVPR1a haplotype frequencies (RS1 and RS3), especially when conditional on both SLC6A4 polymorphisms (HTTLPR and VNTR), were observed between dancers and athletes using the UNPHASED program package (Cocaphase: likelihood ratio test [LRS] ¼ 89.23, p ¼ 0.000044). Similar results were obtained when dancers were compared to nondancers/nonathletes (Cocaphase: LRS ¼ 92.76, p ¼ 0.000024). These results were confirmed using a robust family-based test (Tdtphase: LRS ¼ 46.64, p ¼ 0.010). Association was also observed between Tellegen Absorption Scale scores and AVPR1a (Qtdtphase: global chi-square ¼ 26.53, p ¼ 0.047), SLC6A4 haplotypes (Qtdtphase: chi-square ¼ 2.363, p ¼ 0.018), and AVPR1a conditional on SCL6A4 (Tdtphase: LRS ¼ 250.44, p ¼ 0.011). Similarly, significant association was observed between Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire Reward Dependence scores and AVPR1a RS1 (chi-square ¼ 20.16, p ¼ 0.01). Two-locus analysis (RS1 and RS3 conditional on HTTLPR and VNTR) was highly significant (LRS ¼ 162.95, p ¼ 0.001). Promoter repeat regions in the AVPR1a gene have been robustly demonstrated to play a role in molding a range of social behaviors in many vertebrates and, more recently, in humans. Additionally, serotonergic neurotransmission in some human studies appears to mediate human religious and spiritual experiences. We therefore hypothesize that the association between AVPR1a and SLC6A4 reflects the social communication, courtship, and spiritual facets of the dancing phenotype rather than other aspects of this complex phenotype, such as sensorimotor integration.
Neuropsychobiology, 2000
Persistence (RD2) is a subscale of the reward dependence trait, one of the three major personalit... more Persistence (RD2) is a subscale of the reward dependence trait, one of the three major personality factors assessed by the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). Subjects with high RD2 scores are characterized as industrious, hard-working, ambitious, perfectionistic. TPQ scores were examined in 577 normal subjects inventoried for two common genetic polymorphisms, the catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) valine to methionine (val to met) amino acid substitution that determines high and low enzyme activity, and the serotonin transporter promoter region 44 bp deletion (5-HTTLPR) linked in some studies to harm avoidance or neuroticism. When TPQ RD2 scores are grouped by COMT and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms and analyzed by two-way ANOVA, significant main effects for COMT (F = 2.98, p = 0.05) and 5-HTTLPR (F = 4.27, p = 0.04) and a significant interaction COMT × 5-HTTLPR (F = 6.18, p = 0.002) are observed. In the presence of COMT homozygosity (val/val or met/met genotypes), the presenc...
Molecular Psychiatry, 2002
International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2009
Background: A possible connection between Mark Snyder's concept of self-monitoring and anorex... more Background: A possible connection between Mark Snyder's concept of self-monitoring and anorexia nervosa (AN) has not previously been examined. Aims: We hypothesized that AN symptomatology correlates positively with the Other-Directedness aspect of Snyder's self-monitoring construct and negatively with its Extraversion aspect. Method: 194 women with a history of AN were classified as currently ill ( n = 17), partially recovered ( n = 106) and recovered ( n = 71).These women and 100 female controls with no history of an eating disorder completed Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS) and the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26). `Other-Directedness' and `Acting and Extraversion'subscales were derived from an exploratory factor analysis of the Hebrew version of the SMS. Mean total and subscale scores were compared across groups, and correlations were calculated between EAT-26 scores and SMS total and subscale scores. Results: Both subscales of the SMS correlated signific...
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2013
Self-presentation refers to the behavioral strategies a person adopts to convey desired social im... more Self-presentation refers to the behavioral strategies a person adopts to convey desired social images of oneself to other people. The Concern for Appropriateness Scale (CAS) measures a defensive and fearful social approach aimed at avoiding social threats whereas the Revised Self-Monitoring Scale (RSMS) measures an active and flexible social approach aimed at gaining power and status. In this study, a significant correlation was found between hypnotizability, as measured by the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C) scores and CAS (r = .43, p = .002) but not between hypnotizability and RSMS (r = .070, p = .631). These results suggest that a protective self-presentation style may incline certain individuals to cooperate with hypnotic suggestions.
Genes, Brain and Behavior, 2008
Economic games provide a method for observing human behavior in the laboratory that has many adva... more Economic games provide a method for observing human behavior in the laboratory that has many advantages over the standard self-report questionnaires (Camerer & Fehr 2003). Games recreate social interactions in the laboratory using real money payoffs and thus engage people in 'put your money where your mouth is' decisions. A well-defined game also provides the benefits of quantifiability, replicability and
European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2011
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response is a cross-species measure of sensorimotor gati... more Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response is a cross-species measure of sensorimotor gating that provides a valuable tool for assessing the capacity to effectively screen out irrelevant sensory input. Accumulating evidence suggests that PPI deficits may correlate with impairments in social cognition, i.e. the ability to construct representation about others, oneself and the relations between others and oneself. Social cognition deficits are commonly encountered within the framework of psychiatric disorders. In this study 113 healthy volunteers completed psychopyhsiological measures of sensorimotor gating (PPI) and social self-presentation style (the Concern for Appropriate (CAS) and the Revised Self-Monitoring (RSMS) scales). CAS measures a defensive and fearful social approach aiming at avoiding social threats; RSMS measures an active and flexible social approach aiming at gaining power and status. Analyses revealed an inverse correlation between PPI at the 120 ms prepulse-to-pulse interval and total CAS scores (r = −0.19, p = 0.04), as well as with the Attention to Social Comparison Information (ASCI) subscale of the CAS (r = −0.23, p = 0.01). These findings suggest that reduced PPI may contribute to the tendency to adopt a defensive and fearful "getting along" social approach. This study is, to our knowledge, the first to assess the relationship between sensorimotor gating and self-presentational style in humans. Its findings suggest that very basic perceptual deficits that can be assessed using the PPI paradigm, may reflect information processing abnormalities that impact negatively upon the perception of complex social interactions.
Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 2009
We tested the hypothesis that a protective self-presentation style (Lennox and Wolfe, 1984) is as... more We tested the hypothesis that a protective self-presentation style (Lennox and Wolfe, 1984) is associated with eating pathology and anorexia nervosa (AN) and that this association is mediated by sociocultural attitudes towards appearance emphasizing the thin ideal. We compared the protective-presentation style of women with AN (N=17), partially recovered women (N=110), fully recovered women (N=73), and female controls (N=374). Ill women had a more protective self-presentation style than partially or fully recovered women, who in turn had a more protective self-presentation style than controls. Sociocultural attitudes towards appearance fully mediated the association between protective self-presentation and disordered eating. Protective self-presentation may therefore be a risk factor for AN and/or a prognostic factor. Implications for therapy and prevention are discussed.
American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 2007
American Journal of Medical Genetics, 2000
Only recently have studies of electrocortical activity, event-related potentials, and regional ce... more Only recently have studies of electrocortical activity, event-related potentials, and regional cerebral blood flow begun to shed light on the anatomical and neurobiological underpinnings of hypnosis. Since twin studies show a significant heritable component for hypnotizability, we were prompted to examine the role of a common, functional polymorphism in contributing to individual differences in hypnotizability. A group of 109 subjects (51 male, 59 female) were administered three psychological instruments and tested for the high/low enzyme activity COMT val→met polymorphism. We observed a significant correlation between hypnotizability measured by the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS:C), ability to partition attention (Differential Attentional Processes Inventory or DAPI), and absorptive capacities (Tellegen Absorption Scale or TAS). The effect of COMT on the various dependent variables was initially examined by multivariate analysis that corrects for multiple testing. The dependent variables were SHSS:C hypnotizability scores, four attentional subscales of the DAPI, and TAS total score grouped by the COMT genotype (val/val, val/met, met/ met) as the independent variable. Hotelling's Trace statistic was significant when scores were grouped by the COMT genotype (Hotelling's T 2 = 1.88, P = 0.04). Post-hoc testing using the Bonferroni correction shows that the only significant difference is between the val/met vs. the val/val COMT genotypes on hypnotizability. This association was significant for men but not for women. As for all case-control studies, these results need to be interpreted cautiously and require replication. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:771-774, 2000.
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Papers by R. Bachner-Melman