BACKGROUND: The search for replicable predictors of the outcomes of surgical intervention for obesity has proven challenging, with patient selection being a recurrent theme in bariatric literature. METHODS: In this study, 20 gastric bypass patients were interviewed at an average of 2 years following surgery. Subjects provided extensive data relating to their characteristics and experiences. RESULTS: Statistical analyses were undertaken to establish likely predictors of success, both in terms of percentage of excess weight lost and in broader terms. It was found that self-esteem, some scales of the Adjective Checklist, and valuing of food and eating related to a successful outcome. CONCLUSION: Recommendations are made regarding an interview schedule for pre-operative assessment, and a prospective study to evaluate its predictive power is proposed.
Praise is a common feature of interpersonal interaction. It is used to encourage, socialize, ingratiate, seduce, reward, and influence other people. These assorted usages reflect a widespread belief in the efficacy of praise for altering the behaviour and affective state of the recipient. Despite this assumed power of praise, and despite its salience and frequency in human social interaction, research interest in praise has been sporadic and intermittent, and not united within an all-embracing theoretical model.In this article we will present an analysis of the effects of praise. We will begin by considering how to define praise. Next, we will examine the view of praise as social reinforcement, a conception which roots praise firmly within an empiricist framework; this appears to have been the predominant theoretical view guiding previous research on praise. We will conclude, however, that this view is conceptually inadequate to account for the empirical evidence. Because of that conclusion, our next step will be to provide a novel examination of the likely processes and consequences involved in praise. The remainder of the article will then be devoted to examining, where it is available, empirical evidence relevant to our analysis.
WHAT IS PRAISE?As lay psychologists within our own culture, we all apparently know what praise is, and how beneficial are its outcomes. Therefore, it should be relatively easy to furnish a definition of praise. In fact, however, even reference t o the psychological literature is not very enlightening. Conceptions of praise are so varied that it is dimcult for a single definition to encompass all of them without being too broad. Knapp, Hopper, and Bell (1985) asked over 500 people to 0 The Exrriiiivr Managcmrni Commirtee/Basil Blackwell Lid. 1994. Published by Bldckwell Publishen 108 Cuwley b i d .
Psychologists in Australia have tended to survey theirpublic image with specific questions, such as how useful psychologists are, or how willing people are to consult them. While responses to these questions have generally implied an unfavourable public impression of psychologists, research in the United States has shown that psychologists are perceived less favourably on direct measures of favourability (e.g., specific questions), than on indirect indicators (e.g., overall favourability ratings). To reassess the public perception of psychologists in Australia, a representative sample of 178 adults from South Australian metropolitan and rural areas was surveyed, with respondents required to appraise psychologists on both indirect and direct measures of favourability. As hypothesised, the public impression of psychologists was more favourable on the indirect measure. Regression analyses were also performed to identify the personal and attitudinal variables associated with responses on the measures of favourability. Findings are presented and discussed, together with implications for the future promotion of Australian psychology.
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