Therapist + Social Media = Mental health influencer? Considering the research focusing upon key ethical issues around the use of social media by therapists

Current ethical guidelines for therapists who make use of social media are very limited. As a consequence, they leave much open to interpretation by professionals, an openness that may place the public and professionals at risk. This is particularly of note as therapists are increasingly making use of social media and many professionals are taking on roles as mental health influencers, both purposefully and without realising. Such developments raise many important ethical issues including considerations around influencer competency, integrity, the maintenance of confidentiality and risk management. These issues are briefly discussed in this paper alongside related current research focusing upon them. It is concluded that, despite the existence of ethical guidelines focusing upon social media use by therapists, current research suggests that therapists are not consistently following these guidelines. Moreover, it is argued that researchers and professional bodies, and their associated good practice guidelines, need to keep abreast of new developments to account for changes in social media usage.     

The recovery of identity and relative position from visual input: Further evidence for the independence of processing of what and where

Four experiments examined the manner in which item identity and relative position are recovered from visual input. A successivesame/different matching paradigm was designed in which each trial contained a prime and a target display. Each display contained a reference object (i.e., a “+”) and a located object (i.e., a letter, which fell to either the right or the left of the “+”). In Experiment 1, subjects carried out identity judgments on the letters. Experiment 2 examined relative position judgments; in Experiment 3, subjects had to judge both item identity and relative position information. Overall, these initial data suggested that identity and positional information are recovered via independent mechanisms and that these operate concurrently. This suggestion was supported by the results of Experiment 4, which in turn disconfirmed an alternative response account of performance.     

An examination of attentional control in the auditory modality: Further evidence for auditory orienting

Four experiments are reported that examine attentional control in the auditory modality. In Experiment 1, the subjects made detection responses to the onset of a monaurally presented pure tone that was preceded by a pure-tone cue. On a valid trial, the cue was presented in the same ear as the target; on an invalid trial, it was presented in the contralateral ear to the target; and on a neutral trial, it was presented in both ears. Overall performance was facilitated on valid trials in comparison with invalid trials. In later experiments, the subjects made choice decisions about the location of the target, and significant cuing effects were found relative to the neutral condition. Finally, performance was assessed in the presence of central (spoken) word cues. Here, the content of the cue specified the likely location of the target. Under these conditions, costs and benefits were found over a range of cue-target stimulus onset asynchronies. The results are discussed in terms of automatic and controlled attentional processes.     

Group membership,group norms,empathy, and young children's intentions to aggress

This study assessed the effect of ingroup norms and empathy on 6 and 9‐year‐old children's (N=161) attitudes and aggressive intentions toward outgroup members. Prior to an intergroup drawing competition against an outgroup, participants' empathy was measured, and they were randomly assigned to a simulated group with a norm of direct or indirect aggression, or no aggression norm. Results indicated participants' attitudes were less positive toward the outgroup vs. the ingroup, and that both direct and indirect aggressive intentions were displayed toward the outgroup. Most importantly, the ingroup was liked less when it had an aggression norm, and the participants' aggressive intentions were not enhanced by the group aggression norm. Empathy was a significant negative predictor of direct but not indirect aggression intentions. Implications for understanding the instigation and inhibition of children's aggression intentions are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 35:244–258, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Book reviews

Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 289. ISBN 0-19-852116-2. £30.00

Knapp, T. J. & Robertson, L. C. (Eds.). (1986). Approaches to cognition: Contrasts and controversies. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. ISBN 0-89859-623-8. £21.00.

Shlecter, T. M. & Toglia, M. P. (Eds.). (1985) New directions in cognitive science. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publications. ISBN 0-89391-230-1. £38.00.     

Interplay of the production and picture superiority effects: A signal detection analysis

Three experiments explored the interaction between the production effect (greater memory for produced compared to non-produced study items) and the picture superiority effect (greater memory for pictures compared to words). Pictures and words were presented in a blocked (E1) or mixed (E2, E3) design, each accompanied by an instruction to silently name (non-produced condition) or quietly mouth (produced condition) the corresponding referent. Memory was then tested for all study items as well as an equal number of foil items using a speeded (E1, E2) or self-paced (E3) yes-no recognition task. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 all revealed a small but reliable production×stimulus interaction. Production was also found to result in a liberal shift in response bias that could result in the overestimation of the production effect when measured using hits instead of sensitivity. Together our findings suggest that the application of multiple distinctive processes at study produces an especially discriminative memory trace at test, more so than the summation of each process individually.     

The effect of inducing panic search on the detection of fear-relevant and neutral images

Panic search occurs when the presentation of a fearful facial expression precue, prior to a search display, improves target detection relative to when neutral and positive expressions are used. In the present study, fearful and neutral expressions acted as precues and targets were images of either neutral or threatening animals. It was predicted that detection of a threatening image following a fearful precue would be particularly facilitated. In a first experiment, target detection was better when targets were threatening than neutral, but the predicted cue enhancement did not occur. In a second experiment, when cue type was blocked, participants were particularly facilitated in responding to threatening targets following fearful precues. It is concluded that consistent and repeated exposure to threatening facial expression results in a generalized increase in processing efficiency and that such a state induces a particular facilitation in responding in the presence of threatening targets.     

Matched and mismatched interventions with young adult smokers: testing a stage theory.

This experiment tested the transtheoretical model (J.O. Prochaska & C.C. DiClemente, 1983) of smoking cessation by matching or mismatching interventions to smokers in a particular stage. The interventions were tested against a no-intervention condition with 92 college-aged daily smokers in the precontemplation stage of change. The stage-matched intervention asked smokers to think more about quitting smoking; the stage-mismatched intervention provided action-oriented activities typically used for those ready to quit smoking. The results failed to support the value of matching interventions to a smoker's stage of change. Instead, more smokers who received the action intervention tried to quit smoking. Matching interventions to an individual's current stage may be less important than the transtheoretical model suggests.