Enhancing self-perception through bibliotherapy

Bibliotherapy has been used for generations by professionals in medicine, psychology, counseling, social work, and education. A selected review of the literature is provided to show how bibliotherapy was used in the past and how it is currently employed to implement and facilitate self-identification and to enhance self-perception. Researchers concur that the process of providing pupils with carefully monitored literature will result in positive or negative changes in their self-perception.     

Assertiveness and cognitive processing in interpersonal situations

This study examined social skills components that precede the delivery of a skilled overt interpersonal response. Using a cognitive-behavioral systems approach to assertiveness, a task analysis of how women receive and process information in interpersonal situations requiring an assertive response to men was performed. Forty women were assigned to high- or low-assertive groups based on their Rathus Assertiveness Schedule scores. In small group sessions, each woman viewed four videotaped problem situations requiring an assertive response to both pleasant and angry males. After viewing each scene, each woman completed three questionnaires: (a) receiving information, (b) processing-generation of alternatives and decision making, and (c) processing-generation of consequences. High- and low-assertive participants were found to differ in their evaluation of consequences, for response options, particularly how a male would likely to behave to them. High-assertive participants were judged to evaluate more correctly than low-assertive participants the likely behavior of males if response options were implemented. All participants generated more complex alternatives and more assertive responses to situations involving an angry male as compared to a pleasant male. No differences were found between groups in their ability to receive information accurately. Correlational results were supportive of a cognitive-behavioral systems approach of assertion, that is, the emission of a skilled response depends on a chain of preceding responses.Thanks are due to Vida Dyson and Lenard Jason for their comments on an early draft of this paper.     

不同时相日光下颜色的恒常性

一、前言 在光源光谱成份改变的条件下,我们周围物体的颜色在眼睛看来保持相对不变,称为颜色恒常性。1807年Thomas Young首先描述了颜色恒常性现象,他指出室内不管是由蜡烛的黄光或火焰的红光来照明的,书页纸仍然看来是白色的。Young认为,外界某一表面的颜色外观,并不完全决定于网膜的红、绿、蓝三种感受器的吸收特性,而也依赖于周围其它物体射入眼睛的光通量。此后,E.Hering对颜色恒常性做了实验表演。一般认为颜色恒常性是对环境照明感受性的降低。视觉通道只传递由物体表面所反射的光谱成     

Construct validity and test-retest reliability of a date rape decision-latency measure

In two studies, the construct (convergent and discriminant) validity and test-retest reliability of a date rape decision-latency measure was examined. In Study 1, 174 college men completed measures related to sexual aggression and listened to an audiotaped simulation of a date rape, during which cues of nonconsent and force gradually escalated over time. Participants were instructed to respond, by pressing a button which recorded the latency of their decisions in seconds, if and when they believed the man depicted in the scenario should stop his sexual advances. Results demonstrated positive associations between prolonged decision latencies and sexually aggressive behavior, calloused sexual beliefs, acceptance of interpersonal violence, and sexual promiscuity. In Study 2, initial results were cross-validated in a sample of 102 college men, and discriminant validity was established as decision latencies were unassociated with measures of social desirability, alcohol consumption and drug use. Test-retest reliability assessed over a 2-week interval was .87.The authors wish to thank Alan Gross and Brian Marx for providing the audiotaped stimulus materials, Richard Marsh for writing the decision-latency computer program, Jason Hicks for assisting with programming, and the undergraduate research assistants for serving as experimenters.     

The Gordon Diagnostic System and WISC-III Freedom from Distractibility Index: validity in identifying clinic-referred children with and without ADHD

Gordon Diagnostic System and WISC-III scores for clinic-referred 6- to 16-yr.-olds (184 with ADHD Combined Type and 46 without ADHD) were analyzed to evaluate the combination of scores and cutpoints that maximized diagnostic accuracy. Using an "ADHD cutpoint" of IQ minus the GDS Composite score > or = 13, 87.8% of the children were correctly identified as having or not having ADHD. IQ minus Freedom from Distractibility > 0 yielded 73.5% accuracy. When the two meaures were combined to create new criteria (IQ minus GDS Composite > or = 13 or IQ minus Freedom from Distractibility > or = 11), diagnostic accuracy increased to 90.9% and negative predictive power improved substantially. Diagnostic agreement between the Gordon Diagnostic System and Freedom from Distractibility was 70%, suggesting that the two tests measure both similar and unique traits.     

Diagnosing children's writing disabilities: different tests give different results

Writing problems are common in children with clinical disorders. However, there are significant intra-individual differences between the ability to spell words, construct sentences, and compose text. Therefore, achievement tests measuring different writing skills may not be consistent in identifying children who have these various writing disabilities. Our study compared scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Written Language subtests (which measure the ability to produce single words and single sentences) with scores on the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Written Expression subtest (which assesses compositional writing skills) in 54 children referred by their teachers to a school psychologist for writing problems. The Woodcock-Johnson only identified 35% of children as having significant writing problems, whereas the Wechsler test identified 78%. Our study suggests that the latter is more likely than the Woodcock-Johnson to identify students who have problems in compositional writing.     

Test of the definition of learning disability based on the difference between IQ and achievement

A learning disability is commonly defined as a discrepancy between IQ and achievement. This has been criticized for identifying too many children as having a learning disability who have high IQs and average academic achievement. Such overidentification as actually occurred was assessed in 473 referred children (8-16 years, M= 10, SD=2) with normal intelligence. Learning disability was defined as a significant discrepancy (p<.05) between predicted and obtained achievement in reading, mathematics, or written expression on the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test. Predicted achievement was based on the child's WISC-III Full Scale IQ. Overidentification was considered to occur when a child scored at or above age level in reading, mathematics, and writing but still had a significant discrepancy between predicted and obtained achievement by virtue of a high IQ. Learning disability was diagnosed in 312 (66%) of the children. There was no overidentification because all children had one or more WIAT scores below the normative level for their age, i.e., < 100. Further, only 7% of the children were identified with a learning disability based on a WIAT score in the 90s. These children had a mean IQ of 123 and were rated by their teachers and parents as having learning problems.     

The Metaethical Paradox of Just War Theory

The traditional requirements upon the waging of a just war are ostensibly independent, but in actual practice each tenet is subject ultimately to the interpretation of a legitimate authority, whose declaration becomes the necessary and sufficient condition. While just war theory presupposes that some acts are absolutely wrong, it also implies that the killing of innocents can be rendered permissible through human decree. Nations are conventionally delimited, and leaders are conventionally appointed. Any group of people could band together to form a nation, and any person could, in principle, be appointed the leader of any nation. Because the just war approach assumes absolutism while implying relativism, the stance is paradoxical and hence rationally untenable.     

Homophobia and physical aggression toward homosexual and heterosexual individuals

This study examined the relationship between homophobia (defined as self-reported negative affect, avoidance, and aggression toward homosexuals) and homosexual aggression. Self-identified heterosexual college men were assigned to homophobic (n = 26) and nonhomophobic (n = 26) groups on the basis of their scores on the Homophobia Scale (HS; L. W. Wright, H. E. Adams, & J. A. Bernat, 1999). Physical aggression was examined by having participants administer shocks to a fictitious opponent during a competitive reaction time (RT) task under the impression that the study was examining the relationship between sexually explicit material and RT. Participants were exposed to a male homosexual erotic videotape, their affective reactions were assessed, and they then competed in the RT task against either a heterosexual or a homosexual opponent. The homophobic group reported significantly more negative affect, anxiety, and anger-hostility after watching the homosexual erotic videotape than did the nonhomophobic group. Additionally, the homophobic group was significantly more aggressive toward the homosexual opponent, but the groups did not differ in aggression toward the heterosexual opponent.