Attention Training With Auditory Hallucinations: A Case Study

The case presented in this paper illustrates how Attention Training (ATT; [Wells, A. (1990). Panic disorder in association with relaxation induced anxiety: An attentional training approach to treatment. Behavior Therapy, 21, 273–280.]) can be applied in an outpatient setting in the treatment of auditory hallucinations. The 25-year-old male patient presented had a 4-year history of schizophrenia and treatment-refractory auditory hallucinations. He had received cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) before starting ATT. CBT had changed his attribution of the voices, and when he started with ATT the patient no longer held the belief that “voices are dangerous,” but his processing configuration was still acting “as if” the voices were a source of threat: He would listen to them, ruminate about them, and was easily distracted by them. Eight sessions of ATT resulted in a reduction of symptoms and in a dramatic change in the perceived control and mastery of the auditory hallucinations. It is concluded that ATT may be a helpful adjunct strategy in the treatment of specific psychotic symptoms.     

Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Dialogical Experiences

The purpose of this study is to offer a model in which auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) can be conceptualized as dialogical experiences. This model is of interest in that it integrates several different perspectives (phenomenological, cognitive, social, and evolutionary) and the findings of empirical research on the subject. Hallucinations are understood as the product of a state of consciousness in which the self is dissociated into different positions or perspectives. After reviewing the most relevant results of psychological research, dialogical self theory is proposed as the theoretical framework for understanding hallucinatory experiences. It is argued that the voices possess a series of characteristics, pragmatic properties, relationships with the voices similar to their social surroundings, and more dissociative experiences in people who experience voices than in those who do not, with which they may be considered a dialogical experience. Finally, a model attempting to integrate psychological research on AVHs within the framework of dialogical self theory is presented.     

涂尔干:作为文明研究的社会理论

一百年前,身处一战硝烟之中的涂尔干和他的弟子们,面对四分五裂的欧洲及世界,力图从社会的规范秩序的性质入手,进而探求在所有社会中存在、具本体性的宗教生活的基础性意义,并进而最终扩展至对世界诸文明及其历史的比较研究。涂尔干及其学派的成员们,想要通过这样的思考和研究路径,去回应欧洲及现代文明的失范、过度世俗化及狂热暴力对抗的危机,探求真正常存的人类文明社会之根脉。这也正是今天我们应当学习的西方社会理论传统的宝贵遗产。     

A Study of Direct Suggestibility and Social Introversion as Related to Auditory Threshold and to Reaction-Time During Reverie

Abstract

Cattell, R. B. Personality: A Systematic Theoretical and Factual Study. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950. Pp. 689. Reviewed by Sister Mary Amatora, O.S.F.     

Applied Social Psychology: A Critical Theoretical Perspective

The purpose of this analysis is to review, through a critical theoretical lens, social psychology applied to work and organisations. In our reading of the applied social psychological literature four key issues emerged. These include the valorisation of a positivist epistemology, an owner/management perspective on workplace issues, a focus on intra‐psychic variables or internal mental states when accounting for organisational problems, and the ignoring of moral and ethical commitments in determining workplace research and practice. Each of these issues is then further analysed in light of insights from the field of Critical Management Studies. This alternative approach to organisational behaviour points to the ways in which applied social psychological theory and practice have the potential to disadvantage workers.     

A Case Study on the Use of Auditory Integration Training as a Treatment for Stereotypy

The purpose of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of auditory integration training (AIT) as a treatment for motor stereotypy. The participant was a 5‐year‐old boy diagnosed with autism who had been prescribed AIT. We used an ABCBCA reversal design to examine the effectiveness of AIT on stereotypy. Data were collected for 5 min before, during, and after each experimental condition. Results showed that AIT did not decrease stereotypy. In fact, the total overall occurrence of stereotypy increased and remained high, suggesting that AIT was not an effective treatment for this participant. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Lunchroom Behavior Game: A Single-Case Design Conceptual Replication

Inappropriate behaviors often occur in non-classroom settings, such as lunchrooms, due to the increased volume of students with fewer supervising adults. As such, there is a need for effective and efficient behavior management interventions that can be implemented in these environments. To address frequent disruptions in an urban elementary lunchroom, McCurdy et al. (J Sch Psychol 47:39–54, 2009) developed a team-based interdependent group contingency called the Lunchroom Behavior Game (LBG) and observed decreased disruptions, while staff and students found the intervention highly acceptable. Given this success, we replicated the LBG in an elementary school in a mid-sized Southeastern city. LBG implementation was staggered across three lunch periods using a multiple-baseline design across subjects. The rate of disruptive behaviors decreased in all lunches following LBG implementation and remained at lower levels during maintenance observations; however, implementation fidelity and student acceptability were low. Specific implementation issues encountered and recommendations for future research are discussed.

     

Supportive Non-Parental Adults and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning: Using Social Support as a Theoretical Framework

Supportive Non-Parental Adults (SNPAs), or non-parental adults who provide social support to youth, are present in the lives of many adolescents; yet to date, a guiding framework for organizing the existing literature on the provision of support provided by multiple types of SNPAS, such as teachers, natural mentors, and extended family members, as well as to inform future research efforts, is lacking. The aim of the current paper is to utilize the well-established lens of social support to integrate, across this broad range of literatures, recent findings regarding associations between SNPAs and four indices of adolescent psychosocial adjustment: academic functioning, self-esteem, and behavioral and emotional problems. Beyond offering an integrative framework for understanding the link between SNPAs and adolescent functioning, the issues reviewed here have potentially far-reaching consequences for adolescents and their families, as well as the professionals working with adolescents and their families in the health care, school, and community settings.     

Testing a Theoretical Model Based on Social Cognitive Theory for Media Influences on Suicidal Ideation: Results from a Panel Study

The influence of media representations of suicides on the subsequent increase of suicide rate has been researched for decades. Yet the underlying psychological mechanism of such media influences on individual's suicidality remains uncertain. Based on the conceptual framework of social cognitive theory, this article discusses the operationalization of media influences on suicidal ideation by using a psychometric approach. It then develops and tests a theoretical model to explain the mechanism of media influences on suicidal ideation. A two-wave panel study with a randomized population sample was carried out in the Hong Kong SAR, China with the results indicating that the proposed operationalization closely fit the data collected and empirically supported the theoretical model. Reciprocal associations between prior suicidal ideation and processes of media influences were also confirmed. The results also tested the factorial invariance across age groups and different pre-existing levels of suicidal ideation. This study reports the first individual-level finding on the theoretical relationship between media influences and suicidal ideation, as well as the first psychometrically validated operationalization of media influences on suicidal ideation.     

The Effectiveness of Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment for Psychotherapy Consultation: A Pragmatic Replicated Single-Case Study

This pragmatic study evaluated the effectiveness of a collaborative assessment intervention as an approach to midtherapy consultation, which has yet to be empirically tested. Ten adult participants in ongoing psychotherapy with a variety of presenting concerns, primarily consisting of general mood and adjustment issues, received a brief assessment-based intervention based on Finn's (2007) Therapeutic Assessment model. Following the collection of assessment questions and the administration of a multimethod assessment battery, clients and therapists participated in a joint feedback session with the assessor. Clients were then followed as their psychotherapy continued. The results of idiographic and aggregate analytic approaches revealed significant reductions in client-reported symptomatic distress, as evidenced by a medium effect size (d = –.50) and a significant change in the trajectory of distress. Client reports of the process of psychotherapy revealed a significant increase in the clients’ ratings of the working alliance. The findings suggest that a midtherapy consultation using collaborative/therapeutic assessment methods is beneficial but that further rigorous investigation is needed.     

Cognitive Therapy for Command Hallucinations: Not a Quasi-Neuroleptic

Command hallucinations (CH) are a distressing and high-risk group of symptoms that have long been recognised but little understood, with few effective treatments. In this paper we report and discuss the efficacy of cognitive therapy (CT) modified in accordance with ‘social rank theory,’ in a single blind randomised controlled trial. 38 patients with command hallucinations were randomly allocated to CT or treatment as usual and followed up for 6 then 12 months. Large reductions in compliance behaviour were obtained (effect size = 0.97) favouring the CT group. Other significant differences were found and maintained at 6 months follow up.     

Adulthood Social Class and Union Interest: A First Test of a Theoretical Model

A serial mediation model of union interest was tested. Based on theoretical notes provided by Mellor and Golay (in press), adulthood social class was positioned as a predictor of willingness to join a labor union, with success/failure attributions at work and willingness to share work goals positioned as intervening variables. Data from U.S. nonunion employees (N = 560) suggested full mediation after effects were adjusted for childhood social class. In sequence, adulthood social class predicted success/failure attributions at work, success/failure attributions at work predicted willingness to share work goals, and willingness to share work goals predicted willingness to join. Implications for socioeconomic status (SES) research and union expansion are discussed.     

Auditory Distraction by Meaningless Irrelevant Speech: A Developmental Study

The irrelevant sound effect (ISE) typically refers to a disruptive effect of a to‐be‐ignored sound in serial recall tasks, where lists of visually presented items (digits and letters) must be recalled in serial order. Although extensively studied in adults, studies on developmental aspects of the ISE are scarce. The present study aims to increase our understanding of developmental changes of auditory distraction in children beyond serial recall. Two tasks (i.e., word categorization and evaluation of simple mathematical equations) were designed to test retrieval from semantic memory. Proportion correct and reaction times (adjusted for speed–accuracy tradeoff) were measured in 8–9 and 12–13‐year‐olds. Results revealed a developmental change in the susceptibility to auditory distraction. Whereas older children were not affected by background sounds, younger children showed impairment in both proportion correct and adjusted reaction times. Overall, results suggest that attention distraction and immature attention control mechanisms contribute to ISEs in young children. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Social Regulation of Classroom Performances: a Theoretical Outline

Based on 20 years of research on the social regulation of academic performances, this paper provides arguments for the idea that the social context in which cognitive functioning takes place is an integral part of that functioning, not just the surrounding context for it. Several studies in the classroom setting indeed reveal that student's cognitive performances can depend on interactions between their actual and past social experiences, most notably interpersonal comparison and evaluation episodes. Because of their recurrence, these episodes can become part of student's autobiographical memory and, therefore, can affect their actual behavior in specific conditions. Theoretical suggestions are made for a ‘social psychology of cognition.’ This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Inference Patterns in Theoretical Social Psychology: Looking Back as We Move Forward

An important hallmark of modern social psychology is the central importance of theory and hypothesis testing. The inference structure, however, underlying such tests are rarely acknowledged and may have important implications for the field. In this study, we examine the inference patterns utilized over 20 years of published work in a leading journal of social psychology. We found that verification, in contrast to falsification and crucial tests of alternative hypotheses, was the dominant inference structure utilized. Crucial tests were conducted least of all. These trends were discussed in light of larger issues from the philosophy of science, as well as its potential implications for the field.