Applied orienting response research: Some examples

The development of orienting response (OR) theory has not been accompanied by many applications of the concept—most research still appears to be lab-based and “pure,” rather than “applied.” We present some examples from our own work in which the OR perspective has been applied in a wider context. These cover the exploration of processing deficits in autistic children, aspects of the “repression” of anxiety in elite athletes, and the locus of alcohol effects. Such applications of the OR concept in real-life situations seem a logical and, indeed,necessary step in the evolution of this area of psychophysiology. With a Comment by E. N. Sokolov     

Schizophrenia and the Family: II. Adverse Effects of Family Therapy

Theoretical formulations of the past thirty years have championed the hypothesis that family interaction contributes heavily to the etiology of schizophrenia, a position that has dominated contemporary family therapy even in the absence of solid empirical confirmation. The possibility that sociogenic modeling of schizophrenia is not only incorrect but even harmful to families, and to the relationship between families and clinicians, has never been taken seriously, despite its implications for the practice of family therapy. The author describes untoward effects of the sociogenic hypothesis in his own ten-year experience with families of chronic schizophrenics and examines pertinent reports in the family therapy literature, offering the reinterpretation that many communicational aberrations are adaptations to two therapist attributes: (a) failure to absolve the family of initial causal responsibility, and (b) failure to inform the family about the nature of the illness.     

The California Family Health Project: II. Family world view and adult health.

This article explores the pattern of relationships between family World View and adult Health in a community-based sample of 225 families. Family World View refers to the beliefs, appraisals, and values that define a family's orientation to the world. The interrelationships among eight self-reported family World View variables are described, using principal components analyses (PCA) and multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS). Derived, joint-spouse World Views also are examined using inter-battery factor analysis. The World View variables then are analyzed as a set with 14 self-reported health variables for husbands and wives separately, using canonical correlation. The PCAs for family World View yielded poor solutions for both husbands and wives. The MDS displayed the eight variables in a circular pattern for husbands and for wives, indicating the absence of a single broad dimension, or subgroupings of separate dimensions, that could be used to "describe" the domain. In the canonical analyses, family World View was a strong correlate of Health, with approximately 50% of the variance accounted for by the respective canonical variates. For husbands, what we called Family Coherence, Family Religiousness, Family Life Engagement, and Family Optimism, were correlated with Health. For wives, Family Coherence, Family Religiousness, and Family Optimism, were correlated with Health. Different patterns of health scores emerged by gender, with behavioral indicators, such as Smoking and Drinking, more salient for husbands, and mood indicators, such as Anxiety and Depression, more salient for wives.     

Family Sculpting: I. Some doubts and some possibilities

Family sculpting is reviewed within the context of general doubts that confront family therapy, in particular the need for a certain act of faith in therapy, and the search for some sort of underlying theory. Family sculpting is most often used in reference to the psychoanalytic tradition of family therapy, but here the case is made for more serious attention to structural approaches. The potential of family sculpting is further explored in a number of other respects: its concreteness, its portrayal of ambiguity and its use with students, workers and other groups.     

Family Survivors of Homicide: II. Practical Therapeutic Strategies

As more and more mental health clinicians become involved in the criminal justice system, family therapists will see increasing numbers of crime victims in their caseloads, and some of these families will have lost loved ones to murder. Part I of this two-part article described the common and atypical symptoms, syndromes, and reaction patterns shown by families who have experienced the murder of a loved one. Part II presents a practical model for treating family survivors of homicide that incorporates cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, family systems, and existential components. Throughout, the emphasis is on therapists being equipped with a sufficiently broad range of clinical tools to treat these survivors flexibly, effectively, competently, and compassionately.     

Creating a Secure Family Base: Some Implications of Attachment Theory for Family Therapy

The aim of this article is to make attachment research findings available in a form that family therapists can use. In attachment theory, parents are conceptualized as providing a secure base from which a child can explore. Family therapists, however, need a systemic concept that goes beyond the parent/child dyad. The concept of a secure family base is proposed, in which a network of care is made available for all family members of whatever age so that all family members feel secure enough to explore, in the knowledge that support is available if needed. Factors that contribute to the security or insecurity of the family base are outlined. The overall aim of therapy is to establish a secure family base from which the family can explore new solutions to family problems both during and after therapy. The role of the therapist is to help to resolve conflicts that threaten relationships, and to explore relevant belief systems that may be contributing to a sense of insecurity. The conceptual framework presented allows for an integration of family therapy techniques and ideas into a coherent whole. A new school of family therapy is not proposed.     

The theoretical question of the practical considerations: Some Carnapian reflections

In spite of some interesting recent research, Carnap’s emphasis on the bearing of the practical features on the constitution of knowledge is not duly appreciated yet. A few decades before the emerging thrill about the pragmatic encroachment in epistemology, it was Carnap who, inspired by the accomplishments of the pragmatists, had made some lasting remarks about the bearing of the essentially non-epistemic factors on the formation of knowledge. To be more precise, he not only took the practical factors into account in his theory of knowledge, but also made some efforts at bridging the gap between semantics and pragmatics in the way of dealing with some fundamental epistemological questions. Just as was the case with the shift from syntax to semantics, this underestimated pragmatic move brings about a smooth and flowing change, with both gains and losses. The influence of this pragmatic move in coming to a comprehensive theory of knowledge is to be exposed in this paper.     

Some examples of multivariate analysis in educational and psychological research

This paper provides the formulas necessary for testing the significance of the differences between mean values of different multivariate normal populations by Hotelling's generalization of Student's ratio. It also indicates the methods, proposed by Mahalanobis, and by Rao, of classifying different multivariate populations and individuals. The methods are illustrated by means of personality test data obtained from students preparing for the General Elementary and the General Secondary Teaching Credentials.     

Comments on Terkelsen's “Schizophrenia and the Family: II. Adverse Effects of Family Therapy”

These comments supplement Kenneth Terkelsen's paper by expanding on the ethical and moral issues faced by families of the chronically mentally ill in the current era of deinstitutionalization.