When does goal discrepancy induce compensatory effort? An application of self‐completion theory to social issues

The authors review research that applies self‐completion theory to goals targeting other people (as in the case of stereotyping and prejudice), goals that aim at the achievement of a certain social identity and goals based on the social identity. It is demonstrated that goal discrepancies lead to compensation for social as well as for non‐social goals. Based on self‐completion theory it is proposed that the identity‐relevance of the respective goal as well as the goal relevance of the subsequent task are of major importance considering the individuals’ compensation. The authors argue that the consideration of these factors advance our understanding of social phenomena.     

Two bs or not two Bs? A signal detection theory analysis of repetition blindness in a counting task

Stimulus repetition usually benefits performance. A notable exception is repetition blindness (RB), in which subjects fail to report a repeated stimulus in a rapid serial visual presentation. Theories differ in attributing RB to either perceptual encoding or memory retrieval and to impaired discrimination versus response bias. In the present study, subjects judged whether one or two letters were imbedded in sequences of digits. Unlike previous studies, false guesses of two unrepeated letters were distinguished from false guesses of two repeated letters. When repeated- and unrepeated-letter trials were randomly intermixed (Experiment 1), RB was entirely attributable to response bias. However, when they were separately blocked (Experiments 2 and 3), RB was manifested in discriminability (d'). The results support perceptual-encoding accounts of RB but indicate that effects on discriminability depend on subjects' processing strategies.     

Is there evidence for the use of art therapy in treatment of psychosomatic disorders,eating disorders and crisis? A comparative study of two different systems for evaluation

A comparative study of two different systems for evaluation. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 47-53. As with any type of treatment the requirement for evidence based practice (EBP) has also affected art therapy (AT) when used as an intervention. This review evaluates the available evidence for using AT for psychosomatic disorders, eating disorders and crisis. The search in Cochrane, Best Practice, AMED, CINAHL, PION, PsycINFO and PubMed from 1987 until now resulted in a huge number of articles but only 32 articles met our criteria for evaluations. The articles were assessed with two evaluation systems, the GRADE system used by the Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment (SBU) and the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF/Task Force). When comparing the results we found that the GRADE evaluation system rejected the quality in 84% of the 32 studies and the USPSTF/Task Force 41% of these studies. An evidence base for AT was found only according to the criteria of USPSTF/Task Force. Hence, the evidence concept is not explicit, which means that effective treatments run a risk of not being implemented in health care. We suggest a broader view of what constitutes evidence in order to make it possible to include different types of research designs and methods.     

Do men and women use different tactics to cope with the embarrassment of buying condoms?

It has been proposed that people cope with the embarrassment of acquiring condoms using a variety of tactics, such as buying from a sales clerk of the same gender or buying additional products. However, the actual use and efficacy of these coping mechanisms have not been rigorously evaluated. This research investigates three specific questions related to coping with embarrassment: (R1) Do people prefer cashiers of the same gender when buying condoms because it helps them cope with embarrassment or because of the similarity‐attraction effect? (R2) When multiple coping mechanisms are available, do people use more than one at a time? And (R3) Do men and women prefer different coping tactics? Using an experimental design, Study 1 investigates R1 and finds support for both explanations. Studies 2 and 3 use field and lab experiments, respectively, to investigate R2 and R3. The findings indicate that people only use one coping tactic at a time and that men and women have a different preference for coping tactics. Women prefer coping tactics that mask condom acquisition, while men prefer social–emotional support tactics. Furthermore, discrepancies between the field experiment and lab experiments indicate that people underestimate the influence of embarrassment on their actual behavior.     

A theoretical frame of reference for family systems therapy? An introduction to Luhmann's theory of social systems

The starting point for this paper is that family therapy lacks a theoretical frame of reference of its own; thus a stepwise search for such a frame of reference is described. First, social systems are defined as communication systems. Second, it is shown in what way a family can be seen as a social system. With the help of the theory of social systems of the sociologist Luhmann, a theoretical frame of reference for systems therapy is drafted. Finally, we hint at the implications such a theoretical framework could have for clinical practice.     

Is cleanliness next to abstinence? The effect of cleanliness priming on attitudes towards harm reduction strategies for people with substance use disorders

Can exposure to a cleanliness prime affect moral judgements towards harm reduction strategies (HRS) for individuals with substance use disorders? Our research examined (a) the effect of a cleanliness prime on attitudes towards HRS and (b) whether this effect would be attenuated by a brief educational presentation. Participants were randomly assigned to a priming condition and an educational presentation condition. Results demonstrated that (a) the cleanliness prime did not shift attitudes towards HRS, however, (b) the educational presentations significantly shifted attitudes to be more positive after the Harm Reduction presentation and more negative after the Healthy Living presentation. The literature on priming is mixed and our results support a growing body of research challenging the robustness of cleanliness priming and also demonstrates that brief presentations can change attitudes. Our research has implications for education on the benefits of HRS in reducing disease transmission, refuse in the community, and overdose deaths.     

Is it prudent to administer all items for each Child Behavior Checklist cross-informant syndrome? Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Youth Self-Report dimensions with confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory

Through surveying of children in 10 nations with parent, teacher, and Youth Self-Report (YSR) forms of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), cross-informant syndromes (CISs) were derived and cross-validated by sample-dependent methodology. Generalizing CBCL syndromes and norms to nations excluded from its normative sample is problematic. This study used confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) to test factor model fit for CISs on the YSR responses of 625 Jamaican children ages 11 to 18 years. Item response theory (IRT), a sample-independent methodology, was used to estimate the psychometric properties of individual items on each dimension. CFAs indicated poor to moderate model-to-data fit. Across all syndromes, IRT analyses revealed that more than 3/4 of the cross-informant items yielded little information. Eliminating such items could be cost effective in terms of administration time yet improve the measures discrimination across syndrome severity levels.