Estimating the Prevalence of Shyness in the “Global Village”: Pluralistic Ignorance or False Consensus?

ABSTRACT Only a minority of those who experience shyness consider themselves to be shy people One explanation for this lies in the possibility that those who so label themselves underestimate the extent to which their feelings are shared by others (i.e, perceive the consensus surrounding their experiences as low [Kelley, 1967]), resulting in an internal rather than external attribution This proposition was tested by asking shy and not-shy followers of two TV soap operas to rate a number of characters from the programs, together with a list of their friends and relatives, for shyness, competitiveness, and optimism Although there were no differences between the groups in their ratings of competitiveness and optimism, the shy subjects reported greater shyness among both the soap-opera characters and their friends and relatives than the not-shy group Whatever the basis for the self-labeling of shyness, therefore, it does not appear to he in the low consensus/pluralistic ignorance notion A number of alternative explanations are discussed, together with the implications of these findings for explanations of the false consensus effect     

Mattering: A Foundation for Employment Counseling and Training

Clients and employment counselors need to feel that they matter, that they are significant to people around them. This article addresses the nature of mattering with respect to client service and counselor training.     

Evaluating Addictions Counseling Programs: Promoting Best Practices,Accountability, and Advocacy

Program evaluation offers several benefits to addictions counselors, including identifying best practices, providing accountability to stakeholders, and advocating for minority client populations. This article reviews the benefits of addictions counseling program evaluation and outlines main steps in the evaluation process.     

The application of solution‐focused work in employment counseling

The author explores the applicability of a solution‐focused therapy (SFT) model as a comprehensive approach to employment counseling. SFT focuses the client on developing a vision of a preferred future and assumes that the client has the talents and resources that can be accessed in the employment counseling process. The solution‐focused counselor enters the therapeutic relationship from a point of “not knowing” and works with the client in job transition to develop possibilities that evolve from the client's strengths and knowledge. Examples are given of how solution‐focused employment counseling could be practiced.     

Considering the Identity of Minority Adults

In this article the developmental stages of the Minority Identity Development Model are described. The author also suggests its use in understanding minority client attitudes, values, and behavior.     

New Approaches in Delivery in the Canadian Employment Service

This article discusses some of the recent changes to client interventions and counselor training in the Canadian federal government delivery of the employment counseling service, with special focus on the introduction of electronic tools.     

Culturally Sensitive Therapy with Low-Income Ethnic Minority Clients: An Empowering Intervention

In this article the author discusses how to engage low-income ethnic minority clients in psychotherapy. She proposes the empowering model of clinical intervention, which views clients and their difficulties in the context of their cultural identities, and social backgrounds and intervenes within a framework that is ecological and empowering. Further, clinicians need to clearly identify clients’ abilities and cultural needs in order to accurately assess and utilize their strengths and resources. The empowering model of clinical intervention is described as culturally sensitive and ecologically valid. The model provides a structured and predictable format that maintains client safety and control while addressing the challenges of race, class, sexual orientation, and other client differences.     

A Model for Adapting Evidence-Based Interventions to Be LGBQ-Affirmative: Putting Minority Stress Principles and Case Conceptualization Into Clinical Research and Practice

The mental health field now possesses clinical trials attesting to the efficacy of affirmative practice with sexual minority individuals. With the goal of efficiently moving the results of these clinical trials into real-world clinical practice, this paper offers a model for adapting existing evidence-based practices originally developed for the general population to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ)-affirmative. The adaptation model presented here guides clinicians to incorporate six LGBQ-affirmative transtheoretical principles of change into practice. These principles facilitate raising awareness of the impact of minority stress on sexual minority clients’ mental health and on client self-evaluation while drawing upon sexual minority resilience and intersectional experiences to build empowering coping skills and validating relationships. The adaptation model also provides a transtheoretical approach to case conceptualization that directs clinicians to consider the role of early and ongoing minority stress on sexual minority clients’ cognitive, affective, motivational, behavioral, and self-evaluative experiences that maintain current distress. This case conceptualization approach highlights common associations among these experiences, suggesting clear routes of interventions for many sexual minority client presentations. Case examples from recent clinical trials of LGBQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy illustrate how these principles and this case conceptualization can be effectively utilized in practice. While the principles and case conceptualization are meant to be transtheoretical and therefore applicable across therapeutic techniques, to date they have been tested only in clinical trials for cognitive-behavioral treatments. Therefore, this paper concludes with a call for future research to determine the effectiveness of implementing this adaptation model across diverse therapeutic modalities and client presentations.     

SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT AS AN INTERVENTION PACKAGE: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL VARIABLES

In this two-experiment investigation, the long-term (at least 6 months) employment of 51 moderately mentally retarded clients who were placed into 64 supported employment positions was first evaluated relative to 10 training and posttraining components that comprised a supported employment training package. In Experiment 1, chi-square analyses were used to identify three components that differentiated successful (employed for at least 6 months) from unsuccessful clients. In Experiment 2, 4 successful clients were further evaluated in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design to determine whether the three variables identified during the group analysis (client advocate, collateral behavior, and follow-up plan) were included in the training packages. These results are discussed in terms of the need to establish better the functional variables of supported employment training programs.     

Second-class citizen? Contract workers' perceived status,dual commitment and intent to quit

Outsourcing of jobs to contract workers who work alongside a client's employees has changed the human resource landscape of many organizations. In this study we examine how a contract worker's perceived employment status similarity to the client's own standard employees influences his/her affective commitment to both the client and the employer and ultimately intent to quit the employer. Using a sample of 623 contract workers, we found strong support for our hypotheses. In particular, findings indicate an important role for perceived employment status at the client organization in driving contract worker's attitudes and that contract workers consider both the client and the employer when making decisions to leave the employer. Implications for managing contractor relationships are discussed.     

Racial/ethnic disparities in therapist effectiveness: a conceptualization and initial study of cultural competence

As a result of mental health disparities between White and racial/ethnic minority clients, researchers have argued that some therapists may be generally competent to provide effective services but lack cultural competence. This distinction assumes that client racial/ethnic background is a source of variability in therapist effectiveness. However, there have been no direct tests of the therapist as a source of health disparities. We provided an initial test of the distinction between general and cultural competence by examining client racial/ethnic background as a source of variability in therapist effectiveness. We analyzed cannabis use outcomes from a psychotherapy trial (N = 582) for adolescent cannabis abuse and dependence using Bayesian multilevel models for count outcomes. We first tested whether therapists differed in their effectiveness and then tested whether disparities in treatment outcomes varied across therapist caseloads. Results suggested that therapists differed in their effectiveness in general and that effectiveness varied according to client racial/ethnic background. Therapist effectiveness may depend partially on client racial/ethnic minority background, providing evidence that it is valid to distinguish between general and cultural competence.     

Serving Clients With Hearing Loss: Best Practices in Mental Health Counseling

This article examines the risk factors and characteristics of clients with hearing loss, including inequitable access to education and mental health care services, financial barriers, communication problems, and societal discrimination. Culturally specific counseling approaches and techniques for mental health counselors serving clients with hearing loss are presented, with a focus on building counselor competency and client employment skills. The use of interpreters in therapeutic settings is also discussed.     

Cultural difference and the therapeutic alliance: an evidence-based analysis

The research on positive psychotherapy outcome consistently indicates that the quality of the alliance is important across different models of psychotherapy (D. E. Orlinsky, M. H. Ronnestad, & U. Willutzki, 2004; B. E. Wampold, 2000). Social psychological research has documented how "unintentional bias" can produce barriers to university admissions, employment, and advancement of well-qualified members of ethnic minority groups (J. F. Dovidio, S. L. Gaertner, K. Kawakami, & G. Hodson, 2002). Neuroscience is further confirming social psychological responses associated with race (J. L. Eberhard, 2005). Unintentional bias identified in social psychological research may be part of the psychotherapist/client interaction, interfere with the therapeutic alliance, and partly account for the high dropout rates and underutilization of psychotherapeutic services by people of color. The purpose of this article is to provide an evidence-based analysis of how psychologists in practice may unintentionally interfere with development of quality alliances with culturally different clients or patients and thus contribute to the barriers to effective multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. Principles from the American Psychological Association's (2003) multicultural guidelines and a review of relevant research are applied in suggesting strategies to reduce bias and to develop culturally appropriate skills in psychological practices.     

Shyness-environment interaction: A view from the shy side through auto-photography

It is proposed that shyness both induces and is induced by the perception of the environment This study of person-situation transaction used photographic images taken by shy and less shy subjects in response to the question, “Who are you?” A content analysis of the photographs showed that shy persons were less person-oriented, more aesthetically oriented, and showed a reduced range of orientations when compared to less shy persons The hierarchy of orientations for shy persons was aesthetic, people, self, and school, whereas for less shy persons it was people, self, aesthetic, and other persons Thus, the difference between shy and less shy persons is in the pattern of orientations rather than in orientations in and of themselves Moreover, one single difference between the groups, such as the lesser orientation toward people, does not justify the interpretation of shyness as a “people phobia”     

Shyness and sociability: a dangerous combination for illicit substance use in adolescent males?

Researchers have hypothesized that behavioral problems are accentuated when a shy person wants to be with other people. This need to be with others--sociability--is a related but separate construct from shyness. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship of shyness and sociability to illicit substance use in a sample of 654 male high school students. It was found that, in general, shy male adolescents were significantly more likely to use illicit substances when compared to those who were not shy. Those who were shy and highly sociable were significantly more likely to use hallucinogenic substances than were those who were shy and low to moderate in sociability as well as those who were not shy. Although not significant, there was a trend toward more cocaine and marijuana use among those who were shy and highly sociable. The implications of these findings for those who work with adolescents are discussed.     

Organizational and client commitment among contracted employees

This study examines affective commitment to employing and client organizations among long-term contracted employees, a new and growing employment classification. Drawing on organizational commitment and social exchange literatures, we propose two categories of antecedents of employee commitment to client organizations. We tested our hypotheses using a survey collected from employees in four UK contracting organizations delivering a service on behalf of a government entity. The results suggest that perceived client organizational support and attractiveness of the client organization relate positively to employees’ affective commitment to the client organization. Furthermore, affective contractor commitment explained unique variation in client affective commitment beyond that accounted for by the client-based predictors, suggesting that employees’ commitment to their own contracting organization is important to explaining employees’ commitment to the client organization. We suggest that a greater reliance on social exchange theory may provide a basis for understanding commitment in its different forms and foci.     

害羞者对模糊情境信息的解释偏向

以模糊情境句子和形容词为刺激材料,分别采用文本材料范式和改编的词汇情境联接范式,对害羞者的延时解释和即时解释偏向特点进行探讨。结果发现：害羞者对模糊情境信息不仅缺乏积极的即时解释偏向特点,而且也缺乏积极的延时解释偏向特点;害羞者未表现出消极的即时和延时解释偏向特点。研究表明害羞者可能是社交焦虑的前期阶段,对害羞者的干预可以通过引导其积极的解释偏向的方式来实现。     

Counseling Jewish Americans: Considerations for Practice

Jewish Americans represent both a minority religious group and a minority ethnic group with specific concerns related to Jewish identity, stereotypes, antisemitism, and invisibility as a minority. Counselors may lack spiritual, religious, and overall multicultural competencies for working effectively with this population. The authors offer a brief primer on Jewish Americans, literature on Jewish identity and potential client concerns, practical and clinical considerations, and suggestions for future research.     

From Social Withdrawal to Social Confidence: Evidence for Possible Pathways

Children born with a possible predisposition toward shyness face many social challenges. Researchers over the past four decades have begun to identify specific factors that influence shy children’s social skill development and their level of peer acceptance. The purpose of this article is to review factors across each developmental stage that have been found to either promote or hinder the development of social competence and peer acceptance in shy children. These factors include physiological differences, caregiver influences, emotion socialization, friendships, general peer support, coping skills, organized social activities, and socioeconomic status.     

From Social Withdrawal to Social Confidence: Evidence for Possible Pathways

Children born with a possible predisposition toward shyness face many social challenges. Researchers over the past four decades have begun to identify specific factors that influence shy children’s social skill development and their level of peer acceptance. The purpose of this article is to review factors across each developmental stage that have been found to either promote or hinder the development of social competence and peer acceptance in shy children. These factors include physiological differences, caregiver influences, emotion socialization, friendships, general peer support, coping skills, organized social activities, and socioeconomic status.