The school psychologist and early education: An ecological view

An ecological view of psychological services to preschool children is described here as a proactive, seeking-out, mental health delivery system that concentrates its effort on prophylactic activities rather than the “diagnosis recommend” or “diagnosis psychotherapy” ritual. Activities for psychological services, training of staff, and competencies for effective delivery are described. Staff competencies to facilitate children's mental health are also described.     

The community psychologist as social planner

The environmental movement may provide a vehicle by which community psychologists can contribute to large-scale ecological change. This paper uses one outgrowth of the environmental movement--the environmental impact assessment process--to illustrate the procedures for input by community psychologists can participate in the environmental impact assessment process to (1) predict the effects of any new project on the demand for treatment services and (2) suggest ways in which a project may be designed to prevent psychological problems and enhance community well-being.     

The school psychologist as program evaluator

School psychologists are being required to evaluate educational programs. This paper discusses the role and responsibilities of a program evaluator, the programs of measurement, and the staff fear of evaluation. A model for program evaluation is then described with an illustrative example.     

The school psychologist as behavioral ecologist

Some psychologists involved in the implementation of applied behavioral psychology in educational systems must increasingly attend to the ecological impact of such interventions. An ecological orientation emphasizing system-like interdependencies among environment, organism, and behavior suggests several substantial additions to conventional role functions of behavioral school psychologists. Such functions involve taking an active part in evaluating and assessing second-order consequences of behavioral interventions. Recommendations for functional and procedural changes are provided within this framework.     

Applied sport psychology: A view from britain

Abstract

Based on the findings of a field study with youth sport coaches, contextual factors in youth sport arc considered. Youth sport is discussed as a “developmental intervention” (Birkel, Lerner, &; Smyer, 1989). Although past research has examined a variety of issues in youth sport (e.g., coaching behavior, participation motivation), the dynamics of the context have been largely ignored. It is argued that situational factors may have important implications for the quality of children's youth sport experiences. Data arc presented to show the significance of contextual factors in coaches' experiences. Examples of previous interventions aimed at manipulating contexts arc offered and suggestions for future interventions, based on the present study, arc discussed. The roles of parents. spectator location. rules, and time are discussed in detail.     

Pavlov as a psychologist

American psychologists are informed on Pavlov’s work on conditional reflexes but not on the full development of his theory of higher nervous activity. This article shows that Pavlov’s theory of higher nervous activity dealt with concepts that concerned contemporary psychologists. Pavlov used the conditioning of the salivary reflex for methodological purposes. Pavlov’s theory of higher nervous activity encompassed overt behavior, neural processes, and the conscious experience. The strong Darwinian element of Pavlov’s theory, with its stress on the higher organisms’ adaptation, is described. With regard to learning, Pavlov, at the end of his scholarly career, proposed that although all learning involves the formation of associations, the organism’s adaptation to the environment is established through conditioning, but the accumulation of knowledge is established by trial and error.     

Perceived parental pressure and perceived coach pressure in adolescent and adult sport

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether adolescent and adult athletes’ perceptions of interpersonal perfectionistic performance pressures from parents and coaches differ as a function of athlete age.DesignA cross-sectional repeated-measures design was employed.MethodA total of 1544 youth sport athletes (M age = 15.44 years; SD = 2.12) and 1706 adult sport athletes (M age = 20.80 years; SD = 2.09) provided self-report levels of perceived parental pressure (PPP) and perceived coach pressure (PCP) in sport.ResultsStatistically significant interaction effects (ps < .001) were obtained from two repeated-measures analyses of variance. Interaction effects indicated that PPP tended to be lower in older/adult sport athletes than younger/adolescent sport athletes, whereas PCP tended to be higher in older/adult sport athletes than younger/adolescent sport athletes. Significant main effects (ps < .001) also revealed that, regardless of age and whether athletes competed in youth sport or adult sport, athletes had a tendency to perceive more pressure from coaches than parents.ConclusionResults highlight the need to differentiate between parents and coaches as potential sources of interpersonal perfectionistic pressures in sport. Results also demonstrate that athletes’ perceptions of parent and coach pressure surrounding performance expectations and standards in sport can differ as a function of athlete age. Future research that examines perfectionism in sport from a developmental perspective is recommended.     

The school psychologist as an organizational boundary role professional

An organizational perspective on the school psychologist's role can provide a basis for integrating disparate activities, reduce ambiguity produced by lack of role consensus, and facilitate more effective role behavior. The school psychologist is herein described as an organizational boundary role professional. Relevant theory and research on this conception are presented and parallels to school psychological practice are drawn. Implications for practice, training, and research in school psychology are also discussed.     

Psychophysical dualism from the point of view of a working psychologist

Cognitive neuroscience constitutes the third phase of development of the field of cognitive psychophysiology since it was established about half a century ago. A critical historical overview is given of this development, focusing on recurring problems that keep frustrating great expectations. It is argued that psychology has to regain its independent status with respect to cognitive neuroscience and should take psychophysical dualism seriously. A constructive quantum physical model for psychophysical interaction is presented, based on a new stochastic interpretation of the quantum potential in the de Broglie–Bohm theory. This model can be applied to analyze cognitive information processing in psychological experiments. It is shown that the quantum potential shares several features with Duns Scotus’ notion of contingent causality.     

The school psychologist as expert witness in due process hearings

As a consequence of the Consent Agreement reached between the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, school of psychologists are finding themselves increasingly in the role of expert witness in due process hearings. The paper identifies a number of problems regarding the witness behavior of psychologists in these hearings and proposes some recommendations and resolutions.     

The school psychologist as a source of power and influence

This essay reviews the historical role of the school psychologist and examines his impact on educational systems. Past influences of the school psychologist in effecting understanding and acceptance of individual differences of children are examined in relationship to the contemporary need to relate this knowledge to appropriate educational planning for a culturally diverse school population.     

The psychologist as admitting clinician. A single case example

An experiential view of significant issues associated with independent hospital practice for psychologists is offered through a case presentation. The example is a model of practice in effect at a 90-bed, free-standing, inpatient facility opened in 1985, that gives psychologists full professional staff privileges.     

The (even) bolder model. The clinical psychologist as metaphysician-scientist-practitioner

Is the clinical psychologist best characterized as a scientist-practitioner? Or does the practice of science and psychotherapy involve metaphysics to such an extent that the clinical psychologist ought to be considered a metaphysician-scientist-practitioner? To answer these questions, the roles, if any, of metaphysics in science and psychotherapy are examined. This article investigates this question by examining the views of the logical positivists, Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, and concludes that the practice of science and psychotherapy involves metaphysics in (a) problem choice, (b) research and therapy design, (c) observation statements, (d) resolving the Duhemian problem, and (e) modifying hypotheses to encompass anomalous results.