The Influence of Communication Processes on Group Outcomes: Antithesis and Thesis

The influence of communication processes on group outcomes is discussed from two perspectives, one in which influence does not exist and one in which influence is central. Formal models for both perspectives are presented as a means of bracketing discussion of the role of communication processes in group outcomes. The implications of these models for future theorizing are discussed. The first of these two models is an extension of Hewes’s socioegocentric model (1986, 1996) . The second class of formal model, dual‐level connectionist models, integrates mental and communication processes to explain moment‐by‐moment communication behavior. This class of models is contrasted with important models of group influence that use atemporal aggregations of messages to predict group outcomes. Implications of dual‐level connections models for the role of “emergence” in group theorizing, the limitations of Markovian models of group communication research, and the decomposability of psychological and communication processes are elaborated.     

Transference in Psychotherapy with Schizophrenic Patients

Three current approaches to the group therapy of the cognitively intact, depressed elderly are reviewed. Examination of the strengths and limitations of these three models—self psychology, developmental considerations such as reminiscing and life review, and cognitive—behavioral therapies—points in the direction of the usefulness of an integrated model. The main objectives of an integrated approach include: stabilization of the individual's sense of self, establishment of interpersonal competence, and enhanced mastery over the affects of depression and demoralization. Clinical illustrations are provided to demonstrate the practical considerations in this model of group therapy.     

Applying mixed‐effects modeling to single‐subject designs: An introduction

Behavior analysis and statistical inference have shared a conflicted relationship for over fifty years. However, a significant portion of this conflict is directed toward statistical tests (e.g., t‐tests, ANOVA) that aggregate group and/or temporal variability into means and standard deviations and as a result remove much of the data important to behavior analysts. Mixed‐effects modeling, a more recently developed statistical test, addresses many of the limitations of more basic tests by incorporating random effects. Random effects quantify individual subject variability without eliminating it from the model, hence producing a model that can predict both group and individual behavior. We present the results of a generalized linear mixed‐effects model applied to single‐subject data taken from Ackerlund Brandt, Dozier, Juanico, Laudont, & Mick, 2015, in which children chose from one of three reinforcers for completing a task. Results of the mixed‐effects modeling are consistent with visual analyses and importantly provide a statistical framework to predict individual behavior without requiring aggregation. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results and provide recommendations for further integration of mixed‐effects models in the analyses of single‐subject designs.     

Accessing the transference relationship through previewing techniques

This paper proposes that in order to understand the etiology of the patient's conflict, the transference should be interpreted from a developmental perspective. The developmental approach examines processes derived from early life interaction. In particular, the paper focuses on aspects of the relationship between caregiver and infant that may be used analogously during analysis to evoke early life developmental phenomena. Developmental phenomena provide information about the caregiver-infant experience, as well as about the representational processes by which the individual has formulated models of the “self” and “other.” Understanding the interpersonal implications of these representational phenomena not only facilitates the interpretation of the transference, overcomes resistance and provides access to the conflict, but may also help the analyst promote more adaptive responses to future change.     

Acculturation in Women with Mental Retardation and Its Impact on Genetic Counseling

The provision of genetic counseling to women with mild mental retardation poses many challenges, some directly related to their developmental and cognitive disabilities. Traditional genetic counseling models, in which decision-making is largely based on the understanding of factual information, are particularly affected by the intellectual limitations which characterize this population. Equally important, however, are these women's attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors related to their involuntary inclusion into a highly stigmatized social group. Common themes among these women which surface in the genetic counseling setting include the denial of mental retardation, a hierarchical perception of their own and others' disabilities, and a strong motivation to conceive and parent a child. Such attitudes and behaviors may be symptomatic of acculturation, as these women struggle to take on accepted social roles while rejecting the stigma of intellectual disability. In contrast to factual information, the counselee's ability to discuss emotions and perceptions is not necessarily hampered by her intellectual limitations. A focus on the recognition and discussion of psychosocial issues provides a more meaningful approach than traditional genetic counseling models for facilitating informed reproductive decisions among women with mental retardation.     

Has Average Joe Got Inner Conflicts? Positioning the Self and the Meaning of Mid-Range Scores on the Big Five Traits

In this article we explore dilemmas with interpreting mid-range scores on Big Five personality traits. Using dialogical self theory, we hypothesized that mid-trait individuals would report more conflict between I-positions congruent with the trait domain concerned, for example, conflict between I-as-bold and I-as-reserved in the domain of Extraversion. A community sample of 147 participants completed a Big Five trait measure, the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), and the I-Position Inventory (IPI). The IPI contains 88 I-position statements generated from previous research and clinical assessments. Fifty-two of the statements form 26 opposing pairs (e.g., I-as-optimist vs. I-as-pessimist). To measure the most salient I-position conflicts, respondents were asked to rank these pairs (only the top five pairs were ranked). In support of the conflict hypothesis, for three of the Big Five traits, individuals who scored mid-range reported more conflict between I-positions congruent with the trait than did respondents in the upper and lower quartiles of the distribution (significant for Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness). We argue the findings highlight problems of interpretation for mid-range trait scores that arise from the limitations of aggregation methods, but also from a compromised theoretical foundation. Trait theory masks dynamic processes as well as social contexts.     

The development and exploration of group experiential training models

This paper describes the development and changes in the cognitive and experiential portions of a group psychotherapy training program. The integration of these two components has shifted during the two decades of the program. Educational strengths and limitations of the different models are described. The two current models are of 16 weeks duration and begin with four didactic sessions. The succeeding 12 sessions consist of 1 hour of experiential group followed immediately by a 30-minute review. In one of these models the experiential group is leaderless. An illustration of the dynamics and educational potential of this leaderless experiential group is presented.     

Penetrating the boundaries of latent conflict

The psychotherapeutic process has customarily been divided into an opening phase, a working-through phase, and a termination phase. Beyond recognition of these stages, few theorists have offered criteria for tracking the transition from one phase to the next. A related problem affecting each of these stages has been whether dynamically-oriented psychotherapy can predict latent conflict before it becomes manifest. Developmental principles derived from the early life relationship between caregiver and infant may provide therapists with a viable approach for handling these issues. By applying these principles analogously to the therapeutic situation, therapists may be able to better predict the transitions between stages, as well as to identify latent conflict before it is manifested. Moreover, these principles may also provide criteria for determining when treatment should be terminated.     

Attachment dynamics in a virtual world

The study investigated the transfer of attachment working models onto autonomous agents in a virtual social environment (VSE). Participants from a community sample (N = 422; mean age = 29 years; mean relationship duration = 4.8 years) encountered three attachment‐related key scenes in a VSE: a separation with a subsequent reunion, a conflict, and an illness. In these scenarios, participants gave instructions to the main character (the “protagonist”), who had a romantic relationship with one of the other agents (the “virtual spouse”). Recorded were numerous behaviors as well as emotions participants ascribed to the protagonist. Generally, participants' attachment styles correlated as predicted with their behavior toward the virtual spouse, with βs up to.42. Thus, the study demonstrates that internal working models are transferred to the virtual relationship. This approach opens new ways to investigate attachment‐related behavior by using VSEs that allow experimental variations of the virtual partner's reactions and other situational variables.     

Asian values and perceptions of intergenerational family conflict among Asian American students

This investigation explores the perceptions of intergenerational family conflict among 93 Asian American college students from immigrant families in relation to reported discrepancies in Asian values with their parents, behavioral acculturation, gender, and ethnicity (Chinese and Korean). The study is unique in its examination of parent gender and specific dimensions of Asian values as predictors of perceived parent-child conflict. The findings indicated that as discrepancies in Asian values with either parent increased, reports of parent-child conflict also increased. Values discrepancies, but not behavioral acculturation, were significantly associated with perceived family conflicts. Independent hierarchical regression models revealed a significant association between conflict ratings and values discrepancies with mothers on the dimension of Conforming to Family Norms, and with fathers on the dimension of Education/Career Issues. However, interaction effects within a combined model to test beta coefficients differences between parents were not significant. Results also suggest that intergenerational conflict may be associated with discrepancy on Respecting Elders. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.     

Power,identity, and belonging: A mixed-methods study of the processes shaping perceptions of EU integration in a prospective member state

What is at stake, psychologically, when a nation considers joining a supranational body such as the European Union? This article addresses this question from the perspective of power, identity, and belonging vis-à-vis superordinate groups. Taking a mixed-methods approach, using focus group (N = 67) and survey (N = 1,192) data, we explore the psychosocial dynamics that shape perceptions of European Union (EU) integration in a prospective member state, Serbia. Findings from the qualitative study highlighted the role of power imbalances in triggering concerns of compatibility in the present, and in shaping the expected consequences for national identity continuity in an EU future. The survey functioned to explore these relationships further, enabling the testing of two moderated mediation models. The first showed that perceptions of national powerlessness predicted lower perceptions that Serbia was representative of Europe, and this was associated with weaker identification as European. In the second model, perceptions of the EU as a hierarchy-enhancing union predicted heightened fears of Serbian identity discontinuity in an EU future, which in turn had downstream consequences for support for working toward EU accession. Both indirect pathways were stronger among high national identifiers, yielding insight into when national and supranational identification can work in harmony. This mixed-methods study sheds light on the importance of social psychological processes concerning hierarchy and groups in understanding citizens’ attitudes toward prospective large-scale political change.     

Can harmful intergroup behaviors truly represent the self?: The impact of harmful and prosocial normative behaviors on intra-individual conflict and compartmentalization

This research investigates how group members subjectively feel about their prosocial vs. harmful intergroup behaviors, and whether these behaviors can represent who they are more globally as a person. Three experiments tested how group norms (pro-merit/parity vs. pro-discrimination) and congruence with these norms predicted compartmentalization of these intergroup behaviors in the self and intra-individual conflict. Experiment 1 (N = 122) revealed that participants who conformed to a pro-discrimination norm reported compartmentalizing this behavior to a greater extent than participants who conformed to a pro-merit norm. Experiments 2 (N = 149) and 3 (N = 222) replicated and extended these findings in real and conflictual intergroup settings, also over and above the effect of relevant superordinate norms. Mediated moderation analyses also revealed that following discriminatory norms was associated with more intra-individual conflict, and that this conflict in turn predicted higher compartmentalization.     

Goal neglect and inhibitory limitations: dissociable causes of interference effects in conflict situations.

Interference effects on task performance in conflict situations might reflect real limitations in inhibitory capabilities or failures to fully or consistently utilize such capabilities in executive control of task performance. We propose that useful clues regarding the actual cause of interference effects may be obtained from examination of their robustness within and between experimental conditions. We illustrate this approach for two major types of interference effects that have commonly been attributed to fundamental inhibitory limitations: Stroop-type interference and residual switch costs. We present results that indicate that these effects may not be unavoidable consequences of fundamental inhibitory limitations but may stem from goal neglect, i.e., failures to fully or effectively deploy inhibitory capabilities. These results indicate that, in addition to mean performance levels, variability of task performance may provide a valuable source of evidence regarding the actual cause of performance limitations or deficits in conflict situations.     

The Present Status of the Frontal Lobe

This study contrasted two models of prospective remembering: i.e., remembering in the future to perform an action that has been planned. High anxiety or discomfort is predicted by the first model to be associated with forgetting, and by the second model to be associated with remembering but not performing. Questionnaire data from 73 male and female college students support the second model (p < .01). For planned actions that were forgotten, there was an inverse relationship between importance and comfortableness (p < .01). Prospective remembering may be facilitated by reducing potential conflict between the importance and comfortableness of a planned action, involving other persons, and utilizing external retrieval cues.     

Resolving the theory of planned behaviour's ‘expectancy-value muddle’ using dimensional salience

The theory of planned behaviour is one of the most widely used models of decision-making in the health literature. Unfortunately, the primary method for assessing the theory's belief-based expectancy-value models results in statistically uninterpretable findings, giving rise to what has become known as the ‘expectancy-value muddle’. Moreover, existing methods for resolving this muddle are associated with various conceptual or practical limitations. This study addresses these issues by identifying and evaluating a parsimonious method for resolving the expectancy-value muddle. Three hundred and nine Australian residents aged 18–24 years rated the expectancy and value of 18 beliefs about posthumous organ donation. Participants also nominated their five most salient beliefs using a dimensional salience approach. Salient beliefs were perceived as being more likely to eventuate than non-salient beliefs, indicating that salient beliefs could be used to signify the expectancy component. The expectancy-value term was therefore represented by summing the value ratings of salient beliefs, an approach that predicted attitude (adjusted R ²?=?0.21) and intention (adjusted R ²?=?0.21). These findings suggest that the dimensional salience approach is a useful method for overcoming the expectancy-value muddle in applied research settings.     

Group psychotherapy with alcoholics: Interface with self-help groups

This paper addresses recovering alcoholics' concurrent involvement in psychotherapy groups and self-help groups. A developmental model of alcoholism group psychotherapy is presented, differentiating between early and advanced sobriety. Psychotherapy and self-help groups are compared and contrasted. Multiple group membership entails various areas of compatibility. Divergence and conflict result from differences in underlying conceptual framework and approach. Clinical implications of members' involvement in partially discrepant group settings are explored with an emphasis on transference and countertransference reactions. Multiple group membership is identified as a salient factor in alcoholism group psychotherapy at all levels of recovery.She is also in private practice.This paper was presented at the American Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Conference, Boston, February 1990.     

Testing the validity of conflict drift-diffusion models for use in estimating cognitive processes: A parameter-recovery study

Researchers and clinicians are interested in estimating individual differences in the ability to process conflicting information. Conflict processing is typically assessed by comparing behavioral measures like RTs or error rates from conflict tasks. However, these measures are hard to interpret because they can be influenced by additional processes like response caution or bias. This limitation can be circumvented by employing cognitive models to decompose behavioral data into components of underlying decision processes, providing better specificity for investigating individual differences. A new class of drift-diffusion models has been developed for conflict tasks, presenting a potential tool to improve analysis of individual differences in conflict processing. However, measures from these models have not been validated for use in experiments with limited data collection. The present study assessed the validity of these models with a parameter-recovery study to determine whether and under what circumstances the models provide valid measures of cognitive processing. Three models were tested: the dual-stage two-phase model (Hübner, Steinhauser, & Lehle, Psychological Review, 117(3), 759–784, 2010), the shrinking spotlight model (White, Ratcliff, & Starns, Cognitive Psychology, 63(4), 210–238, 2011), and the diffusion model for conflict tasks (Ulrich, Schröter, Leuthold, & Birngruber, Cogntive Psychology, 78, 148–174, 2015). The validity of the model parameters was assessed using different methods of fitting the data and different numbers of trials. The results show that each model has limitations in recovering valid parameters, but they can be mitigated by adding constraints to the model. Practical recommendations are provided for when and how each model can be used to analyze data and provide measures of processing in conflict tasks.     

Knocking on the Outgroup's Door: Seeking Outgroup Help Under Conditions of Task or Relational Conflict

Three studies investigated the willingness to seek help from another group in situations where collaborative goals are undermined by task or relational conflicts between the groups. Compared to task conflict, relational conflict was argued to trigger a striving for more autonomy. The results from three experiments (N = 82, N = 65, and N = 62) supported the prediction that relational conflict, compared to task conflict, promotes more help avoidance, in particular avoidance of dependency-oriented help (a full solution). As expected, no difference was found for the willingness to seek autonomy-oriented help (a hint) from the other group.     

Reciprocal influences between parents' marital problems and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior

The present study examines reciprocal associations between marital functioning and adolescent maladjustment using cross-lagged autoregressive models. The research involved 451 early adolescents and their families and used a prospective, longitudinal research design with multi-informant methods. Results indicate that parental conflicts over child rearing predicted adolescent depressive symptoms and delinquency. In turn, these adolescent problems exacerbated parental conflicts over child rearing. Furthermore, conflict over child rearing served as the nexus through which more generalized marital dissatisfaction and adolescent adjustment problems were reciprocally interrelated. This research replicates earlier observations that marital problems intensify adolescent maladjustment and extends the literature by demonstrating that adolescent problems also predict marital conflict and ultimately marital dissatisfaction. In sum, the present study demonstrates that marital dissatisfaction, conflict over child rearing, and early adolescent adjustment difficulties are interwoven in a dynamic family system marked by reciprocity along these dimensions.