For the new family therapist: A glossary of terms

Abstract

Traditional psychodynamic terms used in describing, diagnosing, and treating individual patients have proven less than helpful in working with families. In an attempt to alleviate this difficulty, and as an aid to the newcomer in the field of family therapy, this glossary of terms is presented. This glossary is not meant to be all-inclusive. Rather, its purpose is to provide the new family therapist with an introduction to the language of the field, an armamentarium from which to work, and to provide a basis of knowledge that is usually not accumulated by the new family therapist until he or she has worked with a number of families over a period of time.     

A method for the objective study of tool-using behavior

Key pecking for food was shaped in four crows within a conventional operant-conditioning test chamber. When pecking stabilized, a metal screen with openings 2.5 cm high by 1.0 cm wide, was placed over the response key, so that the crow could still see but could no longer peck the key. At the same time, several dozen wooden matchsticks, which could be used to operate the key, were placed in the test chamber. The crows made no use of these during 50 to 75 hr of exposure to this condition. Subsequently, the behavior of two crows was shaped so that they approached the matchsticks, picked one up in their beaks, approached the response key with the matchstick in their beak, and finally operated the response key by poking the matchstick through the screen. This shaping procedure was ineffective with the two other crows. However, these birds were successfully trained through positional fading of the tool. This involved suspending a metal rod from the ceiling so that it hung directly in front of the response key, and the crow had only to peck it to operate the key. Then, the rod was gradually lowered by lengthening its tether until it eventually rested on the floor of the test chamber. The principal advantage of this methodology is the automatic recording of the terminal (tool-using) behavior under study.     

A unified theory of the meaning of some spatial relational terms

This paper presents a unified account of the meaning of the spatial relational terms right, left, in front of, behind, above and below. It claims that each term has three types of meanings, basic, deictic and intrinsic, and that the definitions of each type of meaning are identical in form for all six terms. Restrictions on the use of the terms, which are different for above and below than for the rest, are explained by a general constraint on all uses of spatial relational terms, the framework vertical constraint. This constraint depends on the existence of a fourth type of meaning for above and below, one defined by the framework in which the related objects are located. It is argued that a theory centred on the framework vertical constraint is preferable to one centred on the principle of canonical orientation (Levelt, 1984).     

A model of some temporal relations in human behavior

Summary The temporal structure of synchronization behavior is studied in a quantitative way, and an information processing model is described which provides a common frame of reference for research on timing, as well as a conceptualization of the human time sense.Several experimental results are discussed, among others the way in which subjects follow a sudden change in the rate of presentation of stimuli. The interrelations between temporal and non-temporal information is touched upon.

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Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit wird eine quantitative Methode zur Analyse der zeitlichen Struktur des menschlichen Benehmens beschrieben. Es wird ein Modell entwickelt mit welchem es möglich ist, die Ergebnisse verschiedenartiger Untersuchungen der Zeitsinn in einem gemeinschaftlichen Begriffsraum zu formulieren.Einige experimentelle Ergebnisse werden beschrieben, u.a. die Weise worauf rhythmisch taktierende Versuchspersonen eine plötzliche Veränderung folgen in der Darbietungsgeschwindigkeit einer Reihe von akustischen Reizen.Schließlieh werden die Beziehungen zwischen zeitlicher und symbolischer Information besprochen.

     

A resource on behavioral terminology: an annotated bibliography of on terms articles in the behavior analyst

An annotated bibliography that summarizes the On Terms articles on behavior-analytic terminology from The Behavior Analyst is provided. Thirty-five articles published between 1979 and 2010 were identified, annotated, and classified using common behavior analysis course-content frameworks.     

Psychophysiological and physiological aspects of T-wave amplitude in the objective study of behavior

The objective study of behavior, which is the stated aim of our society, does not impose restrictions on the levels of explanatory constructs that are used. The only restriction is that the evidence concerning those constructs be stated in an objective or scientifically communicable way. Thus the concepts that we employ to explain behavior range from the sociologic to the biochemical. This article’s underlying thesis is that behavior needs to be investigated at various levels, and that these levels should be clearly differentiated in order to bring these investigations into a scientifically meaningful relationship. The thesis is here illustrated by examining evidence and arguments concerning the utility and status of a noninvasive index of myocardial performance: T-wave amplitude (TWA). The examination begins at a psychophysiological-index level, wherein TWA is considered in terms of how well this noninvasive physiological index differentiates psychological processes. Secondly, at a lower physiological-index level, we consider the assumption that TWA reflects a relatively unitary physiological process, myocardial beta-adrenergic sympathetic influence. Both the grounds for and implications of this assumption are discussed. Finally, at the physiological-index level of discourse, brief reference is made to the mechanism by which changes in beta-adrenergic sympathetic innervation may produce correlated changes in TWA. The overall aim of the article is to differentiate these three levels of investigation, and yet also to consider the interrelationship among these three levels in order to provide a fuller scientific understanding of the phenomena involved.     

Comments on cognitive science in the experimental analysis of behavior

Arguments are increasingly being made for the inclusion of cognitive science in the experimental analysis of behavior (TEAB). These arguments are described, and a critical analysis of them is presented, especially in regards to the logic of objective inference and the renewed use of cognitive intervening variables. In addition, one particular defining feature of cognitive processes (i.e., the absence of an immediate controlling stimulus) is described, along with alternative points of view stressing molar-molecular levels of analysis and historical causation. Finally, comments are made on the use of cognitive concepts and language in the behavioral sciences. On all of these issues, counter-arguments are based on available material in behavior analysis metatheory, concepts, and experimental practices.