Primary and secondary reflection in existential family therapy

The author uses Gabriel Marcel's topology of primary and secondary thought to clarify and outline the process of reflection in Existential Family Therapy. Clinical material is used to illustrate the differences between primary and secondary reflection during the practice of Existential Family Therapy.     

Primary and secondary qualities: An essay in epistemology

It seems almost a truism to say that colour is a sensation; and yet Young, by honestly recognizing this elementary truth, established the first consistent theory of colour. So far as I know, Thomas Young was the first who, starting from the well-known fact that there are three primary colours, sought for the explanation of this fact, not in the nature of light, but in the constitution of man. (James Clerk Maxwell, p. 267.)It is doubtless scientific to disregard certain aspects when we work; but to urge that therefore such aspects are not fact, and that what we use without them is an independent real thing-this is barbarous metaphysics. (F. H. Bradley, p. 15.)     

Primary, secondary, and emotional control across adulthood

Schulz and Heckhausen (1996) have recently formulated a theory of successful aging that centers on perceptions of control as a major theme in the developmental process. They suggest primary control is a universal phenomenon and that people will strive for primary control over secondary control. Secondary control mechanisms, on the other hand, may serve to mediate losses in primary control. This study evaluates the relationship between primary and secondary control among 327 men and women, by administering a general sense of control scale and an emotion control measure with four sub-scales. Consistent with previous research, both age and gender differences were found in primary and secondary control. The results of this study provide support for the theory of emotional selectivity which postulates that as people age they are more able to regulate their emotions, thereby directing energies at increasing secondary control mechanisms (Carstensen, 1986).     

Primary, secondary, and emotional control across adulthood

Schulz and Heckhausen (1996) have recently formulated a theory of successful aging that centers on perceptions of control as a major theme in the developmental process. They suggest primary control is a universal phenomenon and that people will strive for primary control over secondary control. Secondary control mechanisms, on the other hand, may serve to mediate losses in primary control. This study evaluates the relationship between primary and secondary control among 327 men and women, by administering a general sense of control scale and an emotion control measure with four sub-scales. Consistent with previous research, both age and gender differences were found in primary and secondary control. The results of this study provide support for the theory of emotional selectivity which postulates that as people age they are more able to regulate their emotions, thereby directing energies at increasing secondary control mechanisms (Carstensen, 1986).     

Primary prevention of secondary disorders: A proposal and agenda

This paper calls for consideration of a new class of preventive interventions designed explicitly to prevent comorbidity of psychiatric disorders. Epidemiologic data show that successful interventions of this type could be extremely valuable, as up to half of lifetime psychiatric disorders and an even larger percent of chronic and seriously impairing disorders occur to people with a prior history of some other disorder. Furthermore, a review of etiologic hypotheses concerning the causes of comorbidity suggests that interventions aimed at primary prevention of secondary disorders might be feasible. However, more basic risk factor research is needed on the causes of comorbidity before we can make a clear assessment of feasibility and discover promising intervention targets. A number of methodological problems arise in carrying out this type of formative research. These problems are reviewed and suggestions are offered for solutions involving innovations in measurement, design, and data analysis.     

Primary qualities, secondary qualities and the truth about intention

In this paper I will argue that Crispin Wright’s defence of the claim that the truth about intention is judgement-dependent is unstable because it can serve also to establish that the truth about shape is judgement-dependent, thereby violating his constraint that in developing the distinction between judgement-independent and judgement-dependent subject matters we have to be driven by the assumption that colour and shape will fall on different sides of the divide.     

Primary and secondary memory: multistore versus process models of memory

Healy, et al. recently distinguished between recency and "penultimate" effects when contrasting recall performance. They argued that the penultimate effect was significantly different from the typical recency effect, which point was taken as support for distinguishing between primary and secondary memory systems. The current study adapted the Healy, et al. methodology to control for the occurrence of intentional learning strategies. 40 participants were asked to recall the names of 42 U.S. Presidents by their term in office (secondary memory) or in a pseudorandom order (primary memory); the recency and penultimate effects were observed for each condition. With intentional learning controlled for, contrast analyses yielded a pattern of performance similar to that observed by Healy, et al.     

The latent structure and coincidence of hypohedonia and schizotypy and their validity as indices of psychometric risk for schizophrenia

Recent exchanges on the place of hypohedonia within Meehl's theory of schizotaxia, schizotypy, and schizophrenia focus on evidence of the taxonicity of asociality, not hedonic capacity per se. Two hypotheses were contrasted, one that hypohedonia is a nonpathological individual difference variable independent of schizotypy, the other that schizotypy and hypohedonia tap independent taxonic processes that predict the emergence of positive and negative signs of schizophrenia, respectively. Undergraduates (n = 1,543) completed a multifaceted measure of schizotypy and hypohedonia. A consecutive subsample of these (n = 284) also completed a continuous performance test and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised. Independent taxometric analyses (maximum covariance and maximum eigenvalue) indicated schizotypy was taxonic and hypohedonia was dimensional. Their coincidence was no greater than chance. Schizotypy was associated with impaired attention and significant psychological distress, whereas hypohedonia was not. Hypohedonia does not behave like a core component of schizotypy.     

Primary and secondary deviational salience: predictors, consequences, symptoms and strategies

In this article, the model of deviational salience [italics added], which explains the relationship between self-perceptions and perceptions in general is extended. Original analysis indicated that when individuals evaluate themselves as deviating negatively from their perception of the norm of a salient environmental stimulus, that stimulus becomes more meaningful. Reexamination of the original data indicates that this outcome also occurs when an individual's self-perceptions are incongruent with quantifiable objective norms. Furthermore, interaction between the two sufficient antecedent conditions of primary deviational salience, negative self-perceptions and incongruence, produces secondary deviational salience. The major dysfunctional consequences of both primary and secondary classifications have been examined. Those most debilitating involve misattribution based on the salient feature and obsessive concern over the feature. Finally, several rational-emotive approaches aimed at reducing deviational salience along with the maladaptive behavioral symptoms have been proposed.     

Primary and secondary control strategies for managing health and financial stress across adulthood

The study examined the relation among three types of control strategies (persistence, positive reappraisals, lowering aspirations) and subjective well-being across adulthood (N = 3,490). Specifically, the authors investigated whether age-adapted endorsement of control strategies is conducive to subjective well-being if individuals experience health or financial stress. The results reveal an overall enhanced reliance on control strategies in older as compared with younger adults. In addition, persistence showed a stronger positive relation to subjective well-being in young adulthood as compared with old age. In midlife and old age, positive reappraisals had a stronger positive relation to subjective well-being than persistence. Lowering aspirations was negatively related to subjective well-being, independent of age. Age differences in the relation of control strategies to subjective well-being were particularly salient in individuals who faced either health or financial stress.     

Primary versus secondary insomnia in older adults: subjective sleep and daytime functioning

Most psychological research on insomnia has centered on primary insomnia (PI). Secondary insomnia (SI), though more common than PI, has received little attention because of its presumed unresponsiveness to treatment. The present study recruited older adults with PI, SI, and a comparison group of older adults with no insomnia (NI). Self-report assessments of sleep revealed no significant difference between the 2 insomnia groups. Daytime functioning measures found significant differences in impairment between the 3 groups with SI having the worst daytime functioning, followed by PI, which was worse than NI. Further analyses found substantial independence between sleep and daytime functioning. Implications of these findings for the clinical management of SI are discussed.     

Primary and secondary prevention programs for dating violence: A review of the literature

Recent research has consistently demonstrated that a significant proportion of dating relationships are characterized by violent interactions. Aggression that occurs in the context of dating relationships is associated with a variety of deleterious effects in the context of the current relationship, and provides a potential trajectory to more severe forms of violence in later relationships. These data have led researchers and practitioners to develop and implement programs designed to prevent such violent dating behaviors. This comprehensive review examines the literature on primary and secondary prevention programs for dating violence, with emphases on methodological and theoretical issues. Ubiquitous limitations of the current research are identified, as well as future directions and implications for researchers and practitioners in the field.     

Primary versus secondary rehearsal in imagined voices: Differential effects on recognition

Subjects were asked to rehearse word trigrams in a particular prefamiliarized male or female voice for 5, 10, or 15 sec. In Experiment 1, recognition performance improved with the amount of primary (maintenance) rehearsal only if the speaker's voice at test matched the rehearsal voice, but recognition performance improved with the amount of secondary (elaborative) rehearsal regardless of the sex of the speaker at test. With a visual testing procedure in Experiments 2 and 3, the amount of primary rehearsal given to a trigram had no effect on recognition performance unless the original voice context was reinstated mentally at test. These results suggest that: (a) Secondary rehearsal builds up semantic associations, whereas primary rehearsal serves to associate items with their physical characteristics at presentation. (b) There is an important memory search component in recognition as well as in recall. (c) Imaginal operations can yield a product in memory that is similar to that left by perceptual operations.     

Primary and secondary reinforcers as distinctive cues which acquire information value in partial-reinforcement discrimination training

To assess the cue as opposed to incentive effect of reward, rats were trained on an easy visual discrimination with food contingent on 50 or 100% of the correct responses, and white-noise contingent on 0, 50 or 100% of these responses. Additionally, the 50% food and noise schedules were structured for different groups to produce positive, zero, or negative correlations of the two events. Although the addition of noise did not affect learning with 100% food, the slower learning observed with 50% food was increasingly offset by greater percentages of noise, with the 50% groups showing faster learning under the negative than zero correlation and faster under the zero than positive correlation. Together with supporting speed data, these results indicate that a “neutral” stimulus can be substituted for food with little loss in performance. Consequently, the reinforcing effect of food is attributed in part to its function as a cue which, like noise, can increase the discriminability of the alternatives and provide information about the correctness of the response.     

Primary and secondary effects of parenting and stress management interventions for parents of children with developmental disabilities: a meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of the group intervention research for parents of children with developmental disabilities was conducted in order to characterize the efficacy of treatments in reducing depressive symptoms and other forms of psychological distress associated with stress in parents of children with developmental disabilities. An extensive search led to the identification of 17 studies which were divided into three categories for comparative purposes: parenting education studies usually based on behavioral parent training, coping skills education studies based primarily on cognitive behavioral training, and studies that combined these methods along with other support services. Studies were rated for the quality of the research designs and of the reports. Consistent positive benefits were found in the form of reductions in parents' distress, and these effects were comparable to those reported in other syntheses of parenting interventions for parents of children without disabilities. The studies were evaluated in order to assess whether or not they met standards for established evidence-based practices. On the basis of the quality and number of the randomized trials, we present evidence to support the claim that there are established evidence-based interventions for reducing psychological distress at least in middle-class mothers in the short term. The interventions for fathers are promising as are the data on somewhat longer-term effects. The need for replications with a more diverse group of parents and longer-term follow-up were discussed. Multiple component interventions addressing both parent well-being and behavioral parent training were significantly more effective than either behavioral parent training or cognitive behavioral training along.