An Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioural Training for Acute Tinnitus: Secondary Analysis of Acceptance in Terms of Satisfaction,Trial Attrition and Non-Usage Attrition

Objectives: Recent studies on tinnitus have focused on the efficacy of Internet-based interventions. Other core features of the quality of service, e.g. acceptance and attrition, have often been overlooked. This study analyses Internet-based training regarding acceptance and attrition in a trial on minimal-contact interventions for acute tinnitus. Whenever possible, we give information on other forms of training for comparison. Methods: In a randomised controlled trial with 337 participants, 87 persons took part in the Internet training. Results: The participants were as satisfied with the Internet-based training as with a face-to-face group training. There was a 34.48% dropout from the Internet-based training (dropout attrition). The training attrition from the Internet-based training was even higher at 64.4%. Conclusions: Two out of three indicators for acceptance—satisfaction and dropout attrition—provide comparable results between the Internet-based training and a face-to-face group training. The third indicator, training attrition, shows a better result for the group training. Future research should focus on attrition in order to enhance the overall effectiveness of training.     

Losing to Terrorism: An American Work in Progress

Abstract: The evolution of the U.S. war on terrorism is on a path that poses a substantial probability of losing to it, although not necessarily of a victory by its declared targets. That conclusion follows from the definition presented of terrorism and thus central questions about the merits of responses justified by an objective of reducing it. Likely American responses to 9/11 are suggested by a review of well‐known policy‐making tendencies from past scholarship and experience, tendencies well‐established prior to 9/11 and by no means unique to the Bush II presidency. The expectations those tendencies suggest have been born out by what the United States has done and not done. Well‐established criteria and their implied rules of practice for security enhancing great‐power statecraft are presented, and the chosen U.S. program of action is found to be counter‐productive in their light.     

Sexism as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Women in the Military and in Combat

This study examined four forms of sexist beliefs as predictors of attitudes toward women in the military and in combat. Survey data revealed that military-affiliated college students (n = 62) held more negative attitudes than civilian students (n = 254) toward women in combat, but the groups did not differ on attitudes toward women in the military. All forms of sexism contributed uniquely to the prediction of attitudes toward women in the military, and 3 forms were associated with approval of women in combat. Sexist beliefs mediated the relationship between military-affiliation status and approval of women in combat.     

What is educational theory and how to make it?

An analysis is provided detailing the conditions for the appropriate theoretical study of the object of educational science: pedagogy.     

An Item Analysis of the Adjustment Questionnaire

This study examined the relationship of dogmatism, attitude extremity, and the tendency to displace perceptually a neutral communication to a position more discrepant from the subject's own than it objectively holds. Results indicate that dogmatism was not predictive of displacement tendency, but that extremity and intensity were both significantly related to displacement. It was also found that dogmatism was not correlated with having a conservative attitude on the issues studied. The results were consistent across four different attitude issues.     

An empirical examination of stigma toward mental health problems and psychotherapy use in Veterans and active duty service members

Although many Veterans and active duty service members experience mental health problems, most do not seek out any sort of mental health help. Stigma (a significant predictor of treatment-seeking) has been documented among Veterans and active duty service members; however, previous research on stigma in these groups has primarily utilized correlational and qualitative designs. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of stigma toward mental health problems in Veterans and active duty service members using an experimental design. One hundred sixty-five Veterans and active duty service members were randomized to read a vignette that described a Veteran who either did or did not experience a mental health problem and did or did not seek psychotherapy. Results indicated that the participants held more stigmatizing attitudes toward the Veteran who was described as having a mental health problem, but not toward the Veteran who was described as seeking psychotherapy. Additionally, participants held more positive attitudes toward the Veteran, compared to the attitudes that they believed other military members would hold. Last, with this sample of Veterans and active duty service members, self-stigma toward seeking psychotherapy was found to partially mediate the relationship between perceived public stigma and attitudes. Implications for addressing stigma in military service members and Veterans are discussed.     

Electrical aversion therapy with alcoholics: An analogue study

Chronic alcoholic patients matched on age, education and length of problem drinking were assigned to one of three treatment conditions, with 10 subjects in each group: (1) Electrical Aversion Conditioning (high shock paired with alcohol sips); (2) Control Conditioning (very low shock paired with alcohol sips); and (3) Group Therapy (confrontation psychotherapy). Groups 2 and 3 were included to control for possible ‘attention-placebo’ and expectancy factors involved in the conditioning procedures. Subjects in each group were given instructions designed to produce high expectancy for therapeutic success. Pre-post measures of alcohol consumption and attitudes toward alcohol were obtained using an analogue ‘taste test’ assessment procedure. No statistically significant differences in reduced alcohol consumption or attitudes toward alcohol were found among the groups. Trends in the data support the contention that effects of electrical aversion may be more related to such factors as therapeutic instructions, expectancy, specificity of the procedure or experimental demand characteristics than to conditioning factors.     

Relation of Ethnicity and Age to Women's Responses to Personal Experiences of Sexist Discrimination in the United States

Abstract

The authors explored self-reported experiences of interpersonal sexist discrimination and responses to such incidents in a heterogeneous sample of 262 women in the northeastern United States. They divided the sample into 2 categories for age (< 30 years, > 30 years) and for ethnicity (women of color, European American women). Across categories of age and ethnicity, the participants (a) commonly experienced sexist discrimination and (b) viewed men as the primary perpetrators of the discrimination. Although the women's reports of sexist experiences were similar for the most part, the authors found significant age differences in the frequency of categories of sexist events and in specific events, as well as in some general responses to such incidents. Ethnicity, operationalized here as women of color and European American women, did not have a significant influence.     

An exploratory investigation of the origin and maintenance of phobias

Phobies were asked to relate past events which they believed caused or contributed to their fear, and to describe cognitive events experienced while imagining phobic interactions. Approximately half the subjects were able to recall relevant learning experiences, with direct experiences far more common than vicarious experiences or learning based on verbal instruction. Almost all of the subjects reported self-verbalizations while imagining the phobic situation, in every case phobic relevant. However, in a minority of instances were the verbalizations ‘catastrophic’ in nature. In only about half the cases did the phobies report that, in vivo, thoughts preceeded fear in the phobic situation (in contrast to a comparison group of less fearful subjects for which thoughts did preceed fear to a significant degree). Results are discussed in terms of possible limitations of a cognitive interpretation of phobic behavior.     

Extending the Three- and Four-Headed Eagles: The Foreign Policy Orientations of American Elites During the 80s and 90s

With the breakdown of the foreign policy consensus of the Cold War years, there has been a resurgence in examining the beliefs of the public and their role in U.S. foreign policy. The most extensive of these studies has been conducted by Holsti and Rosenau who have found first three and then four competing schools of thought. Our purpose is to build off Holsti and Rosenau's analyses and extend their argument. Research based on the content analysis of foreign policy and national opinion journals from 1980 to 1989 demonstrates that there is more diversity and complexity in the range and content of beliefs held by American leaders than Holsti and Rosenau have yet been able to capture through their "three-" and "four-headed eagles." Although the three-headed eagle serves as a useful scheme for categorizing the broad foreign policy perspectives of American leaders, it de-emphasizes important differences in beliefs and ignores at least two foreign policy orientations that exist within their general categories. This is not a mere academic exercise, for it sheds light on the level of diversity and complexity of elite beliefs, which enriches an understanding of the politics of U.S. foreign policy since Vietnam. A preliminary examination of foreign policy and national opinion journals from 1990 to 1994 indicates that American elites are changing and adapting while at the same time, they are absorbing profound global changes into their prevailing belief systems, as predicted by the political psychological literature. This suggests that the diversity and complexity present in the 80s is likely to persist and grow throughout the 90s. Our research also suggests the importance of developing alternative methods to complement reliance on survey research in order to capture more fully the diversity and complexity of the foreign policy beliefs of Americans.     

Reinforcing fluency in stutterers: An experimental study

Subject-specific periods of fluent reading responses of three adult stutterers were positively reinforced with the presentation of a dime. Subjects were run individually through a sequence of two base rate, two experimental, and two extinction sessions, each session lasting 45 min. Periods of fluent reading responses increased during the experimental condition for each of the three subjects. When the reinforcer was withdrawn during the extinction condition, the frequency of fluent periods showed a decrease. Concomitantly, disfluencies decreased during the experimental condition and they increased during the extinction condition. The clinical implications of fluency manipulation as against disfluency manipulation are discussed.     

A Brief History of Jungian Splits in the United Kingdom

The institutionalizing of analytical psychology in the United Kingdom has its origins in the Analytical Psychology Club founded on 15 September 1922. It became increasingly apparent that professionalization of the Jungian movement was essential and this led to the formation of the Society of Analytical Psychology in 1946. This was followed in 1951 by the founding of the British Association of Psychotherapists. The Association of Jungian Analysts split off from the Society of Analytical Psychology in 1975–6, and this was followed in 1982 by the split between the Association of Jungian Analysts and the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists. The Berlin Congress of 1986 saw the beginnings of a liaison body for the four London societies, which came to be called the Umbrella Group. This has organized joint conferences and workshops, but the split in 1992 between the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and the British Confederation of Psychotherapists has posed a new threat to the growing harmony between the London societies. In the face of this threat, the Umbrella Group has not been able to articulate a common policy and strategy about the Jungian presence in the United Kingdom.     

Linguistic Analysis of Communication in Therapist-Assisted Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

In spite of a growth in cognitive conceptualizations of obsessive‐compulsive symptoms, relatively little has been done to extend such concepts to childhood. This study investigated the relationship between responsibility attitudes and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms in normal children. A measure of responsibility attitudes in children was constructed on the basis of Salkovskis' Responsibility Attitudes Scale. This measure (Responsibility Attitudes Scale for Children) was administered together with the Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version and the Children's Depression Inventory to a sample of two hundred and two 10–14‐year‐old schoolchildren in Iceland. The responsibility measure correlated moderately and similarly with the Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version and the Children's Depression Inventory. In a hierarchical regression analysis predicting Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version scores, age and gender were entered in the equation first, followed by Children's Depression Inventory scores and, finally, Responsibility Attitudes Scale for Children scores. It was shown that Responsibility Attitudes Scale for Children scores added significantly to the prediction of Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version over and above the other variables. It is concluded that the study of the role of responsibility attitudes in children's obsessive‐compulsive symptoms is at least promising.     

The Interactive Effects of Affective Demeanor,Cognitive Processes,and Perspective-Taking Focus on Helping Behavior

Abstract

The author manipulated affective demeanor (positive or negative) and cognitive processes (positive or negative) displayed by a target person, along with the perspective-taking focus (affect or cognitions) of participants, to assess the unique and interactive effects of those variables on the participants' helping behavior, operationalized as time volunteered to help other students. An ethnically diverse sample (N = 109) of U.S. working adults (mean age = 31.56 years, SD = 8.21) viewed a videotape of a female target talking about returning to college. Participants adopting an affective perspective-taking focus volunteered more time than did those who adopted a cognitive perspective-taking focus. Also, a significant interaction between participants' perspective-taking focus and target's affective demeanor revealed that participants who focused on the target's feelings and who viewed a warm, cheerful target volunteered more time than did the other groups. Moreover, a significant interaction between participants' perspective-taking focus and target's cognitive processes revealed that the participants who focused on the target's feelings and who viewed a confused and unfocused target volunteered more time than did the other groups. The author also discusses the relationship between empathy, personal distress, and helping.     

Visual and verbal modes of information processing and cognitively-based coping strategies: An extension and replication

This study was designed to investigate the interaction between the use of an imaginallybased vs a verbally-based coping strategy with subjects who were selected on the basis of strong preferences for either visual or verbal modes of information processing. Forty-eight female students were subjected to a cold-pressor task. Measures of pain tolerance, pain threshold and a pain rating were obtained. The findings indicated that there was not a significant relationship between preferred cognitive style and the types of coping strategy provided. However, the treatments combined were found to be significantly more effective than the no-treatment condition on all three dependent measures. A structured debriefing revealed that use of visual vs verbal coping strategies did not differ as a function of treatment type or preferred cognitive style. It was concluded that individuals may demonstrate considerable flexibility in adapting to different types of cognitively-based coping strategies.     

The gap between law and ethics in human embryonic stem cell research: Overcoming the effect of U.S. Federal policy on research advances and public benefit

Key ethical issues arise in association with the conduct of stem cell research by research institutions in the United States. These ethical issues, summarized in detail, receive no adequate translation into federal laws or regulations, also described in this article. U.S. Federal policy takes a passive approach to these ethical issues, translating them simply into limitations on taxpayer funding, and foregoes scientific and ethical leadership while protecting intellectual property interests through a laissez faire approach to stem cell patents and licenses. Those patents and licenses, far from being scientifically and ethically neutral in effect, virtually prohibit commercially sponsored research that could otherwise be a realistic alternative to the federal funding gap. The lack of federal funding and related data-sharing principles, combined with the effect of U.S. patent policy, the lack of key agency guidance, and the proliferation of divergent state laws arising from the lack of Federal leadership, significantly impede ethical stem cell research in the United States, without coherently supporting any consensus ethical vision. Research institutions must themselves implement steps, described in the article, to integrate addressing ethical review with the many legal compliance issues U.S. federal and state laws create. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and are not necessarily the opinions of others, including Children’s Hospital Boston. Portions of earlier versions of this article were previously published by the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.     

An Exactification of the Monoid of Primitive Recursive Functions

We study the monoid of primitive recursive functions and investigate a onestep construction of a kind of exact completion, which resembles that of the familiar category of modest sets, except that the partial equivalence relations which serve as objects are recursively enumerable. As usual, these constructions involve the splitting of symmetric idempotents.