Symposium: A discussion of the videotapes of a difficult group

Three conference participants (Drs. Yvonne Agazarian, Louis Ormont and Saul Tuttman), each an experienced group therapist employing distinctly different styles and theoretical frames, react to a videotape of a Difficult Group and offer their respective critique and suggestions. The material was originally presented before an audience at the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Conference (1985) in New York City. The audience first saw the videotape at the conference and then observed the interaction among panelists. This material was submitted for publication because: 1) issues of contrasting technique and theory are heightened by a concrete comparison of different clinicians' reactions to the same material; 2) the serious task of coping with a group of difficult patients is of concern to all group therapists who are faced with such challenges; 3) the circumstances, in which patients who feel needy and neglected chronically put pressure on the therapists, occur with frequency; at the same time, 4) the therapists are also under stress in that their supervisors and evaluators are scrutinizing their work. All of this makes for a fascinating and difficult dynamic situation. Finally, 5) examining this group material resulted in a lively exchange which was stimulating and interesting to both audience and participants.Yvonne Agazarian, Ed.D., is in private practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.     

Anniversary reactions in the therapy group

From Freud onward, the psychoanalytic literature has offered many references to the idea and significance of past time-specific neuroses and to the subterranean lingering of so-called anniversary emotions. Group therapy is particularly effective in surfacing hidden anniversary reactions that often block the course of treatment. Strikingly, groups can perceive buried associations to long past calendar dates such as traumatic birth and death days, holidays, and past seasonal emotionally-laden responses that patients do not consciously recall or dare articulate. This heightened sensitivity to obscured commemorative syndromes can result from the group interactive process. As such the therapy group can aid in surfacing hidden ghosts far more rapidly than individual therapy might achieve. In this paper illustrations of these anniversary reactions arising in groups are presented and the facilitating effects of group process in identifying and resolving these specific resistances are described.     

Using videotape modeling to facilitate generalized purchasing skills

Six students with moderate and severe disabilities were taught generalized purchasing skills through the use of videotape modeling in one, two, or three stores and in vivo instruction within one store. Training was conducted within three orders of treatments: (a) in vivo instruction followed by videotape training, (b) videotape training followed by in vivo instruction, and (c) concurrent videotape and in vivo instruction. Generalization probes were conducted in stores that were the same as those modeled on videotape, untrained stores that were infrequently probed (and never modeled on tape or taught directly), and novel stores that were probed only once after training. Results indicated the production of generalized purchasing skills by the students who received concurrent training and by the students who received sequential training. Videotape and in vivo training in isolation did not lead to generalized shopping skills. The results are discussed in terms of investigating the possible role of verbalization during videotape training on generalized responding and the effects of multiple probe interventions on inadvertent learning of critical skills.deceased.     

Affective responses to seeing oneself for the first time on unedited videotape

Despite the growing popularity of watching oneself on videotape, little systematic research has been conducted determine viewers' affective responses to video replay. This study addresses the question: what affective responses do women have when they view themselves for the first time on unedited videotape, in comparison to their responses when they view a peer or nature scenes on videotape? Affective responses were measured in three ways: self-report, physiological, and behavioral. Subjects who viewed themselves reported more negative feelings and anxiety, and smiled more frequently than subjects who watched another person or nature scenes on video. Subjects with high private self-consciousness had higher mean arterial blood pressures when viewing themselves than did subjects with low private self-consciousness. Overall, the implications for seeing oneself on video point to potential embarrassment but generally moderate effects.     

Adolescents' reactions to the death of a peer

In recent years, more attention has been given to the fact that grieving is a process, especially in the work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. The literature has focused on many aspects of bereavement, including how the process may be different at different ages. Much of the research on adolescents has focused on reactions to the suicide of a peer. The purpose of this study was to explore adolescent reactions to the death of a peer by means other than suicide. Semistructured interviews were conducted with ten college students about their experience of losing a friend in high school. Results indicated that even after a few years, the adolescents were still struggling through the grieving process. Implications for future research and suggestions for practitioners faced with similar crises are offered.     

The effects of a videotape feedback system on classroom teacher behavior

Teachers in eight matched schools, four experimental and four control, were videotaped to examine the effects of a staff development program utilizing knowledge of objectives and immediate videotape feedback to modify the behavior of classroom teachers. Playback teachers improved cognitive behaviors but not affective behaviors more than controls. Concomitants of teacher success in the program were also investigated. Characteristics contributing to positive behavioral changes were dissatisfaction with perceived effectiveness, teaching experience, recency of latest degree, teacher attitude toward students, and student achievement.     

Procedural justice and intragroup status: Knowing where we stand in a group enhances reactions to procedures

The current research investigates the role of relative intragroup status as a moderator of people’s reactions to procedural justice. Based on a review of the procedural justice literature, the authors argue that information about intragroup status influences people’s reactions to variations in procedural justice. In correspondence with predictions, two experiments show that reactions of people who have been informed about their intragroup status position (either low, average, or high) are influenced more strongly by voice as opposed to no-voice procedures than people who are not informed about their intragroup status. It is concluded that knowing where we stand in a group enhances reactions to procedural justice.     

In matters of opinion, what matters is the group: Minority group members’ emotional reactions to messages about identity expression

Two studies investigated the reactions of minority group members to messages about identity expression by ingroup and outgroup sources. Our main hypothesis was that compared to ingroup sources, outgroup sources arouse more anger when they argue for identity suppression. In the first study homosexuals evaluated an outgroup source arguing for identity suppression more negatively than an ingroup source, felt more threatened by this source and as a result, experienced stronger feelings of anger towards this source. The second study among members of a language-based minority replicated and extended these findings. Furthermore we showed that the anger that is experienced towards an outgroup source causes a willingness to change the opinion of this source. When ingroup or outgroup sources supported identity expression, evaluations and experience of anger did not differ in both studies. The importance of a source’s group membership in reactions to opinions about one’s group is discussed.     

Hemispheric differences in split-brain monkeys viewing and responding to videotape recordings

Eight split-brain monkeys were tested for hemispheric differences in their viewing of and responses to colored videotape recordings of monkeys, people, animals, and scenery. The number of facial expressions elicited from the right hemisphere was significantly greater than the number made when using the left hemisphere. Monkeys also tended to look longer when viewing with their right hemispheres than when viewing with the left.     

Type A behavior, need for control, and reactions to group participation

The present study examines the behavior of Type A coronary-prone subjects in group problem-solving sessions. Subjects discuss possible solutions to two problems in same-sex groups containing both Type As and Bs. As are much more likely than Bs to be seen as leaders and are rarely nominated as the least helpful member. Although A and B leaders are both seen as moderately likeable, A leaders' problem solutions are rated as lower in quality. Manipulations of problem importance and incentive for good solutions have similar effects on As and Bs. The results are discussed as being generally consistent with the proposal that Type As are primarily motivated by a need for control. Some indirect support is obtained for the idea that As are more susceptible than Bs to learned helplessness.     

From identified patient to identifiable group: the alchemy of the group as a whole

Group-as-a-whole theory is a relational paradigm of some complexity. Despite the growing popularity of this perspective, there is abiding confusion about the essence of group-as-a-whole practice and whether the approach attends sufficiently to members and part processes. The threefold aims of this article are to (a) show how group-centered thinking differs essentially from traditional psychodynamic theory that relies heavily on familial dynamics, interpretation, and transference analysis; (b) present the mind-set and working principles for a generic treatment that specifically utilizes collective forces generated in the context of the group matrix; and (c) compare and contrast the thrust of recent dyadic relational therapies with group therapy generally and the group-as-a-whole approach more particularly. The relationship between the whole (group) and its parts (members and what they bring) is detailed and demonstrated as it appears in the context of fused, affiliated, fragmented, and differentiated groups.