Psychophysical methodology IV: Phi gamma hypothesis and the method of limits

Assuming the phi-gamma hypothesis, deductions concerning the method of limits (ML) are derived. For a given step size, the selection of the initial stimulus for ascending series or for descending series has little effect on the summary statistical measures of the ML. Estimates of ML statistics are derived for different step sizes, and these estimates are used to estimate the mean and standard deviation of the phi-gamma hypothesis. Also considered are how summary statistical measures of the ML are influenced by extremely large and small step sizes and by the definition of a ML threshold.     

Assertiveness, social support, and psychological adjustment following spinal cord injury.

Tested predictions that assertiveness and social support would be significantly predictive of psychological adjustment. Furthermore, it was anticipated that assertiveness and certain types of social relationships would differentially interact to predict adjustment, since positive and negative effects of both variables have been noted in prior research. Trained raters interviewed 156 persons receiving either in-patient or out-patient care for cord injuries and administered measures of assertiveness, social support, depression and psychosocial impairment. Persons who reported a keen sense of responsibility for the welfare of another reported more depression and impairment. Persons reporting higher levels of support facilitating social integration and reassuring personal worth were less depressed. Several significant interactions between assertiveness and different social support relationships revealed beneficial and deleterious effects on depressive behavior and impairment secondary to the disability. Results are discussed as they advance theoretical understanding of the effects of assertiveness and social support. Implications for discriminate cue learning in assertion training for persons with physical disability are proposed.     

Interpersonal Reactions to Depression and Physical Disablllty In Dyadic Interactions1

Examined the interpersonal responses of persons engaged in dyadic interactions with confederates who enacted either depressed or socially appropriate roles and appeared either with or without a physical disability. Subject negative evaluations of confederates were indirectly obtained from a thought-listing measure. The overt behaviors of subjects were surreptitiously recorded on videotape and measures of verbal and nonverbal behavior were acquired. Subjects spoke less to the depressed targets and had significantly higher rates of negative evaluations of these persons. In addition, subjects gazed less at the depressed confederates. These effects were not moderated by target physical appearance. Findings are discussed as they relate to social models of depression and the stigmatizing effects of disability.     

Recognition of facial affect in psychopathic offenders

The authors examined the reliability of facial affect processing deficits found in psychopathic individuals (R. Blair et al., 2004) and whether they could be modified by attentional set. One hundred eleven offenders, classified using the Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (R. Hare, 2003) and Welsh Anxiety Scale (G. Welsh, 1956), performed a facial affect recognition task under 2 conditions. On the basis of research linking psychopathy, amygdala dysfunction, and deficits in facial affect recognition, the authors predicted that psychopathic offenders would display performance deficits when required to identify the emotional expression of particular faces. In addition, given evidence linking the affective processing deficits in psychopathy to focus of attention, the authors predicted that any deficits in facial affect processing would disappear when participants could anticipate which affective cues would be relevant on a given trial. Contrary to expectation, psychopathic offenders performed as well as controls in both conditions. The authors conclude that the conditions that reveal affective deficits in psychopathic individuals require further specification.     

Hidden struggles of fieldwork: Exploring the role and use of field diaries

Many methodological and ethical accounts of fieldwork become sanitised and smoothed over particularly because they tend to be written several months after the fieldwork has taken place. They often lose the immediacy and emotional impact of the fieldwork, which is why a field diary can be essential. But why do we tend to keep our field diaries to ourselves? Why are we so apprehensive about being open and honest, revealing direct extracts from our field diaries? This paper explores the role and use of field diaries (as opposed to field notes based on observations) in relation to the often hidden struggles of fieldwork. It argues that guilt, apprehension, fears and worries are legitimate, common and even useful experiences of fieldwork. Key issues which emerge in the field diary extracts from my research in rural Bolivia include practical difficulties, emotional and intellectual concerns, and feelings of cultural and academic guilt. It is based on a follow-up study with participants from my PhD research ten years previously. This paper contributes to methodological debates by exploring how we might use field diaries more explicitly to examine the ways our personal challenges and emotions impact on the research process and outcome.     

Revisiting backward recall and benchmark memory effects: a reply to Bireta et al. (2010)

When participants are asked to recall lists of items in the reverse order, known as backward recall, several benchmark memory phenomena, such as the word length effect, are abolished (Bireta et al. Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010). Bireta et al. (Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010) suggested that in backward recall, reliance on order retention is increased at the expense of item retention, leading to the abolition of item-based phenomena. In a subsequent study, however, Guérard and Saint-Aubin (in press) showed that four lexical factors known to modulate item retention were unaffected by recall direction. In a series of five experiments, we examined the source of the discrepancy between the two studies. We revisited the effects of phonological similarity, word length, articulatory suppression, and irrelevant speech, using open and closed pools of words in backward and forward recall. The results are unequivocal in showing that none of these effects are influenced by recall direction, suggesting that Bireta et al.’s (Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010) results are the consequence of their particular stimuli.     

A systematic review of the evidence base for Schema Therapy

Schema Therapy is becoming an increasingly popular psychological model for working with individuals who have a variety of mental health and personality difficulties. The aim of this review is to look at the current evidence base for Schema Therapy and highlight directions for further research. A systematic search of the literature was conducted up until January 2011. All studies that had clinically tested the efficacy of Schema Therapy as described by Jeffrey Young (1994 and 2003) were considered. These studies underwent detailed quality assessments based on Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN-50) culminating in 12 studies being included in the review. The culminative message (both from the popularity of this model and the medium-to-large effect sizes) is of a theory that has already demonstrated clinically effective outcomes in a small number of studies and that would benefit from ongoing research and development with complex client groups. It is imperative that psychological practice be guided by high-quality research that demonstrates efficacious, evidence-based interventions. It is therefore recommended that researchers and clinicians working with Schema Therapy seek to build on these positive outcomes and further demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of this model through ongoing research.