The Cognitive Dynamics of Beliefs: The Effect of Information on Message Processing

This study investigated the time course of belief change from univalent versus mixed‐valence messages, both while the message was being received and after receipt while it was being considered. Hypotheses about the temporal patterns of belief change were tested with belief trajectories from S. E. McGreevy (1996) , valid N= 78, with an average number of time points per person = 5,267 (126.41 seconds) for the message‐receipt phase and 2,467 (59.22 seconds) for the postmessage phase. Results showed that while receiving a message, beliefs changed according to the value and the order of presentation of information in the message. A greater number of positive belief changes were generated in response to a positive univalent message than to a mixed‐valence message. In the postmessage phase, a greater oscillatory pattern of belief change was found for a mixed‐valence message than for a univalent message. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.     

Assessing Motivations for Suicide Attempts: Development and Psychometric Properties of the Inventory of Motivations for Suicide Attempts

This study describes the psychometric properties of the Inventory of Motivations for Suicide Attempts (IMSA). The IMSA was designed to comprehensively assess motivations for suicide emphasized by major theories of suicidality. The IMSA was administered to two samples of recent suicide attempters, undergraduates (n = 66) and outpatients (n = 53). The IMSA exhibited a reliable two‐factor structure in which one factor represented Intrapersonal motivations related to ending emotional pain, and the second represented Interpersonal motivations related to communication or help‐seeking. Convergent validity and divergent validity of IMSA scales were supported by expected patterns of correlations with another measure of suicide motivations. In addition, the IMSA scales displayed clinical utility, in which greater endorsement of intrapersonal motivations was associated with greater intent to die, whereas greater endorsement of interpersonal motivations was associated with less lethal intent and greater likelihood of rescue. Findings suggest the IMSA can be of use for both research and clinical purposes when a comprehensive assessment of suicide motivations is desired.     

Friendlessness and theory of mind: A prospective longitudinal study

Chronic friendlessness in childhood predicts adverse mental health outcomes throughout life, yet its earliest roots are poorly understood. In theory, developing a theory of mind (ToM) should help children gain mutual friends and one preschool study (Peterson & Siegal, 2002. Br J Dev Psychol, 20, 205) suggested a cross‐sectional connection. We therefore used a 2‐year prospective longitudinal design to explore ToM as a predictor of mutual friendship in 114 children from age 5 to 7 years after controlling potential confounds including language ability and group popularity. Confirming friendship's distinctiveness from group sociometric status, numerous group‐rejected children (53%) had a mutual friend whereas 23% of those highest in group status did not. Five‐year‐olds with a mutual friend significantly outperformed their friendless peers on a comprehensive ToM battery (basic and advanced false belief). Longitudinally, chronically friendless 7‐year‐olds (no friends at either testing time) stood out for their exceptionally poor Time 1 ToM understanding even after controlling for group popularity, age, and language skill. Extending previous evidence of ToM's predictive links with later social and cognitive outcomes, these results for mutual friendship suggest possible interventions to help reduce the lifelong mental health costs of chronic friendlessness.     

Using Relational Cultural Theory as a Pedagogical Approach for Counselor Education

ABSTRACT

In the article the authors will discuss core concepts of RCT in greater detail while relating these concepts to the counselor education classroom setting. There are many aspects of the counseling process that are open-ended due to the necessity of counselors needing to be responsive to the client’s needs in the moment. It is the assertion of the authors that using RCT in the classroom as a pedagogical framework may be beneficial to the growth of CITs. Through creating and maintaining an environment that supports growth fostering relationships, mutual empathy, authenticity, recognition and healing of disconnection, identification of central relational paradoxes, and processing relational images can all lead to developing relational competence in the CITs who will become the next generation of counselors. Additionally, the authors provide examples of the core concepts in action that are grounded in their experiences, blending RCT into their instructional delivery in their course.     

Using Relational-Cultural Theory to Conceptualize International Student Transitions

ABSTRACT

In this article, Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) is applied to international student transition experiences. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of international students transitioning to college life in the rural United States using the principles of RCT. Five women and four men enrolled at a mid-sized university agreed to participate in the study. In the data analysis phase, four components of RCT emerged as themes. The authors provide implications for campus-based mental health professionals (e.g., college counselors).     

Interattitude Structure and Attitude Dynamics

Theories of attitude change have failed to identify the architecture of interattitudinal structures and relate it to attitude change. This article examines two models (a hierarchical and a spatial–linkage model) of interattitudinal structure that explicitly posit consequences for attitude change. An experiment (N= 391) was conducted that manipulated type of hierarchy (explicit versus implicit), whether the hierarchy was primed or not, and the location in the hierarchy to which a message was directed. Whereas the hierarchical model predicts only top–down influence of attitudes on each other, a spatial–linkage model predicts that linked attitudes may influence each other regardless of hierarchical position. The results support the spatial–linkage model in that interattitudinal change is constrained less by a concept's relative position in a hierarchical structure than by the concept's association with other concepts in that structure. Furthermore, within these interattitudinal structures, concepts directly targeted by a persuasive message often exhibit less attitude change than related concepts to which the focal concept appears to be linked. Finally, an explicit hierarchy of concepts appears to facilitate interattitudinal influence much more than an implicit hierarchy of concepts does; the key to this facilitation seems to be the mental accessibility of the organizational structure.