The effects of therapist-client age similarity on pretherapy expectations

The present study investigated the effects of similarity between psychotherapist age and client age on client's preference for a therapist, willingness to disclose, expected therapeutic climate, and perceptions of therapist competence. Similarity theory provided a rationale for the hypothesis that prospective clients would perceive a psychotherapist similar in age more favorably than a therapist dissimilar in age. Support for the hypothesis was obtained on the dimensions of client preference, willingness to disclose, and therapist competence. Also, consistent with previous research, high experienced therapists were viewed more favorably than low experienced therapists.This research is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by Kathleen M. Tall under the direction of Michael J. Ross to Saint Louis University.     

Abortion and the death of the fetus

Abortion is conceptualized as encompassing two aspects: ending the physical dependency relationship the fetus has to the mother, and terminating the life of the fetus. Analysis of the unique nature of the mother-fetus and mother-child relationship leads to the conclusion that both the act of abortion and the pregnant woman's decision to seek the death of the fetus can be logically justified.     

The linguistic organization of public controversy: A note on the pragmatics of political discourse

Conclusion This paper does not mean to imply that it is only public controversy that can meaningfully affect political outcomes, or even that it is the most important factor. Rather, we have attempted to indicate that public controversy constitutes a forum on which political actorsact; on which they attempt to implicate each other and the public in terms of some preferred view of the controversy at hand. It is certainly the case that the formal structure of the government and power relationships provides important constraints in terms of which controversy may take place. Yet within these constraints, actors can meaningfully construct various views of the structure of the controversy which differently construe the rights and obligations of participants. In this sense, the course of public controversy may in part be understood as a function of the language employed by these actors, both to the extent that particular expressions stand as documentary evidence of underlying discrepancies about the shape of the controversy and to the extent that the logic of certain speech-acts constrains the forms subsequent statements may take.     

Evidence that probing the vaginal cervix is analgesic in rats, using an operant paradigm.

Probing against the vaginal cervix (CP) suppresses responses to noxious stimulation in rats. The first experiment rules out the possibility that this effect is due to CP-induced immobilization. All rats first learned to press a panel, thus terminating noxious skin shock. Then they either received CP (experimentals) or did not (controls) when they pressed the panel during skin shock that was inescapable. The controls soon showed extinction of the panel-press response, whereas the experimentals continued pressing the panel and obtaining CP, for significantly more trials. The rats thus performed an operant response for CP at a time before CP could have blocked their movement. The second experiment argues against the possiblity that CP exerts its effect by "distracting" the rats from the skin shock. The rats received inescapable skin shock which continued for 7 sec after each panel-press response. During this shock one group received CP, and another received perineal probing ("distraction" control). The panel-press latency was significantly shorter in the CP group than in the perineal group. Latency in a control group, in which shock was terminated as soon as the rats pressed the panel, did not differ significantly from the CP group. Latency in another control group, in which the shock persisted for 7 sec after the rats pressed the panel with no probing being applied, was not significantly different from that of the perineal-probing group but was significantly longer than latency in the CP group. Thus the present studies suggest that CP is indeed analgesic and that this effect of CP is mediated by neither movement inhibition nor distraction.     

COMPARISONS OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ATTITUDES BETWEEN TWO DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES

Three-hundred and twenty-seven Australian and 192 Swedish psychology students were compared with respect to four aspects of socio-politico attitudes: (a) differences in average levels for items and dimensions, (b) differences in degrees of consensus for specific issues (items), (c) differences in the structures of socio-politico attitudes and (d) differences in the profiles of attitudes across relevant items and dimensions. Analyses of variance showed that, in general, Swedes were significantly less conservative than Australians. The largest difference between the two samples were found for the dimension of punitiveness where Swedes were found to be much less punitive than Australians. The results also disclosed that there was greater ideological consensus and consistency among Swedes than among Australians. In line with earlier cross-cultural research, the results also disclosed a relatively high level of ideological profile and structural similarity among the two western nations.     

Wepman test of auditory discrimination: What does it discriminate

This study investigated auditory discrimination as a function of ethnic group membership within the same socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects were 126 randomly selected six-year-old students attending schools in the lower SES community of southeast San Diego. Only students with no known speech or hearing defects and of normal intelligence were included. They were assigned to one of three categories: Black, Chicano, or Anglo.Subjects were administered four tests in a counterbalanced design: the Wepman, the Gross, and the Ott. The latter two were developed for use with Black dialect and Spanish-speaking youngsters, respectively. The ANOVA results indicated a reliable difference between the main effects of the groups (F=40.34,p<.001) and tests (F=72.82, p<.001), with a significant interaction between tests and groups (F=44.91, p<.001). Interaction effects were evaluated with the Dunn theorem. Significant differences were found among Anglo, Black, and Chicano students on the discrimination list for Spanish sounds (Ott) and a significant Anglo/Black difference on the discrimination test for Black dialect (Gross). Contrary to previous findings, there were no differences between the groups on the Wepman Test of Auditory Discrimination (WTAD). However, there are significant differences between groups on separate items of this test.     

The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes

Evidence from four studies demonstrates that social observers tend to perceive a “false consensus” with respect to the relative commonness of their own responses. A related bias was shown to exist in the observers' social inferences. Thus, raters estimated particular responses to be relatively common and relatively unrevealing concerning the actors' distinguishing personal dispositions when the responses in question were similar to the raters' own responses; responses differing from those of the rater, by contrast, were perceived to be relatively uncommon and revealing of the actor. These results were obtained both in questionnaire studies presenting subjects with hypothetical situations and choices and in authentic conflict situations. The implications of these findings for our understanding of social perception phenomena and for our analysis of the divergent perceptions of actors and observers are discussed. Finally, cognitive and perceptual mechanisms are proposed which might account for distortions in perceived consensus and for corresponding biases in social inference and attributional processes.     

Laterality differences and practice effects under central backward masking conditions

Two experiments were conducted to examine laterality differences and practice effects under various central backward masking conditions. Critical stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was determined for subjects on 3 consecutive days using single letters as target stimuli (TS) and a pattern masking stimulus (MS). There was a right visual field (RVF) advantage on Day 1 but no difference between the visual fields on following days. The decline in the RVF advantage appeared to be dependent upon prior experience with laterally located letters, to be independent of initial experience with a particular set of letters, and to be more pronounced for females than for males. In addition, large improvements in performance were found, particularly between the first and second testing sessions. These practice effects were discussed in terms of the possible development of strategies for enhancing TS features or attenuating MS features.