On the Measurement of Meaning: Logotherapy's Empirical Contributions to Humanistic Psychology

Meaningful living is a central focus of several humanistic theories and therapies. Measurement of life meaning meets many obstacles, including pragmatic concerns, such as measuring subjective experiences, and theoretical objections often offered by humanistic psychologists. The purpose of this article is to summarize empirical efforts related to logotherapy, a humanistic–existential paradigm, to illustrate the utility of assessment within the larger context of humanistic psychology. An overview of five logotherapeutic measures of meaning is provided. These measures include the Purpose in Life test (PIL), the Life Purpose Questionnaire (LPQ), the Seeking of Noetic Goals test (SONG), the Meaning in Suffering Test (MIST), and the Life Attitude Profile Revised (LAP–R). Directions for use of such measures in future research are also offered.     

Computer-Assisted Therapies: Examination of Therapist-Level Barriers to Their Use

Despite enthusiasm in the field for their potential ease of dissemination, little work has examined whether practicing clinicians are willing and able to use computer-assisted therapies (i.e., computerized treatments designed to be administered with therapist support). For therapists to use these tools, they require access to computer equipment, the skills needed to use the equipment, and willingness to adopt the technology in treatment. This study examined these three factors using survey data from a national sample of mental health clinicians (N = 1,067). Respondents reported on their access to technology and computer fluency, in addition to completing the Computer-Assisted Therapy Attitudes Scale (CATAS), a measure of therapist attitudes designed for this study. Overall, the majority of therapists (90.7%) reported access to at least one computer at work and self-reported computer fluency levels were high. On average, therapists held positive attitudes towards computer-assisted therapies, although expressed concern that these technologies might damage rapport and did not feel that these technologies would improve treatment outcomes. Predictors of positive attitudes included greater general openness toward new treatments, greater comfort with computers, and easier access to technology at work (all ps < .01). Results suggested that, on the whole, therapists may be likely to integrate computer-assisted therapies into their clinical practice. However, therapists vary both in their ability and willingness to use these tools. Implications for the dissemination of computer-assisted therapies are discussed.     

Prayerful silence and creative response in twenty-first-century monasticism

Many of today's monks and nuns are active composers: some have entered their communities as highly trained musicians, while others find themselves drawn to musical expression after profession. But how does such a creative musical response relate to the monastic atmosphere of hesychia (prayerful silence), and does this response differ in secular experiences of a prayerful silence? This paper provides an ethnographic account of the relationship between hesychia and creative response among twenty-first-century monastic musicians in the Western tradition, comparing these responses with those from secular Christian composers and from composers in the Quaker tradition for whom silence is, as for monastics, an integral component of worship; the issues are then explored in the context of methodological constructs for discursive meditation and contemplative prayer, and of conceptual notions of silence. This paper argues that essential differences between monastic and secular experiences of silence are significant regulators of creative response to hesychia.     

A laboratory analogue of mirrored-self misidentification delusion: The role of hypnosis,suggestion, and demand characteristics

Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one’s own reflection in the mirror is a stranger. In two experiments, we tested the ability of hypnotic suggestion to model this condition. In Experiment 1, we compared two suggestions based on either the delusion’s surface features (seeing a stranger in the mirror) or underlying processes (impaired face processing). Fifty-two high hypnotisable participants received one of these suggestions either with hypnosis or without in a wake control. In Experiment 2, we examined the extent to which social cues and role-playing could account for participants’ behaviour by comparing the responses of 14 hypnotised participants to the suggestion for impaired face processing (reals) with those of 14 nonhypnotised participants instructed to fake their responses (simulators). Overall, results from both experiments confirm that we can use hypnotic suggestion to produce a compelling analogue of mirrored-self misidentification that cannot simply be attributed to social cues or role-playing.     

A Qualitative Exploration of Rural African American Youth Perceptions about the Effect of Dating Violence on Sexual Health

Adolescent dating violence (ADV) remains a significant concern, particularly among rural African Americans. Few studies have explored adolescents’ perceptions about the link between ADV and sexual health and none have targeted this population. Employing qualitative methods based in Community-Based Participatory Research and theory, this study explored rural African American adolescents’ knowledge, perceptions and beliefs about the impact of ADV on sexual health. Secondary data analysis of 20 semi-structured individual interviews, conducted with older adolescents (aged 18–21), revealed participants understood the link between ADV and sexual health consequences, specifically as it related to STI and HIV prevention, condom use, and refusal of sex; and the negative impact refusing sex, communicating about HIV and other STI prevention, and negotiating condom use can have on ADV. This included: (a) negative relationship outcomes, including ADV and fear; and (b) factors that impact one’s ability to refuse sex, communicate about HIV and STI prevention, and negotiate condom use. Findings underscore the need for comprehensive ADV prevention programs for rural African Americans.     

Yoga Practice May Buffer the Deleterious Effects of Abuse on Women's Self-Concept and Dysfunctional Coping

Women who experienced abuse as children or adults can suffer from symptoms such as dissociations, physiological regulation difficulties, and mood disturbances that might not respond to traditional interventions. Given the benefits of yoga, we hypothesized that yoga practice would ameliorate the negative impact of abuse on psychological functioning. Our findings suggest that frequent yoga practice might ameliorate the negative impact of abuse history on self-concept and coping skills. In addition, our findings suggest that women who incorporate yoga into other areas of life could get the greatest psychological benefits. Given the preliminary nature of this study, further research into the benefits of yoga on women who have child or adult abuse histories is warranted.     

Attention shifts or volatile representations: What causes binding deficits in visual working memory?

The current study tested two hypotheses of feature binding memory: The attention hypothesis, which suggests that attention is needed to maintain feature bindings in visual working memory (VWM) and the volatile representation hypothesis, which suggests that feature bindings in memory are volatile and easily overwritten, but do not require sustained attention. Experiment 1 tested the attention hypothesis by measuring shifts of overt attention during the study array of a change detection task; serial shifts of attention did not disrupt feature bindings. Experiments 2 and 3 encouraged encoding of more volatile (Experiment 2) or durable (Experiment 3) representations during the study array. Binding change detection performance was impaired in Experiment 2, but not in Experiment 3, suggesting that binding performance is impaired when encoding supports a less durable memory representation. Together, these results suggest that although feature bindings may be volatile and easily overwritten, attention is not required to maintain feature bindings in VWM.