Inherent directionality of “even if” counterfactual conditionals

In this research, we investigate whether semifactual conditionals such as “even if there had been an A, there would have been a B” are understood by thinking initially of the antecedent “A”, as was found with factual conditionals. The “inherent directionality” hypothesis assumes that for the comprehension of most relational statements, a presuppositional element (i.e. the “relatum”) is initially established. For “even if”, both terms could work as “relatum”. This is because on the one hand, people tend to infer “B” from “A” and “not-A” and, on the other hand, “B” could work as a pragmatic presupposition. In the present experiment, semifactual and factual conditionals were tested with a sentence-picture verification task. Results were consistent with the “inherent directionality” hypothesis: only “if then” factual conditionals, but not semifactuals, showed a preference for reasoning from the antecedent, with faster verifications.     

Obstacle Avoidance Increases Asymmetry of Crossing Step in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease and Neurologically Healthy Individuals

The authors' aim was to investigate gait asymmetry of crossing step during obstacle avoidance while walking in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) under and without the effects of dopaminergic medication. Thirteen individuals with PD and 13 neurologically healthy individuals performed 5 trials of unobstructed gait and 10 trials of obstacle crossing during gait (5 trials with each leg) and spatiotemporal parameters were analyzed. Obstacle crossing increased step duration of the crossing step for the most-affected or nondominant limb compared to the crossing step with the least-affected or dominant limb. Individuals with PD without the effects of medication increased step duration for the step with the least-affected limb compared to the step with the most-affected limb during obstacle crossing.     

The final chapter of Vygotsky's Thinking and Speech: A reader's guide

The seventh and last chapter of Vygotsky's Thinking and Speech (1934) is generally considered as his final word in psychology. It is a long chapter with a complex argumentative structure in which Vygotsky gives his view on the relationship between thinking and speech. Vygotsky's biographers have stated that the chapter was dictated in the final months of Vygotsky's life when his health was rapidly deteriorating. Although the chapter is famous, its structure has never been analyzed in any detail. In the present article we reveal its rhetorical structure and show how Vygotsky drew on many hitherto unrevealed sources to convince the reader of his viewpoint.     

Teacher Job Stress and Satisfaction in Urban Schools: Disentangling Individual-, Classroom-, and Organizational-Level Influences

Schools remain among the most frequent providers of children’s mental health services, particularly in low-income urban settings. Several decades of research have focused on training teachers to implement evidence-based interventions for minimizing disruptive behavior. Studies consistently demonstrate robust improvements in student behavior and learning; however, the impact on teachers’ work-related stress or satisfaction is not well understood. Six urban, high-poverty elementary schools were randomly assigned to a school mental health services model (Links to Learning; L2L) for referred, disruptive students or to services and professional development as usual (SAU). Teachers (n = 71, K-4 general education teachers) in L2L schools participated in professional development and consultation in two universal and two targeted interventions to reduce disruptive behaviors and promote learning. Teachers (n = 65) in SAU schools participated in professional development as usual. Multiple regression models examined teacher reports of individual-level self-efficacy, classroom-level student functioning, and school-level organizational health as predictors of stress and satisfaction. Findings revealed no significant difference between conditions on teacher work-related stress or satisfaction. Organizational health was the strongest predictor of stress and satisfaction. Training on and implementation of evidence-based classroom interventions did not appear to significantly impact teachers’ work-related stress or satisfaction. Instead, findings point to organizational climate and teacher connectedness as potential levers for change, supporting prior work on teacher stress and satisfaction in schools. The significance of targeting organizational factors may be particularly significant in urban school districts.     

Mutuality*

Ferenczi’s striving for mutuality, a call which Freud didn’t take up, let him explore this concept with his analysands. He thus became the originator of mutual analysis, although with caveats, and of the concept of introjection, another important Ferenczian notion. The analyst’s attitude of knowing the ‘objective’ and independent Truth is changing its orientation into that of a co-construction in the analytic work; here the analyst and the analysand build a third internal world, which they share and which remains their own. Clinical vignettes illustrate the implications of these views.     

Economic Impact of Third-Wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapies: A Systematic Review and Quality Assessment of Economic Evaluations in Randomized Controlled Trials

The term third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) encompasses new forms of CBT that both extend and innovate within CBT. Most third-wave therapies have been subject to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focused on clinical effectiveness; however, the number and quality of economic evaluations in these RCTs has been unknown and may be few. Evidence about efficiency of these therapies may help support decisions on efficient allocation of resources in health policies. The main aim of this study was to systematically review the economic impact of third-wave therapies in the treatment of patients with physical or mental conditions. We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINALH to identify economic evaluations of third-wave therapies. Quality and Risk of Bias (RoB) assessment of economic evaluations was also made using the Drummond 35-item checklist and the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias, respectively. Eleven RCTs were included in this systematic review. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and extended Behaviour Activation (eBA) showed acceptable cost-effectiveness and cost-utility ratios. No study employed a time horizon of more than 3 years. Quality and RoB assessments highlight some limitations that temper the findings. There is some evidence that MBCT, MBSR, ACT, DBT, and eBA are efficient from a societal or a third-party payer perspective. No economic analysis was found for many third-wave therapies. Therefore, more economic evaluations with high methodological quality are needed.     

Generalization of equivalence relations from photos to objects by preschool children

Generalized equivalence classes are stimulus classes that consist of equivalent stimuli and other physically similar class‐member stimuli. The present study evaluated whether preschool children would form equivalence classes among photos of abstract objects (2D) and show equivalence generalization to the corresponding objects (3D), printed photos (2D stimuli), and to black‐and‐white drawn pictures (2D stimuli). Six typically developing children were taught arbitrary relations to establish three 3‐member equivalence classes with 2D stimuli presented on a computer screen. AB‐AC baseline relations (for half of the participants) and AB‐BC relations (for the other half) were taught using a multiple‐probe design to assess taught and tested relations. After class formation, three types of generalization probes were conducted: generalization to 3D stimuli, generalization between 2D (printed photos) and 3D stimuli, and generalization to drawn pictures (2D). All of the participants formed the equivalence classes. Two participants met the criterion for all three generalization probe types. Two participants presented mixed results across tests, and two participants did not exhibit equivalence generalization. The results demonstrated equivalence generalization from 2D to 3D stimuli in preschool children, although the variability across participants suggests that such generalization cannot be assumed a priori.     

On S

The sentential logic S extends classical logic by an implication-like connective. The logic was first presented by Chellas as the smallest system modelled by contraining the Stalnaker-Lewis semantics for counterfactual conditionals such that the conditional is effectively evaluated as in the ternary relations semantics for relevant logics. The resulting logic occupies a key position among modal and substructural logics. We prove completeness results and study conditions for proceeding from one family of logics to another.We are grateful to Peter Apostoli, Kosta Doen, and anonymous referees for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. A.F.'s work has been supported by a grant from the Volkswagen-Stiftung.Presented byJan Zygmunt     

Test-Retest Reliability of the Spanish Version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV)

The test-retest reliability of the Spanish Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV) is presented. This version was developed in Puerto Rico in consultation with an international bilingual committee, sponsored by NIMH. The sample (N = 146) consisted of children recruited from outpatient mental health clinics and a drug residential treatment facility. Two different pairs of nonclinicians administered the DISC twice to the parent and child respondents. Results indicated fair to moderate agreement for parent reports on most diagnoses. Relatively similar agreement levels were observed for last month and last year time frames. Surprisingly, the inclusion of impairment as a criterion for diagnosis did not substantially change the pattern of results for specific disorders. Parents were more reliable when reporting on diagnoses of younger (4–10) than older children. Children 11–17 years old were reliable informants on disruptive and substance abuse/dependence disorders, but unreliable for anxiety and depressive disorders. Hence, parents were more reliable when reporting about anxiety and depressive disorders whereas children were more reliable than their parents when reporting about disruptive and substance disorders.     

Prejudice toward immigrant workers among Dutch employees: integrated threat theory revisited

Integrated Threat Theory (ITT) (Stephan & Stephan, 1993 , 1996 ) describes four types of threats as mediators in the relation between antecedent factors (previous intergroup conflict, intergroup contact, status inequalities, in‐group identification, knowledge about the out‐group, and intergroup contact) and prejudice. The four mediating types of threats, which influence prejudice according to ITT are: intergroup anxiety, negative stereotyping, realistic and symbolic threats. In this study, the ITT model was tested using structural equation modeling on data collected in sample of 187 Dutch employees. Two alternative explanatory models are proposed in which, first intergroup anxiety and then negative stereotyping mediate the relation between the other ITT threats and prejudice. The data show a good fit with the model in which negative stereotypes are considered as mediator variable. The implications of these findings for ITT are discussed in the context of recent theoretical developments in the study of stereotypes and prejudice. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.