Counselling after Stroke: An Unmet Need?

Information was gathered by means of a questionnaire survey and interviews from a group of patients (N = 17) and health professionals (N=13) working within a stroke unit, concerning the emotional needs of patients and and their relatives and how staff responded to these needs. Although most of the staff had received some training or information about counselling and felt that their interactions with patients often involved an element of counselling, there was strong support for separate specialised counselling services to deal with psychological problems suffered by both patients and their relatives. Patients rated assistance with personal and emotional worries and advice about physical problems as equally useful. A strong need for a counselling service in some form or other was expressed by patients. Neither the level of the patients' social support nor the presence or absence of aphasia, however, predicted the strength of interest expressed. It is concluded that specialised psychological help could be useful in various ways for both in- and out-patients and for their families.     

Performance of british university psychology departments as measured by number of publications in BPS journals

The aim of this investigation was to gauge the comparative research performance of university departments of psychology in Britain. The performance indicator was the number of publications per departmental staff member in the journals of the British Psychological Society (BPS) during the seven-year period 1983–1989. The contents of these journals were thoroughly searched, and articles written by members of university psychology departments in Britain were counted. The number of publications of each psychology department was divided by the size of the department in the corresponding year and the resulting annual figures were summed to determine the number of publications in BPS journals per departmental staff member over the seven-year period. These research performance figures correlated significantly with an earlier measure of departmental research performance based on publications in the seven European psychological journals with the highest citations per published article and with recent performance indicators based on other criteria     

Gender differences in the effectiveness of coping with dysphoria: A longitudinal study

This study examined whether men use more eflective means of coping with dysphoria on their own than do women. Forty-four male and female college students who reported feeling dysphoric were evaluated on their coping styles at three intervals in a six and a half week time span. The findings suggest that men and women do not use significantly different appraisal and coping techniques. For both sexes, problem-focused coping was associated with less dysphoria over time, whereas emotion-focused coping was associated with more dysphoria over time. Keeping anger in was associated with more dysphoria over time for women. In addition, the way in which the situation was appraised influenced the level of dysphoria over time for both sexes.     

The modification of delusional beliefs: A single-subject evaluation

The multiple-baseline across responses design was used to assess the effectiveness of a belief-modification treatment package to alter the intensity of three delusional beliefs of a chronically mentally ill inpatient. Results revealed reductions in belief intensity to zero levels for all three beliefs. Generalization effects were obtained for an individualized interview and psychiatric rating scale. These results were maintained through a 6-month follow-up period.     

“攻击性行为”社会认知的实验研究

采用两种不同的方法对人类“攻击性行为”社会认知的某些特点进行探索。结果表明：①再认过程中,被试对被攻击者的辨别率（Ａ＇）明显高于攻击者,Ｂ″也具有明显特征。证明人类的外显记忆更多倾向记忆“灾难现象”。②偏好测试中,被试偏好攻击者明显多于被攻击者。证实了“攻击性行为”社会认知实验性分离的存在。也就是说学习攻击性图片在人类记忆中,产生了“攻击性行为”社会认知的启动效应。同时也证实了内隐与外显记忆之间存在任务分离的加工演变过程。③偏好测试中出现被试对陌生人（中性人物）的偏好率明显高于攻击与被攻击者的总和。我们认为这是间接启动效应,是外显记忆和内隐记忆在选择上发生冲突继而导致倾向一致的结果。     

A computer-controlled administration of the matching familiar figures test

The Kagan Matching Familiar Figures Test of Impulsivity/Reflectivity was modified to allow computer control of stimulus presentation and data acquisition via IBM-compatible systems. The comparability of computer administration and traditional hand administration was examined in a split-half study with a sample of 58 students (ages, 18–39 years). Analyses of variance revealed no significant differences between the administration techniques for latency and a small but significant difference for accuracy. Correlations between the two administration techniques were .61 for latency and .40 for error scores. Internal consistency coefficients for computer administration exceeded those for hand administration on both latency and accuracy. These data compare favorably with results reported by others and suggest that computer administration offers a viable alternative to traditional hand administration of the MFFT in research applications.     

DEFINING,VALIDATING, AND INCREASING INDICES OF HAPPINESS AMONG PEOPLE WITH PROFOUND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

In this study we attempted to operationalize, measure, and increase happiness among people with profound disabilities. Happiness indices were defined and observed among 5 individuals. Validation measures indicated that (a) increases in happiness indices were observed when individuals were presented with most preferred stimuli relative to least preferred stimuli, (b) increases in unhappiness indices were observed when they were presented with least preferred relative to most preferred stimuli, and (c) practitioner ratings of participant happiness coincided with observed indices. Subsequently, classroom staff increased happiness indices through presentation and contingent withdrawal of activities. Results suggested that a behavioral approach can enhance happiness as one aspect of quality of life among people with profound disabilities. Research directions are offered that focus on using a behavioral approach to investigate other private events that are important among people with disabilities.     

Spectral discontinuities and the vowel length effect

Perception of voicing for stop consonants in consonant-vowel syllables can be affected by the duration of the following vowel so that longer vowels lead to more “voiced” responses. On the basis of several experiments, Green, Stevens, and Kuhl (1994) concluded that continuity of fundamental frequency (f0), but not continuity of formant structure, determined the effective length of the following vowel. In an extension of those efforts, we found here that both effects were critically dependent on particular f 0s and formant values. First, discontinuity inf0 does not necessarily preclude the vowel length effect because the effect maintains whenf0 changes from 200 to 100 Hz, and 200-Hz partials extend continuously through test syllables. Second, spectral discontinuity does preclude the vowel length effect when formant changes result in a spectral peak shifting to another harmonic. The results indicate that the effectiveness of stimulus changes for sustaining or diminishing the vowel length effect depends critically on particulars of spectral composition.