Traditional group therapy and computer-administered treatment for test anxiety

Abstract

Traditional group therapy for test anxiety, modelled after Weissberg (1976), was compared with the computer-administered treatment of Thoresen, Insel, Roth, Ross, and Seyler (1986). Both treatments contained cognitive and behavioral elements including systematic desensitization and Jacobsonian relaxation techniques. The participants were 36 test-anxious students seeking treatment within a university counseling center. Effectiveness of each treatment was assessed by studying changes in test anxiety (total, worry, emotionality), as measured by the Test Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1980). and changes in grade point average (GPA). There was a statistically significant reduction in the three test anxiety measures for both treatments. No significant differences in GPA, as a result of the treatment, were found. There was no significant difference in reduction of test anxiety between the treatments. These findings support the efficacy of the computerized treatment which may be a suitable alternative to group therapy and, in some situations, may be the treatment of choice.     

Coaching Approach Behavior and Leading by Modeling: Rationale,Principles, and a Session-by-Session Description of the CALM Program for Early Childhood Anxiety

Whereas the cognitive-behavioral treatment of childhood anxiety has been well-researched and empirically supported over the last 20 years, interventions for anxiety in young children (ages 7 and below) have garnered little attention. Because young children generally lack the required developmental skills to effectively engage in cognitive-behavioral treatment, a simple downward extension of treatments used for older children is inappropriate. The CALM program (Coaching Approach behavior and Leading by Modeling) was developed as a developmentally compatible intervention to treat anxiety disorders in young children ages 3 to 7. The CALM program is an adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and an extension of Pincus, Eyberg, and Choate's (2000) adaptation of PCIT for young children with separation anxiety disorder. It is a parent-focused treatment that teaches parents skills to effectively reinforce their children's brave behavior and coaches the use of these skills during in-session parent-child interactions. The treatment emphasizes live, bug-in-the-ear coaching of parents during in vivo exposure sessions. This article describes the CALM program in detail.     

THE EFFECT OF RESPONSE EFFORT ON COMPLIANCE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

We evaluated the effect of response effort on compliance with three children who exhibited noncompliance when asked to relinquish a preferred toy. Participants were given access to a preferred toy and then asked to place the toy in a toy bin, which was located either 0.3 m (low effort) or 3 m (high effort) away. We used a reversal design to evaluate the effect of the effort manipulation. Compliance by all three participants was sensitive to the effort manipulation. In addition, compliance by two participants maintained as the distance required to comply with instructions was systematically increased. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of varying target luminance and cue luminance on attentional effects of spatial cues

Attentional effects of letter cues on target processing were investigated in a bilateral spatial cueing paradigm. Luminance contrast of the cue stimuli and of the target stimuli were both manipulated. Consistent with predictions derived from theoretical models of visual attention, manipulating cue luminance and target luminance had very different effects on performance. In agreement with the dorsal stream attention hypothesis (Marrett et al., 2011) orienting effects were unaffected by changes in cue luminance; but in agreement with the work of Reynolds, Pasternak, and Desimone (2000) and Carrasco, Ling, and Read (2004) orienting effects were strongly modulated by changes in the luminance and perceptual quality of the target. Theoretical implications of the results are considered and the data are explained in terms of a sensory enhancement effect, whereby attention amplifies the neuronal responses for attended stimuli.     

Emotion,the bodily,and the cognitive

In both psychology and philosophy, cognitive theories of emotion have met with increasing opposition in recent years. However, this apparent controversy is not so much a gridlock between antithetical stances as a critical debate in which each side is being forced to qualify its position in order to accommodate the other side of the story. Here, I attempt to sort out some of the disagreements between cognitivism and its rivals, adjudicating some disputes while showing that others are merely superficial. Looking at evidence from neuroscience and social psychology, as well as thought experiments and theoretical arguments, I conclude that it is necessary to acknowledge both that emotions have intentional content and that they involve somatic agitation. I also point out some of the more promising directions for future research in this area.     

Observing the transformation of experience into memory

The ability to remember one's past depends on neural processing set in motion at the moment each event is experienced. Memory formation can be observed by segregating neural responses according to whether or not each event is recalled or recognized on a subsequent memory test. Subsequent memory analyses have been performed with various neural measures, including brain potentials extracted from intracranial and extracranial electroencephalographic recordings, and hemodynamic responses from functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neural responses can predict which events, and which aspects of those events, will be subsequently remembered or forgotten, thereby elucidating the neurocognitive processes that establish durable episodic memories.     

Organizational Politics and Work Identity as Predictors of Organizational Commitment

Building on the organizational-politics (Kaemar & Baron, 1999) and social-identity (Hogg & Terry, 2000) literatures, we examined the moderating effect of work identity on the organizational-politics/organizational-commitment relationship. Data collected from 500 employees of a data-reporting organization and 943 employees of a customer-service organization indicate that employees who identified primarily with their occupations were less affected by the level of perceived politics in the organization in the consideration of their commitment than were employees who identified primarily with their employing organizations or one of its units. Implications for research and management practice are discussed.     

Williamson's Anti-luminosity Argument

Philosophical Studies -     

Major depression,chronic minor depression,and the five‐factor model of personality

Fifty‐eight outpatients with major depression completed the NEO Personality Inventory at intake (time 1) and after up to three months of anti‐depressant treatment (time 2). Within this group, 26 patients met additional Research Diagnostic Criteria for chronic minor depression. Repeated‐measures analyses revealed significant decreases in Neuroticism scores, and significant increases in Extraversion and Conscientiousness scores, from time 1 to time 2 for both patient groups. In addition, despite similar symptom severity at time 2, the patients with major depression+chronic minor depression scored significantly higher on the Angry Hostility facet of Neuroticism and significantly lower on Agreeableness than those with major depression alone. We suggest from these findings that Angry Hostility and low Agreeableness may represent a trait vulnerability in individuals with chronic minor depression that persists even following remission of the major depressive state, and that this may help to explain their high rates of relapse and recurrence. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.