The Hopelessness Scale for Children: Psychometric properties with normal and emotionally disturbed adolescents

The psychometric properties of the Hopelessness Scale for Children (HSC) were evaluated with a sample of 834 normal adolescents and 93 adolescent suicide attempters. Factor analyses studies revealed two factors with both groups. Internal consistency with item-total score correlations were acceptable, while moderate test-retest reliability was found over a 10-week period with the normal sample. Support for the validity of the HSC was provided via studies with the suicide attempter group in which positive correlations with depression and depressive attributional style were found. Predicted differences between the suicide attempters, an outpatient psychiatric sample, and normal controls were also found. However, some items did not appear to discriminate suicide attempters from controls. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of the HSC with adolescents and adolescent suicide attempters and with regard to differences between child and adult samples in hopelessness.     

The Daily Stress Inventory: Validity and effect of repeated administration

The Daily Stress Inventory (DSI) is a self-report measure of minor stressors which is administered daily. One test of the validity of a measure of daily stress is its sensitivity to the difference between the stressors of workdays and those of weekends. A second concern in establishing the validity of a test administered repeatedly is that self-monitoring may influence the obtained scores. The present study investigated these two issues using a sample of 70 community adults who reported full-time employment. These subjects provided a week of self-monitoring with the DSI. The results indicated that the DSI was sensitive to the difference between weekends and weekdays. The analyses of the effect of repeated administration suggested that the first day of self-monitoring may differ from the other days of self-monitoring. When the first day was eliminated, there was no significant difference among the days of self-monitoring, and the difference between the weekdays and the weekends remained. The data suggest that the DSI is a valid measure of the construct of daily stress and that any influence of repeated self-monitoring with the scale may be easily resolved.     

Brief crisis group psychotherapy versus the initial sessions of long-term group psychotherapy: An exploratory comparison

An attempt was made to specify the therapist behaviors characteristic of the brief crisis group (BCG) approach, to assess how patients experience BCG on dimensions of session impact and group climat, and to describe the changes possible from BCG on measures of outcome by contrasting this modality with the initial sessions of traditional long-term therapy groups in a preexperimental design. Data obtained from four eight-session BCGs and three beginning long-term groups (LTG) were used for analyses. Patients were administered the Session Evaluation (SEQ) and Group Climate (GCQ) Questionnaires at the end of each group session. Two judges sat in on each session and coded the types of therapist interventions using the Therapist Behavior Categories (TBC) system. Aspects of self-esteem and symptomatology were assessed as indices of change over the 8-week period in a pre-post fashion. Therapists in BCG evidenced a distinct pattern of interventions during midpoint group sessions (sessions 3–6), placing a greater emphasis on challenging patient perceptions and providing information than their LTG counterparts. The therapists' use of self as an issue in BCG increased as termination approached and apparently served a more limited function than in LTG. Patients in BCG reported a more rapid development of a working group and experienced greater session benefit. Patients in BCG also reported lower levels of conflict and avoidance and a greater decrease in these resistance behaviors. As expected, BCG patients reported substantially greater improvement on most outcome dimensions at the end of the 8-week period. Results are considered as clarifying the approach to and impact of BCG psychotherapy.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Lake Louise, Alberta, June 19–23, 1984.     

THOUGHTS ON THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF RELIGION AND THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF ARCHETYPAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract. There is good reason to suppose that religious belief and ritual are manifestations of the archetypal blueprint for human existence encoded in the genetic structure of our species. As a consequence, religion has become a focus of study for psychobiologists and neuroscientists. However, scientific explanations of religious experience do not "explain away" such experience nor are they substitutes for the experience itself. On the contrary, scientific discoveries may be seen as corroboration of religious insights into the unus mundus , the essential oneness of all experience, which links human nature with the nature of the cosmos.     

Unconditional-stimulus locus and interstimulus-interval shift in rabbit(Oryctolagus cuniculus) nictitating membrane conditioning

The nictitating membrane response of rabbits was conditioned at a 200 msec interstimulus interval (ISI) with either circumorbital (C) or paraorbital (P) shock as the unconditional-stimulus locus. After 3 acquisition days half of each group was shifted to a 700 msec interstimulus interval. Results indicated: (1) more rapid acquisition for Group C, (2) postshift response decrements for both groups, (3) more rapid and stable, as well as complete return to preshift performance levels for Group C. Results were discussed in terms of the response-shaping hypothesis and the contiguity-substitution hypothesis in explaining both conditional response emergence and subsequent modifications of CR topography.     

A microprocessor-(Heath ET-3400) based backup control system for laboratory experiments

This paper describes a psychology laboratory experimental control system that utilizes a PDP-11/10 minicomputer to perform both instrument control and data acquisition functions. The minicomputer is backed up by a Heath ET-3400 microprocessor trainer system which performs control functions only. Major components of the hardware and software comprising This system are described.     

Factors influencing the response latencies of subnormal children in naming pictures

The times taken to name 56 drawings of objects on five separate occasions were analysed for 21 ESN(M) and 21 ESN(S) children, matched for picture-naming vocabulary. The ESN(S) group not only had a higher mean response latency but also showed greater inter- and intra-subject variance. Nine objects were selected whose names have a Thorndike-Lorge language frequency of 50 words per million or greater, and nine others were selected with a frequency of less than 50 words per million. Each object was drawn in two ways, one giving a two-dimensional outline with the addition of important detail, the other drawing also incorporating cues indicating the depth of the object. An analysis of variance of the children's latencies in naming the selected 36 pictures of 18 objects over five trials indicated that the method of drawing had no effect upon naming latencies. Pictures with high-frequency names were named faster than those with lower frequency names, the ESN(S) group showing a greater rate of increase in naming latency for the lower frequency words than the ESN(M) children. Results were discussed in terms of the Oldfield and Lachman models of lexical memory storage and of the search processes required for the retrieval of names.     

The Effect of Looking Behavior on Perceptions of a Communicator's Credibility1

A courtroom simulation technique was employed to examine the effects of a communicator's looking behavior on observers' perceptions of his credibility. Half of the subjects heard testimony presented on behalf of a defendent by a witness (one of three confederates) who was visually presented as either looking directly toward the target of his communication (gaze maintenance) or slightly downward (gaze aversion) while testifying. The other half of the subjects merely heard the audio portion of the testimony. The results indicated that witnesses who averted their gaze were perceived to be less credible and, ultimately, the defendant for whom they testified was judged as more likely to be guilty. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for research concerned with the communicative effects of visual behavior.