Mental health professionals' attitudes towards people who are deaf

Mental health professionals' attitudes towards deaf people were examined in relation to their previous contact with deaf people and their knowledge of deafness. Data were gathered regarding different aspects of contact, including the number and type of relationships participants had had with deaf people. A cognitive-processing theory of attitude change following contact (Rothbart & John, 1985) was explored. Knowledge of deafness did not correlate with attitudes towards deaf people but a relationship was found between the amount of contact that professionals had with deaf people of equal or higher status and more positive attitudes.     

Vicarious dissonance: attitude change from the inconsistency of others

Three studies support the vicarious dissonance hypothesis that individuals change their attitudes when witnessing members of important groups engage in inconsistent behavior. Study 1, in which participants observed an actor in an induced-compliance paradigm, documented that students who identified with their college supported an issue more after hearing an ingroup member make a counterattitudinal speech in favor of that issue. In Study 2, vicarious dissonance occurred even when participants did not hear a speech, and attitude change was highest when the speaker was known to disagree with the issue. Study 3 showed that speaker choice and aversive consequences moderated vicarious dissonance, and demonstrated that vicarious discomfort--the discomfort observers imagine feeling if in an actor's place--was attenuated after participants expressed their revised attitudes.     

One obvious reason doctoral programs in psychology use the Graduate Record Examination

Given that most doctoral programs in psychology have more applicants than openings, it is understandable that programs would focus on higher GRE scores which predict program completion better than lower scores.     

Black Churches as Therapeutic Groups

This article examines how Black churches serve as therapeutic groups and thus provide a source of psychological support to African American communities. Group theory is used as a conceptual framework to discuss the findings from 7 focus groups conducted in Black churches in the New York metropolitan area. Implications for counselors working with clients involved in the Black religious tradition are discussed.     

Sex differences in the links between attractiveness, self-esteem and the body

Two studies were conducted to determine: if the links between the body and self-perceived attractiveness and self-esteem for men and women differ. Following evolutionary and social learning theories, affective and cognitive links were hypothesized for women's attractiveness while no links were hypothesized for men's attractiveness. Additionally, affective links were expected for women's self-esteem while no links were expected for men's self-esteem. The results obtained supported these hypotheses. Findings are discussed in terms of the societal value placed on women's attractiveness and evolutionary theory.     

An analysis of choice making in the assessment of young children with severe behavior problems

We examined how positive and negative reinforcement influenced time allocation, occurrence of problem behavior, and completion of parent instructions during a concurrent choice assessment with 2 preschool-aged children who displayed severe problem behavior in their homes. The children were given a series of concurrent choice options that varied availability of parent attention, access to preferred toys, and presentation of parent instructions. The results showed that both children consistently allocated their time to choice areas that included parent attention when no instructions were presented. When parent attention choice areas included the presentation of instructions, the children displayed differential patterns of behavior that appeared to be influenced by the presence or absence of preferred toys. The results extended previous applications of reinforcer assessment procedures by analyzing the relative influence of both positive and negative reinforcement within a concurrent-operants paradigm.     

Buddhist Meditation and Countertransference: A Case Study

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Stress-management interventions in the workplace: Stress counselling and stress audits

Within the field of stress-management intervention, there have been substantial disagreements on the 'right' approach. Some argue for counselling and stress-management training, while other argue for more substantive organisational change through stress audits. It is argued that both are important in meeting the needs of individuals and organisations.