Addressing Cultural Variables in Parent Training Programs With Latino Families

There has recently been increased attention given to understanding how cultural variables may have an impact on the efficacy of treatments with Latino families seeking psychological services. Within parent training programs, understanding the extent to which culture can affect parenting practices is vital to providing quality care. The focus of this article is to discuss how different cultural variables such as respeto, personalismo, machismo, marianismo, and acculturation can impact the efficacy of parent training programs for Latino families. Recommendations for addressing these cultural variables in parent training programs are provided.     

Semantic Factors in the Production of Number Agreement

This paper examines the role of semantic factors in the production of subject–verb number agreement. As an ostensibly grammatical process, number agreement provides an interesting case for examining the flow and interaction of semantic and syntactic information through the language-production system. Using a sentence-completion task, agreement errors can be elicited from subjects by presenting them with sentence fragments containing a complex noun-phrase, in which the nonhead noun is plural (e.g., The key to the cabinets...WERE missing.). Previous research has demonstrated that the probability of making an error can be affected by varying the properties of the nouns in the complex noun phrase. By investigating which variables do and do not affect error rates, constraints on the flow of information through the production system can be inferred. In three experiments, we investigated the possible effects of three different semantic manipulations of the nouns in the complex NP: animacy, semantic overlap, and plausibility of modification by the sentence predicate. We found that both animacy and semantic relatedness had reliable effects on error rates, indicating that the mechanism involved in implementing agreement cannot be blind to semantic information. However, the plausibility with which each noun could serve as the subject of the sentence predicate had no effect on error rates. Taken together, these results suggest that while semantic information is visible to the agreement mechanism, there are still constraints on when this information can affect the process. Specifically, it may be the case that only information contained within the complex NP is considered for the purposes of implementing agreement.     

Process dissociation using a guided procedure

A method for achieving process dissociation is described that places less emphasis on participants' understanding and remembering interpretations of test cues than does the standard procedure. The proposed method, called the guided procedure, tests memory with a sequence of two prompts, one requesting word-stem recognition, followed by another for word-stem completion. Inclusion and exclusion conditions are produced by requesting completion of recognized stems to form previously presented or new words, respectively. Estimates of automatic and conscious memory produced by the standard and the guided procedures are compared in studies modeled after Toth, Reingold, and Jacoby (1994). Although not significantly different in many aspects, the outcomes differ in ways that may reflect less reliance on a generate-recognize strategy of participants tested with the guided procedure. Additional measures of memory available only with the guided procedure are presented.     

DOES IT MATTER HOW WE GOT HERE? DANGERS PERCEIVED IN LITERALISM AND EVOLUTIONISM

Abstract. Creationism and evolutionism are taken to typify a fundamental opposition among the diverse beliefs about creation to be found in the United Kingdom and the United States. A comparison between the two types and the two countries suggests that people may be more concerned about the credibility and consequences of belief in an alternative account of our origins than about the actual method by which we were created. Examples of concern include interpretations of the Bible, ethical implications, and the epistemological standings of revelation and/or science that are thought to follow from acceptance of a particular belief concerning how we got here.     

The repertory grid approach to analysing family members' perception of self and others: a pilot study

We report a pilot study involving the administration of a questionnaire to family members, based upon the three key target dimensions of the distance regulation theory of Kan tor and Lehr (1975). The questions, concerning family relationships and personal attributes of family members, were based on constructs derived from the theory, and the responses of family members were in a form consistent with repertory grid analysis procedures. The method allows the family researcher or therapist to explore the organization of the constructs for each family member, showing how each member is construed both by others and by themselves.     

Copernicus,the orbs,and the equant

I argue that Copernicus accepted the reality of celestial spheres on the grounds that the equant problem is unintelligible except as a problem about real spheres. The same considerations point to a number of generally unnoticed liabilities of Copernican astronomy, especially gaps between the spheres, and the failure of some spheres to obey the principle that their natural motion is to rotate. These difficulties may be additional reasons for Copernicus's reluctance to publish, and also stand in the way of strict realism as applied to De Revolutionibus, although a realistic astronomy may be envisioned as a goal for Copernicus's research program.     

Mood theme and bizarreness of delusions in schizophrenia and mood psychosis.

Narratives of the delusions of 83 schizophrenic and 55 nonschizophrenic psychiatric subjects were categorized as of one or more of 12 types. Narratives were also independently assessed along dimensional scales of bizarreness and mood theme. Schneiderian and grandiose types were found to be more common in schizophrenics and mood psychotics, respectively. Dimensional measures showed that the delusions of schizophrenics were more unlikely and that those of mood psychotics had a stronger mood theme. Regression analysis determined that Schneiderian delusions and a dimensional estimate of mood theme best differentiated schizophrenics from mood psychotics. Assessments along dimensions of other parameters, particularly those represented by Schneiderian delusions, may further discriminate the functional psychoses.     

The helping process in couples

This study examined couples' informal helping interactions, that is, how partners helped each other with their psychological problems. Fifty-three couples participated in a communication sampling task in which they took each of two roles, discloser and helper (analogous to client and therapist). Audiotapes of the interactions were subsequently categorized according to helper response modes and rated on global measures of problem solving, understanding, and supportiveness. The most frequent helper response modes were question, advisement, and interpretation; reflection was infrequently used. There were no differences in helping communication associated with gender or sex-role self-concept. The important characteristic of the helpers' communication was not the type of response used, but the evaluative quality of the response. Helpers who were more satisfied with their relationships tended to be more understanding and supportive. Also, interactions rated as more understanding and supportive tended to be experienced as more helpful by the disclosers.