Attachment as an Integrating Concept in Couple and Family Therapy: Some Considerations with Special Reference to South Africa

Couples, marital, and family therapy in South Africa and throughout the world have undergone radical changes in theory and practice in the last three to four decades. These developments are seen in the emergence of different approaches which may be regarded as modern or post-modern, intrapsychic or systemic. While these different approaches are often seen as theoretically and clinically incompatible, it is the aim in this paper to suggest that the time has come to seek points of integration of these different approaches, and the construct of attachment is proposed as an ideal integrating concept. Two case illustrations are used to demonstrate attachment as an integrating concept. It is suggested that the concept of attachment may also be applied to family therapists and associations, including and especially in South Africa.     

State Regulations and the ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice: Oil and Water for the Substance Abuse Counselor

State regulations for substance abuse treatment facilities showed low compliance ratings for counselor, supervisor, and assessor qualifications when compared to the ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (American Counseling Association, 1995). Similarly, few of the 34 participating states required treatment outcome studies or referenced licensed professional counselors. The authors raised concerns for treatment quality and accountability.     

Semantic networks: visualizations of knowledge

The history of semantic networks is almost as long as that of their parent discipline, artificial intelligence. They have formed the basis of many fascinating, yet controversial, discussions in conferences and in the literature, ranging from metaphysics through to complexity theory in computer science. Many excellent surveys of the field have been written, and yet it is our belief that none of them has examined the important link between their use as a formal scheme for knowledge representation and their more heuristic use as an informal tool for thinking. In our consideration of semantic networks as computerized tools, we will discuss three levels of abstraction that we believe can help us understand how semantic networks are used. I.     

Territorial Defense in Parking Lots: Retaliation Against Waiting Drivers

Three studies showed that drivers leaving a public parking space are territorial even when such behavior is contrary to their goal of leaving. In Study 1 (observations of 200 departing cars), intruded-upon drivers took longer to leave than nonintruded-upon drivers. In Study 2, an experiment involving 240 drivers in which level of intrusion and status of intruder were manipulated, drivers took longer to leave when another car was present and when the intruder honked. Males left significantly sooner when intruded upon by a higher rather than lower status car, whereas females' departure times did not differ as a function of the status of the car. There was evidence that distraction might explain some of this effect. In Study 3, individuals who had parked at a mall were asked about how they would react to intruders. Compared to what they believed other people would do, respondents said they would leave faster if the car were just waiting for them to leave but they would take longer to leave if the driver in the car honked at them.     

Task-Oriented Versus Other-Referenced Competition: Differential Implications for Children's Peer Relations1

We conceptualized a multidimensional construct of competitiveness among children. In our model, competing in order to achieve task mastery is distinct from competition motivated by social comparison. Competition is further differentiated by domain, with a distinction between the physical and cognitive domains. Peer- and self-report measures were developed to measure these dimensions. In general, these factors emerged as well-defined and as having somewhat different implications for peer relations. There was little concordance between the peer-nomination and self-report data. The peer nominations indicated that task-oriented competition was generally associated with acceptance and prosocial behavior, whereas other-directed competition was generally associated with being liked less and being seen as aggressive. There was little corroboration of these links in the analyses based on the self-report data.     

Group performance and interpersonal evaluations as determinants of egotistical attributions in groups1

Group members often try to claim personal credit for the successes of their group while avoiding blame for group failures. Two experiments examined the effects of evaluations from their fellows on such egotism in groups. In Experiment 1, 96 subjects participated in four-person, problem-solving groups, and, after completing the group tasks, rated the competency and worth of each of the other group members. Subjects then received bogus written feedback indicating that the group had either succeeded or failed, and that the other members had considered them: (a) the most competent member of the group, (b) the least competent, or (c) of average competence. Group performance and personal evaluations interacted in influencing subjects' perceptions of their personal performances, relative responsibility for the group performance, and potency within the group, generally supporting predictions derived from self-esteem and equity theory. Subjects claimed more responsibility for success than for failure only when they were favorably evaluated by their peers, and claimed the least responsibility for group success when they were unfavorably evaluated. The latter acceptance of negative peer evaluations was examined in Experiment 2, which manipulated the consensus of the evaluations given 76 high or low self-esteem subjects. Regardless of their self-esteem or the consensus of the evaluations, subjects again seemed to accept unfavorable evaluations. High self-esteem subjects did, though, rate their personal performance and relative responsibility higher than low self-esteem subjects.     

A microcomputer-controlled laboratory: Hardware

A microcomputer-controlled laboratory designed to incorporate the Motorola 6800 microprocessor unit is described. The microcomputer system is reliable, flexible, and expandable, as well as adaptable to the next generation of Motorola microprocessor components. A modular system design utilizes multiprocessing with separate microprocessor units dedicated to specific functions. This computer, when used with powerful, high-level software, provides a general-purpose psychology laboratory computer system that is easy to use.     

Response conflict theory,error rates and hybrid processing: A reply to McLeod

McLeod (1977) has proposed a parallel processing model of the psychological refractory period quite similar to an earlier model most recently adumbrated by Kantowitz (1974a). This article corrects some erroneous statements made by McLeod about the testability of the response conflict model and emphasizes the importance of error data in distinguishing among conceptually similar models of the PRP effect.