Generalized anxiety and panic disorders: Response to Cox, Cohen, Direnfeld, and Swinson (1996)

Contrary to the contention of Cox, Cohen, Direnfeld and Swinson (1996, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 949–954) that the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck & Steer, 1993, Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory) measures primarily symptoms associated with panic attacks rather than anxiety in general, we propose that the higher level of anxiety found in patients with panic disorders not only is not an artifact of the BAI's symptom content, but patients with panic disorders truly have more anxiety than patients with other types of anxiety disorders. Furthermore, the BAI contains symptoms present in other anxiety disorders, besides panic disorder, and specifically includes 11 symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The BAI and revised Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS-R; Riskind, Beck, Brown & Steer, 1987, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 175, 474–479) scores of 274 (69%) outpatients with panic disorders and 123 (31%) outpatients with GAD were found to differentiate these two diagnostic groups equally and significantly. The panic disorder outpatients had higher scores on both the BAI and the HARS-R than did the GAD patients. Thus, Cox et al.'s (1996) speculation about the BAI's yielding spuriously high levels of anxiety in patients with panic disorders revives an important issue relevant to the relation of panic disorder to GAD.     

Predicting environmental learning from spatial abilities: An indirect route

Relationships among spatial abilities, as assessed by a battery of psychometric tests and experimental tasks, and environmental learning, as assessed by a series of macrospatial tasks, were examined in two studies using confirmatory factor analysis with directional paths. The initial study indicated the utility of a five-factor model, one (general spatial ability) derived from psychometric tests, two (spatial-sequential memory and spatial perspective-taking latency) from experimental tasks, and two (topological knowledge and Euclidean direction knowledge) from measures of environmental learning. The best fitting path model further indicated that the spatial-sequential memory factor mediated the relationship between general spatial ability and topological knowledge, and that perspective-taking latency mediated the relationship between general spatial ability and Euclidean direction knowledge. The second study confirmed the five-factor path model using a different participant sample and environmental setting. The only failure to replicate involved the path between perspective-taking latency in the lab and Euclidean direction knowledge in the environment. Results indicate that the relationship between basic spatial abilities and environmental learning is significantly mediated by cognitive processes that can be assessed using laboratory tasks.     

Tests of two hypotheses on extraversion

Three samples give mixed results on a hypothesis that higher extraversion is associated with greater tendency to assume similarity between oneself and others. Results consistently support a second hypothesis that group judgements of the socially desirable personality on an American college campus will show that personality to be highly extraverted. The average actual student is in fact substantially less extraverted than what is considered desirable. These findings are discussed in terms of possible tensions produced by the discrepancy between the ideal and the real.     

The psychophysiology of the visual thought perception of visually evoked brain potentials and recognition mechanisms

The study tries to demonstrate, that the combination of the actualgenetic method (Sander, Froehlich), and the VEP, allows a systematic and differentiated analysis of the psychophysiological process of visual thinking. A student group was compared with mental retardates in VEP and EOG, watching actualgenetically manipulated picture series. Phasic EEG-changes are significantly related to the identification process. Most sensitive are amplitude changes about 120 to 270 msec. The mental retardates had significant VEP changes 180--270 msec, the students 128--192 msec after picture presentation. The process factor analysis (Pawlik) elaborated an illumination factor and two factors being labelled general reaction set. VEP averaging over the persons revealed different attention and/or discrimination behavior for the student group and the mental retardates, identifying the picture objects.     

A study of group phase development and emergent leadership

A theoretical model of developmental phases and emergent leaders in psychotherapy is presented in this paper. The model forms the basis for a research program aimed at the design of a methodology which will empirically identify phase processes and boundaries and emerging, differentiated leadership. Nine phases have been identified in the development of group structure as well as four major leadership roles which include task, emotional, scapegoat and defiant leaders.Ariadne P. Beck is in private practice in Chicago, Illinois.     

Incentive properties of sucrose and saccharin under different deprivation conditions

In Expt 1 it was found that hungry rats developed a 100% preference for 8% sucrose over water in a maze-choice situation, whereas thirsty rats developed no preference. When deprivation conditions for the two groups were reversed the pattern of preference relations also reversed. In a 2nd experiment nondeprived rats developed a preference for either 8% sucrose or 0.2% saccharin over water while thirsty Ss did not develop a preference for either of these over water. The results are discussed in terms of incentive theory.     

Reconsidering a transplant: A response to Wagner

Nils-Frederic Wagner takes issue with my argument that influential critics of “transplant” thought experiments make two cardinal mistakes. He responds that the mistakes I identify are not mistakes at all. The mistakes are rather on my part, in that I have not taken into account the conceptual genesis of personhood, that my view of thought experiments is idiosyncratic and possibly self-defeating, and in that I have ignored important empirical evidence about the relationship between brains and minds. I argue that my case still stands and that transplant thought experiments can do damage to rivals of a psychological continuity theory of personal identity like Marya Schechtman’s Person Life View.     

The systematic identification of content and delivery style of an exercise intervention

Objective: This study explored the utility of using behaviour change taxonomies and checklists to systematically assess the content and delivery of behavioural support for physical activity delivered through an established exercise-referral scheme.

Design: An observation study was conducted whereby 22% of initial consultations were observed and audio-recorded, using quota sampling stratified by exercise-referral advisor.

Main outcome measures: Content was independently coded by two researchers, to assess; (i) completeness in delivering the programme protocol, (ii) behaviour change techniques delivered (defined using the CALO-RE taxonomy) and (iii) delivery style according to the Behaviour Change Counselling Index (BECCI).

Results: Protocol completeness was 63.6% (range 35.6–74.6%). The behaviour change techniques delivered most consistently were ‘providing information about where and when to perform the behavior’ (86%) and ‘setting outcome goals’ (82%). Other evidence-based techniques such as self-monitoring were infrequently observed. Variation in BECCI scores indicated that advisors could, but did not consistently, provide a client-centred service.

Conclusion: This study highlights how theoretically informed taxonomies can be useful in evaluating service delivery within applied practice, providing a meaningful way of assessing the completeness of protocol delivery relative to evidence. The provision of feedback to practitioners based on such objective criteria also facilitated positive academic-practitioner communication.