Frustration-aggression hypothesis: examination and reformulation

Examines the Dollard et al. (1939) frustration-aggression hypothesis. The original formulation's main proposition is limited to interference with an expected attainment of a desired goal on hostile (emotional) aggression. Although some studies have yielded negative results, others support the core proposition. Frustrations can create aggressive inclinations even when they are not arbitrary or aimed at the subject personally. Interpretations and attributions can be understood partly in terms of the original analysis but they can also influence the unpleasantness of the thwarting. A proposed revision of the 1939 model holds that frustrations generate aggressive inclinations to the degree that they arouse negative affect. Evidence regarding the aggressive consequences of aversive events is reviewed, and Berkowitz's cognitive-neoassociationistic model is summarized.     

Applying the Interactive Systems Framework to the Dissemination and Adoption of National and State Recommendations for Hypertension

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP), commissioned an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report to identify the highest priority action areas for CDC, state health departments, and other public health partners in their efforts to reduce and control hypertension. To assess the dissemination and adoption of the IOM report recommendations, DHDSP developed an evaluation based on the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF). The evaluation incorporates data collection at critical points across 3 years. In this article, we focus on the ISF systems to describe the role of funded state partners and their relationship with CDC in implementing public health recommendations. We describe baseline results for three data collection activities: (1) key informant interviews, (2) a Web‐based survey, and (3) content analysis of state workplans to determine the degree of alignment with IOM recommendations. For example, currently 30 % of surveyed programs are implementing most (or all) of the recommendations in the IOM report, however 76 % intend to change hypertension program priorities based on the recommendations of the IOM report. Qualitative data suggest that there are several facilitators and barriers in implementing public health policy recommendations. DHDSP will use these baseline results to provide additional technical assistance and support to state health departments in their efforts to implement the IOM report's recommendations. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

REVIEWS

The enduring legacy of Emma Goldman may be more of a factor in American Jewish politics and identity, especially among women, than is typically assumed. In order to gain a better sense of her positive resonance it may help to revisit Goldman's origins and intellectual development from under-exploited vantage points. An immense body of historiography is devoted to Goldman. Yet her birthplace, Kovno [Kaunas], Lithuania, and her initial United States residence, Rochester, New York, are unduly minimized. Kovno's Jews were famed for their revolutionary politics and ardent rationalism; Rochester was (supposedly) exemplary of a new industrial order. Goldman perceived, however, that the Jews' plight in Upstate New York was far from hopeful. She narrated, and even distorted, her autobiography to underscore Rochester as a crucible of her radicalism and the setting of a dramatic challenge to her loyalties, while her “Litvak” legacy and connections were vital throughout her life. Moreover, she was able to maintain a passionate commitment to her family while sustaining fierce adherence to universal principles.     

The Red Herring technique: a methodological response to the problem of demand characteristics

In past research, we planted false memories for food related childhood events using a simple false feedback procedure. Some critics have worried that our findings may be due to demand characteristics. In the present studies, we developed a novel procedure designed to reduce the influence of demand characteristics by providing an alternate magnet for subjects' natural suspicions. We used two separate levels of deception. In addition to giving subjects a typical untrue rationale for the study (i.e., normal deceptive cover story), we built in strong indicators (the "Red Herring") that the study actually had another purpose. Later, we told subjects that we had deceived them, and asked what they believed the "real purpose" of the study was. We also interviewed a subset of subjects in depth in order to analyze their subjective experiences of the procedure and any relevant demand. Our Red Herring successfully tricked subjects, and left little worry that our false memory results were due to demand. This "double cross" technique may have widespread uses in psychological research that hopes to conceal its real hypotheses from experimental subjects.     

Training parents as behavior therapists: A review

The following paper presents theoretical, empirical, and ethical rationales for the training of parents as behavior therapists for their own children. Thirty-four studies, ranging from single case studies to reports on large-scale, multi-family training programs, are critically reviewed, with primary emphasis on the nature and extent of parental involvement and responsibility, and on the level of methodological sophistication. Related papers are cited when appropriate. Further research and areas needing theoretical clarification are suggested, in relation to the future and expansion of this type of therapeutic intervention. In addition the implications of such an approach for both a “systems” model of child therapy and a prevention-oriented model of mental health services are discussed.     

Effects of a Workplace Intervention on Parent–Child Relationships

This study tested whether effects of a workplace intervention, aimed at promoting employees’ schedule control and supervisor support for personal and family life, had implications for parent–adolescent relationships; we also tested whether parent–child relationships differed as a function of how many intervention program sessions participants attended. Data came from a group randomized trial of a workplace intervention, delivered in the information technology division of a Fortune 500 company. Analyses focused on 125 parent–adolescent dyads that completed baseline and 12-month follow-up home interviews. Results revealed no main effects of the intervention, but children of employees who attended 75 % or more program sessions reported more time with their parent and more parent education involvement compared to adolescents whose parents attended <75 % of sessions, and they tended to report more time with parent and more parental solicitation of information about their experiences compared to adolescents whose parents were randomly assigned to the usual practice condition.     

Public Attitudes on the Ethics of Deceptively Planting False Memories to Motivate Healthy Behavior

Researchers have proposed that planting false memories could have positive behavioral consequences. The idea of deceptively planting ‘beneficial’ false memories outside of the laboratory raises important ethical questions, but how might the general public appraise this moral dilemma? In two studies, participants from the USA and UK read about a fictional ‘false‐memory therapy’ that led people to adopt healthy behaviors. Participants then reported their attitudes toward the acceptability of this therapy, via scale‐rating (both studies) and open‐text (study 2) responses. The data revealed highly divergent responses to this contentious issue, ranging from abject horror to unqualified enthusiasm. Moreover, the responses shed light on conditions that participants believed would make the therapy less or more ethical. Whether or not deceptively planting memories outside the lab could ever be justifiable, these studies add valuable evidence to scientific and societal debates on neuroethics, whose relevance to memory science is increasingly acute. Copyright © 2016 The Authors Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.