The undesired self: Deadly connotations

Two studies were conducted to examine the hypothesis derived from a juxtaposition of the undesired self and terror management theories that making aspects of the undesired self salient produces effects comparable to those obtained in response to making mortality salient. In Study 1, participants reminded of either death or aspects of their undesired self were more supportive of President George W. Bush and his policies in Iraq, relative to participants in exam salient or desired self salient control conditions. In Study 2, participants reminded of death or aspects of their undesired self showed greater accessibility of implicit death thoughts, relative to participants in pain salient or desired self salient control conditions. Implications of these findings for future theory and research are considered.     

Learning and generalization on asynchrony and order tasks at sound offset: implications for underlying neural circuitry

Normal auditory perception relies on accurate judgments about the temporal relationships between sounds. Previously, we used a perceptual-learning paradigm to investigate the neural substrates of two such relative-timing judgments made at sound onset: detecting stimulus asynchrony and discriminating stimulus order. Here, we conducted parallel experiments at sound offset. Human adults practiced approximately 1 h/d for 6-8 d on either asynchrony detection or order discrimination at sound offset with tones at 0.25 and 4.0 kHz. As at sound onset, learning on order-offset discrimination did not generalize to the other task (asynchrony), an untrained temporal position (onset), or untrained frequency pairs, indicating that this training affected a quite specialized neural circuit. In contrast, learning on asynchrony-offset detection generalized to the other task (order) and temporal position (onset), though not to untrained frequency pairs, implying that the training on this condition influenced a less specialized, or more interdependent, circuit. Finally, the learning patterns induced by single-session exposure to asynchrony and order tasks differed depending on whether these tasks were performed primarily at sound onset or offset, suggesting that this exposure modified circuitry specialized to separately process relative-timing tasks at these two temporal positions. Overall, it appears that the neural processes underlying relative-timing judgments are malleable, and that the nature of the affected circuitry depends on the duration of exposure (multihour or single-session) and the parameters of the judgment(s) made during that exposure.     

The accuracy of self-monitoring and its relationship to self-focused attention in dysphoria and clinical depression

The accuracy with which dysphoric (Study 1) and clinically depressed (Study 2) individuals make self-regulatory judgments about their own performance in the absence of external feedback and the extent to which this relates to trait self-focused attention (SFA) were examined. Relative to objective criteria, both dysphoric and depressed participants showed a positive judgment bias, overestimating the number of trials they had performed correctly. Relative to control participants, the dysphoric and depressed groups showed a reduction in the extent of this positive bias in that they judged error trials more accurately and correct trials less accurately. Although the dysphoric and depressed groups both reported elevated trait SFA, this did not correlate significantly with accuracy of self-judgment on the performance-monitoring task. Implications for self-regulation models of depression are discussed.     

Is there more to complicated grief than depression and posttraumatic stress disorder? A test of incremental validity

There is growing interest in complicated grief reactions as a possible new diagnostic category for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, no research has yet shown that complicated grief has incremental validity (i.e., predicts unique variance in functioning). The authors addressed this issue in 2 studies by comparing grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms with different measures of functioning (interviewer ratings, friend ratings, self-report, and autonomic arousal). The 1st study (N = 73) used longitudinal data collected at 4 and 18 months postloss, and the 2nd study (N = 447) used cross-sectional data collected 2.5-3.5 years postloss. With depression and PTSD controlled, grief emerged as a unique predictor of functioning, both cross-sectionally and prospectively. The findings provide convergent support for the incremental validity of complicated grief as an independent marker of bereavement-related psychopathology.     

How to Supervise the Use of Homework in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: The Role of Trainee Therapist Beliefs

Encouraging and facilitating homework completion is a core cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) skill. Consequently, it represents an important part of training practitioners. Oftentimes the process of integrating homework into therapy is rushed, poorly executed, or forgotten, and trainees are surprised to find that some patients do not complete homework. We advocate for increased therapist responsibility in accounting for homework nonadherence. Therefore, problems with the use of homework in therapy are frequently an agenda item in the supervision of trainee cognitive behavior therapists. In our experience, trainee CBT practitioners exhibit a number of interrelated automatic thoughts, assumptions, and in-session behaviors that influence their use of homework assignments. The Cognitive Behavior Therapy Homework Project has proposed a “model for practice” to guide the use of homework in CBT [Kazantzis, N., MacEwan, J., & Dattilio, F. M. (2005). A guiding model for practice. In: Kazantzis, N., Deane, F. P., Ronan, K. R., & L’Abate, L. (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 359–407). New York: Routledge]. The present article will draw from those practice recommendations and discuss the role and impact of the therapeutic relationship and therapist beliefs on the use of homework assignments, with reference to the different levels of CBT conceptualization. Clinical examples from the supervision of trainees enrolled in the practicum component of the Massey University Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavior Therapy are used to illustrate supervising the use of homework assignments.     

Threats to Internal Validity in Multiple-Baseline Design Variations

Multiple baseline designs—both concurrent and nonconcurrent—are the predominant experimental design in modern applied behavior analytic research and are increasingly employed in other disciplines. In the past, there was significant controversy regarding the relative rigor of concurrent and nonconcurrent multiple baseline designs. The consensus in recent textbooks and methodological papers is that nonconcurrent designs are less rigorous than concurrent designs because of their presumed limited ability to address the threat of coincidental events (i.e., history). This skepticism of nonconcurrent designs stems from an emphasis on the importance of across-tier comparisons and relatively low importance placed on replicated within-tier comparisons for addressing threats to internal validity and establishing experimental control. In this article, we argue that the primary reliance on across-tier comparisons and the resulting deprecation of nonconcurrent designs are not well-justified. In this article, we first define multiple baseline designs, describe common threats to internal validity, and delineate the two bases for controlling these threats. Second, we briefly summarize historical methodological writing and current textbook treatment of these designs. Third, we explore how concurrent and nonconcurrent multiple baselines address each of the main threats to internal validity. Finally, we make recommendations for more rigorous use, reporting, and evaluation of multiple baseline designs.     

Index for Volume 24

In this article, the development of the increasingly differentiated control of the joints necessary to transform the spontaneous leg movements of early infancy into adaptive and functional actions is described. The hypothesis—that increasing joint control requires the capability for disassociation of joint action, the active modulation of joint stiffness, and a transition from proximal to distal control of the joints—is proposed. Kinematic and kinetic analyses of the vertical kicks of infants 2 weeks, 3 months, and 7 months of age (as well as a comparative group of adults) indicated increasing joint independence as well as phase-dependent and joint-dependent control modifications. The kicks of the younger infants were dominated by a proximal control strategy and minimal adjustments of the limb energetics during the flexion and extension phases of the kick. By 7 months of age, much larger modulations of the kick phases were observed as well as increasing evidence of distal control. These results revealed kinematic and kinetic patterns of emerging limb control between 2 weeks and 7 months of age.     

Increasing ethnic minority participation in substance abuse clinical trials: lessons learned in the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Clinical Trials Network

Underrepresentation in clinical trials limits the extent to which ethnic minorities benefit from advances in substance abuse treatment. The objective of this article is to share the knowledge gained within the Clinical Trials Network (CTN) of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other research on recruiting and retaining ethnic minorities into substance abuse clinical trials. The article includes a discussion of two broad areas for improving inclusion-community involvement and cultural adaptation. CTN case studies are included to illustrate three promising strategies for improving ethnic minority inclusion: respondent-driven sampling, community-based participatory research, and the cultural adaptation of the recruitment and retention procedures. The article concludes with two sections describing a number of methodological concerns in the current research base and our proposed research agenda for improving ethnic minority inclusion that builds on the CTN experience.     

Social,Religious and Spiritual Capital and Physical/Emotional Functioning in a National Sample of African Americans

Spiritual and religious capital are forms of the broader construct of social capital. The present study, using probability‐based sampling methods, surveyed a national sample of African American adults to examine the relative contributions of spiritual and religious capital to their physical and emotional functioning. Analyses were conducted to determine if these constructs made a unique contribution above and beyond general social capital. African American men and women (N = 803) were interviewed by telephone. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that, across the full sample, although social capital was a positive predictor of physical and emotional functioning (p < .05 and p < .001), neither religious nor spiritual capital made an additional contribution to these outcomes. However, the relationships among these variables differed for men and women. Among men, social capital predicted positive emotional functioning (p < .001) but not physical functioning; spiritual and religious capital made no additional contribution to either outcome variable. Among women, social capital predicted positive emotional functioning (p < .01) but not physical functioning. However, religious capital did make a significant additional contribution to the prediction of emotional functioning (ΔR², p < .01). Dividing the sample into different age groups did not produce any different findings from those found with the sample as a whole. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for church‐ and faith‐based health promotion interventions aimed at health disparities reduction. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.