THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIES IN EMBEDDED FIGURES TASKS*

The starting point of the investigation was the field dependence-independence construct as measured with the Embedded Figures Test of H.A. Witkin. An overview of the research on the information-processing strategies in solving the items of this test was converging into a theory in which strategies for a successful solution can be located on a bipolar dimension with at one extreme a simultaneous strategy and at the other extreme a successive strategy. A new administration procedure for evaluating the use of four solution strategies was developed: the simultaneous, the successive, the extemalized-successive and the global-manipulatory strategy. Based on the prediction that the use of strategies was related to sex and age, we carried out an experiment involving groups of ten boys and ten girls of 5, 6 and 7 years of age, who were given eight tasks with the new administration procedure. No. significant difference was found between boys and girls. However, significant differences existed in strategy profiles in six of the eight tasks between the three age groups.     

On second-order family therapy

If family therapists remain aware of the indivisible and recursive nature of their interactions with families, and if they use this awareness to form a collaborative rather than a hierarchical therapeutic system, and at the same time minimize their attempts to change persons or family structures in strategic or predetermined ways, then they may be said to be practicing a "second-order" family therapy. This article analyzes the development of the second-order position on therapist power and influence, concluding that it is inconsistent and possibly disingenuous.