The Cruelest Cure? Ethical Issues in the Implementation of Exposure-Based Treatments

Numerous studies have provided supportive evidence for the efficacy of exposure-based treatments for many psychological disorders. However, surprisingly few therapists use exposure therapy in the clinical setting. Although the limited use of exposure-based treatments may be partially attributable to a shortage of suitably trained therapists, exposure therapy also suffers from a “public relations problem” predicated upon concerns that it is cruel and at odds with some ethical considerations (e.g., first do no harm). This article provides an overview of ethical issues and considerations relevant to the use of exposure therapy. It is argued that the degree to which ethical issues become problematic in implementing exposure-based treatments is largely dependent upon the therapist's ability to create an adequately safe and professional context. Specific strategies that may be employed for avoiding potential ethical conflicts in the use of exposure-based treatments are discussed.     

The use of geometric properties of 2D arrays across development

Four- to 10-year-old children (n = 50) participated in a 2D search task that included geometry (with- and without lines) and feature conditions. During each of 27 trials, participants watched as a cartoon character hid behind one of three landmarks arranged in a triangle on a computer screen. During feature condition trials, participants could use the unique features of landmarks to locate the hidden character. During geometry condition trials the landmarks were identical, and participants had to rely on the geometric properties of the triangle they formed to locate the hidden character. In the feature condition, search accuracy was high for children of all ages. In the geometry condition (both with- and without lines), there was a sharp developmental trend in which 4-year-olds showed poor search accuracy, but performance improved with age and was at ceiling by 9- to 10-years. The presence of lines connecting the landmarks boosted performance most dramatically for the youngest children. Findings are discussed in the context of the broader literature on spatial cognition in human and non-human animals.     

“Intelligence and Civilisation”: A Ludwig Mond lecture delivered at the University of Manchester on 23rd October 1936 by Godfrey H. Thomson. A reprinting with background and commentary

Here we reprint, and provide background and a commentary on, a recently-rediscovered lecture by Godfrey H. Thomson entitled, “Intelligence and civilisation.” It was delivered at the University of Manchester, UK, on 23rd October, 1936, printed in 1937 in the short-lived Journal of the University of Manchester and as a pamphlet in Edinburgh. It was one in the series of lectures supported by the industrialist and philanthropist Ludwig Mond. The lecture is unusually valuable in that it places the theory, testing and practical application of intelligence against the background of the rise of fascism and its threat to civilisation. The lecture is a candid and accessible ‘confession and contemplation'; the frank thoughts of a person committed to, but critical of, intelligence testing and theory, but convinced of the power and place of intelligence differences in people's lives and in civilisation. It comes at an important time for Thomson, with regard to three of his major achievements: his Moray House Test series, the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (and the Northumbrian testing exercise that preceded it), and the preparation of his book The Factorial Analysis of Human Ability. The understanding of the lecture is enhanced by recently-discovered archive materials on Thomson and his circle. ([Thomson, G.H. (1937a). Intelligence and civilisation: A Ludwig Mond lecture delivered at the University of Manchester on October 23rd, 1936. Journal of the University of Manchester, 1, 18–38], from the Ludwig Mond lecture).     

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.     

Creating political websites: Balancing complexity &; usability

By integrating what is known about how people navigate the overwhelming tide of political information with research on usability, the experiments reported in this article aim to provide information about how to create political websites that are usable, engaging, and educational. This article reports on a series of four different experiments (n=478) comparing a simpler and more easily navigable website to a more complex and interactive website. The types of websites tested include: adwatches, issue grids, candidate biographies, and campaign finance sites. The results suggest that simpler, more navigable websites are preferred to more interactive websites with web tools. Results also suggest that more political information is not always preferable, as in most cases, participants rated sites with more political information lower. Brett A. Mueller received a master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication in 2002. This research is supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts; Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Primary Investigator. The authors than Joyce Garczynski, Jon Stromer-Galley, Svjetlana Tepavcevic, and Dannagal Goldthwaite Young for their work on the project.     

Linguistic convention and worldly fact

Philosophical Studies - Truth by convention, once thought to be the foundation of a uniquely promising approach to explaining our access to the truth in nonempirical domains, is nowadays widely...     

Correction to: Linguistic convention and worldly fact

Philosophical Studies - The original publication of the article contains two formatting errors, the second of which significantly inhibits readability.     

Theorizing cumulative dehumanization: An embodied praxis of “becoming” and resisting state‐sanctioned violence

This paper introduces a new conceptual framework referred to as “cumulative dehumanization” to better understand the ways in which dehumanization penetrates individual and collective bodies and minds, cutting across policy and ideology and accumulating materially and affectively over time and space. Cumulative dehumanization illuminates a web of vertical and horizontal, synthetic, and dynamic processes that result in an ongoing racialized, state‐sanctioned dehumanization that is fundamentally cumulative—both temporally and spatially—with a profusion of consequences attached. Within the landscape of aggressive surveillance and policing, we illuminate how cumulative dehumanization can be conceptualized as (i) an active condition of becoming, experienced as an accumulation of dehumanizing moments, structurally imposed on racialized communities under siege; (ii) a wearing down of the racialized and affective body, creating circuits of dispossession for entire communities; (iii) a product and (re)producer of the material and ideological modes undergirding racial capitalism; and (iv) a force met with individual and collective resistance. Linking literature on racial capitalism and affect, to the embodied social psychological phenomenon of dehumanization, cumulative dehumanization serves as a useful conceptual tool to examine the historical legacy of, processes embedded within, and entirety of collective consequences including resistance as inextricably linked. In doing so, we reveal the indivisibility of cognitive, embodied, psychological, social, material, ideological, and political circuits.