Mental Representations in Stressful Situations: The Calming and Distressing Effects of Significant Others

According to attachment theory, attachment figures serve a safe haven function in stressful situations by reducing anxiety through physical proximity. The current study tested the effects of cognitive safe haven in adulthood. Thoughts of a significant other who was not physically present were hypothesized to reduce feelings of anxiety in a stressful situation. Participants imagined and described either a significant other or an acquaintance while waiting to take part in a potentially stressful task. An interaction between working models of attachment and experimental condition was found for distress scores. Thinking about a significant other led to lower levels of distress for individuals with a positive model of self, but higher levels of distress for individuals with a negative model of self.     

Learning Journals as a Counseling Strategy

This article explores the use of learning journals as a counseling strategy that can be used to complement a counselor's therapeutic orientation. The authors postulate that learning journals will have therapeutic effects on clients that will lead to enduring positive changes, discuss the development of appropriate learning taxonomies to evaluate learning journals, and make recommendations for practice.     

Confirming Gender Stereotypes: A Social Role Perspective

In this research we examined whether emotional vulnerability leads women and men to confirm gender stereotypes. Emotional vulnerability is a state where one is open to having one's feelings hurt or to experiencing rejection. Drawing on the tenets of social role theory and research related to normative expectations, we propose that emotional vulnerability leads to stereotype confirmation, as normative expectations are less risky and easier to enact than nonnormative behavior. Fifty-nine dating couples were randomly assigned to a high emotional vulnerability or low emotional vulnerability discussion with their partners. When the degree of emotional vulnerability was high men confirmed gender-stereotypes. Women's behavior, on the other hand, was not significantly affected by condition. We discuss these findings in terms of the domain in which gender-typed behaviors occur and the social pressures to act in accordance with gender norms.     

Risk preferences in young children: early evidence of individual differences in reaction to potential gains and losses

New methods were developed for studying risky decision making in children as young as age five. Each child was given a block of ‘gain’ trials, for example, a choice between a sure gain of one prize and a 50:50 chance of gaining either two prizes or no prize, and a block of ‘loss’ trials, for example, a choice between a sure loss of one prize and a 50:50 chance of losing either two prizes or no prize. We were thus able to compare risky choice for gains and losses at the level of the individual child. In each of two experiments a variety of individual difference variables were measured, including in Experiment 2, the child's parent's scores on the same task. Across experiments, the preponderance of choices was of the risky option. However, most children and adults made more risky choices in the domain of losses than in the domain of gains. Predictors of individual differences in children included shyness, impulsivity, and the risk taking of the child's parent. We suggest that methods are now in place to encourage further studies of decision processes in young children. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Attachment Styles and Interpersonal Problems in Suicide‐Related Behaviors

The relationships among adult attachment styles, interpersonal problems, and categories of suicide‐related behaviors (i.e., self‐harm, suicide attempts, and their co‐occurrence) were examined in a predominantly psychiatric sample (N = 406). Both anxious and avoidant attachment styles were associated with interpersonal problems. In turn, specific interpersonal problems differentially mediated the relations between attachment style and type of suicide‐related behaviors. These findings suggest the importance of distinguishing between these groups of behaviors in terms of etiological pathways, maintenance processes, and treatment interventions.     

Cluttering: Assessment, treatment planning, and case study illustration

Successful treatment of clients who present with a multitude of interrelated impairments is frequently dependent upon thorough and accurate diagnosis of the problems. Individuals who clutter often demonstrate a variety of speech and language deficits that make diagnosis difficult. Two clinical tools believed to be useful for obtaining and organizing diagnostic data and for planning treatment with clients who show symptoms of cluttering are discussed. The case study report illustrates the utility of these tools for collecting and organizing all pertinent data.