Examining age differences in performance of a complex information search and retrieval task.

This study examined age differences in performance of a complex information search and retrieval task by using a simulated real-world task typical of those performed by customer service representatives. The study also investigated the influence of task experience and the relationships between cognitive abilities and task performance. One hundred seventeen participants from 3 age groups, younger (20-39 years). middle-aged (40-59 years), and older (60-75 years), performed the task for 3 days. Significant age differences were found for all measures of task performance with the exception of navigational efficiency and number of problems correctly navigated per attempt. There were also effects of task experience. The findings also indicated significant direct and indirect relations between component cognitive abilities and task performance.     

MAPPING THE LANDSCAPE: LEVELS OF TRANSFERENCE INTERPRETATION3

The author argues that there are distinctly different kinds of transference interpretation, each of which might be valid in particular circumstances in analysis, but which contain and imply different understandings of what is meant by a ‘transference interpretation’. She suggests that transference interpretations may be at any one of four different levels, and she describes these levels as ranging from interpretations that point to links between current events in the analysis and events from the patient's history, through interpretations that link events in the patient's external life to the patient's often unconscious phantasies about the analyst and the analysis, to interpretations that focus on the use of the analyst and the analytic situation to enact unconscious phantasy configurations, sometimes pulling the analyst into the enactment. Material from four consecutive sessions of an analysis is presented to illustrate how all levels of transference interpretation may be part of a lively and meaningful analysis, but how the level of interpretation may change as the level of understanding deepens within a session and from one session to the next.     

An intervention strategy for children with developmental problems

In a program for primary grade children with developmental and perceptual difficulties, children met daily with a specially trained teacher in their own school to form a consistent meaningful group while they continued as members of their regular classes. To combat the destructive negative self-image of such children, the teacher and group stressed acceptance, openness, informalitym and success. This, plus the program's esteem in the eyes of the child, seemed to affect the child's sense of his own worth. Continual in-service training and sharing of teacher experiences were stressed. The teachers' facility for relating to the child was considered to be more relevant than the technique utilized.     

Are early verbal communicative intentions universal? A preliminary investigation

This longitudinal study was conducted to provide preliminary information about the universality of early verbal communicative intentions. Three children whose native languages differ were videotaped in spontaneous mother-child interactions at 2-week intervals between MLU 1.0 and 2.0. The languages studied were American English, Danish, and Serbo-Croatian. Each child utterance was coded for the communicative intention expressed using a modified version of Dale's (1980) taxonomy. Findings indicate that all subjects used the full range of intentions. Overall, the intentions used most frequently were Naming and Attributes. Crosslinguistic similarities were also noted in patterns of intention usage as a function of increasing MLU. Results support the view that early verbal intentions are language-learning universals. However, no support was found for the universal-sequence hypothesis.     

Motivational factors in nonincarcerated sexually aggressive men

Research on convicted rapists has demonstrated the importance of several key motivational factors in male sexual aggression. In particular, anger at women and the need to dominate or control them have been repeatedly implicated. Although anger and power have also been shown to be important in understanding college men who report sexually aggressive behavior, there has been little research on what underlies these motives. This research combined questions assessing these underlying motivational factors, as well as questions dealing with underlying sexual motivation and disinhibition, with a slightly modified version of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss & Oros, 1982). In Study 1, subjects were 184 male undergraduates. Factor analysis of the questions composing the four scales yielded four slightly modified scales. Scales measuring underlying anger, underlying power, and disinhibition significantly differentiated sexually aggressive from nonaggressive men but did not distinguish between men who were coercive, manipulative, or nonaggressive. In a replication on a smaller sample (n = 70), underlying anger, underlying power, and disinhibition again differentiated sexually aggressive from nonaggressive men.     

Action methods in systemic therapy: dramatizing ideal futures and reformed pasts with couples

This article presents a method for conducting a couple session that illustrates a theoretically valid role for action techniques (as opposed to verbal methods) in post-Milan systemic interviewing. Useful in an opening meeting or in consultation, it pointedly activates client resources while deemphasizing current problems. The interview format begins with contracting for ground-rules and listing clients' strengths. Each partner then creates and enacts: a scene illustrating that partner's ideal future for the relationship; a related past painful scene (usually from childhood); and a "reform" of that scene "as it should have occurred." Both partners play multiple roles in all scenes. Last and least, each partner succinctly describes his or her view of the current problem. In the enactments, rapid shifts in time dimension and multiple novel roles played by both partners efficiently promote in the couple the release from constraining beliefs and interactional patterns that is ordinarily sought by purely verbal methods in Milan-derived systemic interviews.