A review of: “interacting stories: Narratives,family beliefs,and therapy”

Rudi Dallos (1997) Interacting Stories: Narratives, Family Beliefs, and Therapy, London: Karnac Books, $18.95     

Manipulating perception versus action in recalibration tasks

We conducted six experiments to examine how manipulating perception versus action affects perception–action recalibration in real and imagined blindfolded walking tasks. Participants first performed a distance estimation task (pretest) and then walked through an immersive virtual environment on a treadmill for 10 min. Participants then repeated the distance estimation task (posttest), the results of which were compared with their pretest performance. In Experiments 1a, 2a, and 3a, participants walked at a normal speed during recalibration, but the rate of visual motion was either twice as fast or half as fast as the participants' walking speed. In Experiments 1b, 2b, and 3b, the rate of visual motion was kept constant, but participants walked at either a faster or a slower speed. During pre- and posttest, we used either a blindfolded walking distance estimation task or an imagined walking distance estimation task. Additionally, participants performed the pretest and posttest distance estimation tasks in either the real environment or the virtual environment. With blindfolded walking as the distance estimation task for pre- and posttest, we found a recalibration effect when either the rate of visual motion or the walking speed was manipulated during the recalibration phase. With imagined walking as the distance estimation task, we found a recalibration effect when the rate of visual motion was manipulated, but not when the walking speed was manipulated in both the real environment and the virtual environment. Discussion focuses on how spatial-updating processes operate on perception and action and on representation and action.     

The prolonged influence of subsequent context on spoken word recognition

Connine, Blasko, and Hall (Journal of Memory and Language 30:234–250, 1991) suggested that within a 1-second temporal window, subsequent biasing information can influence the identification of a previously spoken word. Four experiments further explored this hypothesis. Our participants heard sentences in which an ambiguous target word was followed less than or more than a second later by a word biased in favor of either the target word or another word. Overall, the effects of the contextual biases on responding, measured using phonemic restoration and phoneme identification, were almost as large after 1 second as before 1 second. The implications of these results for defining the window of contextual effects are discussed.     

The Effectiveness of a Spiritually-Based Intervention to Alleviate Subsyndromal Anxiety and Minor Depression Among Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a spiritually-based intervention in the alleviation of subsyndromal anxiety and minor depression in an elderly population. Twenty-two residents of six continuing care communities diagnosed with minor depression participated in this study. There was a significant decrease in anxiety and a trend toward decreased depression. In addition, participants who continued to use the Prayer Wheel had a decrease in depression scores, while those who did not had an increase in depression scores. These findings suggest that use of the Prayer Wheel may promote psychological well-being among older adults.     

Coping and psychological distress for men with substance use disorders

Coping with stress is a major focus for chemically dependent persons in relapse prevention programs. The relationships among coping and psychological distress were investigated in 71 men with substance use disorders, at both pre—and post-treatment. It was predicted that low task-oriented coping, high emotion-oriented coping, and high avoidance-oriented coping would predict psychological distress (e.g., anxiety and depression). It was also expected that use of task-oriented coping would increase following treatment and that use of emotion-oriented coping and avoidance-oriented coping, and reported levels of psychological distress would all decrease following treatment. Participants completed the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations and the General Health Questionnaire, took part in an intensive treatment program (e.g., relaxation, drug education, stress management) and completed these questionnaires again following treatment. Results indicated that high emotion-oriented coping predicted hypochondriasis, anxiety and depression. Task-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping did not predict psychological distress, although task-oriented coping was negatively related to hypochondriasis, anxiety and depression. The results regarding change in coping styles and levels of psychological distress were as hypothesized, except that avoidance-oriented coping did not significantly change following treatment. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.     

Self-evaluation and self-perception of student learning in person-centred counselling training within a higher education setting

This is an account of some of the learning experiences of mature students undertaking a Level 2 Diploma course in Person-Centred Counselling over four terms in a higher education establishment in England. The central question driving this research stemmed from a desire to understand the student experience of becoming professional. Therefore the question was that of qualitative inquiry: ‘What are the experiences of mature learners on person-centred counselling courses within higher education?’ This paper discusses students’ perceptions of training and the ways in which they evaluate their status as professionals.     

Do conflict management styles affect group decision making? Evidence from a longitudinal field study

This study examined the relationship between group conflict management styles and effectiveness of group decision making in 11 ongoing, naturally occurring workgroups from 2 large U.S. organizations. The major postulate of the study was that groups develop norms regarding how they will manage conflicts that carry over to affect other activities, such as decision making, even when these activities do not involve open conflict. To determine the impact of conflict management style on decision effectiveness, a longitudinal design was used that identified conflict management styles in the initial portion of each team's series of meetings and then analyzed a group decision taken in a meeting near the end of that series. Group conflict management styles were determined using observational methods, and decision effectiveness was measured using multiple indices that tapped member, facilitator, and external observer viewpoints. Task complexity also was considered as a possible moderating variable. The findings suggest that groups that developed integrative conflict management styles made more effective decisions than groups that utilized confrontation and avoidance styles. Groups that never developed a stable style were also less effective than groups with integrative styles.