Integrating Sociological and Psychoanalytic Concepts by Otto Pollak

The total data set for this study consisted of 958 critical incidents from high and low cohesion sessions in person-centered group psychotherapy. These incidents were typically noted on a group climate questionnaire at the end of each session. Altogether 211 clients and students participated in twenty-six groups.

The high cohesion sessions were dominated by the following cohesion dimensions in rank order: self-disclosure and feedback (24.0%); attraction and bonding (20.2%); listening and empathy (20.0%); process performance and goal attainment (15.0%); and support and caring (10.6%). The corresponding rank order for the low cohesion sessions was strikingly different: avoidance and defensiveness (43.5%); conflict and rebellion (22.2%); and selfdisclosure and feedback (8.9%).

Apparently then, there are very different patterns of critical incidents in high and low cohesion sessions of group psychotherapy.     

The facts and fictions of religion: make believe on Avatar Forums

Recent scholars of religion have begun to explore the relationship between religion and fiction. Within this context, Johan Huizinga’s theory of religion as make believe or play has received considerable attention. James Cameron’s film Avatar (2009) has inspired behaviour that can be thought of as religious, despite the film’s clear foundations in fiction. Scholarship on fan communities has debated whether such groups can be considered religions. This article develops Huizinga’s account using Kendall Walton’s theory of make believe. Walton’s theory enables the interpretation of fiction into overlapping games of make believe in fan communities. The conversational threads on Avatar Forums show how norms of discourse that preclude disagreement allow the frames of reality and fiction to blur. These norms of discourse provide a means of understanding the process by which media myths can become the basis of fiction-based value structures within the cultic milieu. However, the theory also presents significant problems for theorists of religion in terms of the structure of religious belief and religious experience.     

Development of motion processing in children with autism

Recent findings suggest that children with autism may be impaired in the perception of biological motion from moving point-light displays. Some children with autism also have abnormally high motion coherence thresholds. In the current study we tested a group of children with autism and a group of typically developing children aged 5 to 12 years of age on several motion perception tasks, in order to establish the specificity of the biological motion deficit in relation to other visual discrimination skills. The first task required the recognition of biological from scrambled motion. Three quasi-psychophysical tasks then established individual thresholds for the detection of biological motion in dynamic noise, of motion coherence and of form-from-motion. Lastly, individual thresholds for a task of static perception--contour integration (Gabor displays)--were also obtained. Compared to controls, children with autism were particularly impaired in processing biological motion in relation to any developmental measure (chronological or mental age). In contrast, there was some developmental overlap in ability to process other types of visual motion between typically developing children and the children with autism, and evidence of developmental change in both groups. Finally, Gabor display thresholds appeared to develop typically in children with autism.     

Training the Millennial Learner Through Experiential Evolutionary Scaffolding: Implications for Clinical Supervision in Graduate Education Programs

They are the Millennials – Generation Y. Over the next few decades, they will be entering genetic counseling graduate training programs and the workforce. As a group, they are unlike previous youth generations in many ways, including the way they learn. Therefore, genetic counselors who teach and supervise need to understand the Millennials and explore new ways of teaching to ensure that the next cohort of genetic counselors has both skills and knowledge to represent our profession well. This paper will summarize the distinguishing traits of the Millennial generation as well as authentic learning and evolutionary scaffolding theories of learning that can enhance teaching and supervision. We will then use specific aspects of case preparation during clinical rotations to demonstrate how incorporating authentic learning theory into evolutionary scaffolding results in experiential evolutionary scaffolding, a method that potentially offers a more effective approach when teaching Millennials. We conclude with suggestions for future research.     

Simulating social interaction to address deficits of autistic spectrum disorder in children.

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of impairment in reciprocal social interaction and language, and rigidity of behavior. This brief paper describes the development of an experimental intervention for preschool children newly diagnosed with ASD. The rationale for this intervention is the hypothesis that failure to attend to social cues in very early life, of itself, may bear a large share of responsibility for core social and communicative deficits. The intervention, therefore, uses eye-tracking to monitor and trigger rewards for attention to facial expression and direction of gaze.     

Christianity in 10 Minutes – Brian Mountford

Book reviewed:
Christianity in 10 Minutes , Brian Mountford, O Books 2005 (1905047-09-6), xii + 51 pp., pb $8.95     

The contribution of temperament,popularity, and physical appearance to children’s happiness

The relation between the happiness of 9–12 year old children and their temperament, popularity, and physical appearance was examined. Participants included 432 children and their parents and teachers. Happiness in children was assessed using a self-rating scale, parents’ ratings, teachers’ ratings, and the Happiness and Satisfaction Subscale of the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers-Harris 2) [Piers, E. V., & Herzberg, D. S. (2002). Manual for the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services]. Estimates of children’s temperament, popularity, and physical appearance included parents’ ratings, individual items on the Piers-Harris 2, and three domain scales from the Piers-Harris 2: the Freedom From Anxiety Subscale, Popularity Subscale, and Physical Appearance and Attributes Subscale. Children’s happiness was correlated with and predicted by ratings of their temperament, popularity, and appearance. Demographic variables did not account for appreciable variance in children’s happiness. The results parallel the common finding that internal factors (e.g., personality), but not external factors (e.g., demographics), predict adults’ happiness.     

Implicit Theories of Organizational Power and Priming Effects on Managerial Power‐Sharing Decisions: An Experimental Study1

Over 60 years of research on participative leadership has documented the many benefits of power sharing in organizations. However, a common obstacle to power sharing is the unwillingness of those with power to share it. An experimental study is presented that investigated the effects of managers' implicit theories of power in organizations on their willingness to share power with subordinates. The study proposed that chronic differences in implicit power theories (the degree of competitive vs. cooperative beliefs and ideals regarding organizational power relations) would affect managers' decisions to share or withhold power. Subliminal priming was predicted to temporarily enhance the accessibility of these differences in implicit power theories, thereby fostering or inhibiting spontaneous decisions to share power. Results indicate that the subliminal priming of competitive theories of organizational power negatively influenced managers' immediate, spontaneous decisions to share power, whereas chronic differences in their implicit theories similarly affected their more systematic decisions to share power. The theoretical and applied contributions of the study are discussed.     

Changes in Attitudes Toward Religion Among Those with Mental Illness

Despite the increased attention given to the religious experiences of those with mental illness, the specific nature of the changes in religious attitudes that occur within this population remain yet unknown. In this study, 406 individuals with persistent mental illness who attended one of 13 Los Angeles County Mental Health facilities completed a demographic questionnaire, an adapted version of the Religious Coping Index, and the Symptom Checklist 90-R. Over 54% of the participants reported a change in their religious beliefs such that their faith became stronger or weaker as a result, and 66% perceived these changes to be positive in nature. Qualitative codings suggest that a constructive or destructive use of religion and the quality of one's self-image and relationship with God are the primary themes underlying these changes. Those changes that were predominantly positive were associated with less severe symptomatology and more religious coping when compared to predominantly negative changes. These findings suggest that religious attitudes may be an ongoing and dynamic part of the experience of mental illness that should be considered in the treatment and research afforded by mental health professionals.