Aging,source memory,and the experience of “remembering”

In a previous study, we found source memory for perceptual features to differentiate between younger but not older adults’ reports of recollective (“remember”; R) and “know” (K) experiences. In two experiments with younger (17–30 years) and older (64–81 years) participants, we examined whether memory for meaningful speaker sources would accompany older adults’ recollective experience. Indeed, memory for male and female speakers (but not partial memory for gender; Experiment 1) as well as bound memory for speakers and their facial expressions (Experiment 2) distinguished between both younger and older adults’ RK reports. Thus, memory for some sources forms a common basis for younger and older adults’ retrieval experience. Nonetheless, older adults still showed lower objective source memory and lower subjective source-attribution confidence than younger adults when reporting recollective experiences, suggesting that source memory is less relevant to their retrieval experience than for younger adults.     

Who/se we are: baptism as personhood.

The attempt to arrive at some consensus on precisely what qualifies a human as a persons represents one of the more persistently debated and widely significant issues in modern biomedical ethics. The attribution of personhood has been and continues to be a powerful tool in moral discourse. Biomedical and bioethical debates about personhood seem especially morally significant in late modernity given the recent trends in biomedical technology. Our attempts to formally articulate universally agreed upon criteria for personhood represent some of the last vestiges of the hope that we can achieve substantial moral agreement in an otherwise morally fragmented world. In this essay, we argue that, from the perspective of certain strands of the Christian tradition, all bioethics grounded in attempts to develop formal, objective criteria by which we may designate a given individual a person are misguided. Criteria centering on the possession of reflective mental capacity, moreover, are for Christians especially problematic. We suggest that there are no morally neutral ways of designating personhood.     

Sex,Education, Age,and Cautiousness: Implications for Counselors

A cross‐sectional study of educated men and women showed that cautiousness, as measured by perceived problem‐solving ability, does not increase with age. Sex differences were nonsignificant. The results are discussed in terms of R. Schultz and J. Heckhausen's (1996) Life Span Model of Successful Aging.     

Chills and thrills: Does radio harm our children? The controversy over program violence during the age of radio

A review of the popular and scientific periodical for the 1930s and 1940s revealed that the controversy surrounding the radio “thriller” and its possible harmful effects on young listeners was one of radio's most highly publicized issues during its golden years of broadcasting. Many of the questions raised concerning this issue were similar to those asked later during the age of television. Relying heavily upon the psychoanalytic emphasis on emotion, catharsis, and intrapsychic dynamics, expert opinion voiced in various popular periodicals and newspapers of the day suggested that the violence and excitement portrayed in many of the crime and adventure programs was harmless, and perhaps beneficial, for most listeners. However, research in support of this conclusion was sparse, and psychologists evidenced little interest in the issue. Not until the advent of television, and the emergence of social learning theory in the early 1960s, did psychologists direct significant research effort towards evaluating the effects of media violence. © 1998 John Wiley &Sons, Inc.     

Special perspective: An immodest proposal: should treating mental health professionals be barred from testifying about their patients?

Notwithstanding ethical rules that address therapeutic and forensic role conflicts for psychologists and psychiatrists, overzealous patient advocacy by therapists, tightened reimbursement for therapy, and a growth market for forensic psychology and psychiatry, have led many therapists to appear willingly as forensic experts on behalf of their patients. Existing ethical rules, as well as other proposed approaches to address this problem, assume that it can be resolved by modest changes in existing practice that permit therapists to testify as long as their testimony avoids psycholegal opinions. This essay questions whether these modest changes can adequately address this problem and advances consideration of a more radical proposal to address this problem, prohibiting therapists from testifying about their patients. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response to Geis on anti-corporate polemics

This article responds to Geis's (1998) critique of Fox's (1996) article “The Law Says Corporations are Persons, but Psychology Knows Better.” It clarifies points of disagreement, emphasizes the importance of placing in broader context the debate over the corporate legal form's benefits and drawbacks, calls for fundamental change in the sociopolitical status quo so as to better meet human needs and values, and defends advocacy of such changes by psychologists. It suggests, contrary to Geis's view, that the possibility of false consciousness about corporate society and other components of the status quo should be investigated rather than dismissed out of hand. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Socially Valued Roles,Self‐Determination,and Community Participation among Individuals Living with Serious Mental Illnesses

Decades after deinstitutionalization, individuals living with serious mental illnesses remain isolated, socially disengaged, and devalued members of communities. Burgeoning research and services need conceptual clarity to improve such social conditions. This qualitative inquiry used grounded theory and participatory approaches to conduct an in‐depth exploration of community participation for individuals living with serious mental illnesses based on key stakeholder perspectives (n = 45). Results revealed that community participation is a multifaceted construct with layers of meaning for individuals living with serious mental illnesses. Overarching themes are contextualized in Self‐Determination Theory and presented with deidentified illustrations. Implications for services, research, and policy are discussed.     

Changes in meaning in life across the course of psychodynamic psychotherapy

Using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), we studied Presence and Search for meaning for 34 adult clients in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Clients completed the MLQ and Outcome Questionnaire (OQ) before intake and after every eight sessions. Variance in Presence scores was mostly attributable to clients; variance in Search scores was mostly attributable to clients and therapists. Clients initially high in Presence decreased and then increased back to initial levels; clients initially low in Presence increased and then decreased back to initial levels. Clients initially low in Search increased and then leveled off; clients initially high in Search decreased and then leveled off. In lagged cross panel analyses, when clients decreased in psychological distress during one eight-week time period, they increased in Presence during the next eight-week time period; when they increased in psychological distress during one eight-week time period, they increased in search in the next time period. Excerpts from post-therapy interviews illustrate the process of working with meaning in life in psychotherapy. Implications for practice and training are discussed.     

Effects of an adapted physical education training package on special education teacher instruction

This study investigated the impact of an adapted physical education training package on functional motor skill instruction of three special education teachers who instructed secondary students with low‐incidence disabilities. The training package emphasized teachers' use of systematic prompting and specific reinforcement teaching strategies plus adapted physical education consultation. We used a multiple baseline design and collected data on the three teachers' use of systematic prompting and specific reinforcement plans during videotaped teaching trials. We also collected data on how teachers documented their instructional strategies, and we analyzed personal reflections that teachers wrote in the journals. Results indicated that with each of the three teachers, correctly implemented functional motor skill instructional performance improved after they completed the training package.