Ethnoracial comparisons in anxiety and depression outcomes among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander college students

We explored differences in distress scores at intake as well as the change in anxiety and depression scores over the course of 12 therapy sessions for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) college students. Data were collected from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (N = 256,242). Results support the notion that NHPI college students experience anxiety and depression in therapy differently from other ethnic groups with moderate-to-large magnitudes of effect.     

A new look at the consequences of attitude certainty: the amplification hypothesis

It is well established that increasing attitude certainty makes attitudes more resistant to attack and more predictive of behavior. This finding has been interpreted as indicating that attitude certainty crystallizes attitudes, making them more durable and impactful. The current research challenges this crystallization hypothesis and proposes an amplification hypothesis, which suggests that instead of invariably strengthening an attitude, attitude certainty amplifies the dominant effect of the attitude on thought, judgment, and behavior. In 3 experiments, the authors test these competing hypotheses by comparing the effects of attitude certainty manipulations on univalent versus ambivalent attitudes. Across experiments, it is demonstrated that increasing attitude certainty strengthens attitudes (e.g., increases their resistance to persuasion) when attitudes are univalent but weakens attitudes (e.g., decreases their resistance to persuasion) when attitudes are ambivalent. These results are consistent with the amplification hypothesis.     

Are You Analyzing Me? A Qualitative Exploration of Psychologists’ Individual and Interpersonal Experiences with Authenticity

Within multiple social roles, such as careers and personal relationships, psychologists are encouraged to maintain their authenticity. Although the concept of authenticity has a lengthy history in the philosophy and literary fields, only in the last decade have researchers begun empirically studying this unique, yet vague, concept. This study sought to explore and understand what experiences, issues, and concerns psychologists encounter in their efforts to live authentically. A purposeful sample consisted of 17 psychologists, who were individually interviewed. Utilizing a qualitative research design, 328 significant statements were extracted and grouped together, resulting in five emergent themes specifically related to personal and social, nontherapeutic contexts. Participants described how their psychological-mindedness adds to complexity of separating the person from the therapist during encounters with others. They believed that self-exploration, self-awareness, and self-acceptance were important in attaining one's authenticity. Concepts of culture and gender influences, psychological-mindedness, and consistency in social roles were discussed as related to authenticity. Last, participants indicated feeling the most authentic with close friendships, significant others, and family members, and less authentic in casual and/or collegial-professional roles.     

A comparison of two online cognitive‐behavioural interventions for symptoms of depression in a student population: The role of therapist responsiveness

Objectives: The study aimed to compare the efficacy of eight weekly sessions of a self‐administered online CBT treatment (cCBT; n=51) to a therapist‐assisted email CBT treatment (eCBT; n=50) in University students. Design: The design was a randomised parallel group trial. The study randomised participants with symptoms of depression to one of two available treatments. Method: Participants were offered eight weekly sessions of either cCBT or eCBT. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II) and the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE‐OM) at pre‐and post‐treatment, at weeks 16 and 32 follow‐up. The Working Alliance Inventory‐Short Form (WAI‐SR) was completed at weeks 2, 4, and 6. Results: For both groups, pre‐post within group effect sizes reported were large for the BDI‐II and the CORE‐OM and these were maintained at follow‐up. Perceptions of working alliance were similar in each group, but Bond was significantly stronger for the eCBT condition. WAI scores correlated more positively with the outcome on BDI‐II for those in the eCBT condition than the cCBT condition, but not significantly. Conclusion: There were no significant differences between the two online treatments, both reduced depressive symptoms and improved general functioning. Similarly, at post‐treatment and follow‐up, clinical improvement and recovery was demonstrated for both groups equally. The study demonstrates the possibility for cCBT in a university setting that may contribute to addressing the shortcomings in meeting increasing demands that mental health services presently face.     

USING MICROSOFT OFFICE EXCEL® 2007 TO CONDUCT GENERALIZED MATCHING ANALYSES

The generalized matching equation is a robust and empirically supported means of analyzing relations between reinforcement and behavior. Unfortunately, no simple task analysis is available to behavior analysts interested in using the matching equation to evaluate data in clinical or applied settings. This technical article presents a task analysis for the use of Microsoft Excel to analyze and plot the generalized matching equation. Using a data‐based case example and a step‐by‐step guide for completing the analysis, these instructions are intended to promote the use of quantitative analyses by researchers with little to no experience in quantitative analyses or the matching law.     

What Are We Doing When We Translate from Quantitative Models?

Although quantitative analysis (in which behavior principles are defined in terms of equations) has become common in basic behavior analysis, translational efforts often examine everyday events through the lens of narrative versions of laboratory-derived principles. This approach to translation, although useful, is incomplete because equations may convey concepts that are difficult to capture in words. To support this point, we provide a nontechnical introduction to selected aspects of quantitative analysis; consider some issues that translational investigators (and, potentially, practitioners) confront when attempting to translate from quantitative models; and discuss examples of relevant translational studies. We conclude that, where behavior-science translation is concerned, the quantitative features of quantitative models cannot be ignored without sacrificing conceptual precision, scientific and practical insights, and the capacity of the basic and applied wings of behavior analysis to communicate effectively.     

On the control of visual word recognition: Changing routes versus changing deadlines

Two different accounts have been proposed to explain the fact that (1) an effect of word frequency is present when readers of transparent orthographies read only words aloud and (2) the effect of word frequency is eliminated when subjects name words and nonwords mixed together in a single block. In the route-shifting account, subjects shift from using a lexical route that can read only words to using a nonlexical route that can read both words and nonwords via the use of sublexical spelling-sound correspondences (hence, no word frequency effect). The essence of the second, time criterion account is that the elimination of the word frequency effect is determined by the speed with which the nonwords are processed, because subjects attempt to homogenize the point in time at which they release an articulation. These two different accounts are pitted against each other in a series of naming experiments utilizing the transparent Turkish orthography. A word frequency effect persists even when words and nonwords are mixed together, provided that nonword sets are matched so as to be named as quickly as the high-frequency words and as slowly as the low-frequency words, respectively. This result is argued to be consistent with the time criterion account, but not with the unadorned route-shifting account.     

Environmental Refugees: What Rights? Which Duties?

It is estimated that there could be 200 million‘environmental refugees’ by the middle of this century. One major environmental cause of population displacement is likely to be global climate change. As the situation is likely to become more pressing, it is vital to consider now the rights of environmental refugees and the duties of the rest of the world. However, this is not an issue that has been addressed in mainstream theories of global justice. This paper considers the potential of two leading liberal theories of international justice to address the particular issues raised by the plight of potential and actual environmental refugees. I argue that neither John Rawls’s ‘Law of Peoples’ approach nor Charles Beitz’s `cosmopolitanism' is capable of providing an adequate account of justice in this context. Beitz’s theory does have some advantages over Rawls’s approach but it fails to take proper account of the attachment that some people have to their own ‘home’. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On the role of outline shape and word-specific visual pattern in the identification of function words: None

A common assumption in the reading literature is that function words are often identified wholly or in part on the basis of outline shape and/or word-specific visual pattern. This assumption was examined in three perceptual identification experiments, a speeded oral reading experiment, and in a lexical decision task where the visual pattern of function words and control items (content words, non-words and control strings) was systematically distorted by cAsE alTeRnA-tIoN. In all five experiments distortion failed to impair performance more on functors than on various control items. This result is argued to be inconsistent with the view that outline shape and word-specific visual pattern typically play a role in the identification of isolated function words.

Shape distortion impaired function words less than controls in perceptual identification, but impaired function and content words equally in speeded naming and lexical decision. These contrasting effects of shape distortion are discussed in terms of a distinction between the uptake of information (lexical access) and phenomenal perception.