A validation of a computerised task of risk-taking and moral decision-making and its association with sensation-seeking,impulsivity and sociomoral reasoning

The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the computer based application of the Secret Agent (SA) task of risk-taking and moral decision-making. The participants were 100 male patients in a maximum security hospital (50 with severe mental illness and 50 with personality disorder) and 50 community based healthy controls. All participants completed the SA task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and measures of IQ, antisocial personality traits, sensation-seeking, impulsivity and sociomoral reasoning. The SA risk-taking and moral decision-making scales had satisfactory levels of reliability (Cronbach’s alpha). Risk-taking correlated significantly with sensation-seeking across all three participant groups. In contrast, risk-taking only correlated with impulsivity among the severe mental illness group. Moral decision-making correlated with sociomoral reasoning among the personality disorder group. No correlation was found between the SA scores and the IGT score and the IGT did not correlate with sensation-seeking or impulsivity. IQ and antisocial personality traits did not correlate with the SA or IGT scales. The study highlights the importance of context, the nature of the risk-taking task, and ‘problem framing’ of the instructions in their relationship with individual differences.     

Body Dissatisfaction and Mental Health Across Ethnic/Racial and Immigrant Groups: Implications for Marriage and Family Therapists

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this effort is to broaden the scope with which body dissatisfaction (BD) is viewed to inform the practices of MFTs. Associations between college students' BD and measures of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and body image were tested using mean-level comparisons, path analysis, and multi-group tests by sex, across ethnic/racial groups, and across immigration status. Data were collected from N = 10,573 youth. There was evidence of significant mean level differences, and BD predicted internalizing symptoms while multi-group tests were largely invariant suggesting a more universal impact than dominant theoretical explanations (i.e. Objectification theory) posit.     

A Program Intervention for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Preliminary Results

The effectiveness of a behaviorally based day treatment program for young children diagnosed with Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) was evaluated using pretreatment and posttreatment mean scores from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Data were evaluated in aggregate and using the clinically significant change method for children diagnosed with PBD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Adjustment Disorder, and no diagnosis/clinical and subclinical groups. Significant effects were found for all groups except the no diagnosis/subclinical group on the Internalizing scale and for all groups on the Externalizing scale. Clinically significant change was supported for the PBD, ADHD, ODD, and Adjustment Disorder groups. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

What's Going On with Dora? An Interpersonal Perspective

Freud views Dora's symptoms as displacements of conflictual fantasies and affects. In this essay the focus is shifted to Dora's body in relation, a vehicle for communication. The schism between her soma and psyche—or act and word—is understood as Dora's response to the mystifying, hypocritical relatedness in her family. Freud's bifurcation of theory and clinical praxis may repeat this pattern at moments when metapsychological interpretations do not jibe with the interactive moment. A detailed inquiry regarding the often-embodied transference-countertransference matrix is therefore explored toward better understanding and integration.     

Assessment of Historical Analysis and Argumentation (AHAA): A New Measure of Document-Based Historical Thinking

Abstract

A troubling gap exists between the current state of history assessment and the knowledge and skills deemed essential for students to thrive in the 21st century. We propose a new assessment of historical thinking that represents a promising alignment with extant cognitive research, as well as with the practices that undergird the discipline. In this article, we discuss the design of the Assessment of Historical Analysis and Argumentation (AHAA), as well as the accompanying scoring rubric, and report findings from our administration of multiple forms of the exam with secondary students (N?=?618). Evidence indicates that the exam captured student historical thinking about documents and that the items prompted students to construct a cognitive representation of intertextual reasoning. Given the dearth of assessments that capture student historical thinking about documents and their understanding of content, we believe the AHAA has the potential to be an important instructional resource.     

The Clinical and Forensic Value of Information that Children Report While Drawing

Drawing is commonly used in clinical interviews to help children talk about their experiences. Research has shown that drawing increases the amount of information that children report about some emotional experiences. Here, we aimed to investigate the use of drawing in interviews about other, clinically relevant emotions, and the clinical and forensic relevance of the information that children report while drawing. To do this, sixty 5‐ to 6‐ and 11‐ to 12‐year‐olds drew and told, or told, about prior experiences that had made them feel happy, angry, proud (confident), and worried (nervous). For all emotions, drawing and telling increased the amount of forensically relevant, episodic details (e.g., who was there and what happened) that children reported relative to telling alone. In contrast, drawing and telling did not alter the amount of information that children reported about clinically relevant details (e.g., thoughts and emotions). We discuss the implications of these findings for using drawing in interviews with children. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

P = f (Conscientiousness × Ability): Examining the Facets of Conscientiousness

We posited that the form of the joint effects of motivation and ability in traditional performance models are interactive because motivation triggers the use of energy resources required to deploy ability at work. Moreover, we posited that achievement might best represent motivation compared to five other facets of Conscientiousness or global Conscientiousness. In two samples of customer service representatives, achievement interacted with general mental ability (GMA) in predicting task performance, whereas global Conscientiousness and the other five facets did not. This suggests that researchers examining the motivational aspects of Conscientiousness might uncover a more consistent pattern of results for task performance if they focus on the achievement facet. Furthermore, managers might see the highest levels of task performance in certain contexts when hiring individuals based on both achievement and GMA.     

Equanimity and Intimacy: A Buddhist-Feminist Approach to the Elimination of Bias

In this article I criticize some traditional impartiality practices in Western philosophical ethics and argue in favor of Marilyn Friedman’s dialogical practice of eliminating bias. But, I argue, the dialogical approach depends on a more fundamental practice of equanimity. Drawing on the works of Tibetan Buddhist thinkers Patrul Rinpoche and Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang, I develop a Buddhist-feminist concept of equanimity and argue that, despite some differences with the Western impartiality practices, equanimity is an impartiality practice that is not only psychologically feasible but also central to loving relationships. I conclude by suggesting ways that feminist dialogical practices for eliminating bias and meditative practices are mutually supportive.     

“Bounded” Empowerment: Analyzing Tensions in the Practice of Youth-Led Participatory Research in Urban Public Schools

This multi-method study examines tensions in the practice of youth-led participatory research (YPAR) in urban high schools among 15 semester-cohorts. Student participants in the present study were 77 ethnically diverse youth from four high schools in a major metropolitan school district. Data were gathered using systematic classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students involved in the projects, and participant observation. The two most commonly-constrained phases of the YPAR project were issue selection and action steps. A central tension in the issue selection phase for projects enacted across multiple semester cohorts was the tension between original inquiry and “traction:” Sticking with the same topic enabled sustained building of strategic alliances and expertise for making change, but limited the incoming cohort’s power to define the problem to be addressed. In further analyses, we identified processes that promoted student power despite continuity-related constraints—teachers’ framing and buy-in strategies, “micro-power” compensation, and alignment of students’ interests with the prior cohort—as well as constraints in other phases of the projects. This study’s findings regarding the promotion of youth power in the face of constraints advance the integration of theory and practice in youth-led research and have implications for participatory research more broadly.     

Computer-Assisted Therapies: Examination of Therapist-Level Barriers to Their Use

Despite enthusiasm in the field for their potential ease of dissemination, little work has examined whether practicing clinicians are willing and able to use computer-assisted therapies (i.e., computerized treatments designed to be administered with therapist support). For therapists to use these tools, they require access to computer equipment, the skills needed to use the equipment, and willingness to adopt the technology in treatment. This study examined these three factors using survey data from a national sample of mental health clinicians (N = 1,067). Respondents reported on their access to technology and computer fluency, in addition to completing the Computer-Assisted Therapy Attitudes Scale (CATAS), a measure of therapist attitudes designed for this study. Overall, the majority of therapists (90.7%) reported access to at least one computer at work and self-reported computer fluency levels were high. On average, therapists held positive attitudes towards computer-assisted therapies, although expressed concern that these technologies might damage rapport and did not feel that these technologies would improve treatment outcomes. Predictors of positive attitudes included greater general openness toward new treatments, greater comfort with computers, and easier access to technology at work (all ps < .01). Results suggested that, on the whole, therapists may be likely to integrate computer-assisted therapies into their clinical practice. However, therapists vary both in their ability and willingness to use these tools. Implications for the dissemination of computer-assisted therapies are discussed.