Group Psychotherapy for University Students: Progress and Problems

The progress of two therapy groups for university students is described. Some difficulties were encountered in their organisation and in the selection of group members. There were also problems regarding confidentiality. On the other hand, the closure of one group during the university vacations did not impede its progress. Such group therapy seemed particularly suitable for students with less severe psychiatric disturbance and for those with adolescent difficulties in separation and individuation. Students with more severe personality disorder or those with a recent history of serious mental illness progressed less satisfactorily.     

Sex differences in communication skills as measured by a modified relationship inventory

Previous studies have provided some indication that females are more empathic than males and that individuals show greater empathy when relating to persons of the same sex. Because the research has been equivocal, the present study attempted to replicate these findings for not only empathy but also three other communication skills measured by the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory: congruence, regard, and unconditionality of regard. The subjects for this study were 20 male and 41 female students in an undergraduate experiential course in interpersonal relations. All students were placed in training groups, and the co-trainers for these groups completed ratings on a modified Relationship Inventory for each of their students. Reliability data on this inventory were satisfactory. Female students were given slightly higher ratings on all skills at both the beginning and end of the group experience, but none of the differences were significant. Male co-trainers rated the skills of male students higher than did female co-trainers, but a comparable same-sex effect for female students was not demonstrated. Thus, the experimental hypotheses were partially supported.     

Allocation of attention according to informativeness in visual recognition

In visual identification, is visual attention attracted to more informative elements, i.e. to elements which are more critical for identification? This question was investigated by having subjects detect some visual probes while performing a primary task that involved identification. The probes were located in the neighbourhood of highly or poorly informative parts of the identified stimuli. Three experiments that followed this rationale were conducted. In Experiment I, it was found that when subjects searched for a target letter in lines of identical background letters, they detected more dots near the feature that distinguished between the target and the background letters. In Experiment 11, it was found that native Hebrew-speaking subjects detected more lines above a letter that distinguished between two English words. Experiment III showed that the effect was reduced but did not vanish when spatial uncertainty was introduced. On the whole, the data are interpreted as suggesting that more attention may indeed be directed to informative regions, and that this effect cannot be solely attributed to retinal factors.     

The diffuse thalamocortical system and Pavlovian/Eysenckian theory: A response to criticism

This article is a response to Paisey's (1983, this issue, pp. 527–534) critique of reports which describe how transmission characteristics of the diffuse thalamocortical system relate to personality, intelligence and cognitive style (Robinson, 1982a, Robinson, 1982b). Detailed consideration of Paisey's objections leads to the conclusion that they fall into three major categories. First, there are ‘straw men’ that derive from a misrepresentation of theoretical arguments. Secondly, there are objections which relate to methodological considerations but lack substance. Finally, there are criticisms that arise from Paisey's mistaken application of statistical methods.     

The Use of Progressive Relaxation and Hypnosis in Counselling Secondary-School Pupils

Counselling methods involving progressive relaxation and hypnosis are sometimes regarded as being mysterious and alarmingly innovatory, particularly within the context of the secondary-school system. The implications for counselling practice of the use of such methods are considered. Some ways in which they have been used to help young people of secondary-school age are outlined. A number of illustrative case-studies are given, and a relatively unsuccessful case-study is included.     

Characteristics of schizophrenics' and neurotics' relatives

A group of adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenics were compared with a control sample of neurotics' relatives on the EPQ, an earlier version of the Eysenck P scale, and on three specially-constructed scales of ‘psychoticism’ (STA, STB and S), derived from a consideration of the clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia and of the ‘borderline syndromes’. Overall differences, in a predictable direction, were confined to the EPQ P scale where schizophrenics' relatives had significantly higher scores, though further analysis suggested that this was due partly to the raised scores of males and partly to very low P-scores seen in male neurotics' relatives. Scores on the STA, measuring schizophrenic ‘symptoms’, were very low in schizophrenics' relatives, due, it was argued, to extremely defensive responding in that group. Results are also reported for two psychophysiological measures, forearm EMG and skin conductance. Here marked group differences were observed, schizophrenics' relatives having significantly higher mean EMG and significantly lower mean skin conductance. This unusual pattern of response was especially evident in a small subgroup of schizophrenics' relatives whose personality profiles tended to differ in the predictable direction, towards greater ‘psychoticism’. The psychophysiological data were highly consistent with other results from our laboratory demonstrating a ‘dissociation’ between different measures of ‘arousal’ in high-P normal subjects and in psychotic patients and it was concluded that measures based on such a conception of the biological basis of schizophrenia offer considerable promise as high-risk indicators of psychopathology.     

Evolutionary biology and personality psychology: Implications of genetic variability

Biological considerations raise an important set of issues for psychology: what behavioral attributes of the species are genetically based, what are the mechanisms by which genetic influences affect behavior, what are the evolutionary antecedents of genetically-based attributes, and what are their consequences? This article examines a subset of these issues by exploring some potential consequences of extant genetic variability for personality functioning, social interaction and the current genetic evolution of our species. Behavior genetics provides a methodology for discovering genetically-influenced behavioral variation. Five disparate areas (socialization, personality development, personality assessment, interactionism and assortative mating) are examined in which findings from behavior genetics can guide research and theory in personality psychology. Relationships between organismic and social parameters are emphasized. The final section combines these five areas by placing them within the broader context of theory-building in psychology.     

Sex of leader,leader behavior,and subordinate satisfaction

A 2×2×2 factorial design was employed to examine the influence of instructed leadership style, sex of leader, and sex of followers on leader behavior, subordinate satisfaction, and productivity in a simple task. In general, male and female leaders were equally able and equally willing to display autocratic and democratic leadership styles if so instructed. Similarly, leader sex did not have a significant influence on subordinate satisfaction or productivity either by itself or in interaction with leadership style or follower sex.     

Malpractice in clinical social work: A perspective on civil liability in the 1980's

Recently reported cases involving the malpractice of psychiatrists have also focused attention on the potential liability for similar acts by clinical social workers. While there is no appellate case authority holding social work clinicians liable for malpractice at this time, the potential for such litigation is enormous. This article explores some of the more common areas of concern and suggests several prophylactic measures that clinicians may employ to safeguard both their professional career and their continued financial independence.     

Preparing dichotic tapes using a digital music synthesizer

Digital music synthesizers represent audio signals in the form of binary coded numbers. These binary coded numbers can be manipulated by the operator, thereby altering the audio signal in a variety of ways. The present article describes how these capabilities can be used to produce perfectly aligned dichotic tapes in which the stimulus items are matched on all extraneous (timbre, amplitude, duration) factors.