The Use of Paradoxical Intention in the Treatment of Panic Attacks

Paradoxical intention can be used in the treatment of panic attacks. In this article the author provides a brief case example and discussion of the nature and implementation of the technique.     

Religious Affiliation and Attendance Among Immigrants in Eight Western Countries: Individual and Contextual Effects

This study examines the religious affiliation and participation of immigrants from a large-scale, comparative perspective. I propose a "specific migration" framework, in which immigrants' religiosity is an outcome of both individual characteristics and contextual properties related to immigrants' country of origin, country of destination, and combinations of origin and destination (i.e., communities). I use notions discussed in the religion and migration literature that fit into this scheme. To test these ideas, I collected and standardized 20 existing surveys on immigrants in eight Western countries, yielding about 38,000 immigrants. Applying multilevel models, I found, among other things, that: (1) immigrants from countries with higher levels of modernization express lower levels of religious commitment; (2) immigrants in religious countries are more religious themselves; and (3) the well-documented higher levels of religious commitment among women is not generalizable to immigrants.     

Social Skills Training To Improve Job Maintenance

A social skills training procedure, which included videotaped feedback, videotaped modeling, focused instructions, coaching, and behavioral rehearsal, was implemented. Treatment effectiveness was evaluated and the results indicate that social skills training can be an effective treatment for job-related stress.     

The Structure and Phenomenon of Sexual Harassment: Impact of Category of Sexually Harassing Behavior, Gender, and Hierarchical Level

Several researchers (Fitzgerald & Hesson-Mclnnes, 1989; Padgitt & Padgitt, 1986; Till, 1980) have suggested that the construct of sexual harassment is multidimensional and consists of five categories of behavior: gender harassment, seductive behavior, sexual bribery, sexual coercion, and sexual assault. Unfortunately, these categories have not been considered in studies investigating the nature and correlates of perceptions of sexual harassment. This paper presents a study that examined the impact of three factors–categories of sexually harassing behavior, gender of subjects, and hierarchical level of the initiator relative to the recipient–on subjects' perceptions of sexual harassment. The results indicated that gender and hierarchical level influenced the perceptions of two categories of sexual harassment–gender harassment and seductive behavior–but did not influence perceptions of sexual bribery, sexual coercion, and sexual assault. Implications for future research and organizational policies are discussed.     

A Follow-up Study of Counseling Effectiveness in Placement Outcomes—Data for Fiscal Years 1973 and 1976

A comparison was made of data from fiscal years 1973 and 1976 to determine if the findings of a study made in 1973 were true also in 1976. Basic findings of the 1973 study were “Your chances of being placed on a job by the Employment Service in Utah are greater if you receive assistance from counseling”; “The chances are even greater when you have more than one counseling interview”; “Personalizing the services seems to be the key to being placed on a job.” Other findings of the 1973 study regarding applicant characteristics often considered barriers to placement were not treated in the present study because of difficulties in obtaining the information from fiscal 1976 records. Results of the current study of 1976 data indicate: Although the advantage in favor of counseled applicants being placed was somewhat less in fiscal year 1976 than in fiscal 1973, counseled applicants' percentage-of-placement rate was still higher than that for all applicants in general, and increased numbers of counseling interviews did seem to have a positive effect on the placement rates of counseled applicants but at a slower rate than was found for fiscal 1973. In the current study an additional factor—renewals—was investigated to determine if higher placement rates accompanied higher numbers of renewals. The findings were positive but deemed inconclusive. Since renewals indicate repeated use of the service, they can be considered to be another measure of the effect of satisfactory service, like placement, rather than a cause of increased placement rates. This additional investigation did determine, however, that at all levels of renewal (except no renewal) the placement rate of counseled applicants was significantly higher than the placement rate of applicants who did not receive counseling.     

Thin slices of infidelity: Determining whether observers can pick out cheaters from a video clip interaction and what tips them off

The viability of using brief observations of behavior (thin slicing) to identify infidelity in romantic relationships was examined. Two studies supported the hypothesis that observers can accuratelsy identify people who are cheating on their romantic dating partner based on thin slices of observed behavior. In Study 1, raters were able to accurately identify people who were cheating on their romantic dating partner after viewing a short 3‐ to 4‐min video of the couple interacting. Study 2 replicated this finding and identified possible variables that may mediate the relation between coder's ratings and participants' actual reported infidelity. Commitment and trustworthiness were found to be mediators of this relation. These results are discussed in terms of application and future research.     

Evaluating Stand-Up Specials

Stand-up specials are not identical to the sets they contain. Nor are they of a kind with either fiction films or documentaries. I argue here that the properties of specials that make them ontologically distinct also demand that we treat them as distinct for the purpose of their evaluation. I then offer some evaluative criteria for specials as well as suggestions for becoming better critics of specials.