Peer theory,dyadic primacy,and destruction of the group: The borderline patient and group interaction

Recent contributions toward a peer theory of group psychotherapy place the therapist's facilitation of peer interaction at the center of curative action. Borderline patients' primitive demands for leader attention disrupt the evolution of group cohesion and may threaten to destroy the group. Peer theory must account for this eventuality and deal with the therapist's dilemma of whether to maintain a dyadic or peer focus. Homogeneity of group composition regarding dyadic or peer primacy is suggested.Presented at the Animal Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association in Houston, Texas, 1981.     

The Specter of Metaphysics in Counseling Research and Practice: The Qualitative Challenge

After decades of scientific research, the specter of metaphysics pervades and hinders virtually all aspects of counseling research, theory, and practice. Qualitative research is suggested as capable of coming to terms with such issues. This article notes that qualitative research will gain acceptance when it takes a significant step toward solving a major problem in the discipline. A tentative outline of an approach to metaphysical problems involving radical empiricism and phenomenology is provided. Along the way, some necessary cognitive shifts are delineated, involving dialectical and abductive reasoning processes.     

A base-free measure of change

A model for the measurement of the discrepancy between two scores is presented and discussed as a paradigm for the study of growth or experimentally produced change. The model assumes two tests or measures differing in complexity, and it analyzes the true difference between the test scores into a component that is entirely dependent on the first or base-line test and a second component that is entirely independent of it. Equations for estimating both components are given and these are compared with other measurement efforts with similar goals.     

Role of female behavior in controlling population growth in mice

Sex ratio does not appear to be a factor in generating the characteristic population growth curve. Freely growing populations of house mice, consisting of all females and one male, stopped their growth at approximately the same densities as normal sexratio populations used as references. The mechanism(s) of female control of population dynamics may be related to female aggressive behavior. As the all-female/one-male populations approached their maximum size, the females began to show wounding patterns and social hierarchies in much the same manner as males in populations with normal sex ratios. The male in each of the populations was severely wounded in the posterior region, and each lost its tail as a result of injuries which could have been inflicted only by the females. The female social hierarchy can be seen only when there has been reproduction and population growth. Assembled populations of all females rarely exhibit aggressive behavior. Female aggression becomes apparent only when the population approaches its maximum size and thereafter. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that males are competitive among themselves for territory and social rank, and ultimately to mate with the females. Other investigators have indicated that females respond to population size, which may reflect increased competition between the females with the establishment of territories. Thus female agression may control population growth, a role previously ascribed to male aggression.