Contribution Patterns in Major U.S. Marital and Family Therapy Journals: 1992 Through 2002

The institutional sources of articles published between 1992 and 2002 in five major family therapy journals—the American Journal of Family Therapy, Contemporary Family Therapy, Family Process, Journal of Family Psychology, and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy were reviewed. Noteworthy similarities and differences as compared to earlier reviews were found. While no single institution dominated in numbers of publications, six of the top 10 institutions found between 1980 and 1995 were also found to be within the top 10 most productive institutions between 1992 and 2002. Patterns and changes in contributions from international sources, as well as from institutions with a COAMFTE-accredited program are discussed. Contributions from private practitioners and clinicians are also addressed.     

The relative effects of classwide peer tutoring and peer coaching on the positive social behaviors of children with ADHD

This study investigates the effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) and peer coaching on the peer social behaviors of children with ADHD. A single-subject, multiple-baseline design is used with three elementary-school students in Grades 3 and 4. Following a baseline period, CWPT is implemented in each student's classroom. During the second intervention phase, CWPT is continued and peer coaching is added. Peer social behaviors are observed in both academic and social settings, with a primary focus on intervention effects on the latter setting. Results suggest that students participating in CWPT are actively and positively engaged with their peers while carrying out the CWPT program in the academic setting. However, when only CWPT is implemented, increases in positive peer social behaviors are not observed in social settings. The addition of peer coaching results in enhanced social behaviors during recess and lunch.     

Risk Management Principles for Nanotechnology

Risk management of nanotechnology is challenged by the enormous uncertainties about the risks, benefits, properties, and future direction of nanotechnology applications. Because of these uncertainties, traditional risk management principles such as acceptable risk, cost–benefit analysis, and feasibility are unworkable, as is the newest risk management principle, the precautionary principle. Yet, simply waiting for these uncertainties to be resolved before undertaking risk management efforts would not be prudent, in part because of the growing public concerns about nanotechnology driven by risk perception heuristics such as affect and availability. A more reflexive, incremental, and cooperative risk management approach is required, which not only will help manage emerging risks from nanotechnology applications, but will also create a new risk management model for managing future emerging technologies.     

Are We All Little Eichmanns?

Philosophia - In this review essay, I review in detail Abram de Swann's fine new book, The Killing Compartments. The book is a theoretical analysis of the varieties and causes of genocides and...     

Investigating the effect of mental set on insight problem solving

Mental set is the tendency to solve certain problems in a fixed way based on previous solutions to similar problems. The moment of insight occurs when a problem cannot be solved using solution methods suggested by prior experience and the problem solver suddenly realizes that the solution requires different solution methods. Mental set and insight have often been linked together and yet no attempt thus far has systematically examined the interplay between the two. Three experiments are presented that examine the extent to which sets of noninsight and insight problems affect the subsequent solutions of insight test problems. The results indicate a subtle interplay between mental set and insight: when the set involves noninsight problems, no mental set effects are shown for the insight test problems, yet when the set involves insight problems, both facilitation and inhibition can be seen depending on the type of insight problem presented in the set. A two process model is detailed to explain these findings that combines the representational change mechanism with that of proceduralization.     

Is it the sound or your relationship to it? The role of acceptance in predicting tinnitus impact

Tinnitus is an experience of sound in the absence of an appropriate external source. A symptom that can accompany most central or peripheral dysfunctions of the auditory system, tinnitus can lead to significant distress, depression, anxiety, and decreases in life quality. This paper investigated the construct of psychological acceptance in a population of tinnitus patients. First, a cross-sectional study (N = 77) was conducted in which a tinnitus specific acceptance questionnaire was developed. Results showed that a Tinnitus Acceptance Questionnaire (TAQ) generated good internal consistency. A factor solution was derived with two factors: activity engagement and tinnitus supression. Second, a longitudinal study (N = 47) investigated the mediating role of acceptance on the relationship between tinnitus distress at baseline and tinnitus distress, anxiety, life quality, and depression at a 7-month follow-up. The results showed full mediation of activity engagement for depression and life quality at follow-up, partial mediation for tinnitus distress, and no mediation for anxiety. The role of acceptance in the negative impact of tinnitus distress merits further investigation.     

Children's visual descriptions

The aim of the experiments described below was to elucidate aspects of children's mental representations of what they see, through studying their drawings of simple geometric forms when copying from standard models. Two specific questions were studied: (a) Do children produce symbolic representations based, as in machine perception, on decomposition of the visual object into features or properties, subsequently reaggregated to a greater or lesser degree, rather than attempts to copy the visual appearance of the model? The answer was affirmative, though the phenomenon is relatively rare, (b) Does a child's drawings of simple geometric drawings improve if he can watch an adult do the same drawings first? This has been asserted in the literature and bears on the question of static versus procedural representation. In a sample of 499 drawings made by children aged from 2½ to 5 years we showed that such an effect is absent or very small.