The situation

A formulation for the explanation of behavior is needed to guide the work of the applied psychologist whose first task is to explain behavior. It can also serve as a coordinating framework for the basic research that centers around each of psychology's many constructs. This paper puts forward the notion that the appropriate framework reflects the intersection of numerous person and environment systems; in other words, that it is found in the structure of a situation. Continuity within the science of psychology is promoted if an appropriate structure is found in the classic situations of the experimental laboratory. A prototypical situation that is based on the major paradigms of instrumental learning is described. It has already shown considerable utility in organizing the investigation of behavioral determinants in a real-world setting, and its ability to clarify interrelationships among psychology's constructs also looks promising.Thanks are due to C. Cofer, J. Keenan, E. Mannucci, and M. Nadien for their helpful comments on a draft of this paper.     

Reflections on death and mourning in relation to Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend

Both Bion and Jung indicate in their theories of oscillating cycles of coniunctio/mortificatio and Ps<-->D that the toleration of psychic states of disintegration is both dangerous and essential to new development and that change is resisted and feared. Our fear of growth and development is described by Jung in the mortificatio phase of the coniunctio cycles where movement can be forward towards coniunctio or backwards into disiunctio and by Bion in his delineation of a grid, with its negative grid, where the normal direction of growth may be permanently reversed. Both highlight the inevitability of elements destructive to thought being present in the psyche and the need to know these forces. This paper relates their ideas to the difficult processes of mourning explored by Dickens in his novel Our Mutual Friend.     

Young children with autism show atypical brain responses to fearful versus neutral facial expressions of emotion

Evidence suggests that autism is associated with impaired emotion perception, but it is unknown how early such impairments are evident. Furthermore, most studies that have assessed emotion perception in children with autism have required verbal responses, making results difficult to interpret. This study utilized high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether 3-4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show differential brain activity to fear versus neutral facial expressions. It has been shown that normal infants as young as 7 months of age show differential brain responses to faces expressing different emotions. ERPs were recorded while children passively viewed photos of an unfamiliar woman posing a neutral and a prototypic fear expression. The sample consisted of 29 3-4-year-old children with ASD and 22 chronological age-matched children with typical development. Typically developing children exhibited a larger early negative component (N300) to the fear than to the neutral face. In contrast, children with ASD did not show the difference in amplitude of this early ERP component to the fear versus neutral face. For a later component, typically developing children exhibited a larger negative slow wave (NSW) to the fear than to the neutral face, whereas children with autism did not show a differential NSW to the two stimuli. In children with ASD, faster speed of early processing (i. e. N300 latency) of the fear face was associated with better performance on tasks assessing social attention (social orienting, joint attention and attention to distress). These data suggest that children with ASD, as young as 3 years of age, show a disordered pattern of neural responses to emotional stimuli.     

Imitation and social responsiveness in autistic children

Fifteen autistic children, ages 4–6 years, participated in the present study. Imitation and object permanence skills were assessed. Language and social behaviors were observed during free play. Children were also exposed to three interactive procedures that differed in developmental sophistication. The experimenter either (1) simultaneously imitated the child's actions, (2) modeled a familiar action, or (3) modeled a novel action. It was found that the autistic children who had a low level of imitative ability (Piaget's Stages 2–3) were more socially responsive, showed more eye contact, and played with toys in a less perseverative manner when the experimenter imitated their behavior than when the experimenter modeled either a familiar or a novel action. When the experimenter modeled a familiar as opposed to a novel action, these children were more likely to spontaneously imitate the experimenter. The autistic children with more highly developed imitation skills, however, responded similarly to all conditions. They also were generally more socially and verbally responsive. These results suggest that developmental status is an important variable in designing intervention programs for severely impaired children.We would like to express our appreciation to the autistic children who participated in the study, and to their parents, and to the staff of the T.E.A.C.C.H. Division, University of North Carolina for their help and cooperation. We would also like to thank Karen Cotten, Pete Giordano, Vickie Hall, Lee Hendrix, Shari Jernigan, Kevin Lumley, Cindy Seagroves, Sheryl Solomon, Kathy Stetson, and Jeannie Teasley for their assistance in data collection and coding, and Mary Lynn Eckert and Anne Stanford for their secretarial assistance. Cathy Dent provided helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of the paper. Support was provided by UNC Research Council.     

The Right to be Desperate and Hurt and Anger in the presence of Carl Rogers: A racial/psychological identity approach

This paper attempts to establish the beginnings of a conceptual and theoretical framework for psychotherapists and counsellors to 'work with' racial identity psychologically and psychological identity racially in cross-cultural clients. Using the video presentation - of a black client in therapy with Carl Rogers (in the 1970s) - Right to be Desperate and Hurt and Anger as a case vignette, the paper argues that racial/psychological self understanding is possible in therapy. The therapy sessions are critiqued in terms of race and multi-cultural psychotherapy and counselling. Since the video was widely used in the 1990s and is currently used in counselling and multi-cultural therapy training, it was felt that an examination and analysis of some of its contents would offer clinical possibilities in terms of race, culture and ethnicity. Through the analysis of significant excerpts the paper attempts to show that the conflicts, confusions and tensions that arise between a white therapist and a black client can be used creatively to engender trust, openness and cross-racial therapeutic possibilities.     

Sensitivity to status-based rejection: implications for African American students' college experience

The authors proposed a process model whereby experiences of rejection based on membership in a devalued group can lead people to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to status-based rejection. To test the model, the authors focused on race-based rejection sensitivity (RS-race) among African Americans. Following the development and validation of the RS-Race Questionnaire (Studies 1 and 2), the authors tested the utility of the model for understanding African American students' experiences at a predominantly White university (Study 3). Students high in RS-race experienced greater discomfort during the college transition, less trust in the university, and relative declines in grades over a 2- to 3-year period. Positive race-related experiences, however, increased feelings of belonging at the institution among students high in RS-race.     

Links between social and linguistic processing of speech in preschool children with autism: behavioral and electrophysiological measures

Data on typically developing children suggest a link between social interaction and language learning, a finding of interest both to theories of language and theories of autism. In this study, we examined social and linguistic processing of speech in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing chronologically matched (TDCA) and mental age matched (TDMA) children. The social measure was an auditory preference test that pitted 'motherese' speech samples against non-speech analogs of the same signals. The linguistic measure was phonetic discrimination assessed with mismatch negativity (MMN), an event-related potential (ERP). As a group, children with ASD differed from controls by: (a) demonstrating a preference for the non-speech analog signals, and (b) failing to show a significant MMN in response to a syllable change. When ASD children were divided into subgroups based on auditory preference, and the ERP data reanalyzed, ASD children who preferred non-speech still failed to show an MMN, whereas ASD children who preferred motherese did not differ from the controls. The data support the hypothesis of an association between social and linguistic processing in children with ASD.     

Confirming satisfaction as an attitude within the service‐buying process

This paper presents research that uses cognitive and affective semantic differential scales to construct an attitude measuring instrument to be used in the services domain in the context of long applications to buy a service. The scales measure ‘Attitude to the Application Process’ (AAP) which represents satisfaction, as an internal ‘buying process’ attitude, which moderates the buying intention. Data collected over a three‐year period between 1996‐9, was analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results provide evidence of a robust and useful cognitive scale. Although there were anomalies in the exploratory and confirmatory analysis of the affective scale, a robust scale is presented which represents either one or two factors. The whole measuring instrument of 14 items was developed as a means to access applicant attitudes during the application process to university — an extended and extreme application situation for first‐time consumers. The results identify that the instrument is sound and can be used in its original or modified form, depending on the context of the service‐process monitoring situation. The scales represent aspects of attitude not dealt with extensively in the literature and measure the perception of the application process as simple, open, friendly and helpful. These aspects of satisfaction mirror three attributes of service quality: assurance, responsiveness and empathy identified in previous research. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications.