What Do You Think About What the Team Said? The Solution-Focused Reflecting Team as a Virtual Therapeutic Community

The authors describe the use of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with the use of a reflecting team and discuss the benefits they have found for the clients, the reflecting team, and the therapist.     

The influence of affective factors on time perception

Several studies have suggested that both affective valence and arousal affect the perception of time. However, in previous experiments, the two affective dimensions have not been systematically controlled. In this study, standardized photographic slides rated for emotional valence and arousal were projected to two groups of subjects for 2, 4, and 6 sec. One group of subjects estimated the projection duration on an analog scale, whereas the second group of subjects reproduced the intervals by pushing a button. Heart rate and skin conductance responses were also recorded during stimulus presentation as indices of attention and arousal. Time estimation results showed neither a main effect of valence nor a main effect of arousal. A highly significant valence × arousal interaction affected duration judgments. For low-arousal stimuli, the duration of negative slides was judged relatively shorter than the duration of positive slides. For high-arousal stimuli, the duration of negative slides was judged longer than the duration of positive slides. The same interaction pattern was observed across judgment modalities. These results are interpreted in terms of a model of action tendency, in which the level of arousal controls two different motivational mechanisms, one emotional and the other attentional.     

The meaning of bad news in HIV disease: Counselling about dreaded issues revisited

HIV disease is a slow, progressive immunological disorder. As there is neither a cure nor a vaccine, morbidity and mortality arising from HIV infection will continue to challenge health care providers, including those who counsel these patients. Psychological preparation for ‘bad news’ and support for those whose health is deteriorating is an important task in HIV counselling. This paper describes what may be considered bad news for people living with HIV, how to prepare them for unwelcome changes in their medical condition and how to give bad news, should the need arise.     

Gender differences over time in medical school stressors,anxiety, and the sense of coherence

Gender differences in the perception of medical school stressors, trait anxiety, and the sense of coherence were investigated in a longitudinal study in an Israeli medical school. The overall stressor score increased for both sexes from orientation to the second year of studies. The increase in the stressor score among women was due primarily to their increasing concern about professional status issues; for men, the academic demands factor contributed most to their increased overall stressor score. Trait anxiety increased and the sense of coherence decreased over time for both sexes. The gender difference in anxiety was significant in the first two stages, but disappeared in the third stage, indicating that although men had lower scores at all stages, their scores increased relatively more than women's over time. The findings suggest that the stressors of medical education have a negative effect on two personality resources needed to deal with life's demands.     

Reading skill and the minimum distance principle: A comparison of listening and reading comprehension

Experiment I compared the listening and reading comprehension of sentences which follow the Minimum Distance Principle, e.g., John tells Bill to bake the cake, and of those which do not, e.g., John promises Bill to bake the cake. Third, fourth, and fifth graders were tested. Support for Chomsky's Stage analysis of mastery of the Minimum Distance Principle was found for the listening but not for the reading task. Reading skill level was found to be positively correlated with Stage and a significantly better predictor of promise performance than was age or IQ. Experiment II investigated the effect of the composition of the experimental presentation list on performance by comparing comprehension when the list contained only promise or tell sentences with that obtained when the list contained both types of sentences. For half the subjects, performance differed as a function of the list composition: Implications of these findings for the assessment of the development of language competence are discussed.     

Effects of performance expectancies created by peer comparison as related to social reinforcement,task difficulty,and age of child

Children in kindergarten-first grades and fourth-sixth grades (6 and 10 years of age, respectively) participated in one of two experiments and performed either a simple motor task or (for older children only) a two-choice simultaneous discrimination task at two difficulty levels. Children received either positive, negative, or no peer comparison statements (describing how other children their age had allegedly performed) and either praise, silence (in Experiment 2 only), or criticism on a fixed-interval 20-second schedule throughout the task. Young children were more responsive to adult evaluation of their performance than to peer comparison. Expectancies created by peer comparisons affected older children's motor performance most if they received reinforcement contrary to the expectancy. In situations requiring greater cognitive ability, older children, particularly boys, responded to the performance expectancies created by positive peer comparison. Older boys, compared with older girls, seemed to be more sensitive to peer comparison and social reinforcement.     

Differentiated ratings of perceived exertion during physical conditioning of older individuals using leg-weight loading.

Use of leg weights for physical conditioning was evaluated in 8 middle-aged male Ss; four Ss of similar age served as a control group. Pre- and post-training evaluation consisted of heart rate and oxygen uptake responses to five submaximal work loads which involved either level walking or cycling. Differentiated ratings of perceived exertion elicited for each work load were: a local muscular rating; a central or cardio-pulmonary rating; and an over-all or general rating. Submaximal heart rate decreased 6 to 9 beats/min. from pretraining values for all work load after training. The differentiated ratings for training generally reflected a reduced strain on the cardiovascular system and also improved functioning of the working muscles with training. However, when one set of sensations dominated the exertional perception the others appear to have been perceptually de-emphasized. Local muscular factors seemed to dominate the exertional perception for cycling, but central factors appeared to play a more important role for treadmill walking, at least within the range of velocities investigated.     

Role of nonverbal communication in the perception of leadership.

A 2 X 3 design was used to assess effects of nonverbal communication and sensory modality of presentation of stimuli on 107 undergraduates' perception of leadership. Nonverbal communication and modality of presentation had a significant effect on perception of leadership. These results suggest that nonverbal cues should be seen as essential in impression-formation.     

Circadian organization of locomotor activity in the Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti)

The circadian organization of locomotor activity was examined in Turkish hamsters while exposed to a light-dark (LD) cycle, constant illumination (LL), and following blinding and gonadectomy. Under LD 16:8 the activity rhythm of all hamsters became well entrained with activity beginning approximately 30 min after dark onset. In contrast, when activity rhythms free-ran as the result of exposure to LL or blinding, a variety of spontaneous perturbations in the period and/or phase of the activity rhythm were observed.     

Production of narrative discourse in aphasia

The study described the abilities of a group of 15 moderately impaired aphasics and 15 normals to produce narrative discourse. The experimental tasks included telling stories, summarizing stories, and giving morals to stories. The data were analyzed in terms of sentential grammar, discourse grammar, and subjective ratings of content and clarity of language. The results showed that aphasics produced well-structured discourse. The language of the aphasics' discourse was reduced in both complexity and amount, as compared to that produced by normals. The reduction of language reflected selective reduction of hierarchically organized information. The findings of the study confirm the results of previous research on mildly impaired aphasics, which also showed preservation of discourse structure with selective reduction of information.