Informal Drunk Driving Intervention: Psychosocial Correlates Among Young Adult Women and Men1

Based on experimental research on helping and survey findings on drunk driving intervention, we selected 28 variables for study that might relate to informal intervention in a drunk driving situation. We tested six hypotheses by categorizing the 28 variables into personal (12), relationship (4), situational (5), and individual response (7) aspects. Bivariate correlations and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed between these 28 predictor variables and intervention for 303 college students (192 females and 111 males). Three personal, one relationship, three situational, and four individual responses in situation variables were correlated significantly with intervention. Four significant predictors emerged in the stepwise logistic regression equation: knowing the driver well; having a conversation that encouraged the respondent to intervene; perceiving the driver as needing help; and the respondent's feeling able to intervene. All hypotheses received at least some confirmation in these results, but noteworthy discrepancies from expectations emphasize the need to appreciate differences between studies of helping behavior in the laboratory and this natural form of helping behavior.     

Self-report, situation-specific coping questionnaires: what are they measuring?

Self-report, situation-specific assessments of coping, such as the Ways of Coping Scale (WOC), have been used frequently in recent years. Several potential issues in the development and use of these questionnaires have been identified, including the applicability of coping items to different kinds of stressful events, the definition of the period for which Ss report coping efforts, and the meaning of the "extent" response key that is used for reporting coping items. In this study, 91 college students completed the WOC and were then interviewed about their responses; interview questions were focused on the 3 issues stated above. The hypothesized concerns about the WOC were supported. Many of the coping items were not applicable to certain kinds of stressful events. Also, how the coping report period was defined varied across Ss and the way in which the extent response key was interpreted differed across both Ss and WOC items.     

Belief in COVID-19 misinformation: Hopeful claims are rated as truer

Misinformation surrounding COVID-19 spread rapidly and widely, posing a significant threat to public health. Here, we examined whether some types of misinformation are more believable than others, to the extent that they offer people hope in uncertain times. An initial group of subjects rated a series of COVID-19 misinformation statements for whether each made them feel more or less hopeful (if true). Based on these ratings, we selected two sets of misinformation that differed in their average rated hopefulness; the two sets did not differ in word length or reading ease. In two studies, people rated their belief in each statement. Results from both studies revealed that people rated the more hopeful misinformation (e.g., COVID cures and prevention methods) as truer than less hopeful misinformation (e.g., transmission vectors). These findings are consistent with a motivated reasoning account of misinformation acceptance.     

Silent Virtues: Patience,Curiosity, Privacy,Intimacy, Humility,and Dignity,by Salman Akhtar,Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2019, 192 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Dreams as portraits of self and group interaction

Dreams presented in group psychotherapy portray different aspects of the dialectic between the group and the individual. A self psychology perspective emphasizes the interplay between the current self-state of the group-as-a-whole and the selfobject needs of the individual. With this focus in mind, the therapist should help the group to deepen its awareness and capacity to reflect on emerging new abilities ("forward edge") which dream imagery conveys and the needed human responsiveness that can actualize these abilities and thus help the individual and the group to break and transform chains of repetition compulsion. We illustrate this approach with two clinical examples.     

Why psychology needs conceptual analysts: Wachtel's “discontents” revisited

Commenting on Wachtel's “Investigation and its Discontents” [Wachtel, P. L. (1980). Investigation and its discontents: Some constraints on progress in psychological research. American Psychologist, 35, 399–408], I agree that lack of support for a career path of conceptual analysis and critique is a serious problem. Psychology requires a strong conceptual component because it is subject to unusual distortions and self-deceptions in theory formation and evidential evaluation due to issues of power, self-esteem, and social ideology. I agree with Wachtel that pressures for quantity of publication are detrimental to scientific quality, but dispute his suggestion that excessive focus on quantity in assessing productivity can be addressed by having tenure and promotion candidates submit only their three best papers. Such reviews must be based on the entire record, so improvements must involve journals’ acceptance standards. Regarding Wachtel's concern about the influence of grants on reviews, I argue that grants should be relevant only to the extent they bear on the candidate's scholarly goals.     

The effects of errorless learning and backward chaining on the acquisition of Internet skills in adults with developmental disabilities

An important area in the learning and development of individuals with disabilities is the acquisition of independent, age-appropriate leisure skills. Three adults with autism and mental retardation were taught to access specific Internet sites using backward chaining and most-to-least intrusive prompting. The number of independent steps completed in the task analysis increased following training.