The Ames window illusion: perception of illusory motion by human infants

The sensitivity of human infants, 5 1/2-9 months of age, to the illusory oscillation of the Ames window was assessed in three experiments that employed some variant of the habituation-dishabituation and forced-choice preferential looking paradigms. In Experiment 1, three groups--5 1/2, 7 1/2, and 9 months of age--were given a visual choice between rotating rectangular and Ames windows after exposure to a rotating circular form. The two older groups preferred the Ames window. The results of Experiment 2 showed that this preference is not based on structural differences between the two windows. In Experiment 3, familiarization with an Ames window produced a preference for rotary motion while familiarization with a rectangular window produced a preference for oscillatory motion. These results suggest that sensitivity to the illusion emerges around 7 1/2 months of age, an outcome consistent with the emergence, at this time, of sensitivity to pictorial cues to depth.     

The skeleton in the cupboard: experiential geneogram work for family therapy trainees

This paper outlines the experiences of five family therapy trainees, relating to seminars which involved visual geneogram analysis and research into their extended families of origin. Changes induced by the seminars and their impact on the trainees' personal lives and clinical performance will be examined. These findings are discussed in the light of some of the literature dealing with the relevance, for the family therapy trainee, of an appropriate family-oriented experiential training.     

Eating disorders and obesity

The majority of patients with eating disorders are female. Most of those seeking treatment for weight loss are also women. Our culture views slenderness as beautiful, creating pressure to be thin. For some, however, the pursuit of thinness may be a way to avoid difficult developmental tasks, increase self-acceptance or get approval from others. Whatever its purpose, seeking slimness can lead to health problems as a result of starvation, binging and purging, or rapid cycles of weight loss and gain. Starvation and the binge-purge cycle themselves also create psychological problems. In this article, the etiology, maintenance and treatment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia are discussed from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. Attention is given to the interplay of physical, psychological and behavioral aspects of these disorders. Although obesity is a physical condition, not an emotional disorder, many women are distressed over their size due to the influence of cultural demands for thinness. The psychotherapist working with weight control may face the dilemma of whether to help a woman accept herself at her size or lose weight. Some guidelines for making a decision are discussed. Cognitions impeding weight loss are identified, and advances in cognitive-behavioral weight loss treatment are discussed.Jill Bresler is a psychologist in private practice and is on staff at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy, New York City     

Sex-role and opposite-sex interpersonal attraction

Androgynous, traditional, and undifferentiated male and female subjects indicated their attraction to three opposite-sex strangers who were described as having an androgynous, traditional, and undifferentiated sex-role. Subjects' ability to describe the sex-roles of the strangers was also measured. Androgynous strangers were most preferred, undifferentiated strangers least preferred. The least preferred undifferentiated strangers' sex-role was most accurately described. Subjects were least successful in describing the androgynous sex-role.     

Words high and low in pleasantness as rated by male and female college students

No catalog of words currently available contains normative data for large numbers of words rated low or high in affect. A preliminary sample of 1,545 words was rated for pleasantness by 26–33 college students. Of these words, 274 were selected on the basis of their high or low ratings. These words, along with 125 others (Rubin, 1981), were then rated by additional groups of 62–76 college students on 5-point rating scales for the dimensions of pleasantness, imagery, and familiarity. The resulting mean ratings were highly correlated with the ratings obtained by other investigators using some of the same words. However, systematic differences in the ratings were found for male versus female raters. Females tended to use more extreme ratings than did males when rating words on the pleasantness scale. Also, females tended to rate words higher on the imagery and familiarity scales. Whether these sex differences in ratings represent cognitive differences between the sexes or merely differences in response style is a question that can be determined only by further research.     

All Absences Are Not the Same: What Happens to the Group Climate When Someone is Absent From Group?

Clinical wisdom dictates that group member absences are harmful to the group; however, this has not been empirically examined. How do group member absences affect the group’s climate, and do absences earlier or later in a group’s life differentially impact group climate? The current study examined the relationship between group member absence and the climate perceptions for attending members, during earlier and later sessions in a group’s development. As hypothesized, a significant interaction was found for group climate and time such that absences during early sessions were significantly related to higher levels of engagement and lower levels of avoidance (a more productive group atmosphere), while absences during later sessions were related to lower levels of engagement and higher levels of avoidance. Implications are discussed.     

Narrative Therapy's Relational Understanding of Identity

We describe how we think of identity as relational, distributed, performed, and fluid, and we illustrate the use of this conceptualization within a narrative worldview. Drawing on the work of Michael White, we describe how this relational view of identity leads to therapeutic responses that give value to interconnection across multiple contexts and that focus on becoming rather than on being. We show how a narrative worldview helps focus on the relational, co‐evolving perspective that was the basis of our early attraction to family therapy. We offer detailed examples from our work of practices that help us stay firmly situated in a relational worldview that is counter to the pervasive influence of individualism in our contemporary culture.     

Work–Family Enrichment Among Ghanaian Employees: the Mediating Role Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being

This study examined the mediating roles of work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment in the relationship between work–family support and subjective well-being. Structural equation modelling results, based on cross-sectional data from 217 university employees in Ghana, showed that work support and family support were positively related to work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment. The results also showed that work-to-family enrichment mediated the relationship between work support and subjective well-being, while family-to-work enrichment mediated the relationships of work support and family support with subjective well-being. This research demonstrates that work–family enrichment provides pathways through which support resources in the work and family roles influence subjective well-being. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Family Conflict Moderates the Relation Between Negative Mood and Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Higher negative (or lower positive) mood is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems among some, but not all youth, suggesting that contextual factors may influence these temperament-symptom relations. Family conflict also is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, although it is unclear whether family conflict influences the relation between negative mood and symptoms. To address this gap, we examined whether family conflict moderates the relations between temperamental negative mood and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Participants were 775 youth (69?% male, 76?% Caucasian). Mothers and youth completed questionnaires when youth were ages 10–12 (time 1) and 12–14 (time 2). When exposed to higher family conflict at time 1, children higher in negative mood experienced higher time 2 internalizing and externalizing problems than children lower in negative mood. When exposed to lower family conflict, children’s internalizing and externalizing symptom levels were similar regardless of their levels of negative mood. Findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing youth’s risk for internalizing and externalizing symptoms should address conflictual interactions within the larger family system, particularly among youth with higher negative mood.