Fear of the drunk driver: Analysis of an emergent social problem

This paper analyzes public perceptions of drunk driving with respect to risk of being victimized, seriousness of the offense, and fear of being victimized. This is based on a state‐wide survey of Louisiana driver's license holders. Compared to other crimes, even murder and rape, it was found that drunk driving ranked highest in its fear invoking quality. An argument is made that this phenomenon should be interpreted from a theoretical standpoint viewing the crimi‐nalization process as a form of collective behavior. Implications for understanding fear of crime as a function of perceived risk and seriousness are discussed, and the implications of the findings for understanding of further legislation and policy action against drunk driving is examined.     

The first time ever I saw your face

The perception of social information is crucial for the survival of most animal species. Two recent studies demonstrate the joint contribution of innate mechanisms and perceptual experience to two aspects of social perception--faces and biological motion. Together, they highlight how important it is to consider faces and biological motion as different visual properties used by a broader social perception system.     

Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion,Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti

The purpose of this article was for selected Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) cognoscenti to examine the impact of the events of September 11th, 2001, on their beliefs about religion, spirituality, and their personal philosophy—including the role of evil in the universe and the implications of these issues on their use of REBT. The degree of consistency of the authors' views with classical REBT theory and philosophy was examined. The authors are current or former members of the Albert Ellis Institute's International Training Standards and Policy Review Committee, of which Albert Ellis, REBT's founder, is also a member.     

The Psychology of Respite Care for People with Dementia in Australia

Australian health professional bodies promote the use of respite to ease carer burden, following well‐established findings that carers often face physical, mental, social, and financial strain while providing informal care. This narrative review examined the use and impacts of respite for older clients, with a particular focus on Australian research and on dementia respite. It was found that despite reports of high satisfaction from caregivers with respite use, barriers, such as caregiver concerns for the well‐being and safety of the care recipient during respite, limited flexibility for short‐notice respite booking, and low provision of support and education post respite, impacted on the accessibility and efficacy of respite care. It was concluded that respite care needs to move away from a custodial model to a more psychological model of care, and that more natural and flexible models (e.g., host family respite), integrated with increased post‐respite support and psychosocial education, are likely to be beneficial and need further evaluation.     

Mentoring to Promote Courage and Confidence Among Elementary School Students With Internalizing Problems: A Single-Case Design Pilot Study

There is a paucity of selective, Tier 2 interventions that educators can implement for students with internalizing problems as part of their schools' Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports. To fill this void, the authors' purpose was to evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, and integrity of a structured school-based mentoring program, the Courage and Confidence Mentor Program (CCMP), for elementary students. A single-case experimental multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the efficacy of the CCMP with 6 students. Visual analysis of the results and single-case effect size estimates revealed that all but 1 of the participants demonstrated noticeable reductions in internalizing problems as measured by teacher-completed direct behavior ratings. Findings were confirmed by other dependent variables gathered from students and teachers. Limitations of the methods and directions for future research involving Tier 2 interventions for elementary students with internalizing problems are discussed.     

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment: Organizational Change and Quality of Care

Substance abuse treatment agencies serving youth face unique barriers to providing quality care. Interviews with 17 adolescent programs found that family engagement, community involvement, and gender and diversity issues affected treatment delivery. Programs report organizational change efforts with implications for future process improvement initiatives.     

The Relation Between Obtained Preference Value and Reinforcer Potency

Stimulus preference assessments often include items suspected to be highly preferred. If only high‐preference stimuli are assessed, preference hierarchies may not accurately predict the results of reinforcer assessments (RA). In this study, paired‐stimulus (PS) preference assessments using items suspected to be preferred (PS‐1) generated distinct preference hierarchies. Subsequent RAs (RA‐1) indicated that high‐preference and low‐preference stimuli were associated with similar response rates. Additional assessments (PS‐2) were then conducted, using the least‐preferred item from PS‐1 plus seven new stimuli. The least‐preferred items on PS‐1 ranked as most preferred on PS‐2, and on RA‐2, the top‐ranked items functioned as reinforcers, but low‐ranked items did not. Implications for incorporating low‐preference items into clinical/educational programming are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What predicts depression in cardiac patients: sociodemographic factors, disease severity or theoretical vulnerabilities?

Depression is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, but some argue that elevated depression is actually a marker of cardiovascular disease severity. Therefore, disease indices should better predict depression than established theoretical causes of depression (interpersonal life events, reinforcing events, cognitive distortions, type D personality). However, little theory-based research has been conducted in this area. In a cross-sectional design, ACS patients (n = 336) completed questionnaires assessing depression and psychosocial vulnerabilities. Nested logistic regression assessed the relative contribution of demographic or vulnerability factors, or disease indices or vulnerabilities to depression. In multivariate analysis, all vulnerabilities were independent significant predictors of depression (scoring above threshold on any scale, 48%). Demographic variables accounted for <1% of the variance of depression status, with vulnerabilities accounting for significantly more (pseudo R2 = 0.16, χ2(change) = 150.9, df = 4, p < 0.001). Disease indices accounted for 7% of the variance in depression (pseudo R2 = 0.07, χ2 = 137.9, p < 0.001). However, adding the vulnerabilities increased the overall variance explained to 22% (pseudo R2 = 0.22, χ2 = 58.6, df = 4, p < 0.001). Theoretical vulnerabilities predicted depression status better than did either demographic or disease indices. The presence of these proximal causes of depression suggests that depression in ACS patients is not simply a result of cardiovascular disease severity.     

Albert Ellis and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: A Personal Reflection

This article provides an overview of the contributions to this special issue celebrating Dr. Albert Ellis and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Members of The Albert Ellis Institute’s International Training Standards and Policy Review Committeee (ITS-PRC) were invited to reflect on the personal and professional influences Dr. Ellis had on each of them. In addition, several of the contributors offer their praise as well as critiques of both Albert Ellis and his theory, as well as recommendations for future directions.