Hans Zacharias Hoxter: Building Counseling Internationally

Counseling is an international phenomenon. This interview presents the lifework of Hans Hoxter and illustrates how the American counseling movement affects and is affected by multinational and multicultural conceptions.     

Relationship of severity of dementia to caregiving stressors

In studies of individual differences and longitudinal changes in stress and coping among dementia caregivers, assessing severity of patient impairment is critically important. It is proposed that with the progression of dementia, cognitive impairment may steadily increase, but other stressful behavioral symptoms peak at various stages of dementia. Cross-sectional data from 49 caregiving families and longitudinal follow-up data from 48 families suggest that instrumental self-care deficits begin early in dementia, and basic self-care deficits increase with dementia severity, but that many distressing behavioral symptoms decrease in late dementia. Assessments of dementia patient severity should be multidimensional, and increases and decreases in various dementia patient stressors over time should be considered as factors influencing caregiver coping.     

Frontal lobe dysfunction and memory impairment in patients with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis

Deficits in semantic encoding have been described in patients with frontal lobe disease who also show memory impairments. As a group, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibit memory impairment, fail to make effective use of semantic encoding to aid memory, and perform poorly on verbal fluency and concept formation tests which are sensitive to frontal lobe damage. In the present study the semantic encoding capacity of MS patients was measured using a modification of Wicken's release from proactive interference (PI) paradigm. Individual patients varied considerably in the severity of their impairments on verbal fluency, verbal recognition memory and on Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, but even patients who evidenced both memory impairment and signs of frontal lobe dysfunction showed normal release from PI after a categorical shift. Memory disturbances in MS are unlikely to result from an incapacity for semantic encoding, which seems preserved in MS, but may arise instead from deficits in processing information rapidly.     

Expert evidence by psychologists: Sometimes problematic and often premature

This article provides a critical review of two major types of expert evidence: (a) clinical assessments, and (b) generalizations drawn from psychological research. Strong arguments both for and against both types of testimony have been offered by legal experts and psychologists. These arguments are evaluated and the conclusion is drawn that there are two fundamental problems for psychologists in the role of expert. First, the types of assessments clinicians are asked to make (e.g., concerning the accused's mental state at the time of committing the offense) may exceed the capacity of the discipline; such assessments are problematic. Second, the research foundation that psychologists employ in court does not always apply to the court situation in the way experts imply; the application of laboratory research findings to real world contexts is sometimes premature. The article concludes with an admonition that psychologists should adopt a more conservative response to requests to provide expert evidence.     

Brief group psychotherapy at retirement

Brief group psychotherapy as a method of treating psychological aftereffects of retirement is still in its infancy. It is therefore still possible to outline the whole field in overview. This paper examines the dynamics of aging and the relevant literature, discusses the conceptual issues involved, and describes techniques employed with this specific population. The typical cluster of complaints is portrayed, the psychological stressors associated with retirement are analyzed, and the various group-therapeutic modalities developed to counteract them are described. Furthermore, the rationale, process and characteristics of short-term group psychotherapy in the treatment of adjustment difficulties to retirement are reviewed. The clinical application of this approach, the therapist's particular roles and the therapeutic impact of this method are delineated.He would like to thank his co-therapist, Mrs. Sophie Bielawski, Reg. O.T., for her support and helpful observations and Drs. J. Regan and E. Sunday for their advice on methodolody.     

Continuities in the development of the physical and social sciences: Principles of a new social physics

The original concept of “social physics” was built on positivist philosophy and scientific method. Evidence from quantum physics suggests that a postpositivist “social physics” may yet be viable, not because social science should emulate physics, but because physics is more like social science. The five principles of complementarty, uncertainty, the measurement problem, nonlocal causation, and participatory collusion are presented in this article to demonstrate the contemporary convergence of the physical and social sciences into a new social physics. E. Sam Overman is associate professor of public affairs at the Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver CO 80204. He recently editedMethodology and Epistemology for Social Science, selected papers by Donald T. Campbell (University of Chicago Press, 1988). He has published other articles on policy physics and social science philosophy, and has conducted research and published extensively in the area of information resource policy and management.     

Cognitive guidelines for simplifying medical information: Data framing and perception

In this paper, 1 describe psychological guidelines for simplifying medical information — methods to aid the perception and recognition of abnormalities in medical test reports. These techniques resemble natural human editing strategies outlined in prospect theory. The methods pre-edit data as humans do but to reduce human effort. I review empirical studies assessing these techniques and discuss needs for further research.     

Employment demographics and attitudes that predict preferences for alternative pay increase policies

A survey of 942 university staff employees shows that performance and cost of living are preferred over seniority as criteria upon which to base pay increases. Multiple regression analysis reveals that preferences for performance-based pay increases are most strongly related to perceptions that merit pay does not decrease co-worker cooperation, perceptions that performance differences exist among co-workers, employment in white collar jobs, and never having belonged to a union. Preferences for seniority-based and cost of living-based pay increases are most strongly related to the perceived need for a union, perceptions that merit pay reduces cooperation, education level, and gender. In addition, preferences for seniority-based pay increases are related to years of service.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 meetings of the Midwest Academy of Management.