Reflections during a study on family therapy with drug addicts

This article presents ideas and reflections emerging during a project on family therapy with drug abusers. Initially inspired by the writings of Stanton and Todd on the subject, the project developed into a recursive and self-reflective process, characterized by increasing doubts about the usefulness of categorization of families, of pre-planning therapy, and of the therapist as an "expert." The limitations of approaches that emphasize the importance of understanding the family structure as the basis for changing it are discussed, particularly with respect to how they decrease therapist flexibility and may block the family's finding their own solution. Alternative approaches to practice and research are also discussed, bearing on ideas particularly formulated by theoreticians and practitioners inspired by second-order cybernetics.     

Numerical abstraction by human infants

Across several experiments, 6- to 8-month-old human infants were found to detect numerical correspondences between sets of entities presented in different sensory modalities and bearing no natural relation to one another. At the basis of this ability, we argue, is a sensitivity to numerosity, an abstract property of collections of objects and events. Our findings provide evidence that the emergence of the earliest numerical abilities does not depend upon the development of language or complex actions, or upon cultural experience with number.     

CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS AND DIFFUSION FOR MANAGERIAL STRATEGIES AND RESPONSES IN HONG KONG

This paper addresses the issue of cultural adaptations and diffusion for managerial strategies in host societies to which work enterprises are not indigenous in terms of their capital and management or either. With illustrations drawn from a series of case-studies of work organisations in Hong Kong managed respectively by Chinese, British and Japanese capital, there was an appearance of support for the thesis of ‘cultural’ determinism and its implications for strategical adaptations in work organisations. The implication was drawn that the Oriental nexus of altruism, trust and subtlety could be rooted in the more laudible and perhaps global influence of Confucianism. Some subsequent issues are raised. First, the problem of cultural adaptation is not specific to multinationals or foreign firms visiting from outside but also applies where the management and their ethic background are not indigenous. The other issue is the extent of cultural adaptation within work organisations, as determined by the degree of affinity with a common mother culture. The paper suggests that a common denominating mother culture can serve a strategical starting point to bring about intra-organisational and organisation-society link and harmony.     

Performance of criminal psychopaths on selected neuropsychological tests

Screening batteries of standard neuropsychological tests were administered to 2 different samples (Ns = 90 and 167) of male prison inmates. Scores on the revised Psychopathy Checklist were used to divide inmates in each sample into high, moderate, and low psychopathy groups. There were no group differences in test performance in either of the samples, even when the effects of self-reported psychopathology and substance abuse were taken into account. The overall prevalence of both test-specific and global neuropsychological impairment was low and did not vary significantly across the 3 groups. The results provide no support for traditional brain-damage explanations of psychopathy.     

Peer-group association and adolescent tobacco use

Mosbach & Leventhal (1988) examined the relation of cigarette smoking to peer-group identification in rural Wisconsin adolescents. They found that among dirts (problem-prone youth), regulars (average youth), hot-shots (good social or academic performers), and jocks (athletes), youth most likely to smoke were dirts and hot-shots. We performed a replication with a Southern California cohort and also for use of smokeless tobacco. We hypothesized that jocks would be the main users of smokeless tobacco. We identified the same groups and an additional one, skaters (skateboarders or surfers). As Mosbach & Leventhal found, cigarettes were used most by dirts. Contrary to their results, but consistent with other research, we found that hot-shots were least likely to smoke. Contrary to our prediction, we found that skaters and dirts were more likely to use smokeless tobacco than were jocks. Our data show that both tobacco forms are used by problem-prone youth.     

Literalism as a marker of hypnotic "trance": disconfirming evidence

The responses given by highly hypnotizable, hypnotic subjects and those of unhypnotizable subjects who simulated hypnosis to questions of the type, "Do you mind telling me your name?" and "Do you mind standing up?" were contrasted. The purpose was to examine Erickson's (1980) assertion that literalism (answering "yes" or "no" verbally or nonverbally without any cognitive elaboration) is a marker of hypnotic "trance." Simulators exhibited a greater rate of literalism than hypnotic "virtuosos" (i.e., extreme scorers on both group and individual hypnotizability measures). Hypnotized subjects and nonhypnotized subjects approached in the campus library responded comparably. Because less than a third of hypnotic virtuosos responded literally, our results strongly refuted Erickson's assertion that literalism is a cognitive feature of hypnosis.     

Selective processing of threat cues in posttraumatic stress disorder

Vietnam combat veterans with (n = 15) and without (n = 15) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) performed a modified Stroop task in which they named the colors of neutral words (e.g., INPUT), positive words (e.g., LOVE), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) words (e.g., GERMS), and PTSD words (e.g., BODYBAGS). In contrast to normal controls, PTSD patients took significantly longer to color-name PTSD words than to color-name neutral, OCD, and positive words. Because Stroop interference reflects involuntary semantic activation, it may provide a quantitative measure of intrusive cognitive activity--the hallmark symptom of PTSD.     

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS ON PSYCHOSEMANTICS OF ICONS AND GRAPHICS

This study is to report a cross-cultural comparison on perceptions of icons and graphics and their relationships. Data were ratings of 10 icons and 10 graphics against 21 bipolar semantic differential scales from 325 college students in three countries, Mexico, Columbia, and Japan. Cross-cultural factor analyses resulted in the identification of four semantic (three affective and one denotative) features, three icon factors, and three graphic factors. Indigenous cultural means of these iconic and graphic factors were computed and used to probe cross-cultural similarities and differences in perceptions. Psychosemantics of icon factors were further predicted by graphic factors through canonical correlation. This study concludes the importance of implicit cultural meanings of nonverbal figures in intercultural communications. The implications of this study are also discussed.     

FACIAL EXPRESSION AND SPEECH: NEUROANATOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This paper discusses the neuroanatomy and pathology of facial expression and findings on the neuroanatomical connections between expressions of the face and speech. The facial musculature is briefly dealt with in terms of its innervation by the facial nerve and its relationship to the soft palate at the peripheral system level. After considering the facial nuclei, the supranuclear innervation of volitional and emotional facial expression is reviewed. Then supranuclear relations between facial movements and some speech organs are considered. Finally, attention is paid to aspects of facial paralysis stemming from peripheral and central origins.