When Implicitly and Explicitly Measured Racial Attitudes Align: The Roles of Social Desirability and Thoughtful Responding

This set of studies compares the effects of choice among partners versus assignment to partner in an outcome-dependent context. In both studies, White participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions. In the first condition participants were assigned to a White partner, in a second condition they were assigned to a Black partner, and in a third condition they were given a choice between a Black and a White partner. Regardless of condition, all participants read essentially equivalent information about the targets. Results showed that participants given a choice generally preferred the White partner (especially if they held negative attitudes toward Blacks in general) and, rated her more favorably, whereas those assigned to a partner tended to rate their assigned partner more favorably regardless of race. Those given a choice of partner also construed their chosen partner more positively and rated her as more similar to themselves. In contrast, however, those assigned to a partner tended not to construe their partners in these ways. Results were discussed in terms of motivated reasoning theory.     

Psychoanalytically Based Treatment for Traumatized Children and Families

A psychoanalytic orientation provides an important perspective for developing community-based prevention and intervention programs for traumatized children and their families. In New Orleans, the Violence Intervention Program for Children and Families is designed to reduce the risk of exposure to violence, mental health problems following exposure, interference with normal developmental progression, academic performance, family functioning, onset of behavioral and conduct disturbances, later psychopathology, and subsequent violence. The program includes an unusual focus on work with police officers as first responders to increase their sensitivity and responsiveness to traumatized children. A psychoanalytic perspective helps a therapist or interventionist understand a person's strengths and weaknesses, frustrations, and conflicts as well as those within a chaotic environment and social situation. The psychoanalytic approach allows for more effective therapeutic approaches as well as more flexible problem-solving strategies.     

Rewarding performance feedback alters reported time of action

Past studies have shown that the perceived time of actions is retrospectively influenced by post-action events. The current study examined whether rewarding performance feedback (even when false) altered the reported time of action. In Experiment 1, participants performed a speeded button press task and received monetary reward for a presumed “fast,” or a monetary punishment for a presumed “slow” response. Rewarded trials resulted in the false perception that the response action occurred earlier than punished trials. In Experiments 2 and 3, the need for a speeded response and reward were independently manipulated in order to decouple the cognitive and reward components in the feedback signal. When tested independently, neither variable affected the judged time of action. We conclude that meaningful feedback (fast or slow) is only used when made salient by reward, to modulate the judged time of an action.     

Influences of APOE ε4 and expertise on performance of older pilots

Little is known about how APOE ε4-related differences in cognitive performance translate to real-life performance, where training and experience may help to sustain performance. We investigated the influences of APOE ε4 status, expertise (FAA pilot proficiency ratings), and their interaction on longitudinal flight simulator performance. Over a 2-year period, 139 pilots aged 42-69 years were tested annually. APOE ε4 carriers had lower memory performance than noncarriers (p = .019). APOE interacted with Expertise (p = .036), such that the beneficial influence of expertise (p = .013) on longitudinal flight simulator performance was more pronounced for ε4 carriers. Results suggest that relevant training and activity may help sustain middle-aged and older adults' real-world performance, especially among APOE ε4 carriers.     

Gifts,talismans and tokens in analysis: symbolic enactments or sinister acts?

Analysis is nuanced with many non-verbal cues and interactions. This is vividly illustrated when gifts are presented to the analyst. Their physical presence transcends the symbolic frame of analysis because, although their meaning may be metaphorical, their presence is real. Unlike other material objects and pictures, the gift may seem to invite the analyst to receive it personally. It may apparently demand some form of action. A gift may be consciously given as a token, or it may be magically invested as a talisman. On the surface, it might appear to be an expression of love; it may be a communication of a wish for acceptance; but it may have more 'sinister', unconscious intent. It may embody the wish to expel unwanted affect, ward off evil or control the analyst. Therefore disposal, that is the resolution and settling of the object, is significant. The case with which this paper is illustrated traces the meaning of a series of gifts in a single analysis. It is hoped that this will enhance a wider understanding of this common analytic phenomenon.     

A call for integrating a mental health perspective into systems of care for abused and neglected infants and young children

A system of care for abused and neglected infants and young children should adopt a comprehensive perspective, with mental health considerations systematically incorporated into policies and decisions affecting children and their families. Children age birth to 5 years have disproportionately high rates of maltreatment, with long-term consequences for their mental and physical health. Research on normal development and developmental psychopathology has shown that early development unfolds in an ecology of transactional influences among biological, interpersonal, and environmental domains. Psychologists should collaborate with other early intervention disciplines to create systems of care based on an ecological-transactional model of development that includes early mental health principles in order to serve the needs of these young children. Didactic courses, practicums, and internships in infant and early childhood mental health should become integral components of undergraduate and graduate curricula in psychology in order to build capacity to achieve this goal. Recommendations are offered for systemic change by integrating infant and early childhood mental health principles into existing systems of care for young children and their families.     

How Master’s Students Document Stability and Change Within and Across Progress Notes

To address a gap regarding how clinicians record progress in therapy, the researchers conducted a qualitative study of de-identified progress notes from a university-based brief therapy training clinic. The researchers described trainees’ stability and change documentation with respect to problem-oriented and solution-oriented talk in their progress notes. The patterns were (a) problem-oriented stability and problem to solution change within first sessions; (b) problem-oriented and solution-oriented stability within last sessions; and (c) stability (e.g., problem to problem) and change (e.g., problem to solution) across first and last sessions. Findings suggest that first session problem and solution outcomes do not necessarily predict last session outcomes (i.e., problem continuation or change to solutions).     

What Should I Be Doing, and Where Are They Doing It? Scholarly Productivity of Academic Psychologists

ABSTRACT— Scholarly productivity is used to index faculty achievement, but normative data on publication rates among academic psychologists are scarce. This article presents the results of a study of 1,216 faculty members from 96 schools, ranging from elite research universities to minor undergraduate colleges. As expected, faculty members at research universities publish the most, followed by those at elite 4-year schools and other doctoral institutions. Institutional prestige has little effect on productivity, except that elite universities employ a greater proportion of truly eminent scholars than other schools do. The fact that many of these scholars are hired by elite schools after achieving eminence elsewhere suggests that financial prowess, rather than institutional climate, produces the latter effect. Academics at all of these types of schools tend to continue publishing throughout their careers; achieving tenure has little effect on their subsequent scholarship. Faculty members at master's universities and lesser 4-year schools publish less than others and tend to cease publication activity after about 10 years, presumably upon receiving tenure. Males tend to publish more than females during the initial push for tenure, but not thereafter; females, unlike males, tend to increase their publication rates as they mature professionally. A subset of highly productive males who are moving toward more prestigious types of schools accounts for much of the remaining gender difference. The number of predoctoral publications is a relatively weak predictor of postdoctoral scholarship.     

Assessment of shame and guilt in a psychiatric sample: a comparison of two measures

The relationship between measures of shame, guilt, and psychopathology was examined in a heterogeneous inpatient sample (n=82) using the Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA) and the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2). It was predicted that both shame scales would correlate positively with measures of psychopathology. This hypothesis was supported in bivariate analyses, however, when partialed for each respective guilt scale, only the TOSCA maintained significant associations with measures of psychopathology. It was predicted that only the PFQ-2 guilt scale would correlate positively with measures of psychopathology, and this hypothesis was supported in both bivariate analyses and partial correlations, controlling for shame scores. These findings support previous work, suggesting that the TOSCA and PFQ-2 guilt scales assess different constructs of guilt. Methodological issues of shame and guilt assessment with psychiatric patients also are discussed.     

A Novel,Integrated Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Co-Occurring Posttraumatic Stress and Substance Use Disorders: A Case Study

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) are complex psychiatric conditions that commonly co-occur. No preferred, evidence-based treatments for PTSD/SUD comorbidity are presently available. Promising integrated treatments have combined prolonged exposure therapy with cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention therapy for SUD. We describe a case study that showcases a novel, integrated cognitive-behavioral treatment approach for PTSD/SUD, entitled Treatment of Integrated Posttraumatic Stress and Substance Use (TIPSS). The TIPSS program integrates cognitive processing therapy with cognitive-behavioral therapy for SUD for the treatment of co-occurring PTSD/SUD. The present case report, based upon a woman with PTSD comorbid with both cocaine and alcohol dependence, demonstrates that TIPSS has the potential to effectively reduce PTSD symptoms as well as substance use.