Community Psychology Is (Thank God) More Than Science

Thinking about Community Psychology primarily as a science may make it harder, rather than easier, to embrace certain aspects of the field to which we are deeply committed, but usually fall outside the conventional meaning of doing science. While community psychologists use (and expand) the tools of science, this is different than saying that Community Psychology is only, or even primarily, a science. The field is just as much social criticism as it is science. In order to further conversation about these matters, seven thoughts about why (thank God) community psychology is more than a science are offered, the most basic of which is that today the greatest danger to freedom is not in the union of church and state, but in the union of science and state.Based on a paper presented at a Symposium, A. Wandersman (Chair), Science and Community Psychology, Held at the 9th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Community Research and Action, June, 2003, Las Vegas, New Mexico.     

Sustained conscious access to incidental memories in RSVP

In visual search of natural scenes, differentiation of briefly fixated but task-irrelevant distractor items from incidental memory is often comparable to explicit memorization. However, many characteristics of incidental memory remain unclear, including the capacity for its conscious retrieval. Here, we examined incidental memory for faces in either upright or inverted orientation using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). Subjects were instructed to detect a target face in a sequence of 8–15 faces cropped from natural scene photographs (Experiment 1). If the target face was identified within a brief time window, the subject proceeded to an incidental memory task. Here, subjects used incidental memory to discriminate between a probe face (a distractor in the RSVP stream) and a novel, foil face. In Experiment 2 we reduced scene-related semantic coherency by intermixing faces from multiple scenes and contrasted incidental memory with explicit memory, a condition where subjects actively memorized each face from the sequence without searching for a target. In both experiments, we measured objective performance (Type 1 AUC) and metacognitive accuracy (Type 2 AUC), revealing sustained and consciously accessible incidental memory for upright and inverted faces. In novel analyses of face categories, we examined whether accuracy or metacognitive judgments are affected by shared semantic features (i.e., similarity in gender, race, age). Similarity enhanced the accuracy of incidental memory discriminations but did not influence metacognition. We conclude that incidental memory is sustained and consciously accessible, is not reliant on scene contexts, and is not enhanced by explicit memorization.     

Separating perceptual and decisional attention processes in the identification and categorization of integral-dimension stimuli

Four observers performed matching, identification, and categorization with stimuli that varied along the integral dimensions: brightness and saturation. General recognition theory (F. G. Ashby & J. T. Townsend, 1986) was applied to quantify the separate influences of perceptual and decisional processes within and across tasks, with a focus on separating perceptual from decisional attention processes. Good accounts of the identification data were obtained from perceptual matching representation. This perceptual representation provided a good account of the categorization data, except when decisional selective attention to 1 stimulus dimension was required. Decisional selective attention reduced the attended-dimension perceptual variance relative to the unattended-dimension perceptual variance, with a larger reduction resulting when brightness, as opposed to saturation was attended. Implications for color vision research are discussed.     

Criterion-related validity of self-report measures of female heterosocial functioning

Common measures of female heterosocial functioning, the Survey of Heterosocial Interactions for Females (SHI-F) and dating frequency questions, were validated against the criterion of male liking, i. e., how well men like a woman. The SHI-F was unrelated to the criterion and to the other measures of heterosocial activity. The dating frequency and satisfaction questions were moderately related to the criterion. It was concluded the self-reported ability to initiate contact with men (as measured by the SHI-F) may not be related to female heterosocial functioning. Self-reported dating frequency and satisfaction appear to be a valid measure of female heterosocial functioning.The data were collected while the first author was at Louisiana State University.     

Sex role stereotyping in women with agoraphobia and their husbands

Thirty-two married women with Diagnostic Statistical Manual (3rd edition, revised) diagnosis of agoraphobia and their husbands were compared with 32 matched control women and their husbands on self-report measures of sex role stereotyping, psychological symptoms, personality, and marital adjustment. The experimental women scored significantly lower than the control women on the sex role measure of Autonomy and significantly higher on Intropunitiveness. Significant inverse correlations occurred between women's self-ratings of Masculinity and Autonomy and their agoraphobic symptoms. In the experimental couples, but not the control couples, significant and substantial disagreements occurred on ratings of each other's Masculinity and Autonomy, and husbands' marital satisfaction correlated strongly with wives' self-rating of Femininity. The findings justify further study of sex role stereotyping in agoraphobia, especially where the syndrome coexists with marital dissatisfaction and/or personality disorder.     

Family work for schizophrenia: some issues for Chinese immigrant families

This paper discusses some specific issues relevant to immigrant Chinese families in the context of family work for schizophrenia. The issues include shame and guilt, isolation and mistrust of officials, the importance of negotiation before details of problem-solving are worked out, high academic ambitions for children, and apparent ‘overprotectiveness’ in the Chinese culture. It is argued that cognitive-behavioural, goal-orientated family work could be adapted well for immigrant Chinese families with a member suffering from schizophrenia. A case study is presented to illustrate how such a family was helped.     

Genetic Testing Considerations in Breast Cancer Patients

Genetic testing is now feasible for a growing number of cancers. Although the implications for unaffected relatives have been widely described, the impact of the tests on affected individuals are often not recognized. We present and discuss four cases that highlight some of the issues—for example, feelings of guilt and anxiety, intrafamilial conflict, and support needs—that may arise in testing affected individuals. We offer some suggestions to aid in the approach to such testing.     

Ethical Implications of Behavior Modification: Historical and Current Issues

The Psychological Record - A number of social factors are combining to raise the profile of ethical issues for behavior analysts and behavior-modification professionals, as for all psychologists....     

The Contribution of Hope and Affectivity to Diabetes-Related Disability: An Exploratory Study

This study examined the relationships of the dispositional variables of hope, positive affectivity (PA), and negative affectivity (NA) with disease status and illness-related psychosocial functioning in a sample of 45 young adults with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Canonical analyses revealed one significant canonical function between the dispositional and psychosocial outcome variables. Primary contributors to the relationship were higher NA and lower PA and maladaptive emotional behavior. A linear multiple regression analysis using hope and affectivity as predictors failed to account for a significant proportion of variance in objective disease status as measured by hemoglobin A _1C (HbA_1C). The results support previous findings that affectivity may relate to self-reported, disease-related outcome, but not necessarily to objective measures of health status. Future studies of adaptation to chronic illness should consider including measures of illness-related behaviors (e.g., adherence), as well as subjective and objective measures of health status.