Psychological trauma and PTSD symptoms as predictors of substance dependence treatment outcomes

Psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may complicate and reduce the effectiveness of treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs). This study assessed trauma history and symptoms of simple and complex PTSD at baseline in a randomized trial of contingency management (CM) compared to standard treatment (ST) with 142 cocaine- or heroin-dependent outpatients. History of exposure to each of eight types of psychological trauma was unrelated to treatment outcome, except for witnessed assaults and emotional abuse. Complex PTSD symptoms were inversely associated with short-term treatment outcomes, and PTSD symptoms were positively related to long-term outcome, independent of the effects of demographics, psychological distress, baseline substance use status, and treatment modality. Complex PTSD symptoms warrant further study as a potential negative prognostic factor in SUD interventions.     

Status generalization in context: The moderating role of groups

Status generalization has been described as a process directly linking social status at the societal level to influence in interpersonal interactions, providing one mechanism through which status inequalities in society are maintained. It is argued in this paper that groups can moderate status generalization when a status characteristic is non-prototypical of the group. Two experiments are reported that measured the relative influence of an older and younger target within different group contexts: an undergraduate student group and a broader university group. In both experiments, the older target was more influential than the younger target in the context of the university group, but the younger target was more influential in the context of the undergraduate student group. Findings are discussed in relation to status generalization and referent informational influence as separate influence processes.     

Spiritual discernment in psychiatric patients

The author uses resources from the Christian tradition of discernment of spirits to provide clinicians with guidelines for distinguishing the authentic and pathological aspects of religion in psychiatric patients.     

Example-based learning: New theoretical perspectives and use-inspired advances to a contemporary instructional approach

Decades of research has shown that example-based learning is an effective instructional strategy for learning new skills. The field of learning from examples is seeing a shift in focus towards more innovative and use-inspired research, in part because the use of examples for informal and formal learning purposes has mushroomed. This special issue comprises a set of eight papers in which students learned a procedural skill from worked examples or modeling examples. Each study characterizes a recent development towards more innovative example-based learning research. These developments are: (a) the integration of social-cognitive and cognitive example research, (b) the integration of example-based learning and analogical reasoning research, (c) the extension of traditional Cognitive Load Theory effects, (d) a greater focus on learning from (productive) errors, and (e) more research on individual differences. This special issue concludes with insightful commentary articles written by Prof. Dr. Katharina Scheiter and Prof. Dr. Richard Mayer.     

Providing worked examples for learning multiple principles

Worked examples support learning. However, if they introduce easy-to-confuse concepts or principles, specific ways of providing worked examples may influence their effectiveness. Multiple worked examples can be introduced blocked (i.e., several for the same principle) or interleaved (i.e., switching between principles), and can be sequentially or simultaneously presented. Crossing these two factors provides four ways of presenting worked examples: blocked/sequential, interleaved/sequential, blocked/simultaneous, and interleaved/simultaneous. In an experiment with university students (N = 174), we investigated how these two factors influence the acquisition of procedural and conceptual knowledge about different, but closely related (thus, easy-to-confuse) stochastic principles. Additionally, we assessed the ability of students to discriminate between principles with verification tasks. Simultaneous presentation benefitted procedural knowledge whereas, interleaved presentation benefitted conceptual knowledge. No significant differences were found for verification tasks. The results suggest that it is worthwhile to adapt the presentation of the worked examples to the learning goals.     

Randomized controlled trials versus rough set analysis: two competing approaches for evaluating clinical data

The present paper deals with the problem of evaluating empirical evidence for therapeutic decisions in medicine. The article discusses the views of Nancy Cartwright and John Worrall on the function that randomization plays in ascertaining causal relations with reference to the therapies applied. The main purpose of the paper is to present a general idea of alternative method of evaluating empirical evidence. The method builds on data analysis that makes use of rough set theory. The first attempts to apply the method show that it is an interesting alternative to randomized controlled trials.     

Effects of Comparing Contrasting Cases on Learning From Subsequent Explanations

In an experiment, prior to processing instructional explanations N = 75 students received either (a) contrasting cases plus comparison prompts, (b) contrasting cases plus provided comparisons (i.e., model answers to the comparison prompts), or (c) no preparation intervention. We found that the learners with preparation intervention learned more and with a higher degree of efficiency, perceived less extraneous load, and experienced a higher feeling of smooth automatic running while they processed the explanations than the learners without a preparation intervention. These findings suggest that comparing contrasting cases serves a focusing function. Furthermore, we found that the learners in the provided comparisons condition acquired more conceptual knowledge from the explanations than the learners in the prompted comparisons condition. This result indicates that providing high amounts of instructional guidance while learners compare contrasting cases can have an added value in comparison to providing comparison prompts concerning the resulting preparation for future learning.     

Performing Works of Music Authentically

This paper argues that, within the Western ‘classical’ tradition of performing works of music, there exists a performance value of authenticity that is distinct from that of complying with the instructions encoded in the work's score. This kind of authenticity—interpretive authenticity—is a matter of a performance's displaying an understanding of the performed work. In the course of explaining the nature of this norm, two further claims are defended: that the respective values of interpretive authenticity and score compliance can come into conflict; and that when this happens, compromising ideal score compliance for the sake of making the performance more interpretively authentic can make for a better performance.