The effects of therapist-client age similarity on pretherapy expectations

The present study investigated the effects of similarity between psychotherapist age and client age on client's preference for a therapist, willingness to disclose, expected therapeutic climate, and perceptions of therapist competence. Similarity theory provided a rationale for the hypothesis that prospective clients would perceive a psychotherapist similar in age more favorably than a therapist dissimilar in age. Support for the hypothesis was obtained on the dimensions of client preference, willingness to disclose, and therapist competence. Also, consistent with previous research, high experienced therapists were viewed more favorably than low experienced therapists.This research is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by Kathleen M. Tall under the direction of Michael J. Ross to Saint Louis University.     

Behavioral economics of drug self-administration. II. A unit-price analysis of cigarette smoking.

In behavioral economics, the ratio of response requirement to reinforcer magnitude is referred to as unit price. Previous research with nonhuman subjects has demonstrated that (a) comparable amounts of food are consumed at the same unit price even though different response requirements and reinforcer magnitudes comprise that unit price and (b) increases in unit price decrease food consumption in a positively decelerating fashion. The present study assessed the generality of these findings to the cigarette smoking of 5 human volunteers. During approximately 18 3-hr sessions, various combinations of response requirement (fixed-ratio 200, 400, and 1,600) and reinforcer magnitude (1, 2, and 4 puffs per bout) were arranged. Consumption (i.e., the number of puffs) generally was comparable at the same unit price independent of the response requirement and reinforcer magnitude comprising that unit price. In addition, increasing unit price generally decreased consumption in a positively decelerating fashion. These results extend the generality of the unit-price analysis to human cigarette smoking. Moreover, these results further support the position that reinforcer magnitude and response requirement are functionally equivalent and interact to determine consumption. The concept of unit price, by integrating and summarizing the effects of those two operations, provides a more parsimonious explanation of the results than do separate evaluations of the effects of response requirement and reinforcer magnitude.     

Fine-tuning theory to the needs of the world: Responding to Heller et al.

Comments on the Heller et al. telephone intervention with isolated elderly women are presented. The importance of addressing contextual factors involved in assessments of social support in community samples is discussed. Comparisons are drawn between the assessment of social support among an elderly sample and an assessment of social support among a sample of chronic illness patients. Three key issues are discussed: (a) Is a little support better than no support and is a little all we really need? (b) Is family support more important than friend support, at least to this population? (c) Can long-term relationships be replaced?     

Attitudes toward women and their work roles: Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations

This study examined the effects of personal religious orientation, religious denomination, and gender on attitudes toward women and their work roles using a sample of 263 single undergraduate university students. Subjects with a high intrinsic religious orientation put significantly more emphasis on family than career in their anticipated general lifestyle relative to those with a low intrinsic religious orientation. Subjects with a high intrinsic religious orientation were also more likely to anticipate the female spouse spending less time in a profession during the children's early years. Males showed more traditional attitudes toward women than females, but there were no gender effects on measures of preferred general lifestyle, preferred child-care distribution, or preferred career involvement for the wife. Subjects belonging to mainline and conservative denomination did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward women or their work roles.     

Locus of causality and the use of information in the development of causal attributions1

Two studies were conducted to examine whether attributions made about events may be influenced by individual assumptions regarding causation that are age related. In Study 1, 96 subjects at three age levels (four and five years, eight and nine years, and college students) observed a target actor on videotape select an item from an unseen array, and four other actors either agree (high consensus) or disagree (low consensus) with the choice. Subjects were asked to decide why the actor liked the chosen object best—because of something about the actor (person attribution) or because of something about the item (entity attribution). The results showed that perceived locus of causality shifted from entity to person attributions with age. In addition, subjects at all ages were able to utilize the consensus information when they had no opportunity to form their own impressions about the items in the array. In Study 2, 126 subjects at four age levels (five and six years, seven and eight years, nine and ten years, and high school students) chose an item from among an array for themselves and responded to a person (self)/entity attribution question regarding the locus of their own choice. The entity to person shift with age was again found and was supported by additional measures. The results are discussed in terms of children's causal reasoning capacities and social environmental factors affecting developmental change in social judgments.     

Bibliography of literature pertaining to the onset,development, and treatment of stuttering during the preschool years

This bibliography consists of clinical, experimental, and theoretical papers pertaining to the onset, development, and treatment of stuttering in children five- years old and younger. It is a downward extension of Silverman, F.H., Bibliography of literature pertaining to stuttering in elementary-school children, Journal of Fluency Disorders, 1978, 3, 87–102.