Stance Width Influences Postural Stability and Motion Sickness

We examined the influence of stance width (the distance between the feet) on postural sway and visually induced motion sickness. Stance width influences the magnitude of body sway, and changes in sway precede the subjective symptoms of motion sickness. Thus, manipulation of stance width may influence motion sickness incidence. Participants (healthy young adults) were exposed to complex, low-frequency oscillation of a moving room. Participants stood with their feet 5 cm, 17 cm, or 30 cm apart. During exposure to visual motion, the widest stance (30 cm) was associated with reduced incidence of motion sickness. For all stance widths, motion sickness was preceded by significant changes in motion of the head and torso. The results support the postural instability theory of motion sickness and suggest practical implications for the prevention of motion sickness. Adoption of wider stance may decrease the risk of motion sickness in operational situations.     

Play Group Therapy with Psychotic Adolescent Girls

In this paper, by using the perspective of self psychology, we hope to illustrate and explicate (through clinical examples) the positive aspects of the pairing phenomenon in group therapy with the elderly. Traditionally subgrouping or pairing has been viewed as the “Achilles' heel of group therapy,” and usually interpreted as defensive and destructive to group process. In this paper we distinguish between those instances of pairing and subgrouping that are defensive and those that are reparatory of the self system (the latter involving twinship and alter ego selfobject transferences). These reparatory transferences may play a constructive role in establishing group cohesion and allaying primitive somatic anxieties, especially in the elderly patient.     

The Relation Between Early Adolescents’ Trust Beliefs in Peers and Reactions to Peer Provocation: Attributions of Intention and Retaliation

The authors examined the relation between early adolescents’ trust beliefs in peers and both their attributions for, and retaliatory aggression to, peer provocation. One hundred and eight-five early adolescents (102 male) from the United Kingdom (M age = 12 years, 2 months, SD = 3 months) completed the Children's Generalized Trust Beliefs in peer subscale (K. J. Rotenberg, C. Fox, et al., 2005) and reported the intentions of, and their retaliatory aggression to, hypothetical peer provocation. A curvilinear relation was found between trust beliefs in peers and retaliatory aggression but not for attributions of intention. Early adolescents with low and those with very high trust beliefs in peers reported greater retaliatory aggression than did early adolescents with the middle range of trust beliefs. The findings supported the conclusion that early adolescents who are high trusting, as well as those are very low trusting, are at risk for psychosocial maladjustment. Support was not obtained for a hostility attribution bias interpretation of those patterns.     

Age Differences in Coping Resources and Satisfaction With Life Among Middle-Aged,Young-Old,and Oldest-Old Adults

The authors examined age differences in perceived coping resources and satisfaction with life across 3 older-adult age groups (45-64, 65-74, and 75 years and older). The 98 participants represented healthy, socially active, community-residing adults. Group comparisons were made on 12 individual coping scales, and an overall coping resource effectiveness score was computed. No significant differences were found for 11 of the coping resources or for overall coping resource effectiveness. Similar consistencies in life satisfaction were found across the 3 age groups. The findings indicate that (a) for healthy adults, the oldest old cope at least as effectively as their younger counterparts, despite their likelihood of encountering increased levels of stress; and (b) psychologically, old age may be viewed as a time of resilience and fortitude.     

Connotative Meaning as a Determinant of Response to Test Item Content

The purpose of this study was to determine if responses of like or dislike to Perceptual Reaction Test (PRT) designs — and thus, its ability to discriminate among criterion groups — were related to the connotative meaning of the designs. Seventy-four Ss were administered the PRT designs to which they responded on the traditional like-dislike alternatives as well as rating each design on a semantic differential. Correlations between the like-dislike dimension of the PRT designs and the semantic differential ratings of those designs indicated that when a S checks like for a design, he is expressing a positive evaluation of that design and probably sees it as less potent than those designs for which he checked dislike. Expression of like or dislike for a design appears to be inconsistently related to the activity dimension of meaning.     

Facilitated Disclosure Versus Clinical Accommodation of Infidelity Secrets: An Early Pivot Point in Couple Therapy. Part 2: Therapy Ethics,Pragmatics, and Protocol

In couple therapy, one partner's private disclosure of infidelity presents a potentially polarizing issue involving the therapist's decision to facilitate disclosure or accommodate non-disclosure. Some therapists may assume accommodating an infidelity secret is the most compassionate and efficient option. We consider this decision in the context of therapy ethics of equal advocacy and confidentiality, implications for individual and relationship healing, and pragmatic aspects of conducting therapy. We conclude that measured disclosure of infidelity, determined by the aggrieved spouse, best resolves the potential collision of multilateral advocacy with confidentiality and offers the best prospects for a working therapy alliance and couple healing and renewal. A clinical protocol for facilitating disclosure of infidelity secrets is presented.     

Training Considerations for MFTs in Couple and Financial Counseling

Evidence suggests that many couples attending marital therapy report that financial concerns have a significant impact on their distress. Despite the complaint, many Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) training programs do not offer courses that teach therapists how to properly address financial concerns as a part of their training or curriculum, leaving many practitioners unaware of the processes associated with remediating the distress. The authors address the concepts of financial literacy and financial problems, and suggest a training curriculum to guide therapists in decisions about treating financial concerns for couples. Suggestions of future research and core competencies are discussed.     

Young children's interpersonal trust consistency as a predictor of future school adjustment

Young children's interpersonal trust consistency was examined as a predictor of future school adjustment. One hundred and ninety two (95 male and 97 female, M_age = 6 years 2 months, SD_age = 6 months) children from school years 1 and 2 in the United Kingdom were tested twice over one year. Children completed measures of peer trust and school adjustment and teachers completed the Short-Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Longitudinal quadratic relationships emerged between consistency of children's peer trust beliefs and peer-reported trustworthiness and school adjustment and these varied according to social group, facet of trust, and indicator of school adjustment. The findings support the conclusion that interpersonal trust consistency, especially for secret-keeping, predicts aspects of young children's school adjustment.     

The Relationship Between Academic Oral Proficiency and Reading Performance: A Comparative Study Between English Learners and English-Only Students

This study investigates the relationship between oral proficiency and reading proficiency in English-learning children (L2 students) and native English-speaking children (NE students). A set of oral activities measuring students’ academic oral skills in science classes was developed and administered to 61 fourth graders. Both the meaning-related aspects and the formal aspects of the students’ academic oral proficiency were compared between strong and struggling readers and between NE and L2 students. The study thus used a 2 × 2 factorial design (Strong/Struggling Readers × NE/L2 Students). After controlling for the students’ nonverbal analytic and reasoning skills, this study found that strong and struggling readers showed different levels of performance with respect to the meaning-related aspects of oral academic language but not with respect to the formal aspects of language. Conversely, differences between NE and L2 students were found in components related to the formal aspects but not in those related to the meaning aspects of oral language.     

The eclipse of heritability and the foundations of intelligence

It is well known that theory in human cognitive ability or ‘intelligence’ is not well developed, especially with regard to sources of trait variation. Roots of theory have been sought in biology, and it is now widely accepted, on the basis of twin studies, and statistical analysis of variance, that at least half of the normal trait variation can be attributed to genetic variation, a correlation known as the trait ‘heritability’. Since the 1990s, methods in molecular biology have been adopted to go ‘beyond’ this mere statistical attribution to the identification of individual genes responsible for trait variation. More than a decade of intense effort, however, has failed to produce unambiguous, replicable findings; explanations for the ‘missing heritability’ are now being demanded; and calls for new perspectives on the roles of genes and environments in development and trait variation are being demanded. Here, I propose a dynamic systems perspective indicating how the processes in which heritability becomes missing are the very ones that provide the roots of new intelligence theory.