On “The private life of the psychotherapist” and the psychology of caring

This paper is an extended book review of The private life of the psychotherapist by James Guy, an associate professor of psychology at Biola University. This review discusses the joys, stresses and realities of being a therapist. After an overview of joining, remaining in, and retiring from the profession, the next sections deal with the relation between the core skills of psychotherapy as a generic form and the psychological consequences that they are likely to produce.     

Live supervision in the postmodern era of family therapy: Issues,reflections, and questions

This article asserts that the family therapy field is approaching an epistemological shift from structuralism and positivism to postmodernism and relativism. The confluence of these movements: feminism, constructivism/constructionism, and cultural relativism is cited as a major impetus for the shift. Live supervision is examined within the context of this transformation, with a discussion of implications for the future.     

Self-Monitoring negative statements

We examined the effects of a self-monitoring program on reducing the frequency of negative statements of a student with mild mental retardation who was enrolled in a self-contained classroom at a middle school. A changing criterion design was used within a multiple baseline design across two classroom periods. Additionally, the frequency of positive statements was reported. The results showed a decrease in the number of negative statements, and an increase in the number of positive statements. Maintenance data collected up to 8 weeks after the program ended indicated that the student continued to emit positive rather than negative statements. The use of this procedure to decelerate undesirable behavior is discussed.     

The effects of exposure to different sources of sexual information on sexual behavior: Comparing a “sex-expert system” to other educational material

Sexpert, an expert computer program designed to counsel couples on their sexual relationships, was evaluated. Eighty-one heterosexual couples were assigned to one of three experimental manipulations (Sexpert, video, and self-help book) or a control condition. Daily sexual behavior monitoring forms and structured retrospective reports served as measures of baseline and post-manipulation behavior. Daily monitoring of sexual behavior failed to show significant changes occurring after the manipulations. However, retrospective data concerning the postmanipulation period show that compared with the control, the Sexpert, video, and book manipulations had a significant positive impact on couples’ sexual behavior, communication, and learning about sexuality. Sexpert, video, and book were similarly evaluated, except that Sexpert was evaluated as more engaging. In addition, subjects retrospectively reported positive changes in communication, relationship satisfaction, and sexual behavior during the baseline period. This suggests that daily behavioral monitoring is intrusive and may confound the variables measured by it.     

Evaluating student achievement with a relational database

Commercial database programs such as dBase and Paradox, although developed originally for business applications, are versatile and powerful tools that can be used for an academic purpose such as evaluating student performance. They can be used to write and store test questions, assemble and print classroom or on-line laboratory tests, and calculate grades, test statistics, and so forth. Databases are flexible, unlike textbook “ancillary” test bank programs that are inextricably bound to the strictly linear format and brief shelf life of specific textbook editions. A prototypical relational database program is described, with which an instructor can produce tests based on generic terms adapted from Boneau’s (1990) study of psychological literacy, as well as on behavioral learning objectives adapted from Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy of educational objectives. As a relational database, the program integrates terms, objectives, questions, tests, and test scores, and avoids unnecessary data duplication and waste of computer storage space.     

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Trainees' Counselling Skills Performance

The value of self-efficacy as a predictor of counselling skills performance in a graduate counselling class was evaluated with 31 trainee counsellors. Three measurements of self-efficacy were taken: before, midway through, and at the end of a microcounselling skills training programme which was taught over six weekly three-hour sessions. Although there was a wide distribution of self-efficacy reports, none of the estimates of grade were significantly positively associated with counselling skills. Implications for counsellor educators are discussed.     

The Influence of Source Physical Attractiveness on Advertising Effectiveness: A Functional Perspective1

High and low self-monitors heard either a physically attractive or unattractive source promote a new product with either strong or weak arguments. High self-monitors were persuaded by the physically attractive source only when she presented strong arguments. In contrast, low self-monitoring individuals were persuaded by the physically attractive source regardless of argument strength. Neither high nor low self-monitors were persuaded by the physically unattractive source, regardless of the quality of the arguments she offered. Cognitive response and recall data suggest that high self-monitors may have been systematically processing the physically attractive source's message and low self-monitors may have been more heuristically processing her message. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for advertising strategies.     

Grading the ‘cultural literacy’ project

The essay examines the argument advanced by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., for instituting ‘cultural literacy’ as a fundamental priority of schools. A number of confusions and equivocations in Hirsch's reasoning are identified, and the propensity of his project to indoctrinate is exposed. Among the features of Hirsch's argument shown to be troubling are his shifting construal of ‘language’, his inconsistency about the requirements of cultural literacy, and his uncritical relation to traditional images of the American past and present. The upshot is to raise the question why Hirsch's project has elicited wide support and praise.     

The GRIMS. A psychometric instrument for the assessment of marital discord

Research in marital therapy has been disadvantaged by the lack of a good, short and recent psychometric questionnaire to objectively assess the state of a marriage for research, demographic and clinical purposes. The Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State (GRIMS) is a companion questionnaire to the Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS), and concentrates on aspects other than the sexual in a dyadic relationship between two adults living together. It is a 28 item psychometrically constructed inventory designed to produce a single scale along which changes in a marriage may develop as marital therapy progresses. It has been shown to be valid for this purpose, and to have a good reliability.