The Teaching Alliance Inventory: Evaluating the student-instructor relationship in clinical and counselling psychology training

The Teaching Alliance Inventory (TAI) was developed to measure the quality of the student-instructor relationship in graduate clinical and counselling psychology classrooms. Based on Bordin's (1983) original concept of the alliance as fundamental to the change process in psychotherapy, we developed the TAI to measure aspects of the classroom relationship that may be fundamental to learning essential skills of counselling and clinical psychology. Factor analysis revealed six subscales, four representing interpersonal variables not evaluated in traditional teaching effectiveness measures. We demonstrated internal consistency and split-half reliability with a large sample of graduate students and described evidence for the scale's face validity and content validity. Construct validity was supported by significant correlations between the TAI and its subscales with an established measure of teaching effectives and its logically related subscales (SEEQ; Marsh, 1987 Marsh, HW. 1987. Students’ evaluations of university teaching: Research findings, methodological issues, and directions for future research. International Journal of Educational Research, 11(Whole Issue 3): 253–288.  [Google Scholar]). The TAI may supplement traditional assessments of instructor quality by providing feedback regarding interpersonal impact in the classroom.     

Understanding Islam in Ireland

The article describes the growth of the Muslim presence in Ireland, covering its origins and the rapid development of Islamic institutions and communities, both Sunni and Shi^ci, over the past fifteen years. It traces the stages in the development of schools and mosques, the involvement of the Muslim community in Irish public life and recent initiatives in interfaith dialogue, and proceeds to an assessment of the present situation in what has become the world's most globalized country. The history of Muslim communities in Northern Ireland is also briefly described.     

Perceived health contributes to the attractiveness of facial symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism

Symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism (femininity in female faces, masculinity in male faces) are attractive in faces. Many have suggested that preferences for these traits may be adaptations for identifying healthy mates. If they are, then the traits should be honest indicators of health and their attractiveness should result from their healthy appearance. Much research has focused on whether these traits honestly signal health. Here we focused on whether the appeal of these traits results from their healthy appearance. Specifically, we tested whether the attractiveness of symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism is reduced or eliminated when perceived health is controlled, in two large samples of Western faces and a large sample of Japanese faces. The appeal of symmetric faces was largely due to their healthy appearance, with most associations between symmetry and attractiveness eliminated when perceived health was controlled. A healthy appearance also contributed to the appeal of averageness and femininity in female faces and masculinity in male faces, although it did not fully explain their appeal. These results show that perceptions of attractiveness are sensitive to a healthy appearance, and are consistent with the hypothesis that preferences may be adaptations for mate choice.     

Schizophrenia as split personality/Jekyll and Hyde: the origins of the informal usage in the English language

The entry into the English language of the informal usage of schizophrenia as split personality/Jekyll and Hyde is traced and commented upon. The metaphor of split personality is followed from Eugene Bleuler via his translators and the wider psychiatric community into the present day. It, and to a lesser extent the Jekyll-Hyde personality, is found to be as much a product of the psychological professions as a product of lay misinterpretation. The informal definition of schizophrenia as split personality has outlived the scientific theory with which it was initially associated.     

The Pathoplastic Relationship Between Interpersonal Problems and Fear of Failure

ABSTRACT This study advances the understanding of fear of failure (FF), a dispositional avoidance-oriented achievement motive, by employing interpersonal classification techniques to groups of individuals who fear failure in order to examine the pathoplastic relations between FF and interpersonal problems. Shame-based FF is thought to be related to the self-regulation strategies of appeasement and aggression, and these strategies are hypothesized to be associated with the interpersonal problems of Nonassertiveness and Vindictiveness, respectively. Using 2 independent samples ( n s=60 and 38) reporting high FF, interpersonal profiles were examined for the groups in their entirety and for cluster solutions within the larger samples. Results demonstrated that individuals high in FF exhibited 1 of 2 prototypical interpersonal profiles associated with Domineering/Vindictive or Nonassertive/Exploitable problems that correspond with the hypothesized aggression and appeasement regulation strategies. Consistent with the concept of pathoplasticity, these differences were not better accounted for by demographic, affective, motivational, personality, or attachment style characteristics of the samples.