Comment on the Paper “Impasse-able”

In this discussion, certain aspects of the treatment of a severely disturbed patient are considered: (a) the temptation on the part of the analyst to “take sides” against the perverse influence of a pathological organization; (b) the necessity for the analyst to experience, not just understand, the crisis of the patient; and (c) the need for shameless openness in addressing shame states.     

Chickadees fail standardized operant tests for octave equivalence

Octave equivalence occurs when an observer judges notes separated by a doubling in frequency perceptually similar. The octave appears to form the basis of pitch change in all human cultures and thus may be of biological origin. Previously, we developed a nonverbal operant conditioning test of octave generalization and transfer in humans. The results of this testing showed that humans with and without musical training perceive the octave relationship between pitches. Our goal in the current study was to determine whether black-capped chickadees, a North American songbird, perceive octave equivalence. We chose these chickadees because of their reliance on pitch in assessing conspecific vocalizations, our strong background knowledge on their pitch height perception (log-linear perception of frequency), and the phylogenetic disparity between them and humans. Compared to humans, songbirds are highly skilled at using pitch height perception to classify pitches into ranges, independent of the octave. Our results suggest that chickadees used that skill, rather than octave equivalence, to transfer the note-range discrimination from one octave to the next. In contrast, there is evidence that at least some mammals, including humans, do perceive octave equivalence.     

Psychological need-satisfaction,and basketball performance

ObjectivesWe applied self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) to examine whether pre-game psychological need-satisfaction predicts the quality of sports performance, and whether performance, in turn, predicts post-game need-satisfaction.Design/methodUndergraduate participants competing in a recreational league basketball season completed autonomy, competence, and relatedness need-satisfaction measures before and after games (N = 150 person-games). For each game, data were collected on the number of one, two, and three point shots taken, as well as shooting percentages for each type of shot.ResultsParticipants with greater pre-game autonomy performed best overall during games, although this pattern did not emerge within-subjects. Good game performance predicted enhanced post-game relatedness and competence, both between- and within-subjects.ConclusionImplications for optimal sports performance are considered.     

A Comparison of the Psychological Entitlement Scale and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory's Entitlement Scale: Relations With General Personality Traits and Personality Disorders

Two studies on the relations between various styles of defense and the power or validity of self-reports on objective personality questionnaires. The power of individual items on the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control scale to discriminate between subjects defined as internals or externals by a median-cut procedure using the total score was not affected by the presence Or absence of a projective defensive style. However, the presence of repressive tendencies did appear to restrict item power. Prediction from two achievement scales taken from Gough's California Psychological Inventory was not influenced by level of repression, was affected somewhat adversely by a projective style, and was most clearly contaminated by a rationalizing defense. It was proposed that the differential effects of defensive styles upon the validity of personality tests depended upon the convergence or divergence of the cognitive operations involved in the type of defense and in the type of personality measure.     

Therapeutic Assessment With Children: A Pilot Study of Treatment Acceptability and Outcome

Therapeutic Assessment (TA) with children is a hybrid of psychological assessment and short-term intervention. It uses the ongoing process and results of psychological assessment to enhance parents' understanding of their child and to facilitate change. Clinical reports and single case studies suggest that TA with children is an acceptable and effective brief intervention. However, no aggregate data have been published to support this claim. This pilot study investigated the acceptability and preoutcome–postoutcome of TA with 14 clinically referred children with emotional and behavior problems and their parents. Results indicated high treatment acceptability as well as significantly decreased child symptomatology and enhanced family functioning as reported by children and mothers. In addition, mothers demonstrated a significant increase in positive emotion and a significant decrease in negative emotion pertaining to their children's challenges and future. The findings, although limited due to the design and small sample size, support assertions from published single case studies that TA is possibly an efficacious child and family intervention for children with emotional and behavioral problems and should be studied in a larger, comparison design.     

Symbols Scales for Use in Beginning Reading

Bayley Mental scores were significantly related to several concurrent ratings of infant and maternal testroom behavior when firstborn black male infants were 14 months (N = 49), 18 months (N = 34), and 22 months of age (N = 32). With increasing age, social responsiveness played a relatively less important role in successful performance, while object responsiveness became increasingly important. Bayley Motor scores were related to many fewer ratings than the Mental scores. Gross Muscle Coordination was related to performance at all three ages, and Energy ratings at two of the three ages. For both the Mental and Motor scores, fewer relationships were observed at the 18-month testings as compared to the 14- and 22-month testings. By 22 months, infants scoring higher on the Bayley Mental scale had mothers who were more highly involved with their child's achievement as judged by testroom behaviors.     

A randomized controlled trial of the impact of a teacher classroom management program on the classroom behavior of children with and without behavior problems

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of the Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM; Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2002) program to assess whether training teachers in IY-TCM principles improve teacher behavior, whether any observed improvements impact pupil behavior classroom-wide, and whether these effects can be demonstrated with children at risk of developing conduct problems. Six intervention and six control classrooms comprising 12 teachers and 107 children (aged 3 to 7 years) were recruited. Children were screened for high or low behavior problems using the cut-off points of the teacher-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997). The primary outcome measure was independent classroom observations using the Teacher–Pupil Observation Tool (Martin et al., 2010). Multilevel modeling analyses were conducted to examine the effect of the intervention on teacher, classroom, and child behavior. Results showed a significant reduction in classroom off-task behavior (d = 0.53), teacher negatives to target children (d = 0.36), target child negatives towards the teacher (d = 0.42), and target child off-task behavior (d = 0.48). These preliminary results demonstrate the potential impact of IY-TCM on both teacher and child behavior.