Psychotherapy Process Measure Research and the Evaluation of Psychotherapy Orientation: A Narrative Analysis

This article discusses the need for a systematic method that enables researchers to evaluate integrative therapy approaches using a range of therapy process measures. The Narrative System Process Coding (NPCS; Angus, Hardtke, & Levitt, 1996) is proposed as such a method, and is applied with the Experiencing Scale (Klein, Mathieu, Gendlin, & Keisler, 1970) and the Levels of Client Perceptual Processing (LCPP; Toukmanian, 1986) to three brief good outcome integrative therapy modalities to illustrate this need. The study found higher Experiencing Scale scores to be most strongly related to an experiential approach to therapy and to the NPCS internal narrative processes. Higher LCPP scores were most strongly related to the NPCS reflexive narrative process and to a perceptual-processing approach. The discussion initiates a discourse on the importance of explicating process measures' origins when comparing different therapy approaches in order to allow for the meaningful consolidation of process research findings.     

Satiation, capacity, and within-session responding

Responding may change substantially over the course of a session (McSweeney, Hinson, & Cannon, 1996). The role of satiation in this effect was investigated in three experiments. Experiment 1 showed that the capacity of pigeons to consume milo over a 1-hr period was relatively stable across three different methods of measurement. In Experiment 2, pigeons were divided into two groups that differed in their capacity based on one of those measures. Key pecking was then reinforced under a variable-interval 30-s schedule with hopper durations of 2 or 5 s. According to the satiation hypothesis, subjects with small capacities should satiate faster and therefore show greater decreases in food-reinforced responding than would subjects with larger capacities. The results confirmed this prediction and showed that the magnitudes of within-session decreases were better predicted by the amount an animal consumed relative to its capacity than by absolute amount alone. In Experiment 3, each pigeon was prefed 0, 5, 15, or 25 g of milo prior to each session. Consistent with the satiation hypothesis, increases in prefeeding produced lower overall response rates in the smaller capacity subjects than in the larger capacity subjects at each level of prefeeding. These experiments demonstrate the importance of a new variable in the control of behavior, and provide a recommended technique for its measurement.     

What affects strategy selection in arithmetic? The example of parity and five effects on product verification

The parity effect in arithmetic problem verification tasks refers to faster and more accurate judgments for false equations when the odd/even status of the proposed answer mismatches that of the correct answer. In two experiments, we examined whether the proportion of incorrect answers that violated parity or the number of even operands in the problem affected the magnitude of these effects. Experiment 1 showed larger parity effects for problems with two even operands and larger parity effects during the second half of the experiment. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and varied the proportion of problems violating parity. Larger parity effects were obtained when more of the false problems violated parity. Moreover, all three effects combined to show the greatest parity effects in conditions with a high proportion of parity violations in problems containing two even operands that were solved during the second half of the experiment. Experiment 3 generalized the findings to the case of five rule (i.e., checking whether a false product ends in 5 or 0), another procedure for solving and verifying multiplication problems quickly. These results (1) delineate further constraints for inclusion in models of arithmetic processing when thinking about how people select among verification strategies, (2) show combined effects of variables that traditionally have been shown to have separate effects on people's strategy selection, and (3) are consistent with a view of strategy selection that suggests a bias either in the allocation of cognitive resources in the execution of strategies or in the order of execution of these strategies; they argue against a simple, unbiased competition among strategies.     

Manipulating smoking motivation: impact on an electrophysiological index of approach motivation.

A chief goal of this research was to determine whether stimuli and events known to enhance smoking motivation also influence a physiological variable with the potential to index approach motivation. Asymmetry of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity across the frontal regions of the 2 hemispheres (left minus right hemisphere activation) was used to index approach motivation. In theory, if EEG asymmetry sensitively indexes approach dispositions, it should be influenced by manipulations known to affect smoking motivation, that is, exposure to smoking cues and tobacco deprivation. Seventy-two smokers participated in this research and were selectively exposed to a smoking-anticipation condition (cigarettes plus expectation of imminent smoking) following either 24 hr of tobacco withdrawal or ad libitum smoking. Results indicated that EEG asymmetry was increased by smoking anticipation and that smoking itself reduced EEG asymmetry. Results also suggested that smoking anticipation increased overall (bihemispheric) EEG activation. Results were interpreted in terms of major theories of drug motivation.     

Capturing Entrepreneurial Values

This research was designed to identify entrepreneurial value orientations by comparing them with the value orientations of professional managers. The SYMLOG values measuring instrument was administered in Thailand to Thai entrepreneurs ( n = 55) and Thai professional managers ( n = 200). Results show that the value orientation of the entrepreneurs differed significantly from that of professional managers on several dimensions, particularly with regard to those elements that almost always contribute to teamwork effectiveness. Implications for training and staffing are discussed.     

A test of the circumvention-of-limits hypothesis in scientific problem solving: the case of geological bedrock mapping

Sources of individual differences in scientific problem solving were investigated. Participants representing a wide range of experience in geology completed tests of visuospatial ability and geological knowledge, and performed a geological bedrock mapping task, in which they attempted to infer the geological structure of an area in the Tobacco Root Mountains of Montana. A Visuospatial Ability × Geological Knowledge interaction was found, such that visuospatial ability positively predicted mapping performance at low, but not high, levels of geological knowledge. This finding suggests that high levels of domain knowledge may sometimes enable circumvention of performance limitations associated with cognitive abilities.     

Should social savvy equal good spatial skills? The interaction of social skills with spatial perspective taking

Real-world perspective-taking problems frequently involve interactions among individuals, suggesting a potential social element to this seemingly spatial problem. Previous studies have suggested that the agency of the target in a perspective-taking task might influence reasoning. This hypothesis is tested directly by manipulating whether one takes the perspective of a potential agent or an object. The results were striking: Even though no overall differences in performance were observed with and without agents, performance was differentially associated with social skills. In particular, participants with better social skills were more accurate than less social peers when the target was a potential agent, whereas no such relationship was observed when the target was an object. These results suggest that bringing domain-specific investigations to bear on real-world problems requires understanding how that domain exists in the broader context of interacting skills and biases.     

Parental Child-Rearing Strategies Influence Self-Regulation, Socio-Emotional Adjustment, and Psychopathology in Early Adulthood: Evidence from a Retrospective Cohort Study

This study examined the association between recollected parental child-rearing strategies and individual differences in self-regulation, socio-emotional adjustment, and psychopathology in early adulthood. Undergraduate participants (N = 286) completed the EMBU - a measure of retrospective accounts of their parents' child-rearing behaviors - as well as self-report measures of self-regulation and socio-emotional adjustment across the domains of eating disorder symptoms, physically risky behavior, interpersonal problems, personal financial problems, and academic maladjustment. A subset of participants also completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). Parental warmth was found to be related to overall better self-regulation and improved interpersonal and academic adjustment. In contrast, both parental rejection and overcontrol were found to be related to general deficits in self-regulation as well as adjustment difficulties and psychopathology. Parental rejection was most closely related to internalizing clinical presentations like anxiety, depression, and somatization, whereas overcontrol was most aligned with increased hypomanic activation and psychoticism. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationships between parental child-rearing strategies and socio-emotional adjustment and psychopathology were partially mediated by self-regulation. Future directions are suggested, including basic and translational research related to better understanding the roles of parental child-rearing and self-regulation in the development of internalizing symptoms, activation, and psychotic symptoms.