Training and Research in Counselling

Formal counselling training in Britain began with the preparation of school counsellors in universities and relied largely upon American models. Early courses were highly didactic but over the last decade practical and experiential aspects have taken precedence. Basic counselling training has now been extended into the preparation of many workers, voluntary and professional. Counselling research also had academic origins, but has broadened to include many different work settings. Much of the published research has been in the form of surveys of counselling services, but some detailed studies of process are noted. There is a need for research to be increased, and the gap between research and practice shortened, if counselling is to demonstrate its relevance to contemporary needs.     

Dispositional and situational moderators of female and male causal attributions

To increase understanding of the relationships between gender and causal attributions, dispositional and situational variables were examined to determine if they affected causal attributions differently if the subjects were females or males. Four dispositional variables—locus of control, neuroticism, achievement motivation, and self-esteem—and five situational variables—expectancy of success, self-reported commitment, perceived productivity, perceived task complexity, and actual performance—were examined for their moderating effects on the gender-causal attributional relationships. The dispositional variables did not moderate any causal relationships. By comparison, four situational variables—performance, commitment, productivity, and complexity—moderated at least one of the gender-attribution relationships. It was concluded that more attention should be directed to the identification of situational moderators.     

Satisfaction with intimate exchange: Gender-role differences and the impact of equity,equality, and rewards

The relative effects of equity, equality, and reward level upon assessments of marital satisfaction are investigated. In doing so, the impact of gender-role orientation upon the relationship between the predictor variables and marital satisfaction is specified. The data indicate that reward level is the major variable affecting assessments of satisfaction for both moderns and traditionals. Further, the effect of reward level is more pronounced for those with modern gender-role orientations. Contrary to expectation, the effects of the exchange-related variables, equity and equality, are minimal for both moderns and traditionals. These findings suggest that intimates, regardless of gender-role orientation, tend to avoid the “bookkeeping” involved in global equity and equality comparisons and instead accentuate individual reward levels. It appears, however, that moderns are significantly more demanding than traditionals in their emphasis upon reward levels.     

Do alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome patients acquire affective reactions?

In this study we report two experiments that investigate the acquisition of affective reactions. In Experiment 1, unfamiliar melodies were played to Korsakoff's syndrome patients and alcoholic and nonalcoholic control subjects who were matched with them according to age and education. Following a retention interval of 5 min, subjects received a preference test on old and new melodies. Korsakoff's syndrome patients showed the same increase in preference for old melodies as a consequence of prior exposures as control subjects did, but their recognition of melodies was significantly impaired in comparison with controls. In Experiment 2, the same subjects saw photographs of two men. Fictional biographical information depicted one as a "good guy" and the other as a "bad guy." After a retention interval of approximately 20 days, Korsakoffs recalled virtually none of the biographical information; however, 78% preferred the good guy, and impression ratings were less favorable for the bad guy. Korsakoff patients developed preferences and impressions even though they did not have voluntary access to the information on which the preferences were based. However, their impression ratings were less extreme than those of controls. The pattern of results of the two studies is discussed in terms of Johnson's (1983) MEM model of memory.     

Effects of luminance and contrast on direction of ambiguous apparent motion

A study is reported of the role of luminance and contrast in resolving ambiguous apparent motion (AM). Different results were obtained for the short-range (SR) and the long-range (LR) motion-detecting processes. For short-range jumps (7.5 min arc), the direction of ambiguous AM depended on brightness polarity, with AM only from white to white and from black to black. But for larger jumps, or when an interstimulus interval (ISI) was introduced, AM was less dependent on polarity, with white often jumping to black and black jumping to white. Two potential AMs were pitted against each other, one carried by a light stimulus and the other by a dark stimulus. The stimulus whose luminance differed most from the uniform surround captured the AM. Visual response to luminance was linear, not logarithmic. When the stimulus was modified to give continuous AM in one direction it was followed by a negative aftereffect of motion only when the spatial displacement was 1 min arc. A larger displacement (10 min arc) gave good AM but no motion aftereffect. Thus only short-range motion adapts motion-sensitive channels.     

A longitudinal comparison of couples with sex-typical and non-sex-typical orientations to intimacy

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship experience of males and females who do not conform to sex-typical orientations to intimacy. One hundred sixty-three couples' and 88 nondating singles' (total N=414) responses to the Relationship World Index—Version 2 (RWI-2) were analyzed via discriminant analysis to determine if subjects' sex could be predicted accurately upon the basis of their RWI-2 scores. One discriminant function was found which was significant by the Wilks' lambda test [x²(60)=140.57, p<.001]; the procedure correctly classified 76% of the respondents. Those who were classified correctly were considered sex-typical and the remaining 24% of the sample was considered non-sex-typical in their orientations to intimacy. Additional analyses using data from a 6-month longitudinal study located qualities which significantly distinguished sex-typical from non-sex-typical subjects and couples in which at least one member was non-sex-typical from couples in which both members were classified as sex-typical.     

Reasons black african adults use to explain their acceptance of sex-role reversals

A structured questionnaire based on Rest's Defining Issues Test format was adopted to investigate the reasons used by 50 Black African males and 50 Black African females to explain their degree of acceptance of sex-role reversals. Both males and females showed little acceptance of sex-role reversals. The organization of the reasons they used to explain their degree of acceptance of sex-role reversals was most parsimoniously explained by Rest's complex stage model rather than the model suggested by Ullian, which is based on Piagetian stage criteria.     

Alternation behavior, spatial discrimination, and reversal disturbances following 6-hydroxydopamine lesions in the nucleus accumbens of the rat

The effects of dopaminergic depletion of the nucleus accumbens was tested in various behavioral tasks such as alternation, spatial discrimination, and reversal learning, and in an extinction paradigm in a T maze. Animals with lesions showed impairment of spontaneous alternation behavior, disturbances in the acquisition of spatial discrimination, and great difficulty in reversing previously learned habits. In the extinction phase, experimental animals are unable to adjust their behavior, and continue to choose the previously reinforced arm of the T maze. It is suggested that the nucleus accumbens plays an important role in the transition of motivation into action, and that dopamine has a facilitatory influence on the mediation of these processes.     

Heart-rate responses of infant rats and guinea pigs to stimulus onset and offset: tests of the generality of a bidirectional effect

To test the generality, across modality and across species, of a bidirectional effect of photic stimulation in infant rats found in previous experiments, two experiments examined the effects on heart rate (HR) of onset and offset of auditory stimulation in rats and of photic stimulation in guinea pigs. Experiment 1 demonstrated a unidirectional, decelerative response in rats 17 and 21 days of age to the onset and offset of a 1-kHz tone, at both low (80 dB) and high (100 dB) intensity levels and at 14 days to the onset of the high-intensity tone. Experiment 2 demonstrated that infant guinea pigs, which unlike infant rats are precocial and not nocturnal, responded to the offset but not to the onset of light, and that this response was decelerative. These results indicated a lack of generality of the bidirectional HR effect, and were discussed in terms of the orienting/defensive reflex distinction.     

Little oscillation of daily food intake in mousekiller rats as opposed to nonkiller rats before any confrontation with mice

During 46 consecutive days the daily food intake and weight were recorded in 16 male Wistar rats. On Days 31-45 one mouse was presented each rat daily. Before any experience with mice (Days 0-27) the mousekiller rats, compared with the nonkiller rats, regulated their individual food intake more closely to their homeostatic equilibria, corrected for the linear trend. This result indicates a functional difference in food intake regulation between mousekiller rats and nonkiller rats prior to any experience with mice. However, no difference in the mean food intake was found between the mousekiller and the nonkiller rats.