Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Training in the Treatment of Self-Poisoning Patients

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of interpersonal problem-solving skills training (IPSST) for the treatment of self-poisoning patients. Thirty-nine self-poisoning patients were assigned randomly either to IPSST or to a control treatment condition (a brief problem-oriented approach). Both conditions were equally effective in reducing the number of presenting problems and in reducing hopelessness levels. However, the IPSST condition was significantly more effective than the control condition as determined by other outcome measures (measures of interpersonal cognitive problem solving, self-rated personal problem-solving ability, perceived ability to cope with ongoing problems, and self-perception). Follow-up studies showed maintenance of IPSST treatment gains at 6 months and a greater reduction of repetition of self-poisoning in the IPSST group at 1 year posttreatment.     

Shame and Shamelessness

What is the relation between shame and shamelessness? It may seem obvious: shamelessness is simply the absence of shame. But on reflection, it becomes clear that the story is considerably more complicated. Michelle Mason's intriguing "On Shamelessness" prompts such reflection (albeit unintentionally). Mason argues that we should be mindful of the "moral importance of shame" and "unapologetic in its defense" (403), and she does so via an examination of shamelessness and an argument to the effect that shamelessness is (with some exceptions) a moral fault. The tacit assumption is that insofar as shamelessness is a moral fault, the value of shame is vindicated. I challenge that assumption.     

Responses to the ELCA “Draft social statement on women and justice”

Social statements are social teaching and policy documents in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Created by task forces composed of ELCA members and supported by ELCA churchwide staff members, social statements are developed through a series of participatory steps. Contributors in this work share their feedback on the “Draft Social Statement on Women and Justice” with the task force as part of the process to create a proposed social statement for an assembly vote.     

The Rorschach Index of Repressive Style and Scale Checking Style: A Study of Sex Differences

Males and females, subdivided into contrasting groups on the Rorschach Index of Repressive Style (RIRS), completed semantic differentials using themselves and their own art productions as the objects rated. Analysis was made of the relationship between sex and verbal style, and a scale checking style (use of end points versus use of intermediate points) believed to reflect a dimension of rapid, extreme decisions versus careful consideration of nuances. Results showed that males characterized by rich and fluid verbal processes tended toward cautious ratings (use of intermediate points) while females who were verbally free exhibited more extreme ratings (use of end points). It is concluded that a test variable may have different predictive significance in males and females, even though there is no sex difference in the magnitudes of the variables involved. There may be sex differences in the organization of cognitive processes.     

Suggestion for Gaining Rapport with Children who Appear Resistant to Testing

A story-drawing technique designed to gain rapport with children who appear resistant to testing is described. The technique involves the child with the examiner in a question answering procedure around the development of a picture the examiner draws for the child. The drawing has intrinsic interest, permitting the examiner to shape the set of responding to questions in an enjoyable, non-evaluative setting prior to the introduction of test materials. The drawing, requiring no artistic skill on the part of the examiner, is suitable for children up to about eight or nine years of age.     

Item-Cued Directed Forgetting of Related Words and Pictures in Children and Adults: Selective Rehearsal Versus Cognitive Inhibition

The main purpose of this study was to compare the relative importance of selective rehearsal and cognitive inhibition in accounting for developmental changes in the directed-forgetting paradigm developed by R. A. Bjork (1972). In two experiments, children in Grades 2 and 5 and college students were asked to remember some words or pictures and to forget others when items were categorically related. Their memory for both items and the associated remember or forget cues was then tested with recall and recognition. Fifth graders recognized more of the forget-cued words than college students did. The pattern of results suggested that age differences in rehearsal and source monitoring (i.e., remembering whether a word had been cued remember or forget) were better explanatory mechanisms for children's forgetting inefficiencies than retrieval inhibition was. The results are discussed in terms of a multiple process view of inhibition.     

Assessing Individual Differences: Effects of Responding to Prior Questionnaires on the Substantive and Psychometric Properties of Self-Esteem and Depression Assessments

It has become a common practice among psychological researchers to administer batteries of individual difference assessments to research participants, although little is known about whether the substantive and psychometric integrity of the questionnaires are maintained when they are administered after the subject has completed other instruments. The studies presented here consider these issues in relation to the assessment of self-esteem and depression. In the first study, college students responsed to a self-esteem inventory (a) by itself (control group), (b) after one prior questionnaire, (c) after three prior questionnaires, or (d) after five prior questionnaires. Results indicated that filling out one or more questionnaires before an assessment of self-esteem resulted in repots of lower self-esteem relative to the control condition. Additional analyses revealed that filling out three or five prior questionnaires created lower reliabilities of subscale scores and lower estimates of concurrent validity between self-esteem and depression. When the effect of prior questionnaires on the General Self-Esteem subscale was examined, the aforementioned results were replicated, and the prior questionnaire treatment created heterogeneous variances across the experimental groups. The second study was designed as a replication of the first study, using an assessment of depression as the target questionnaire. These results revealed that reports of depressive symptomatology increased as the number of prior questionnaires increased. Again, the prior or questionnaire treatment created heterogeneity of variance between the groups, but did not adversely affect its internal consistency.