The use of self-efficacy scaling in training student clinicians: Implications for working with stutterers

A scaling technique developed by Bandura for determining an individual's personal performance expectations (self efficacy) was applied to student clinicians working with stutterers. The self-efficacy scores of clinicians conducting treatment increased significantly while the scores of clinicians without treatment experience showed no significant change. As the student clinicians gained clinical experience there appeared to be a corresponding reduction in fear and avoidance of the treatment situation. Clinician fear concerning stuttering treatment appeared to have little relation to performance in treatment as rated by supervisors. The results indicate that self-efficacy scaling may be used to indicate clinician avoidance of working with stuttering clients.     

The mutual influence of insulin and environmentally-conditioned central nervous system performance on the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism

Investigating the effects of insulin on carbohydrate metabolism and on the central nervous system (C.N.S.) under conditions of rest and of stress in dogs and in rats, using the conditional reflex method and measuring the nitrogen and phosphate brain metabolites and the blood sugar differences, the author found that cerebral glucose metabolism is dependent upon insulin, and that if glucose supplies are adequate, insulin stimulates C.N.S. performance within 15–20 minutes. The C.N.S. and blood sugar reactivity depend upon the environmental situation: the conditional stimuli for stress increase glycemia. Animals under stress went into shock even though their glycemic levels were relatively high, whereas those at rest did not go into shock or sometimes reacted with slight symptoms of somnolence even at a lower glycemic level. In experimental hyperglycemia the level rises even more during stress, with ensuing coma, especially with larger doses of insulin. An increase of inhibition with reduced learning precedes the glycemic irregularities. Thus, insulin directly influences the central nervous system.     

Reactions to self-discrepant feedback: Feminist attitude and symbolic self-completion

Reactions to self-discrepant feedback were theoretically and experimentally investigated. The conceptual frame was provided by the theory of symbolic self-completion. Starting from the assumption that attitudes can function as central aspects of self-definition, 81 female subjects were either presented with feedback that their attitudes were unfeminist (treatment, i.e. incompleteness condition) or they received no feedback (control condition) Then they were given the opportunity for self-symbolizing by subscribing to a feminist journal. Subjects with strongly pro-feminist attitudes who were made incomplete with respect to their feminist self-definition subscribed more often and more intensively to the feminist journal than others. The results illustrate that attitudes can take on the character of self-definitions. Furthermore, reactions to self-discrepant feedback concerning a central attitude were as predicted by the theory of symbolic self-completion.     

Difference and presence: Derrida and Husserl’s phenomenology of language,time, history,and scientific rationality

Continental Philosophy Review - This article seeks to reconstruct and critically extend Jacques Derrida’s critique of Edmund Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. Derrida’s...     

Incorporating Muslim migrants in western nation states – a comparison of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany

This article analyses how nation states respond to religious diversity produced by migration. Drawing on research results from a comparative macro-sociological study on the incorporation of Muslims in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, it is argued that both the claims of recognition and the modes of symbolic and organizational incorporation are shaped by varying institutional arrangements of political organization, collective identity, and religion. Yet recent convergences in the development of multicultural forms of incorporation and the inclusion of religion as a legitimate category of identity in the public sphere suggest that these institutional arrangements are equally transformed under the influence of transnational discourses of human rights.     

Children of Prenatally Depressed Mothers: Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms are Accompanied by Reductions in Specific Social-Emotional Competencies

Studies have shown that child development is negatively affected by prenatal depression. A dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the pregnant woman, passed to the fetus, is one discussed key mechanism. Studies, investigating primary-school age children, have found effects on antisocial behavior. Effects on internalizing symptoms were not found, but the analysis did not distinguish between anxiety and depression symptoms. Additionally, until now, no objective test data operationalizing social-emotional competencies have been included. The present study examined: 1.Whether the effects on child externalizing symptoms could be replicated; 2. If there are specific effects on child internalizing symptoms, separated for anxiety and depression; and 3. Are child clinical symptoms reflected in reductions in social-emotional competencies. A sample of 61 prenatally depressed and 143 prenatally not-depressed women and their 6–9 year old children were compared, controlling for key confounders in both the perinatal period and in middle childhood. Children of prenatally depressed mothers had more antisocial behavior and depression symptoms reported by their mothers. The prediction of antisocial behavior scores tended to be more significant for boys than for girls. Child anxiety symptoms were primarily explained by current maternal depressive symptoms. Children of prenatally depressed mothers also showed a reduction in social-emotional competencies, specifically regarding the ability to interpret complex social situations. This study showed that, even in a non-clinical sample, there are distinct effects of prenatal depression on child externalizing and internalizing symptoms which are accompanied by reductions in specific social-emotional competencies. These results emphasize that treatment for depressed pregnant women and/or early support for affected families is worthwhile. Additional work is required to identify the underlying biological mechanisms.