Cognitive behaviour therapy of acute stress disorder: a four-year follow-up

The aim of this study was to index the long-term benefits of early provision of cognitive behavior therapy to trauma survivors with acute stress disorder. Civilian trauma survivors (n = 80) with acute stress disorder were randomly allocated to either cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or supportive counseling (SC) - 69 completed treatment, and 41 were assessed four years post-treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. Two CBT patients (8%) and four SC patients (25%) met PTSD criteria at four-year follow-up. Patients who received CBT reported less intense PTSD symptoms, and particularly less frequent and less avoidance symptoms, than patients who received SC. These findings suggest that early provision of CBT in the initial month after trauma has long-term benefits for people who are at risk of developing PTSD.     

Learning about life and death in early childhood

have argued that young children initially understand biological phenomena in terms of vitalism, a mode of construal in which "life" or "life-force" is the central causal-explanatory concept. This study investigated the development of vitalistic reasoning in young children's concepts of life, the human body and death. Sixty preschool children between the ages of 3 years, 7 months and 5 years, 11 months participated. All children were initially given structured interviews to assess their knowledge of (1) human body function and (2) death. From this sample 40 children in the Training group were taught about the human body and how it functions to maintain life. The Control group (n=20) received no training. All 60 children were subsequently reassessed on their knowledge of human body function and death. Results from the initial interviews indicated that young children who spontaneously appealed to vitalistic concepts in reasoning about human body functioning were also more sophisticated in their understanding of death. Results from the posttraining interviews showed that children readily learned to adopt a vitalistic approach to human body functioning, and that this learning coincided with significant development in their understanding of human body function, and of death. The overall pattern of results supports the claim that the acquisition of a vitalistic causal-explanatory framework serves to structure children's concepts and facilitates learning in the domain of biology.     

Functional analysis and treatment of self-injurious behavior in young children a summary of 30 cases

The assessment and treatment of self-injurious behavior (SIB) has received much attention in the literature; however, few studies have focused on early intervention for this behavior. In the current study, functional analyses with developmentally appropriate modifications were conducted in an outpatient clinic with 30 children (aged 10 months to 4 years 11 months) to assess SIB and problem behavior in its early stages. The reported mean age of SIB onset was 17 months, and head banging was the most prevalent topography. Functional analyses identified sources of reinforcement for SIB in 62.1% of cases; with the inclusion of all forms of problem behavior, sources of reinforcement were identified for 87.5% of cases. Function-based treatments were developed for 24 cases, with functional communication training prescribed most often (70.8% of cases). Implications of these findings for the development of early intervention programs for SIB are discussed.     

Personality and the goal-striving process: the influence of achievement goal patterns,goal level,and mental focus on performance and enjoyment

The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms by which personality traits influence performance and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors examined how 3 personality characteristics derived from self-determination theory (autonomy, control, and amotivated orientations) influence performance and enjoyment through achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus. Data were collected from 284 students at 5 points in time. In particular, mental focus emerged as an important aspect of the self-regulation process. The results suggest that global personality traits can help researchers to understand and predict the motivational strategies that people use while working toward goals in achievement settings.     

How are social identities linked to self-conception and intergroup orientation? The moderating effect of implicit theories

Social identity approaches assume that social identification affects both self-conception and intergroup orientation. The authors contend that such social identification effects are accentuated when people hold a fixed view of human character and attribute immutable dispositions to social groups. To these individuals, social identities are immutable, concrete entities capable of guiding self-conception and intergroup orientation. Social identification effects are attenuated when people hold a malleable view of human character and thus do not view social identities as fixed, concrete entities. The authors tested and found support for this contention in three studies that were conducted in the context of the Hong Kong 1997 political transition, and discussed the findings in terms of their implications for self-conceptions and the meaning of social identification.     

Development and validation of an altruism scale for adults

A new self-report scale, the Altruism Scale for Adults, of 28 items was developed. 14 items were from the Altruism subscale of Wrightsman's Philosophies of Human Nature Scale, and the other 14 items were newly constructed. The scale, anchored by 1: true or 2: false, was administered to 592 Korean men and women in eight subgroups. Cronbach alpha internal consistency was .89, and test-retest reliabilities (n = 52) over 1 and 5 wk. were .90 and .80, respectively. Campbell and Fiske's 1959 multitrait-multimethod analysis showed satisfactory convergent and discriminant validities. Overall results were promising for use of the scale in research and for practical purposes.     

Cognitive Testing Battery: differences among groups with dementia, Huntington's disease, and controls

This study evaluated a new test for dementia, the Cognitive Testing Battery, used for over six years in outpatient clinics for aging-related disorders. This battery was developed to be brief, easy to administer, and to provide useful feedback as a cognitive profile for clinicians, patients, and caregivers. 489 participants were tested during a 5-yr. period. Multidisicplinary teams diagnosed these patients with dementia, depression, or Huntington's Disease. A control group was also included. Groups were then compared on the 10 key subscales that subserve dementia populations. Analysis showed there were significant differences among the groups on all measures and that selected scales differentiated the groups. The total score maximally differentiated the groups, and the dementia group was most different from the other groups.     

The perception of minimal structures: performance on open and closed versions of visually presented Euclidean travelling salesperson problems

The planar Euclidean version of the travelling salesperson problem (TSP) requires finding a tour of minimal length through a two-dimensional set of nodes. Despite the computational intractability of the TSP, people can produce rapid, near-optimal solutions to visually presented versions of such problems. To explain this, MacGregor et al (1999, Perception 28 1417-1428) have suggested that people use a global-to-local process, based on a perceptual tendency to organise stimuli into convex figures. We review the evidence for this idea and propose an alternative, local-to-global hypothesis, based on the detection of least distances between the nodes in an array. We present the results of an experiment in which we examined the relationships between three objective measures and performance measures of optimality and response uncertainty in tasks requiring participants to construct a closed tour or an open path. The data are not well accounted for by a process based on the convex hull. In contrast, results are generally consistent with a locally focused process based initially on the detection of nearest-neighbour clusters. Individual differences are interpreted in terms of a hierarchical process of constructing solutions, and the findings are related to a more general analysis of the role of nearest neighbours in the perception of structure and motion.     

African American college women's suicide buffers

African American women have lower suicide rates than other women and men in the United States They may possess suicide buffers including social support, religiosity, negative attitudes regarding suicide acceptability, and African American culture. To examine the relationships buffers may have with suicide ideation, 300 African American female college students completed measures of suicide ideation and buffers. Three variables accounted for a significant and unique portion of the variance in suicide ideation: family support, a view that suicide is unacceptable, and a collaborative religious problem-solving style. The identification of these factors may help in the assessment, prevention, and intervention of suicide for African American women and other women and men.     

A methodology for describing and decomposing complex psychosocial and behavioral interventions

This article presents a comprehensive conceptual framework and methodology for characterizing multidimensional psychosocial and behavioral interventions for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. The methodology involved conducting a detailed task analysis of the interventions, and the application of the analytical hierarchy process. The authors were able to achieve high levels of consistency and reliability using this methodology to decompose and describe the interventions according to a complex conceptual framework comprising 3 dimensions: target domain, functional domain, and delivery system characteristics. Application of this methodology will enhance the ability to describe and measure interventions consistently, make comparisons across studies, isolate causal factors that achieve desired outcomes, and more generally elevate the science of psychosocial intervention research.