Scapegoating in group psychotherapy

The purpose of this paper is to describe and illuminate the phenomenon of scapegoating in group psychotherapy. Specifically, the role of projective identification - on both individual and group-wide bases - in the evolution of the deviant is delineated. Individual, interpersonal, and whole-group interventions are presented along with the technique of functional subgrouping, a relatively new and particularly potent group intervention. Several case vignettes are detailed for illustration.     

Dimensions and Categories Underlying Thinking About College Student Types1

Previous work on implicit personality theory and the college student culture suggests that thinking about college student types should include academic involvement and social involvement dimensions. Further, positive and negative social, positive academic, and oppositional clusters of types were predicted based on studies of high school crowds. Using 85 college student type labels as stimuli, a free‐sorting method coupled with multidimensional scaling and hierarchical clustering analyses provided support for these hypotheses. Also, the results suggest convergence in the cognitive structure underlying perception of college student types across major demographic categories.     

Equivalent inter- and intramodality long-term priming: Evidence for a common lexicon for words seen and words heard

Weaker inter- than intramodality long-term priming of words has promoted two hypotheses: (1) separate visual and auditory lexicons and (2) modality dependence of implicit memory. In five experiments, we employed manipulations aimed to minimize study-test asymmetries between the two priming conditions. Activities at visual and auditory study were matched, words were phonologically consistent, and study modality was manipulated between subjects. Equal magnitudes of inter- and intramodality priming were found in experiments with visual and auditory stem completion at test, with visual fragment completion at test, and with visual and auditory perceptual identification at test. A within-subjects experiment yielded the conventional intramodality advantage. The results point to a single amodal lexicon and to modality-independent phonological processing as the basis of implicit word memory.     

Relation between adverse psychosocial risks, assessed by means of the DECORE Multidimensional Questionnaire, and deficient occupational health

This paper describes our search for the possible relationship between workers' health and quality of life and several psychosocial risks: Cognitive demands, Control, Rewards and Organizational support. These psychosocial risks were assessed by means of the DECORE Multidimensional Questionnaire, which provides five scores, one for each factor, plus a global score. Workers' health was assessed with the following variables: job satisfaction, stress perception, fatigue perception, medical leave, occupational accidents, and disease. 614 workers from various business sectors were examined. Results show that workers who feel more fatigued, stressed, and less satisfied perceive their work environment more adversely. Similar results were obtained for workers who went on medical leave, had an occupational accident, or suffered from disease.     

Social risk factors in Spanish youth and their impact on self-concept construction

This paper presents evidence from a psychosocial framework about the relationship among youth, work, and identity construction. The aims of this research were twofold. The first one was to analyze the working conditions of Spanish youth and their impact on individuals' biographies. The second one was to examine the effect of labor-related variables on construction/change of identity elements in Spanish youth. For this purpose, two research techniques were used: the Delphi method (103 experts sample from several entities and organizations closely related to our topic) and deep interviews (15 interviews with youths classified according to their relationship with the work market).     

Anxiety sensitivity and panic symptomatology: the mediator role of hypochondriacal concerns

The present study tests the mediating role of hypochondriasis to explain the relation between anxiety sensitivity and panic symptomatology. Fifty-seven outpatients with clinically significant levels of panic symptomatology were selected to participate in the study. Measures of anxiety sensitivity, hypochondriasis, and panic symptomatology were obtained from standardized, self-administered questionnaires: the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; Reiss, Peterson, Gursky, & McNally, 1986), the Whiteley Index of Hypochondriasis (WI; Pilowsky, 1967), and the Panic-Agoraphobic Spectrum Self-Report (PAS-SR; Cassano et al., 1997; Shear et al., 2001). Regression analyses were performed to test for the mediation models. The results show that the effect of anxiety sensitivity on panic symptomatology is not significant when controlling the hypochondriacal concerns, whereas the latter predicted panic symptoms. This result holds for the overall ASI as well as for the Physical Concerns and the Mental Incapacitation Concerns dimensions of the ASI scale. No evidence of a direct relation between the Social Concerns dimension and panic symptoms was found. The findings suggest that hypochondriacal concerns might represent the mechanism through which anxiety sensitivity is able to influence panic symptoms.     

Language and metaphysics: the case of theoretical identities

Kripke holds the thesis that identity statements containing natural kind terms are if true, necessarily true; these statements can be denominated theoretical identities. Kripke alleges that the necessity of theoretical identities grounds on the linguistic feature that natural kind terms are rigid designators. Nevertheless, I argue that the conception of natural kind terms as rigid designators, in one of their most natural views, hinders the establishment of the truth of theoretical identities and thus of their necessity. However, in Kripke’s works another proposal, not linguistic but metaphysical, is found to justify the presumed necessity of theoretical identities; it grounds on essentialism concerning natural kinds. In this regard, I question some of Kripke’s main claims, focusing on one of the main examples of theoretical identities put forward by Kripke, i.e., “Water is H\(_2\)O”. I challenge his a priori claims concerning what should be the essence of a natural kind like water. Furthermore, I adduce that the character of that theoretical identity is not that claimed by Kripke, since in the term flanking the right side of the identity sign it has to be resorted to the notion of similarity or it should have the form of a disjunction of a cluster of substances.

     

DNA Testing for Family Reunification in Canada: Points to Consider

Countries have adopted different laws, policies, and practices that allow immigration officers to request in certain cases DNA tests to confirm biological relationships in the context of family reunification. In Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has adopted a policy of suggesting DNA testing only as a last resort in cases where no documentary evidence has been submitted or where the evidence provided is deemed unsatisfactory. However, in practice, there have been concerns on the increasing use of DNA tests in family reunification processes of nationals from certain regions including Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Moreover, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) presents a biological definition of family as a determinant of parenthood in the context of family reunification that is inconsistent with the psychosocial definition used in provincial family laws. Although there are cases that can justify the request for DNA tests, there are also significant social, legal, and ethical issues, including discrimination and unfair practices, raised by this increasing use of genetic information in immigration. This policy brief identifies points to consider for policymakers regarding the use of DNA testing in Canadian family reunification procedures. These include (1) the need to refine the policy of “using DNA testing as a last resort” and its implementation, (2) the need to modify the definition of “dependent child” under the IRPR to reflect the intrinsic reality of psychosocial family ties, and (3) the importance of conducting more research on the use of DNA testing in other immigration contexts.