Solution-focused family therapy with three aggressive and oppositional-acting children: an N = 1 empirical study

The efficacy of Solution-Focused Family Therapy (SFFT) for helping three families with aggressive and oppositional-acting children (aged 8-9) was examined. The N = 1 multiple-baseline design with three replications used validated measures, a treatment manual, and a treatment integrity measure. The interventions lasted from four to five sessions. SFFT appeared to be effective with the families at post-treatment and 3-month follow up.     

Effects of posttraining ethanol on an appetitive task

The present study examined the effects of posttraining ethanol administration upon retention of an appetitive task using a variety of retention behaviors associated with the task. Male C57BL/6J mice were individually trained to find a cheese pellet placed in the corner of an open field. Five behavioral measures were used including locomotor activity counts, rearings, grooming episodes, approaches to the cheese pellet, and latency to consume the cheese pellet. Immediately after training, mice were injected intraperitoneally with saline or 2.0 g/kg of ethanol and then returned to their home cage in which four "intruder" mice were added for 2 h after training. On subsequent testing days (1, 6, 14, and 51 days posttraining), mice were returned to the original training environment and the five behaviors were measured. Both saline- and ethanol-treated mice habituated to the initially novel test environment at similar rates as indicated by decreased exploratory behavior (locomotor activity and rearings). In contrast, a divergence in the latency to consume the cheese pellet was observed: Saline-treated mice behaved as though the cheese was rewarding (decreased latency to eat the pellet), while the ethanol group behaved as though the cheese was aversive (increased latency to eat the pellet). Taken with previous studies, these results demonstrate that posttraining ethanol can have strikingly different effects on retention depending on the task, the measure of retention used, and the underlying neural structures involved.     

Building Leadership,Capacity, and Power to Advance Health Equity and Justice through Community‐Engaged Research in the Midwest

The Health Equity Advancement Lab (HEAL) at the University of Iowa College of Public Health began in 2012 to support students, researchers, and community members interested in tackling persistent health inequities through a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Using concepts from critical consciousness theory, we developed an approach to building students’, faculty members’, and community partners’ capacity to engage in CBPR to promote health equity that involved immersion in developing CBPR projects. Our paper describes the evolution of HEAL as a facilitating structure that provides a support network and engages diverse stakeholders in critical reflection as they participate in research to advance health equity, and resulting political efficacy and social action. We describe one HEAL‐affiliated research project that employs a CBPR approach and has a strong focus on providing transformative learning experiences for students, faculty, and community members. We highlight challenges, successes, and lessons learned in the application of critical consciousness as a framework that engages diverse academic and community partners seeking to promote health equity. We argue that critical consciousness is a relevant theoretical framework to promote transformative learning among students, faculty, and community partners to promote health equity research in diverse communities.     

The paradox of happiness: Why are we not doing what we know makes us happy?

Achieving and maintaining happiness can be difficult, especially when people are not engaging in the activities they know facilitate it. ‘Flow’ activities require clear rules, challenge, a high investment of energy, and have been shown to promote long-term happiness better than low investment, passive activities. Do people know this? In two studies, we found that, despite recognizing that flow activities are more likely to facilitate happiness, people nevertheless participated in passive leisure significantly more often in a typical week. Participants rated passive activities as being significantly more enjoyable, requiring less effort, and being less daunting to get started than flow activities. Participants’ engagement in flow activities was significantly predicted by how enjoyable the activities were perceived to be, whereas how daunting those activities were rated predicted non-engagement. Passive activity engagement was only significantly predicted by enjoyment. Suggestions for enabling people to rise above the barriers to flow activities are offered.     

Optimizing stress responses with reappraisal and mindset interventions: an integrated model

Background: The dominant perspective in society is that stress has negative consequences, and not surprisingly, the vast majority of interventions for coping with stress focus on reducing the frequency or severity of stressors. However, the effectiveness of stress attenuation is limited because it is often not possible to avoid stressors, and avoiding or minimizing stress can lead individuals to miss opportunities for performance and growth. Thus, during stressful situations, a more efficacious approach is to optimize stress responses (i.e., promote adaptive, approach-motivated responses).

Objectives and Conclusions: In this review, we demonstrate how stress appraisals (e.g., [Jamieson, J. P., Nock, M. K., & Mendes, W. B. (2012). Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3), 417–422. doi:10.1037/a0025719]) and stress mindsets (e.g., [Crum, A. J., Salovey, P., & Achor, S. (2013). Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 716–733. doi:10.1037/a0031201]) can be used as regulatory tools to optimize stress responses, facilitate performance, and promote active coping. Respectively, these interventions invite individuals to (a) perceive stress responses as functional and adaptive, and (b) see the opportunity inherent in stress. We then propose a novel integration of reappraisal and mindset models to maximize the utility and effectiveness of stress optimization. Additionally, we discuss future directions with regard to how stress responses unfold over time and between people to impact outcomes in the domains of education, organizations, and clinical science.     

The Cost of Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Disruptive Behavior: A Review of the Literature

This purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the treatment of Oppositional Defiant Disorder, with a specific focus on cost analyses. In general the literature shows that while there has been substantial research on Oppositional Defiant Disorder there has been little focus on the costs involved. A search of the major databases in psychology and the social sciences yielded only seven articles even marginally appropriate for a review of costs associated with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and related disruptive behavior. Interestingly, only two of these studies investigated treatment costs specifically associated with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. These studies showed that the treatment of Oppositional Defiant Disorder is much less expensive than the treatment of Conduct Disorder and family therapy is the most cost effective approach. Overall, the review showed that there is a dearth of literature related to treatment costs, which leads to the conclusion that much more research is needed on the cost of treating Oppositional Defiant Disorder.     

Misperception of Chance,Conjunction, Framing Effects and Belief in the Paranormal: A Further Evaluation

Studies exploring relationships between belief in the paranormal and vulnerability to cognitive bias suggest that believers are liable to misperception of chance and conjunction fallacy. Research investigating misperception of chance has produced consistent findings, whilst work on conjunction fallacy is less compelling. Evidence indicates also that framing biases within a paranormal context can increase believers' susceptibility. The present study, using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, examined the contribution of each bias to belief in the paranormal and assessed the merits of previous research. Alongside, the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, participants completed standard and paranormal framed perception of randomness and conjunction problems. Perception of randomness was more strongly associated with belief in the paranormal than conjunction fallacy. Inherent methodological issues limited the usefulness of framing manipulations; presenting problems within a paranormal context weakened their predictive power.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The professionalisation of non-denominational religious education in England: politics,organisation and knowledge

In response to contemporary concerns, and using neglected primary sources, this article explores the professionalisation of teachers of Religious Education (RI/RE) in non-denominational, state-maintained schools in England. It does so from the launch of Religion in Education (1934) and the Institute for Christian Education at Home and Abroad (ICE) (1935) to the founding of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (1973) and the British Journal of Religious Education (1978). Professionalisation is defined as a collective historical process in terms of three inter-related concepts: (1) professional self-organisation and professional politics; (2) professional knowledge; and (3) initial and continuing professional development. The article sketches the history of non-denominational religious education prior to the focus period, to contextualise the emergence of the professionalising processes under scrutiny. Professional self-organisation and professional politics are explored by reconstructing the origins and history of ICE, which became the principal body offering professional development provision for RI/RE teachers for some 50 years. Professional knowledge is discussed in relation to the content of Religion in Education which was oriented around Christian Idealism and interdenominational networking. Changes in journal name in the 1960s and 1970s reflected uncertainties about the orientation of the subject and shifts in understanding over the nature and character of professional knowledge. The article also explores a particular case of resistance, in the late 1960s, to the prevailing consensus surrounding the nature and purpose of RI/RE, and the representativeness and authority of the pre-eminent professional body of the time. In conclusion, the article examines some implications which may be drawn from this history for the prospects and problems of the professionalisation of RE today.