Exploring Asian American racial identity

In this study the authors used cluster analysis to create racial identity profiles for a sample of Asian Americans using the People of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (PCRIAS). A four-cluster solution was chosen: each cluster corresponded to one PCRIAS subscale and was named accordingly. Scores on the Asian American Racism-Related Stress Inventory and the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale were compared across clusters. As expected, the Dissonance and Immersion clusters were characterized by relatively high racism-related stress and low levels of color-blind attitudes; the Conformity cluster showed roughly the opposite pattern. Surprisingly, the Internalization cluster showed a pattern similar to that for Conformity and thus may reflect "pseudoindependence" as discussed by Helms.     

Growing older does not always mean moving slower: examining aging and the saccadic motor system

Although humans typically move more slowly as they age, one exception may be the saccadic motor system. To fully determine whether the execution of saccades is affected by age, the authors examined detailed kinematics of vertical and horizontal saccades across a range of saccadic amplitudes (4 degrees, 8 degrees, and 12 degrees). Ten younger and 20 older adults participated in each experiment. Whereas in the 1st experiment, the authors assessed volitionally generated saccades, in the 2nd experiment, they evaluated reflexively generated saccades. The results of those experiments showed that the saccadic motor system is relatively impervious to the effects of aging; in fact, the differences between vertical and horizontal saccades were more evident than were differences between saccades produced by younger and older adults. The authors discuss possible reasons for that relative resistance to aging.     

Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program

This study evaluated the Penn Resiliency Program's effectiveness in preventing depression when delivered by therapists in a primary care setting. Two-hundred and seventy-one 11- and 12-year-olds, with elevated depressive symptoms, were randomized to PRP or usual care. Over the 2-year follow-up, PRP improved explanatory style for positive events. PRP's effects on depressive symptoms and explanatory style for negative events were moderated by sex, with girls benefiting more than boys. Stronger effects were seen in high-fidelity groups than low-fidelity groups. PRP did not significantly prevent depressive disorders but significantly prevented depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders (when combined) among high-symptom participants. Findings are discussed in relation to previous PRP studies and research on the dissemination of psychological interventions. An erratum to this article is available at .     

The Group as a Training Device and Treatment Method in a Private Pyschiatric Hospital

Clinical and research evidence indicates that the recently bereaved represent a large at-risk population. Bereavement groups constitute a particularly efficient preventive intervention for this high-risk population and thus represent excellent preventive mental health practice. In this paper, we report specifically on the technical and thematic considerations of four bereavement groups that met weekly for eight weeks. Group members were recruited from a consecutive series of individuals who had lost a spouse to cancer and who were undergoing normal grief and mourning. We found that we were able to be most technically helpful to the groups by being aware of the issues and themes that preoccupy bereaved spouses and by facilitating the emergence and discussion of these themes in the group setting. Many members, for example, struggled with complex questions of growth, identity, and responsibility for the future, questions that have not often been identified in discussions on bereavement groups as being of particular therapeutic import.     

The consultation clinic

Pastoral Psychology -     

Deleuze and Naturalism

Abstract

Against the tendency to regard Deleuze as a materialist and a naturalistic thinker, I argue that his core philosophical writings involve commitments that are incompatible with contemporary scientific naturalism. He defends different versions of a distinction between philosophy and natural science that is inconsistent with methodological naturalism and with the scientific image of the world as a single causally interconnected system. He defends the existence of a virtual realm of entities that is irreconcilable with ontological naturalism. The difficulty of reconciling Deleuze’s philosophy with ontological naturalism is especially apparent in his recurrent conception of pure events that are irreducible to their incarnation in bodies and states of affairs. In the last section of this essay, I canvass some of the ways in which Deleuze’s thought might be reconciled with a more liberal, pluralist and ethical naturalism that he identified in an early essay on Lucretius.     

说普通话儿童的语音习得

以说普通话的１２９名一岁半至四岁半儿童的口语资料为基础,首次确定了正常发展的普通话儿童在语音习得过程中各年龄段的音位集合、音位习得的先后顺序、及习得过程中典型的语音简化类型。研究结果可以应用到普通话儿童语音发展水平标准化测试,及对患有语音障碍的儿童的诊断。此外,研究结果还表明在普通话儿童的语音习得中同时体现了各语言共有的“普遍趋势”和普通话独有的语音特征,从而为跨语言语音习得的研究提供了新的证据,进一步发展了儿童语音习得的理论。