Assessment of self and others during treatment for anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Repertory grids were used to compare a group of anorexic women (n = 12) with normal-weight (n = 12) and dieting (n = 10) control groups. Anorexics differed from both control groups in their perceptions of themselves and others. The constructs used were more meaningful to anorexics than to either control group. The way in which anorexics saw themselves differed from the way in which clinicians have indicated in the literature that they see their anorexic patients. Some constructs adopted a differential meaning and relevance for observer and observed when applied to the anorexic condition. The discrepancies between internally defined and externally imposed interpretations of construct meaning may help to explain why resistance to treatment and high relapse rates are encountered in anorexic women.     

Socioeconomic variation in attitudes to eating and weight in female adolescents.

This study was stimulated by J. Sobal and A. J. Stunkard's (1989) theory that differences in deliberate weight control could underlie the socioeconomic gradient in adult weight. Female adolescents (N=1,248) completed measures of socioeconomic status, social norms for weight, weight ideals, attitudes to weight, and weight control behaviors. Higher socioeconomic status adolescents had greater awareness of the social ideals of slimness and had more family and friends who were trying to lose weight. They also defined a lower body mass index as "fat" and were more likely to have used healthy weight control methods. The results support the idea that socioeconomic differences in weight-related attitudes and behaviors may mediate the development of a gradient in weight.     

Self-reported proclivity to harass as a moderator of the effectiveness of sexual harassment-prevention training

The interaction between the likelihood of males engaging in sexual harassment and the effectiveness of a 1-hr. sexual harassment-prevention training was explored in a laboratory study. An interaction of scores on the Likelihood to Sexually Harass Scale and training condition for 90 undergraduate men was found, such that sexual harassment-prevention training had a small negative effect on the attitudes of males with a high proclivity to harass.     

Acoustic measures of stutterers'' speech following an intensive therapy program

Characteristics of consonant-vowel duration and vocal fundamental frequency (F₀) are reported for 12 school-age stuttering males. Subjects' speech was recorded pre- and post- therapy and at 2-mo follow-up. Mean F₀ and voice onset time values remained stable from pretherapy to 2-mo follow-up, and an increase of 12% vocalized time was maintained across all posttherapy samples. It is suggested that increases in speech fluency may not be accompanied by changes in fundamental timing gestures. Increased speech fluency may be accomplished through increases in vocalized time permitting adjustments in motor sequencing which accompany stuttering.     

Order of scale administration and concurrent validity of the Anxiety Rating Scale

The Anxiety Rating Scale-2 and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 were administered to 100 male university intramural volleyball players 15 min. before a match began. For 50 participants, the above order of presentation was used; for the other 50 the order was reversed. Correlations for cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence between the two inventories were .47, .63, and .67, respectively, for scores from Order 1 and .56, .75, and .84 for Order 2.     

The Use of Cognitive, Emotive and Behavioral Interventions in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy When Clients Lack “Emotional” Insight

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy practitioners from around the world reported their use of cognitive, emotive, behavioral, or other interventions, both in sessions and as homework when responding to clients who reported intellectual insight but were not moved by it. Practitioners were exceptionally prone to using cognitive interventions during sessions and not particularly inclined toward emotive interventions either during sessions or as homework.     

The “ventriloquist effect”: Visual dominance or response bias?

The interaction between vision and audition was investigated using a signal detection method. A light and tone were presented either in the same location or in different locations along the horizontal plane, and the subjects responded with same-different judgments of stimulus location. Three modes of stimulus presentation were used: simultaneous presentation of the light and tone, tone first, and light first. For the latter two conditions, the interstimulus interval was either 0.7 or 2.0 sec. A statistical decision model was developed which distinguished between the perceptual and decision processes. The results analyzed within the framework of this model suggested that the apparent interaction between vision and audition is due to shifts in decision criteria rather than perceptual change.     

Treating Anger with forgiveness may sometimes require Reconciliation

Forgiving, long encouraged by practitioners of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), is shown to be an elegant antidote to anger requiring recognition of two things. First, what happened was bad, or wrong. Second, the author of the bad or wrong occurrence is responsible for having done it. After reviewing some basic REBT points, an analysis of self-forgiveness underlines the importance of receiving as well as issuing forgiveness and the relationship of forgiving to depression and guilt. The importance of reconciling when forgiving self, the world-in-general and, for believers, omnipresent supernatural beings is presented. Reconciliation as finding enjoyment with that which also blocks, or has blocked, the fulfillment of our desires is also discussed. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual conventions of the American Psychological Association, August 2000 and the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, November 2000.     

Babies,television and videos: How did we get here?

Baby media have exploded in the past decade, and children younger than 2 are showing increased use of these baby media. This paper examines the historical evidence of babies’ use of television since the 1950s as well as the various factors that have given rise to the current increase in screen media for babies. We also consider the ubiquitous role of television in American families, the impact of evidence regarding the educational benefits of educational television on preschoolers, and positive parental beliefs about the usefulness of such educational media in preparing young children for schooling. Finally, we examine the theoretical issues of importance for guiding research into the interactions between media exposure and cognitive development, including the role of media in changing the context of children’s development and constraints on the kinds of things babies can learn from screen media. Lastly, we suggest that screen media may indeed be changing the nature of children’s development.