How and when to correct for juror hindsight bias in mental health malpractice litigation: Some preliminary observations

This article examines the hindsight bias in the context of mental health malpractice litigation, analyzes various legal mechanisms for dealing with the bias, and discusses whether the law should strive for debiasing in all mental health malpractice cases.     

Sex differences in spontaneous alternation and open-field behavior of hamsters: Habituation differences

With a minimal intratrial interval, male golden hamsters spontaneously alternated significantly less often in a T-maze than females. Since there was no sex difference in choice latencies, the alternation difference could not be accounted for by longer intertrial intervals experienced by males. Instead, the difference was ascribed to faster rates of habituation to novelty in females because they showed greater between-sessions declines in open-field ambulation than males. From an analysis of rearing scores it was concluded that attempts to escape from the apparatus may have been the principal motivating influence in both the T-maze and open field.     

The written summary in group psychotherapy revisited

This paper addresses the use of the weekly written summary with patients in group psychotherapy. In an effort to stimulate group process and effect cotherapist communication, the authors instituted this group recording in an ongoing psychodynamically oriented mixed adult group. While the utilization of this device did, in fact, stimulate the group process and became an important part of the group's life, the therapists additionally saw significant effects upon their working alliance. These included increased focused dialogue upon group dynamics, more purposeful planning for group interventions, and heightened awareness of the significance of interventions in the group.Ms. Bosman-Clark is formerly Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine.     

Employment demographics and attitudes that predict preferences for alternative pay increase policies

A survey of 942 university staff employees shows that performance and cost of living are preferred over seniority as criteria upon which to base pay increases. Multiple regression analysis reveals that preferences for performance-based pay increases are most strongly related to perceptions that merit pay does not decrease co-worker cooperation, perceptions that performance differences exist among co-workers, employment in white collar jobs, and never having belonged to a union. Preferences for seniority-based and cost of living-based pay increases are most strongly related to the perceived need for a union, perceptions that merit pay reduces cooperation, education level, and gender. In addition, preferences for seniority-based pay increases are related to years of service.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 meetings of the Midwest Academy of Management.     

The potential of HyperCard for psychological research and instruction: A general discussion and description of two research applications

In this paper, we discuss the potential of HyperCard for research and instruction in psychology. First we give a general overview of the HyperCard program; after that, we present two HyperCard stacks as sample solutions for two specific research applications. Surveyor, a self-contained survey tool, is a HyperCard-based vehicle for developing, administering, and processing tests and surveys. Queston demonstrates how HyperCard can be used as a data-management and data-analysis tool during the stages of questionnaire development. Both stacks illustrate how flexible HyperCard is and how easy it is to use it to manage, analyze, and process data, to transfer data to other programs, and to print reports. HyperCard, unlike traditional applications, gives the user a great degree of control over the way information is stored, mainipulated, and presented. Although both stacks are custom-made for specific purposes, the concepts underlying the design can be generally applied and adapted for other purposes.