Discussion of “Visions of the Future: The Analyst's Expectations and their Impact on the Analytic Process” By Kenneth Winarick

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Determinants of Condom Use Among High-Risk Heterosexual Adults: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action1

The research presents tests of traditional and augmented versions of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), applied to condom use among adult clients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic. In a longitudinal survey, predictor variables suggested by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980), plus gender and condom use self-efficacy, were measured at Time 1. Condom use at Time 2, 3 months later, was regressed onto these variables. The traditional TRA worked well to predict condom use intentions and behavior. Support was also found for inclusion of gender and self-efficacy in the prediction of intention to use condoms, but not behavior. Implications for interventions to increase condom use among those at high risk for AIDS and other STDs are discussed.     

Half the village

In 1947 India became independent and at the same time lost a large part of its territory to the newly created state of Pakistan. This new political arrangement was achieved at a terrible cost in terms of human life and suffering. The years up to and immediately following 1947 provoked a debate about national and human identity. Pakistan was founded on the grounds that Muslims could not be safe or prosperous under majority Hindu rule in newly independent India. The new India insisted that she was a secular democracy in which all religious communities could enjoy equal status. The debate is reflected in a number of Hindi‐language novels which deal with this period. The present article is about one of them, written by a member of India's small Shi'ite Muslim community who was also a Marxist. The debate raises issues about human identity which we can now see as being tragically and importantly relevant for contemporary Europe. These issues are not only political but also religious in that they go to the heart of our understanding of what it means to be human beings. The article points to some of these issues and at the same time argues that the novel as a literary form provides a valuable and significant vehicle for their discussion.     

Interbehavioral field systems assessment: Examining its utility in preservice teacher education

Behavior analytic evaluation instruments should benefit teacher education programs in assessing: (a) teacher and student interactions in practice teaching settings, and (b) the immediate and long range effects of the teacher training received. Though empirical substantiation remains scarce, such instruments may be designed to foster teacher trainee sensitivity to, and better control of, complex stimulus and response mechanisms which either impede or facilitate learning. This study analyzed one technologically driven Behavior Analysis Strategy and Taxonomy (BEST) and related Temporal Analysis System (TAS) (Hawkins, Sharpe, & Ray, 1994) currently used within one preservice teacher education program. A multiple probe design with experimental and control groups demonstrated the instruments' effects when used as an instructional feedback tool with teachers in training. Findings supported the instruments' use in terms of teacher and student behavior changes demonstrated for the experimental group as compared to a control group not exposed to the instrument. Implications of this technology when applied to teacher education are last described.     

Parenting stress in parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and parents of children with learning disabilities

Parenting a child with ADHD can challenge parenting resources and coping. Increasingly, researchers are examining the relationship between the behavior of the child with ADHD and family functioning. While studies have shown inceased parenting stress in parents of children with ADHD, these studies have compared children with ADHD to non-disabled children. This study compares reports of parenting stress among mothers of children with ADHD, mothers of children with learning disabilities and mothers of non-referred children. Results showed that parenting stress was highest for mothers of children with ADHD. Increased parenting stress was associated with child characteristics and, in particular, with externalizing behavior problems.     

Myth,magic and religion in secular literature: The Canadian case

Investigation of culturally significant English‐Canadian literature suggests a pervasive and persistent preoccupation with the themes of personal, collective and national identity. Detailed exploration of Canadian writers’ treatment of these topics reveals the presence, not only of familiar Judaeo‐Christian elements, but of a pantheon of exotic hidden gods and bizarre supernatural phenomena. It is evident that, to a remarkable degree, Canadian novelists, poets and critics are preoccupied with the sacred and supernatural. Discerning signals of transcendence in a wide variety of unconventional contexts, they encounter the ultimate in the mysterious depths of personal experience no less than in the cold indifference of nature. The self‐definition of Canadian literati in terms more commonly applied to religious virtuosi raises the familiar theme of aesthetes and intellectuals as the contemporary heirs of the priests and prophets of the past. This insight, in turn, suggests a potentially profitable research project linking the Sociology of Religion with the growing field of Cultural Studies.     

Vibrotactile pattern discrimination and communality at several body sites

In a series of experiments, the effects of spatial layout on vibrotactile pattern perception were explored by testing the ability to discriminate between two sequentially presented patterns that share active elements in the same spatial locations. Two-dimensional displays were used in order to examine the functional relationship between discrimination performance and patterncommunality, defined as the sharing elements, on different body sites. Accuracy of discrimination judgments was inversely proportional to communality, regardless of the number of pattern elements. For compact arrays fitted to the finger, palm, and thigh, the effects of communality appeared equivalent. The similarity between finger and thigh functions is remarkable, considering the dramatic differences between these sites in receptor components and structure. When these data were compared with those from arrays with distributed contactors, performance was substantially better with well-separated pattern elements. Such findings help to explicate how information from apposed patterns can best be delivered to the skin through tactile communication systems.     

The Clown or Contrary Figure as a Counseling Intervention Strategy With Native American Indian Clients

Humor via the door motif in Native American Indian cultures can be pervasive and perverse. Helping professionals are alerted to down humor as a positive counseling intervention for this population. Background information, possible cautions, and illustrations are offered, with the need for additional empirical support strongly encouraged.     

The development of beliefs about spelling and their relationship to spelling performance

This study examined relations among spelling performance and students' beliefs about spelling, including self-efficacy for spelling ability, outcome expectancy for spelling, and attributions for good spelling across grades 4, 7, and 10. Spelling self-efficacy remained relatively constant across grades. Spelling outcome expectancies for adult life and school declined across grades, as did effort and ability attributions for spelling success, with a disproportional decrease in ability attributions between grades 4 and 7. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of spelling performance at all grade levels; attribution for ability entered into the regression for grade 4 students, while outcome expectancies for school and writing were more important in grades 7 and 10. Cluster analyses on the grade 10 sample showed that students with high efficacy as spellers and high outcome expectancy of spelling for writing were the best spellers, with the highest performance reserved for those who attributed good spelling more to effort than ability. The impact of spelling instruction on developing beliefs is discussed.     

An investigation of the sampling distributions of item discrimination indices

The sampling properties of four item discrimination indices (biserialr, Cook's indexB, theU–L 27 per cent index, and DeltaP) were investigated in order to ascertain their sampling properties when small samples drawn from actual test data rather than constructed data were employed. The empirical results indicated that the mean index values approximated the population values and that values of the standard deviations computed from large sample formulas were good approximations to the standard deviations of the observed distributions based on samples of size 120 or less. Goodness of fit tests comparing the observed distributions with the corresponding distribution of the product-moment correlation coefficient based upon a bivariate normal population indicated that this correlational model was inappropriate for the data. The lack of adequate mathematical models for the sampling distributions of item discrimination indices suggests that one should avoid indices whose only real reason for existence was the simplification of computational procedures.This research reported herein was performed pursuant to a contract (OE-2-10-071) with the United States Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare.