A learning approach to the treatment of homosexuality

‘Aversive’ techniques in the treatment of homosexuality provide practical and ethical difficulties for the therapist. A technique involving ‘imaginary’ aversive therapy and a discrimination learning task is described. It is felt that such an approach following on classical desensitization of neurotic disturbances which may underly the homosexual disorder, offers hope of early symptom removal and lasting improvement.     

Evaluation of multiple‐alternative prompts during tact training

This study compared 2 methods of fading prompts while teaching tacts to 3 individuals who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The 1st method involved use of an echoic prompt and prompt fading. The 2nd method involved providing multiple‐alternative answers and fading by increasing the difficulty of the discrimination. An adapted alternating‐treatments design showed that both procedures were more effective than a no‐intervention control condition. Providing multiple alternatives did not increase error rates or teaching time, and better maintenance was shown for tacts taught with the multiple‐alternative prompt.     

Exploring the spiritual in the pedagogy of Friedrich Froebel

Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) was the inventor of the kindergarten, and his emphasis on childcentredness and play influenced the progressive movement throughout the world. The concepts of unity and wholeness are highly visible in his writings. Religion is addressed in his work and that of his followers, but little attention has been paid to spirituality per se in Froebel’s thought. This paper explores the place of the spiritual in Froebel’s scheme and in some of what has been written about him. It notes his use of the concepts of the spirit and spirituality, and considers the relationship between his faith and the Christian religion. It discusses the ‘laws’ which Froebel enunciated: of Divine Unity, opposites and the connection of opposites; the principle of self-activity; and the process of ‘unfoldment’. These principles are observed in his teaching methods and resources, specifically in the Gifts and The Mother-Song Book of 1844. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for such concepts as the spirit of the child and spiritual education. The picture that emerges is of a child-centred education which honours the integrity of childhood. It is argued that such an education, fully embraced, is a spiritual education.     

Strengthening doctoral supervision in a Doctor of Psychology (DPsych) Specialisation in Child and Adolescent Psychology

Supervision differs in PhD and DPsych contexts. PhD supervision focuses on students' pursuit of a career in academia, with the emphasis on research. In a DPsych framework, the focus of supervision is to assist students, who are experienced practitioners in a professional field, to complete a structured course and a research component. The aim of the article is to reflect on the application of supervision principles, models, metaphors and supervisory styles within a DPsych context. This article presents a case illustration of supervision in a DPsych programme (with specialisation in child and adolescence, or DPsych Child) presented at the University of the Free State in South Africa. Supervision focuses on developing the DPsych students' doctoral identity so that they, as scientist-practitioners, could contribute ultimately to the professional context of child psychology and apply theoretical knowledge to complex challenges. The article proposes that research on supervision processes and practices within a DPsych Child context could complement explorations into the value of the implementation of the scientist-practitioner model and thus augment quality assurance of the DPsych programme.     

Electronic Performance Monitoring: A Laboratory Investigation of the Influence of Monitoring and Difficulty on Task Performance, Mood State, and Self-Reported Stress Levels

Increases in the sophistication of workplace computerization has provided modern-day managers with superior tools, such as electronic performance monitoring (EPM), with which to supervise their employees. Expanding on studies by Aiello (e. g., Aiello, 1993), the present study aimed to examine EPM in a social facilitation framework, exploring not only the relationship with task performance and stress, but also with an individual's subjective mood state. Thirty-three female and 15 male university students were required to solve a series of anagrams via a purpose-built computer program. Both the difficulty of the anagrams (easy or difficult) and the presence of monitoring (present or absent) were varied for each participant. Results indicated that the visual presence of EPM resulted in an easy task being performed with greater proficiency and a difficult task being performed with less proficiency. When participants were attempting to solve an easy task, the presence of EPM resulted in a participant's mood state becoming significantly more positive; whereas when solving a difficult task, EPM caused a more negative mood state. Similarly, it was found that a higher level of subjective stress was experienced when EPM was present, as opposed to absent. when individuals were performing a difficult task. The implications for the workplace applications produced by this study are discussed.     

Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes: Treatment Practice and Policy Implications

Treatment professionals, whether clinicians, scientists, or policy makers, are interested in developing methods to improve behavioral health treatment outcomes. Clinicians are interested in knowing what treatment practices to incorporate into the services they offer clients. Policymakers request guidance regarding which decisions are most likely to lead to effective treatment approaches and structures. Scientists are eager to contribute knowledge pertinent to building and evaluating effective treatment practices and policies. The papers in this special series provide information on substance abuse treatment practices andpresent findings relevant to clinical practice, policy decisions, and scientific inquiry. This paper provides a brief overview of the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES) and briefly summarizes the other research papers included in this issue, all of which exemplify practice and policy issues in the substance abuse treatment field and bolster approaches applied to address these issues.     

Multiple Belief Systems in Psychotherapy: The Effects of Religion and Professional Beliefs on Clinical Judgment

This study examined the effects of religious and professional beliefs on clinical judgment. Eighty-seven psychotherapists completed a religious belief survey and a professional belief survey, as well as a questionnaire concerning internal conflict between professional and religious beliefs. The subjects then read two brief vignettes, describing a religious and a non-religious patient, and rated the patients with regard to optimism or pessimism concerning responsiveness to treatment. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between religious and professional beliefs. However, the strength of religious beliefs predicted optimism for the religious patient. In addition, there was a significant interaction effect between strength of religious beliefs and strength of professional beliefs on clinical ratings.     

Developing rich and quickly accessed knowledge of an artificial grammar

In contrast to prior research, our results demonstrate that it is possible to acquire rich, highly accurate, and quickly accessed knowledge of an artificial grammar. Across two experiments, we trained participants by using a string-edit task and highlighting relatively low-level (letters), medium-level (chunks), or high-level (structural; i.e., grammar diagram) information to increase the efficiency of grammar acquisition. In both experiments, participants who had structural information available during training generated more highly accurate strings during a cued generation test than did those in other conditions, with equivalent speed. Experiment 2 revealed that structural information enhanced acquisition only when relevant features were highlighted during the task using animation. We suggest that two critical components for producing enhanced performance from provided model-based knowledge involve (1) using the model to acquire experience-based knowledge, rather than using a representation of the model to generate responses, and (2) receiving that knowledge precisely when it is needed during training.