Attitudes and action: The effects of behavioral intent and perceived effectiveness of acts

Based on the assumption that an individual's behavioral intentions mediate the relationship between his attitudes and behaviors, an attempt was made to obtain a direct assessment of (a) subjects' intentions with regard to a series of acts varying in behavioral thresholds and (b) the perceived instrumentality of these acts for achieving one's goals After the reliability of the Intentions Scale was established, it was combined multiplicatively with ratings of perceived effectiveness to form a combined Action Potential Index (AP) The index resulted in significantly greater predictive validity than a conventional attitude assessment instrument. A second study was undertaken to determine the consistency of the AP-index across issues. The high correlations obtained for the AP-index across three issues suggested the operation of an “activism” personality dimension     

Ego psychology of depression with implications for treatment

Summary Concepts suggested by autonomous ego theory and a phenomenological approach to emotions make it possible to think again about depression and its treatment in order better to explain clinical observations.Depression appears to be a secondary emotion, not primary, made up of the following ingredients: 1) one or more primary emotions—anxiety, anger, guilt, and grief particularly, as well as self-pity, loneliness, alienation, apathy, and despair—precipitated in 2) an ego inadequate in channeling emotions constructively, 3) the associated phenomenological tendencies inherent within the emotions, and 4) the sense of helplessness that ensues. Thus the treatment required would consist of a systematic, somewhat detached, cognitive approach to the problems the emotions are indicating, and what should be done to resolve them. These problems include those precipitated by the workings of the emotions as things-in-themselves. The treatment is oriented toward enhancing the patient's understanding of the disorder and his coping ability to the end that the patient is not weakened even as he is relieved.Director of Community Services of the Cleveland State Hospital, has been a frequent contributor to journals of psychiatry and pastoral care. He was recently president of the Cleveland branch of the Academy.     

THE EXPERIMENTAL MODIFICATION OF SONOROUS BREATHING

Loud snoring is a noxious habit and potential personal health risk. We are reporting the first experimental study of simple behavioral techniques for the modification of chronic snoring. Twenty-four volunteers participated in a repeated measures, randomized group design over 2 weeks of intervention and one-month follow-up. Treatment groups included a contingent-awakening and breathing retraining (self-control) condition. Both treatment groups were compared to a no-treatment control. Despite considerable intrasubject variability and the lack of an adequate attention-placebo control group, objective assessment indicated a substantial reduction in snoring amplitude and frequency in both treatment groups. Follow-up assessments further demonstrated maintenance of change. This study has implications for modification of sleep habit disorders and learning without awareness.     

Pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia and affective disorders: Behavioral assessment of psychiatric medications

Objectively defined, publicly observable ward behaviors (body activity, extremity activity, scanning, social interaction, proximity, participation, laughing/smiling, and idiosyncratic behavior) emitted by psychiatric inpatients with either schizophrenic or affective disorders were time sampled both before and during the administration of psychiatric medications (neuroleptics, tricyclics, and lithium). The data indicate that the primary effects of the pharmacological interventions are confined to activity measures and symptoms rather than social behaviors. The implications of these results for treatment protocols are discussed in terms of interactions between pharmacological and psychosocial interventions. In addition, rates of behavior during treatment were related to baseline rates via a log-log function of negative slope, a result that is consistent with data derived from the infrahuman laboratories. Taken together the results provide support for attempts to relate preclinical and clinical psychopharmacology and suggest that behavioral assessment can be applied profitably to drug effects in clinical situations.These investigations were supported in part by State of Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Grants RD836-13 and RD622-02 to the first author. The cooperation of the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute staff is gratefully acknowledged. Assistance in data collection was provided by S. Sussman and K. Mueser.     

Client Preferences: An Overview of the Literature

The literature on preferences of clients and potential clients with respect to the characteristics and procedures of counselors and psychotherapists is briefly but comprehensively reviewed. Striking gaps are noted in our knowledge of such preferences as they are related to counseling processes and outcomes. Suggestions are made concerning areas and methods of needed research.