Six‐month follow‐up of two mother–infant psychotherapies: Convergence of therapeutic outcomes

Fifty‐eight mothers and infants participating in two infant–mother psychotherapeutic interventions in a comparative infant–mother clinical intervention study were followed six months after treatment ended. One treatment was an infant‐led psychotherapy, Watch, Wait, and Wonder (WWW). The other was a more traditional mother–infant psychodynamic psychotherapy (PPT). Infants ranged in age from 10 to 30 months at the outset of treatment, which took place in weekly sessions over approximately five months. Results indicated that positive effects observed from the beginning to the end of treatment in both treatment groups in infant symptoms, parenting stress, and mother–infant interaction were maintained or improved further at six‐month follow‐up. Additionally, decreased maternal depression, gains in infant cognitive development and emotion regulation, and improved infant–mother attachment security or organization had been observed posttreatment only in the WWW group. Interestingly, between the posttreatment to follow‐up period the PPT group also showed such gains. Thus, for these variables it would be more accurate to say that the outcomes were similar for the two treatment groups but change emerged at a different pace. Nevertheless, an advantage persisted in the WWW group in relation to mothers' comfort dealing with infant behaviors and their ratings of parenting stress which improved more in this group from the end of treatment to follow‐up. The direct inclusion of the infant as an initiator in WWW was set forth as an explanation of differentially timed treatment effects. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Implementation and Utilization Characteristics of a Rural,School-linked Mental Health Program

We examined variables associated with treatment engagement in a real-world therapeutic setting. The model of care examined involved school-linked mental health care for children and their families in a rural county. Service utilization characteristics, as well as child- and treatment-specific variables were examined in relation to their impact on therapy length, missed appointments, and treatment outcome. A total of 168 students and their families participated in therapeutic services over a period of approximately 4.5 years. Overall, children who had less psychopathology and a higher level of clinician-rated functioning (GAF) at the start of therapy were more likely to successfully complete treatment. Parental involvement in therapy was associated with a longer course of therapy, as well as more missed appointments. Barriers to treatment and treatment engagement, as well as future directions of study, are discussed.     

Toward a unifying model of identification with groups: integrating theoretical perspectives.

Building on the contributions of diverse theoretical approaches, the authors present a multidimensional model of group identification. Integrating conceptions from the social identity perspective with those from research on individualism-collectivism, nationalism- patriotism, and identification with organizations, we propose four conceptually distinct modes of identification: importance (how much I view the group as part of who I am), commitment (how much I want to benefit the group), superiority (how much I view my group as superior to other groups), and deference (how much I honor, revere, and submit to the group's norms, symbols, and leaders). We present an instrument for assessing the four modes of identification and review initial empirical findings that validate the proposed model and show its utility in understanding antecedents and consequences of identification.     

EQUIVALENCE CLASS FORMATION: A METHOD FOR TEACHING STATISTICAL INTERACTIONS

Many students struggle with statistical concepts such as interaction. In an experimental group, participants took a paper‐and‐pencil test and then were given training to establish equivalent classes containing four different statistical interactions. All participants formed the equivalence classes and showed maintenance when probes contained novel negative exemplars. Thereafter, participants took a second paper‐and‐pencil test. Participants in the control group received two versions of the paper‐and‐pencil test without equivalence‐based instruction. All participants in the experimental group showed increased paper‐and‐pencil test scores after forming the interaction‐indicative equivalence classes. Class‐indicative responding also generalized to novel exemplars and the novel question format used in the paper‐and‐pencil test. Test scores did not change with repetition for control group participants. Implications for behavioral diagnostics and teaching technology are discussed.     

Looking Again, and Harder, for a Link Between Low Self-Esteem and Aggression

ABSTRACT Recent field studies have revived the hypothesis that low self-esteem causes aggression. Accordingly, we reanalyzed the data from a previous experiment and conducted a new experiment to study direct physical aggression in the form of blasting a fellow participant with aversive noise. We also conducted a field study using a measure of indirect aggression in the form of a consequential negative evaluation. High narcissists were more aggressive than others but only when provoked by insult or humiliation and only toward the source of criticism. The combination of high self-esteem and high narcissism produced the highest levels of aggression. These results support the view of aggression as stemming from threatened egotism and are inconsistent with the hypothesis that low self-esteem causes either direct or indirect aggression.     

On Permutation in Simplified Semantics

This note explains an error in Restall’s ‘Simplified Semantics for Relevant Logics (and some of their rivals)’ (Restall, J Philos Logic 22(5):481–511, 1993) concerning the modelling conditions for the axioms of assertion A → ((A → B) → B) (there called c6) and permutation (A → (B → C)) → (B → (A → C)) (there called c7). We show that the modelling conditions for assertion and permutation proposed in ‘Simplified Semantics’ overgenerate. In fact, they overgenerate so badly that the proposed semantics for the relevant logic R validate the rule of disjunctive syllogism. The semantics provides for no models of R in which the “base point” is inconsistent. This problem is not restricted to ‘Simplified Semantics.’ The techniques of that paper are used in Graham Priest’s textbook An Introduction to Non-Classical Logic (Priest, 2001), which is in wide circulation: it is important to find a solution. In this article, we explain this result, diagnose the mistake in ‘Simplified Semantics’ and propose two different corrections.     

Alone and without purpose: Life loses meaning following social exclusion

Four studies (N = 643) supported the hypothesis that social exclusion would reduce the global perception of life as meaningful. Social exclusion was manipulated experimentally by having a confederate refuse to meet participants after seeing their videotaped introduction (Study 1) and by ostracizing participants in a computerized ball-tossing game (Study 2). Compared to control condition and acceptance conditions, social exclusion led to perceiving life as less meaningful. Exclusion was also operationalized as self-reported loneliness, which was a better predictor of low meaning than other potent variables (Study 3). Study 4 found support for Baumeister’s model of meaning (1991), by demonstrating that the effect of exclusion on meaning was mediated by purpose, value, and positive self-worth.     

Too tired to tell the truth: Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty

The opportunity to profit from dishonesty evokes a motivational conflict between the temptation to cheat for selfish gain and the desire to act in a socially appropriate manner. Honesty may depend on self-control given that self-control is the capacity that enables people to override antisocial selfish responses in favor of socially desirable responses. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that dishonesty would increase when people’s self-control resources were depleted by an initial act of self-control. Depleted participants misrepresented their performance for monetary gain to a greater extent than did non-depleted participants (Experiment 1). Perhaps more troubling, depleted participants were more likely than non-depleted participants to expose themselves to the temptation to cheat, thereby aggravating the effects of depletion on cheating (Experiment 2). Results indicate that dishonesty increases when people’s capacity to exert self-control is impaired, and that people may be particularly vulnerable to this effect because they do not predict it.     

An exploration of the moderating effect of trait emotional intelligence on memory and attention in neutral and stressful conditions

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) refers to individual differences in the experience, perception, regulation, and utilization of emotions. Research has shown that trait EI moderated subjective and endocrine responses to both natural and laboratory stressors. This study explores, the cognitive processes underlying this effect, under the hypothesis that trait EI moderates the impact of stress on memory and/or attention. Results supported the hypothesis, but solely for the ‘regulation’ EI‐dimension (named self‐control or SC). In neutral conditions, high SC was characterized by an attentional focus to neutral material and a facilitated memory for positive events, whereas low SC was characterized by an attentional focus to emotional material (regardless of valence) and a facilitated memory for negative events. In stressful conditions, high SC individuals engaged attention to emotional material (regardless of valence) and recalled more negative events, while low SC individuals disengaged attention from emotional material and recalled more positive events.