The U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Jaffee v. Redmond: Implications for Counselors

In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court held that communications between licensed psychotherapists and their patients are privileged under the Federal Rules of Evidence. The nature of privileged communication, the history of this Supreme Court decision, and implications of the decision for counselors are discussed.     

THE SIMILARITY OF BRAIN ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH TRUE AND FALSE RECOGNITION MEMORY DEPENDS ON TEST FORMAT

Abstract— Event-related potentials (ERPs) were compared for correct recognitions of previously presented words and false recognitions of associatively related, nonpresented words (lures). When the test items were presented blocked by test type (old, new, lure), waveforms for old and lure items were different, especially at frontal and left parietal electrode sites, consistent with previous positron emission tomography (PET) data (Schacter, Reiman, et. al., 1996). When the test format randomly intermixed the types of items, waveforms for old and lure items were more similar. We suggest that test format affects the type of processing subjects engage in, consistent with expectations from the source-monitoring framework (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993). These results also indicate that brain activity as assessed by neuroimaging designs requiring blocked presentation of trials (e g, PET) do not necessarily reflect the brain activity that occurs in cognitive-behavioral paradigms, in which types of test trials are typically intermixed.     

Life after Trauma: Personality and Daily Life Experiences of Traumatized People

In this study, we explored differences in personality and daily life experiences of traumatized (n= 26) versus nontraumatized (n= 30) college students. Study participants completed a variety of personality measures as well as a 28–day experience sampling study assessing daily activities, emotions, and physical health. Although not differing on general demographics, traumatized individuals reported more trait anxiety and lower self–esteem than nontraumatized individuals. They scored higher on Neuroticism, were more introverted, and were less emotionally stable than nontraumatized participants. Traumatized individuals also reported more cognitive disturbances, emotional blunting, and interpersonal withdrawal. They did not report being more depressed, but did endorse cognitive styles associated with heightened risk for depression. Earlier age of trauma was associated with more pathological outcomes: lower self–esteem and psychological well–being, more anxiety, more pessimism, and emotional constriction of positive mood. We compare this symptom profile to that of posttraumatic stress disorder.     

Individual differences and cheating behavior: Guilt and cheating in competitive situations

To examine whether guilt would inhibit immoral behavior, subjects were differentiated on their feelings of anticipatory (AG) and posttransgressional (PTG) guilt and subsequently placed in an anagram task shown to induce a high level of cheating. Results indicated that neither pre- nor post-test AG was related to cheating behavior, and test-retest administration indicated that the AG scale was unreliable. The PTG scale, however, was found to be a temporally reliable measure of guilt. In order to assess the relative contributions of pre-test posttransgressional guilt, the ability to persist, and gender to cheating behavior, a saturated multiple regression model of centered predictor effects and interaction terms was constructed. Results revealed a significant gender × persistence interaction. The cheating behavior of males was not significantly influenced by the ability to persist. On the other hand, females who exhibited a strong ability to persist rarely cheated, while those who were unable to persist cheated a great deal. Finally, subjects who felt the most posttransgressional guilt cheated more frequently. These findings provide additional evidence that guilt may be positively related to cheating behavior.     

Construction and validation of the Gender Attitude Inventory,a structured inventory to assess multiple dimensions of gender attitudes

Three studies describe the development and initial validation of the Gender Attitude Inventory (GAI), a structured inventory that assesses attitudes toward the multiple objects that organize college students' thoughts and feelings about sex and gender. An intergroup relations perspective was used to specify the universe of gender-related targets and to construct a preliminary instrument. Factor analyses of the results of two sequential studies yielded a 109-item inventory with 14 content-specific attitude areas and three second-order factors. In Study 3 GAI scales were shown to have acceptable internal consistency and temporal stability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity. In terms of race/ethnicity, most respondents were white (ranging from 69% to 82% across the three studies).     

PHONOLOGICAL CODES ARE AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED DURING READING:

Abstract— Subjects read sentences containing target words that were homophones (words with a single pronunciation but different spellings) while their eye movements were recorded A prime word was presented briefly at the onset of fixation on the target region The prime for a given target (e g, beach) was either identical to the target (beach, a phonologically similar word (the homophone beech), a visually similar nonhomophone (bench), or a dissimilar word (noise) Phonological priming effects were assessed by comparing fixation times on the target when It was preceded by the homophone versus the visually similar word Results suggest that phonological codes are automatically activated during eye fixations in reading     

Time,change, and motion: The effects of stimulus movement on temporal perception

The effects of stimulus motion on time perception were examined in five experiments. Subjects judged the durations (6–18 sec) of a series of computer-generated visual displays comprised of varying numbers of simple geometrical forms. In Experiment 1, subjects reproduced the duration of displays consisting of stationary or moving (at 20 cm/sec) stimulus figures. In Experiment 2, subjects reproduced the durations of stimuli that were either stationary, moving slowly (at 10 cm/sec), or moving fast (at 30 cm/sec). In Experiment 3, subjects used the production method to generate specified durations for stationary, slow, and fast displays. In Experiments 4 and 5, subjects reproduced the duration of stimuli that moved at speeds ranging from 0 to 45 cm/sec. Each experiment showed that stimulus motion lengthened perceived time. In general, faster speeds lengthened perceived time to a greater degree than slower speeds. Varying the number of stimuli appearing in the displays had only limited effects on time judgments. Other findings indicated that shorter intervals tended to be overestimated and longer intervals underestimated (Vierordt’s law), an effect which applied to both stationary and moving stimuli. The results support a change model of perceived time, which maintains that intervals associated with more changes are perceived to be longer than intervals with fewer changes.     

The Fire Chief microworld generating program: An illustration of computer-simulated microworlds as an experimental paradigm for studying complex decision-making behavior

Computer-simulated microworlds bridge the gap between the complexity of field investigations and the rigor of laboratory studies. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the major methodological issues involved in developing and using computer-simulated microworlds for the psychological study of complex decision-making behavior. These issues comprise flexibility and generality in the microworlds that can be created, adequate psychological validity, automatic trial administration and data logging, capacity to interface simulations of psychological processes, and adequate testing and documentation. Each of these issues is illustrated by indicating how it has been addressed in Fire Chief, a microworld generating program specifically designed for creating realistic, yet controllable, decision-making task environments in the psychology laboratory. Fire Chief (Omodei & Wearing, 1993a) is introduced as both fully portable to other research teams and suitable for use in many different contexts requiring a complex task situation.