Book reviews

Socializing Epistemology: The Social Dimensions of Knowledge, Frederick F. Schmitt, Ed., 1994. Lanham, MD, Rowman and Littlefield, ix + 315 pp., US$22.95, ISBN: 0847679594

A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action, Esther Thelen & Linda B. Smith. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, xxii + 376 pp., $50, ISBN 0–262–20095–3 cloth

From Kant to Hilbert: A Source Book in the Foundations of Mathematics, William B. Ewald, Ed., 1996. Oxford, Oxford University Press. xviii+ 1340 pp., £195.00, two volumes, ISBN 0–19–853271–7 (the set)     

Implications of Cultural Values for Cross-Cultural Consultation With Families

Family consultation is aimed at facilitating the development of children by assisting parents to use more effective parenting techniques. Increasingly, consultants will find themselves conducting cross-cultural consultation because of the diversity of U.S. society. R. F. Pinto (1981) pointed out that cross-cultural consultants must be aware of their personal values and biases, be culturally empathic, be aware of their consulting paradigm, and be able to make culturally sensitive adaptations to their approach to consultation. Each of these points is addressed in this article.     

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.     

New Roles for Rhetoric: From Academic Critique to Civic Affirmation

The classical conception of rhetoric as the method of reasoned political judgment survived into the Renaissance but was reduced to academic critiques of style and "empty" public rhetoric with the rise of modern science and its representationalist theories of language. Recently, however, rhetoric, textuality, and the "linguistic turn" generally, have become central metaphors in the human sciences. This renewed rhetorical perspective not only fosters a critique of positive philosophy and of scientism in public discourse, it also offers affirmative methods by which persons can construct their civic lives.     

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.     

Biased attention in childhood Anxiety disorders: A preliminary study

This study provides preliminary tests of two hypotheses: (1) Anxiety-disordered children show an attentional bias toward emotionally threatening stimuli, and (2) normal controls show an attentional bias away from emotionally threatening stimuli. Twelve children, 9 to 14 years of age, with primary diagnoses of anxiety disorder were compared with 12 normal controls matched for age, gender, vocabulary level, and reading ability. Subjects completed a reaction time task that measured visual attention toward threatening versus neutral words. The anxious group showed the predicted attentional bias toward threat words. However, controls did not show the predicted bias away from threat words. These results are the first showing that biased attentional processing occurs among clinically anxious children. The potential role of such an attentional bias in childhood anxiety disorders and future direction for research are discussed.This research was supported by a Seed Grant and a Small Grant to the first author from The Ohio State University. Portions of this paper were presented at the 27th Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Atlanta, November 1993. Thanks are extended to the participants and all those who helped with the project.