'Psychodynamic and Religious?' Religiously committed psychodynamic counsellors,in training and practice

This article supports a case for an increased research focus upon and within counsellor training with consideration of the counsellor's religious orientation. This aspect of professional diversity was investigated via in-depth interviews with eight religiously-committed psychodynamic counsellors. Their accounts of experiences in training, supervision, personal therapy and professional practice were subjected to qualitative analysis using grounded theory methods. Three major themes were identified: changes occurring in participants' religiosity; aspects of disclosure of personal religious commitment; and the non-inclusion of religious issues within the counsellor training process. The latter theme emerged considerably more forcefully than the others, and produced an array of questions to stimulate further research.     

Mothers' and fathers' speech to infants in a teaching situation

The purpose of this study was to compare mothers' and fathers' speech to their preverbal infants in a teaching situation. Thirty-two parents of 16 8-month-olds were asked to teach their infants to put a small cube into a cup. Infant Gender (2) x Birth Order (2) x Parent (2) analyses of variance were performed with repeated measures on parent. Results indicated that fathers issued more utterances and used more words per utterance than did mothers. Although there was no difference in the proportion of imperatives used by mothers and fathers, fathers' imperatives were significantly longer than mothers'; this difference was not evident for utterances that contained indirect instructions. Mothers tended to use more exact repetitions. There were differences in parental speech related to infant gender: Parents directed more utterances, particularly utterances that contained negative statements, imperatives, and exhortations, to girls than to boys. Infant Gender x Parent effects for imperatives and exhortations indicated that these differences were especially true for fathers. Overall, it appeared that fathers made greater efforts to control the situation and to direct their infants' behavior, which might have reflected mothers' and fathers' different perceptions of both their infants' ability and their own role as teachers.     

Gender Differences in Spatial Task Performance as a Function of Speed or Accuracy Orientation

Performance differences in spatial abilities as a function of gender may be modified by practice and relevant background experiences, as well as by directions given in laboratory situations. We examined whether a focus on speed or accuracy influenced performance in various spatial domains, using several different scoring techniques. Men and women from a small, predominantly White private college completed tasks of spatial perception, spatial visualization, and mental rotation under one of three conditions: speed-emphasis, accuracy-emphasis, or control. Participants also provided information concerning experiences pertinent to spatial ability. Results revealed relative parity between men and women on tasks of spatial visualization and spatial perception; speed/accuracy orientation did not alter these findings. Men outperformed women on mental rotation, but only when scored in a strict manner and when explicitly told to focus on accuracy, but not when directional emphasis was absent or geared toward speed. Self-reported background in math, sports, and the arts was unrelated to performance. The results are discussed in terms of women's efficacy beliefs about performing tasks explicitly designated as spatial in nature.     

The evaluation of guidance: listening to pupils' views

The increasing emphasis on school evaluation and improvement may encourage schools to pay greater attention to pupils' views of their schooling, including their experience of guidance or pastoral care. A study of pupils' experience of guidance in Scottish schools indicated that pupils have much to contribute to the evaluation process and highlights a number of implications for guidance or pastoral care.     

Who Thinks Outside the Gender Box? Feminism,Gender Self-Esteem,and Attitudes toward Trans People

Sex Roles - Trans people are targeted with widespread prejudice and discrimination in the United States. In order to better understand this hostility, we examined how different gender beliefs...     

Laboratory and questionnaire measures of aggression among female parolees with violent or nonviolent histories

Female parolees were recruited into a laboratory study to determine the relationship between their previous aggression history, questionnaire measures of aggression, and behavioral measures of aggressive responding using a laboratory methodology: the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP). Subjects were assigned to a violent or nonviolent group based on their criminal history. Subjects participated in sessions in which they were given three response options: (1) nonaggressive responding that earned money, (2) aggressive responding that ostensibly subtracted money from another fictitious person and was defined as aggressive since it resulted in the ostensible delivery of an aversive stimulus (subtraction of money) to another person, and (3) escape responding that protected the subject's earnings from periodic subtractions initiated by the fictitious other person. Results indicated that the violent female parolees emitted significantly more aggressive responses than subjects in the nonviolent group. This study provides additional external validity as well as evidence for convergent and discriminant validity for PSAP laboratory measurement of human aggressive responding and extends these findings to female parolees. Comparisons to previously published data with male parolees showed that gender differences were found among violent but not nonviolent parolees. Aggr. Behav. 26:291–307, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Cardiovascular Reactivity During Marital Conflict in Laboratory and Naturalistic Settings: Differential Associations with Relationship and Individual Functioning Across Contexts

Cardiovascular reactivity during spousal conflict is considered to be one of the main pathways for relationship distress to impact physical, mental, and relationship health. However, the magnitude of association between cardiovascular reactivity during laboratory marital conflict and relationship functioning is small and inconsistent given the scope of its importance in theoretical models of intimate relationships. This study tests the possibility that cardiovascular data collected in laboratory settings downwardly bias the magnitude of these associations when compared to measures obtained in naturalistic settings. Ambulatory cardiovascular reactivity data were collected from 20 couples during two relationship conflicts in a research laboratory, two planned relationship conflicts at couples’ homes, and two spontaneous relationship conflicts during couples’ daily lives. Associations between self‐report measures of relationship functioning, individual functioning, and cardiovascular reactivity across settings are tested using multilevel models. Cardiovascular reactivity was significantly larger during planned and spontaneous relationship conflicts in naturalistic settings than during planned relationship conflicts in the laboratory. Similarly, associations with relationship and individual functioning variables were statistically significantly larger for cardiovascular data collected in naturalistic settings than the same data collected in the laboratory. Our findings suggest that cardiovascular reactivity during spousal conflict in naturalistic settings is statistically significantly different from that elicited in laboratory settings both in magnitude and in the pattern of associations with a wide range of inter‐ and intrapersonal variables. These differences in findings across laboratory and naturalistic physiological responses highlight the value of testing physiological phenomena across interaction contexts in romantic relationships.