The role of distinctive features in the dichotic perception of vowels

A dichotic listening experiment was conducted to determine if vowel perception is based on phonetic feature extraction as is consonant perception. Twenty normal right-handed subjects were given dichotic CV syllables contrasting in final vowels. It was found that, unlike consonants, the perception of dichotic vowels was not significantly lateralized, that the dichotic perception of vowels was not significantly enhanced by the number of phonetic features shared, and that the occurrence of double-blend errors was not greater than chance. However, there was strong evidence for the use of phonetic features at the level of response organization. It is suggested that the differences between vowel and consonant perception reflect the differential availability of the underlying acoustic information from auditory store, rather than differences in processing mechanisms.     

Learning conversations: A person-centred approach to self-organised learning

A conversational approach to teaching and learning is described. Learning is viewed as a skill, which implies that individuals can learn how to learn. Awareness-raising techniques enable the development of new levels of competence. Significant improvements in reading, listening, thinking and feeling creatively, and in manual skills, have been achieved. A meta-language for articulating learning processes combines the functions of tutoring and counselling by focussing the learner's attention on reflection and review. To envisage the educational institution as a conversational network for personalising learning experiences involves fundamental changes in its aims and activities.     

“Follow Your Bliss”: A Process for Career Happiness

In this qualitative study, 8 individuals, notably happy at work, were interviewed to explore the psychological and environmental determinants of their work satisfaction and the significant factors in their career development. Results indicated that participants (a) demonstrated a dogged commitment to follow their interests, what they succeeded in and enjoyed (careers tended to follow a positive meandering path); (b) exhibited a breadth of personal competencies and strengths; and (c) functioned in work environments characterized by freedom, challenge, meaning, and positive social atmosphere. Joseph Campbell's (1968, 1988) paradigms provide a framework for conceptualizing happiness at work. Practical suggestions are offered to counselors and researchers.     

Measuring Russian Culture using Hofstede's Dimensions

This article reports results of Hofstede's five cultural dimensions for 250 Russian respondents. Scores are reported for subgroups according to age, work experience, occupation, number of subordinates, and geographical region. On average, responses showed that Russian culture in the mid-1990s appeared to be moderate in individualism, masculinity, and power distance, and fairly high in paternalism and uncertainty avoidance. The younger generation that came of age during the perestroika of the late 1980s and early 1990s had the highest scores in masculinity and the lowest scores in paternalism. Individuals employed in business had higher uncertainty avoidance than people in the university sector.     

'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.     

Cultural mediators of self-reported social anxiety

East Asians generally endorse higher social anxiety than do Westerners. Widely used measures of social anxiety, however, may not account for different social values across cultures. Drawing from Korean (n=251) and Euro-Canadian (n=250) community samples, this study used a cross-sectional design to examine the relationship between ratings of social anxiety and beliefs and self-views typically found in East Asian cultures. Results indicated that independent self-construal and identity consistency, views of the self that are typically associated with Western cultures, fully mediate the ethnic difference on self-reported social anxiety. Moreover, two indicators of East Asian views of the self in social contexts (interdependent self-construal and self-criticism) were partial mediators. Overall, the data suggest conceptualizations of pathological social anxiety may need to be revised to be useful for studying individuals in East Asian cultures.     

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Children Born Premature: A Case Study and Illustration of Vagal Tone as a Physiological Measure of Treatment Outcome

Evidence-based psychosocial interventions for externalizing behavior problems in children born premature have not been reported in the literature. This single-case study describes Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) with a 23-month-old child born at 29 weeks gestation weighing 1,020 grams, who presented with significant externalizing behavior problems. Treatment outcome was assessed using standard measures of maternal and child functioning and observational measures of the parent-child interaction, as well as a physiological measure of heart rate variability (i.e., vagal tone) used to assess parasympathetic control in the child. Maternal reports of child behavior problems and their own stress and depressive symptoms decreased after treatment. Behavioral observations demonstrated improved parenting practices and child compliance, and vagal tone showed comparable increases as well. Results suggest that PCIT is a promising psychosocial intervention for children born premature with externalizing behavior problems, and that vagal tone may be a useful measure of treatment outcome.     

Effects of suppression and appraisals on thought frequency and distress

Cognitive theories of obsessions highlight appraisals of personal significance and thought suppression in the development and maintenance of intrusive thoughts. The current study examined the role of personal significance within the context of a thought suppression paradigm. The primary aim was to examine whether suppression would have differential effects for target thoughts appraised as personally meaningful versus relatively unimportant. A blasphemous thought served as the target thought, and highly religious and nonreligious participants were recruited. Participants completed a two-interval thought suppression task; during interval 1 they were randomly assigned to suppress or not suppress the target thought and during interval 2, all participants were given “do not suppress” instructions. Suppression resulted in sustained frequency of thoughts in contrast to the decline in thought frequency observed for non-suppression. Differential effects of suppression were found across the two groups. Moreover, suppression was associated with increased negative mood and anxiety. Results suggest that suppression of personally meaningful thoughts is a counterproductive strategy.