Intraclass correlation associated with therapists: estimates and applications in planning psychotherapy research

It is essential that outcome research permit clear conclusions to be drawn about the efficacy of interventions. The common practice of nesting therapists within conditions can pose important methodological challenges that affect interpretation, particularly if the study is not powered to account for the nested design. An obstacle to the optimal design of these studies is the lack of data about the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), which measures the statistical dependencies introduced by nesting. To begin the development of a public database of ICC estimates, the authors investigated ICCs for a variety outcomes reported in 20 psychotherapy outcome studies. The magnitude of the 495 ICC estimates varied widely across measures and studies. The authors provide recommendations regarding how to select and aggregate ICC estimates for power calculations and show how researchers can use ICC estimates to choose the number of patients and therapists that will optimize power. Attention to these recommendations will strengthen the validity of inferences drawn from psychotherapy studies that nest therapists within conditions.     

Contextual modulation of memory consolidation

We investigate olfactory memory consolidation in honeybees. Three experiments are reported that include 1024 animals in 28 experimental groups. After one pairing of odorant and sucrose reward, retention is typically nonmonotonic with a minimum 3 min after conditioning. This corresponds to the “Kamin effect” in vertebrates; the postminimum rise in retention is usually interpreted as reflecting memory consolidation. First, we test for the generality of this effect across four different odorants. The postminimum rise in retention was reproducibly observed for 1-hexanol but not for 1-octanol, limonene, or geraniol. Second, we investigate whether previous learning about the training context modulates subsequent memory consolidation. On the day before training, a reward was applied either upon placement into the future training context for 1 min, halfway during exposure or just before removal from the context. In the latter group, the 3-min minimum in retention was eliminated; thus, in that group, forward pairings of context and reward (i.e., context exposure begins before reward is applied) lead to an associative context memory that can modulate subsequent olfactory memory consolidation. Third, we found no evidence for a modulation of olfactory memory consolidation by pre-exposure to the odorant.     

Autonomy for nursing home residents: the role of regulations

The importance of autonomy and choice to nursing home residents' well-being has been well established. This paper examines the complex role of regulation as it affects the autonomy of nursing home residents. Nonstandardized interviews with residents, family members, nursing staff members, and administrators were conducted at three nursing homes in suburban Maryland. These anecdotal interviews identified the most problematic areas where regulations enforce barriers to autonomy and control. These areas include: scheduling of activities of daily living, food portions, physical environment, and documentation. Suggestions for possible improvements are discussed.     

Social Acceptability of Hypothetical Married Couples and Their Relationships

The present experiment tested whether the physical attractiveness attributed to members of married couples would vary according to the social acceptability associated with their interconnected leader-follower roles. American college students rated female and male hypothetical stimulus persons who were described as married to each other. As predicted, both partners who were described as being in a traditional relationship with the husband as leader were stereotyped as being highly attractive. Partners in relationships that deviated from this pattern were stereotyped as being less attractive: Those enacting equal leadership roles were intermediate in attractiveness, and those with the wife as leader were least attractive. Gender identity also varied according to the social acceptability of the couple's roles, with the wife and husband in the traditional relationship being stereotyped as most highly sex typed. The personal attributes of self-esteem and social status were not affected by the social acceptability of the couple's relationship. Regardless of sex, these attributes varied according to the strength of the individual's leadership role. As a consequence, the husband's characteristics were either consistently positive or negative for the different leadership conditions; the wife's attributes were inconsistent.     

Leadership roles and the gender stereotype traits

Men generally occupy the role of leader and women the role of follower in marital relationships. This research tested the hypothesis that these implicit leader-follower roles determine the way in which the gender stereotype traits are typically assigned to women and men. In one condition, the man was described as the leader in the marriage, and in another condition, the traditional power relationship was reversed and the woman was described as the leader. Regardless of sex, the leader was perceived as strong in agency and weak in communion; the follower was perceived as strong in communion and weak in agency. A man and woman, who were described as equal leaders, did not differ in the strength of their agentic and communal traits. A relationship approach was used to formulate the connection between leader-follower roles and the gender stereotype traits.     

A survey of gender and learning styles

This study was conducted to investigate differences in learning styles between men and women. The study is based on the learning style work by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule and David Kolb. A survey that included the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, 12 Educational Dialectical questions, and a subjective question was administered to 72 subjects of various ethnic groups. The results showed that men and women were found to have different learning styles, and in general, men seemed to find congruence between traditional education and their learning style while women did not.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Blake Keffer, Dr. Jeff Philbin, Dr. Sam Hicken, and Leslie Vaughn.