Dehumanization and its effects on the ghetto family

Abstract

Object-directed dehumanization leads to self-directed dehumanization. The poor in our midst become dehumanized by the benign neglect they suffer from the rest of society. The family counselor is called to create conditions for rehumanization, as an agent of change and social advocate. His role is to help the poor change society and reject the dehumanization process so that they cease to be powerless victims. He must provide information and act as liason to social agencies. He also must create a counseling relationship which allowes for the expression of rage and for the exploration of feelings of anger.     

Regaining the Riches of Our Past and New Hope for Our Future

We can revive Natural Philosophy using thermodynamics and information theory. In constructing an intelligible picture of the world, Natural Philosophy systematizes information from all the sciences so that every field of knowledge of nature supports every other as parts of a concept of general evolution. Change in material systems involves both development and evolution. General evolution is primarily developmental; the specification hierarchy of integrative levels can be used to model it. In this hierarchy, biology is seen as a kind of material system, and social phenomena as kinds of biological systems. This pattern implies that there was a preferred tendency toward psychology in the history of the earth. This scheme is biased by having been produced by psychological, social, biological beings-ourselves, and so it embodies valuation, integrating humans with the rest of the world. Natural Philosophy welcomes the effect of values upon its constructions. There has never been a culture without an origination myth, but the one we call general evolution will differ by referring to its own genesis within a picture of the genesis of the world.     

Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Individual Differences,Affect, Interaction,and Outcomes

In this article, we have drawn upon the attachment motivational system (Bowlby, 1988; Lichtenberg, 1989; Shane, Shane, and Gales, 1997) as a guide to providing “positive new experience” as the cornerstone of therapeutic progress. We see positive new experience as paramount, over and above insight and/or interpretation because insight and interpretation are so varied among different theories. The common denominator that is effective in therapy, then, must be something beyond insight and interpretation. We call that therapeutic factor the positive new experience and will draw from attachment theory to understand its components. In addition, using the attachment motivation system and trauma research, we elaborate on why certain types of negative experiences in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis should be avoided. We address, in particular, harmful repetitions of traumatic relational patterns or traumatic events in the transference, overemphasis on “the empathic stance,” and the search for motivation in patients' behaviors where such a search may be based on the false assumption that all behavior is motivated. This latter category addresses aspects of behaving that may not be motivated; that is, they just “are,” and as such, the search for and attribution of meaning in such instances may lead to failed understanding and insight and to faulty correctives. We have illustrated with clinical examples both positive new experience and three types of negative experiences to be avoided in treatment.     

The Process of Personal Change Through Reading Fictional Narratives: Implications for Psychotherapy Practice and Theory

This qualitative study provides an understanding of how and when individuals experience transformational change as a consequence of reading narratives. Six participants who attributed significant personal changes to reading were recruited and interviewed. The investigators used grounded theory method to analyze these interviews and identify processes through which change unfolded. The core category of the analysis was identification with characters' experiences created a safe venue to consider threat and experiment with new possibilities and perspectives. Empathizing with protagonists enabled readers to integrate new modes of responding to personally difficult situations. Implications for bibliotherapy and narrative therapy are discussed.     

Examining the Construct Validity of Mastery-Avoidance Achievement Goals: A Meta-Analysis

We used meta-analysis to obtain a comprehensive perspective on the construct validity of achievement goals, focusing on the most recent addition to the achievement goal framework, mastery-avoidance (Elliot & McGregor, 2001). Mastery-avoidance achievement goals positively correlated with need for achievement, perceived competence, competitiveness, interest, negative affect, and other achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) and negatively correlated with cognitive ability, help seeking, and performance. The correlations between mastery-avoidance and the other achievement goals were moderate. Thus, we conclude that mastery-avoidance is a conceptually and empirically distinct construct with unique antecedents and consequences and should be included in future studies on achievement goals.     

Does longer job tenure help or hinder job performance?

There are two competing theoretical perspectives on how job tenure might affect job performance. Human capital theory suggests that as knowledge and skill increase with greater tenure, job performance will improve as well. In contrast, the literature on job design suggests that as job tenure increases, employees are likely to become more bored and less motivated at work. Consequently, the gains from human capital acquisition might be offset by losses of motivation. To examine these competing perspectives, we conducted meta-analyses on the relationships of job tenure with four types of job performance: core task performance, citizenship behavior, creativity and innovative behavior, and counterproductive work behavior. The results support the second perspective, as both the linear and curvilinear relationships of job tenure with the four types of job performance are weak. Further, the results do not change in strength across type of research design, job industry, age, or gender.     

The Treatment of Mental Contamination: A Case Series

The recommended treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) incorporating exposure and response prevention (ERP), which is effective for approximately 50% of patients. However, there has been little advance in treatment outcomes since the introduction of ERP in 1979. It has been suggested that some progress can be made in treating contamination obsessions and washing compulsions by addressing feelings of dirtiness and contamination that arise without physical contact with a tangible contaminant. To date, the treatment of these “mental contamination” fears in OCD has not been systematically explored. This paper reports on a case series of 12 participants with OCD who received 10 to 20 sessions of a CBT-based treatment for mental contamination. At the end of treatment, 7 participants no longer met the diagnostic criteria for OCD and mental contamination and these gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: A Meta-analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences

The authors conducted meta-analyses to assess (a) relations among affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization and (b) relations between the three forms of commitment and variables identified as their antecedents, correlates, and consequences in Meyer and Allen's (1991) Three-Component Model. They found that the three forms of commitment are related yet distinguishable from one another as well as from job satisfaction, job involvement, and occupational commitment. Affective and continuance commitment generally correlated as expected with their hypothesized antecedent variables; no unique antecedents of normative commitment were identified. Also, as expected, all three forms of commitment related negatively to withdrawal cognition and turnover, and affective commitment had the strongest and most favorable correlations with organization-relevant (attendance, performance, and organizational citizenship behavior) and employee-relevant (stress and work-family conflict) outcomes. Normative commitment was also associated with desirable outcomes, albeit not as strongly. Continuance commitment was unrelated, or related negatively, to these outcomes. Comparisons of studies conducted within and outside North America revealed considerable similarity yet suggested that more systematic primary research concerning cultural differences is warranted.     

Context and Prior Impression Effects on Attention, Judgment Standards, and Ratings: Contrast Effects Revisited

The present study extended research on contrast effects by (a) examining the effect of context performances on ratings of a target performance when a prior impression of the target performer already exists, and (b) clarifying the issue of whether contrast is caused by attention to context-discrepant behavior or shifts in judgment standards. The results demonstrated that the existence of a prior impression mitigates the influence of context performances on ratings. Judgment standards were found to be unstable and dependent on information provided to raters by the experimental manipulations. Regression analyses showed that both attention and standards of judgment mediate the relationship between context and ratings. Implications of these findings for contrast effects, performance ratings, and the importance of reliable judgment standards for real-world performance appraisals are discussed.