When educational supervision meets clinical supervision: what can we learn from the discrepancies?

The authors question the taken-for-granted notion of supervision. Their concerns arose out of an attempt to introduce 'clinical' supervision into academia as a way of addressing an increasing number of the ethical issues which confront lecturers. They recognise that knowledge can impact adversely on students and that lecturers at times find themselves compromised. They settled on supervision as an organisational space in the domain of power in which to address the distress they observed. However, through their different experiences of supervision, they soon found themselves talking past each other. When clinical supervision meets educational supervision, several anomalies are brought to the fore. The authors draw on Foucault's notion of discourse, and of knowledge as power, in order to foreground these and conclude by cautioning against an uncritical acceptance of supervision as an ethical practice. They believe there is a benefit in bringing together the two discourses of clinical and educational supervision for further discussion.     

Factor Indeterminacy as Metrological Uncertainty: Implications for Advancing Psychological Measurement

Researchers have long been aware of the mathematics of factor indeterminacy. Yet, while occasionally discussed, the phenomenon is mostly ignored. In metrology, the measurement discipline of the physical sciences, uncertainty – distinct from both random error (but encompassing it) and systematic error – is a crucial characteristic of any measurement. This research argues that factor indeterminacy is uncertainty. Factor indeterminacy fundamentally threatens the validity of psychometric measurement, because it blurs the linkage between a common factor and the conceptual variable that the factor represents. Acknowledging and quantifying factor indeterminacy is important for progress in reducing this component of uncertainty in measurement, and thus improving psychological measurement over time. Based on our elaborations, we offer a range of recommendations toward achieving this goal.     

Coping with unpleasant group memberships in Japan and Germany: Cultural differences in disidentification,confrontation and emotion regulation

Disidentification, the psychological distancing from unpleasant group memberships, has mainly been studied in individualistic societies. We tested whether disidentification is a coping strategy to deal with conflicts in small and large groups, in Japan and Germany. Study 1 (N = 79) illustrates that Japanese recalled more unpleasant situations related to small than large groups. Study 2 (N = 198) confirms that Japanese, but not German students’ disidentification varied with group size and was stronger after small-group conflict. Study 3 (N = 132) shows that anger was related to disidentification in Japan but to confrontation in Germany. Study 4 (N = 335) shows that, after group conflict, Japanese felt relieved when imagining to disidentify, whereas Germans felt relieved when imagining to confront the source of conflict. Combining correlational and experimental designs with culture-sensitive situation sampling, we show that disidentification exists as a psychological construct across cultures, albeit serving different psychological functions.     

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Neuropsychological Perspective Towards DSM-V

Neuropsychological methods and techniques have much to offer in the evaluation of the individual suspected as having Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). After a review of the historical evolution of the ADHD concept, incidence and prevalence, and DSM-IV criteria for diagnosis, especially as regards omission related to gender differences, and other associated cultural, familial, socioenvironmental, and subject influences, this paper describes a number of dilemmas and obstacles encountered in clinical practice. Included are the confounds associated with the wide range of possible comorbidities, the insufficiency of current DSM-IV criteria, the emergence of subtype differentiation and its impact on diagnosis and treatment. The complex relationship between neuropsychological constructs and ADHD, and obstacles to valid assessment are also addressed. The complexities associated with a thorough ADHD evaluation are viewed within an impressive and expansive existing scientific framework and recommendations are made for future directions.     

Token mediated tool exchange between tufted capuchin monkeys (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>)

Three experiments were conducted to test whether a pair of tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) could generalize their ability to exchange tokens and tool objects with a human experimenter to similar exchanges with a conspecific partner. Monkeys were tested in side-by-side enclosures, one enclosure containing a tool-use apparatus and one or more token(s), and the other enclosure containing one or more tool object(s). The monkeys willingly transferred tokens and tools to a conspecific with little practice. Following a small amount of training, we also found that the monkeys would select situation-appropriate tokens to exchange for specific tools, but did not select appropriate tool objects in response to another monkey’s token transfers. Implications regarding role reversal are discussed.     

Mismatch negativity elicited by tones and speech sounds: changed topographical distribution in aphasia

This study used the event-related brain potential mismatch negativity (MMN) to investigate preconscious discrimination of harmonically rich tones (differing in duration) and consonant-vowel syllables (differing in the initial consonant) in aphasia. Eighteen Norwegian aphasic patients, examined on average 3 months after brain injury, were compared to 11 healthy controls. The main finding was a difference in topographic distribution of the MMN: the aphasia group showed a less lateralized and centralized topographic pattern especially to CV syllables, which is consistent with a reduced temporal lobe processing contribution and an increased right hemisphere activation. No correlations between MMN amplitude and aphasia test results were found.     

Unmitigated communion and health among adolescents with and without diabetes: the mediating role of eating disturbances

The authors examined the implications of unmitigated communion--a focus on others to the exclusion of the self--for psychological and physical health among adolescents with (n = 132) and without (n = 131) diabetes times/during a 1-year period. Unmitigated communion predicted greater psychological distress and lower levels of competence cross-sectionally and longitudinally, controlling for sex, pubertal status, and communion. Health status moderated some longitudinal relations, such that relations held only for adolescents with diabetes. In addition, unmitigated communion was associated with poor metabolic control and predicted a deterioration in metabolic control over the year for adolescents with diabetes. Unmitigated communion also was associated with disturbed eating behavior cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and disturbed eating behavior explained some of the relations of unmitigated communion to psychological but not physical health outcomes.