Social Identity and Perceptions of Media Persuasion: Are We Always Less Influenced Than Others?1

People typically perceive negative media content (e.g., violence) to have more impact on others than on themselves (a third-person effect). To examine the perceived effects of positive content (e.g., public-service advertisements) and the moderating role of social identities, we examined students' perceptions of the impact of AIDS advertisements on self, students (in-group), nonstudents (out-group), and people in general. Perceived self-other differences varied with the salience of student identity. Low identifiers displayed the typical third-person effect, whereas high identifiers were more willing to acknowledge impact on themselves and the student in-group. Further, when influence was normatively acceptable within the in-group, high identifiers perceived self and students (us) as more influenced than nonstudents (them). The theoretical and practical implications of this reversal in third-person perceptions are discussed.     

The impact of consultant,consultee, and organizational variables on teacher attitudes toward consultation services

The current study investigated relationships between consultant, consultee, and organizational characteristics and teacher preferences for school-based consultation versus traditional referral services. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that principal initiating structure, number of years of teaching experience, and number of years teaching at the current school each made statistically significant, although weak, contributions to predicting teacher attitudes toward consultation. Initiating structure and number of years of teaching experience were negatively related to consultee preference for consultation, while years of teaching at the current school correlated positively.     

Science meets practice in determining effectiveness of sexual orientation change efforts

Comments on the original article, "Guidelines for psychological practice with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients," by the American Psychological Association (see record 2011-19419-001). Guideline 3 of the acknowledges the diversity of human sexual orientation and that "efforts to change sexual orientation have not been shown to be effective or safe" (p. 14). As noted in the Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation (APA, 2009), "Current criteria for effective treatments and interventions are specific in stating that to be considered effective, an intervention has consistent positive effects without serious harmful side effects [emphasis added]" (p. 26). The present authors note that half a century of scientific research on a variety of sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) has not demonstrated their effectiveness according to the criteria of consistent positive effects and absence of serious harmful effects. Guideline 3 (APA, 2012) therefore urges psychologists to closely assess the motivations of clients who seek SOCE in the context of stigma and internalized prejudice about their non-heterosexual orientation. In addition, the guideline also recommends that psychologists obtain truthful, thorough, and thoughtful informed consent and that they focus on personal integration instead of sexual orientation change. The burden of proof has been on advocates of SOCE, and the present authors assert that it has not been met. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Reflecting team processes in family therapy: a search for research

Tom Andersen's Reflecting Team approach is widely (and creatively) employed in family therapy. Despite continuing enthusiasm for the practice, however, there are few journal articles reporting empirical research and only one (now dated) review of the literature. After defining reflecting team processes through practices that are embedded in particular approaches to knowledge construction and theoretical interpretation, we offer an overview of the empirical research found in our search of the literature. In the second half of this article we ask why there is so little existing research in this area. Various possible explanations are explored and future directions proposed. We conclude that a dialogue around the complex interweaving of practice, theory and research (that is, praxis) would be a helpful overall stance to adopt in relation to future work in this area.