Conversational perspective of therapeutic outcomes: The importance of preference in the development of discourse

Major theme: Evaluation of therapeutic outcome. Logical development of the theme: We suggest a way for practitioners and researchers to assess if they are on track in conversing towards client preferred goals. We offer a critique of more conventional approaches to studying therapeutic progress, suggesting how a discursive (i.e. focused on interaction and language use) lens can address these limitations. Through this lens we examine therapeutic progress evident in ‘preference work’, where clients demonstrably indicate, imply, agree and disagree with where the therapeutic conversation is heading. Such ‘preference work’ offers a form of evidence of within‐session outcomes in a process of reaching larger client preferred outcomes. Authors’ point of view: We present the results of conversation analysis – a qualitative approach to the study of therapy – to illustrate our discursive perspective on therapy progress and change. Implications: we suggest a way for practitioners to assess if they are on track in conversing towards client preferred goals. We propose that our interactional perspective may significantly contribute to bridging practice and research in therapy.     

Sensory curation: theorizing media use for sensory regulation and implications for family media conflict

ABSTRACT

Media sensory curation theory, introduced here, complements theories of informational, emotional, and relational media gratifications. Sensory curation theory conceptualizes media devices as tools people use to help maintain sensory regulation by simultaneously capturing and curbing sensory input within built and natural environments. This article explicates the theory and introduces the Child and Adult Media Sensory Curation Inventories (MediaSCIs), separate measures of child and adult media sensory behaviors and preferences. A survey of 789 parents and adult caregivers of children ages 3 to 14 revealed moderate to strong correlations between general sensory processing and media sensory curation, validating the MediaSCIs. Controlling usage time, child media sensory curation strongly predicted problematic child media use and moderately predicted adult–child media conflict, which was four times as frequent among adult–child pairs with high MediaSCI scores than with low MediaSCI scores.     

Biased attention and dysphoria: Manipulating selective attention reduces subsequent depressive symptoms

Selective attention for dysphoric stimuli has been observed in individuals with depression and those at risk for depression. To date, no studies have investigated the effects of directly manipulating selective attention for dysphoric stimuli on depressive symptoms. Mild to moderately depressed college students (N=34) were randomly assigned to complete 4 sessions of either attention training (AT) or no training (NT) during a two-week period. Participants completed self-reported assessments of depressive symptoms at baseline, post-training, and follow-up. Participants in the AT condition had a significantly greater decrease in depressive symptoms from baseline to follow-up than participants in the NT condition. This group difference was mediated by change in attention bias. Our findings suggest that biased attention may have a causal role in the maintenance of depressive symptoms.     

Tūsī on Avicenna’s Logical Connectives ∗

Tūsī, a thirteenth century logician writing in Arabic, uses two logical connectives to build up molecular propositions: ‘if-then’, and ‘either-or’. By referring to a dichotomous Tree, Tūsī shows how to choose the proper disjunction relative to the terms in the disjuncts. He also discusses the disjunctive propositions which follow from a conditional proposition     

A Critique of Information Ethics

Luciano Floridi presents Information Ethics (IE) as an alternative to traditional moral theories. IE consists of two tenets. First, reality can be interpreted at numerous, mutually consistent levels of abstraction, the highest of which is information. This level, unlike the others, applies to all of reality. Second, everything, insofar as it is an information object, has some degree of intrinsic value and hence moral dignity. I criticize IE, arguing that Floridi fails to show that the moral community should be expanded beyond beings capable of suffering or having preferences. Next, I look at Floridi’s extended case against consequentialism generally and utilitarianism in particular. I try to show that his criticisms are flawed. Third, I argue that, for the most part, it is not clear what IE’s practical implications are. I conclude with a critical discussion of the one area of information ethics, traditionally conceived, that Floridi has written about at length, privacy.     

Effect of Age,Length of Unemployment,and Problem‐Focused Coping on Positive Reemployment Expectations

This study explored the interrelated job search, unemployment, and coping literature (e.g., Leana & Feldman, 1990 ; McKee‐Ryan, Song, Wanberg, & Kinicki, 2005 ), in which the effects of age, length of unemployment, and coping behaviors on reemployment expectations were investigated. The study included unique demographics in which 65% were long‐term unemployed. Length of unemployment, networking comfort, and job search confidence were significant in a regression, and age was not. Regardless of age, reemployment expectations can be higher if the job seeker has higher levels of networking comfort and/or job search confidence or lower if they have been unemployed for a longer duration.     

Leader election outcomes as contextual moderators explaining the different frequencies of action-oriented terms and negation terms used in inaugural speeches of effective versus ineffective leaders and charismatic versus non-charismatic leaders: Evidence from 30 U.S. presidents

Psychologists have increasingly employed dictionary-based text analysis to examine the language of leadership, as leadership is embedded in a web of negotiated meanings and contextual factors. This research seeks to embed leaders’ rhetorical influence in leader–follower relationships and identify contextual factors that explain the different patterns of effective versus ineffective leaders’ and charismatic versus non-charismatic leaders’ uses of action-oriented terms and negation terms in their inaugural speeches. By analyzing data of 30 U.S. presidents’ inaugural addresses, presidential election outcomes, and leadership styles, I found that effective leaders used action-oriented terms more frequently in their inaugural speeches than ineffective leaders only when follower participation was low, whereas charismatic leaders used negation terms more frequently in their inaugural speeches than non-charismatic leaders only when follower endorsement was low. These findings suggest that effective leaders are attuned to action-related situational cues whereas charismatic leaders are attuned to value-related situational cues.     

Critical remarks on Rawls's burdens of judgement

I examine the role of the burdens of judgement argument in Rawls's defence of the claim that liberalism cannot be based on a comprehensive doctrine. According to Rawls, the burdens of judgement make it very unlikely that most individuals can agree on anything more than a purely political morality. I argue that the argument does not succeed. I concentrate on the last three burdens which are specifically about problems of reaching normative agreement. Firstly, I argue that Rawls's claim that modern society inevitably gives rise to a diversity of values is not convincing since for every claim of divergence a counterclaim of convergence can be provided. Secondly, I provide examples of plausible agreement on partial comprehensive doctrines. Thirdly, I argue that liberalism must rely on at least one partial comprehensive doctrine, namely, the value of autonomous choice. I conclude that the burdens of judgement argument does not demonstrate that liberalism cannot be based on comprehensive moral foundations.