Integrating Spirituality and Religion Into Counseling: A Guide to Competent Practice

Book reviewed in this article: Craig S. Cashwell and J. Scott Young, Eds. (2005). Integrating Spirituality and Religion Into Counseling: A Guide to Competent Practice.     

Multiple causes of difficulty in insight: the case of the nine-dot problem

Theories of insight problems are often tested by formulating hypotheses about the particular difficulties of individual insight problems. Such evaluations often implicitly assume that there is a single difficulty. We argue that the quantitatively small effects of many studies arise because the difficulty of many insight problems is determined by multiple factors, so the removal of 1 factor has limited effect on the solution rate. Difficulties can reside either in problem perception, in prior knowledge, or in the processing of the problem information. We support this multiple factors perspective through 3 experiments on the 9-dot problem (N.R.F. Maier, 1930). Our results lead to a significant reformulation of the classical hypothesis as to why this problem is difficult. The results have general implications for our understanding of insight problem solving and for the interpretation of data from studies that aim to evaluate hypotheses about the sources of difficulty of particular insight problems.     

Unattended exposure to components of speech sounds yields same benefits as explicit auditory training

Learning a second language as an adult is particularly effortful when new phonetic representations must be formed. Therefore the processes that allow learning of speech sounds are of great theoretical and practical interest. Here we examined whether perception of single formant transitions, that is, sound components critical in speech perception, can be enhanced through an implicit task-irrelevant learning procedure that has been shown to produce visual perceptual learning. The single-formant sounds were paired at subthreshold levels with the attended targets in an auditory identification task. Results showed that task-irrelevant learning occurred for the unattended stimuli. Surprisingly, the magnitude of this learning effect was similar to that following explicit training on auditory formant transition detection using discriminable stimuli in an adaptive procedure, whereas explicit training on the subthreshold stimuli produced no learning. These results suggest that in adults learning of speech parts can occur at least partially through implicit mechanisms.     

Mothers' experiences related to the disposal of children's clothing and gear: keeping Mister Clatters but tossing broken Barbie

• Drawing upon depth interviews with mothers, this study explores meanings attached to children's items disposed of through various channels. Items with little value (rubbish) such as broken toys were typically thrown away. Items that had deep personal meaning for the mothers but that lacked clear value to others (mementos) are kept in storage without plans for the future transfer of ownership to anyone else. Some mementos are extensions of the children's identities; they are often contaminated from use by the children and/or indexed to specific memories held by the mothers. Items that have less personal meaning for the mothers but that might be useful to other families (wares) were redistributed through giving, selling or donating. Baby wares were typically given to other mothers, while wares for older children were donated to charity. Interviewees described keeping some items on display or in storage with the intention of passing them on to children or grandchildren at a later time (intended heirlooms). Intended heirlooms have mythologized stories of origin, they affirm family identity, and some demonstrate properties of sacredness. Suggested directions for future research include further exploration of mothers' giving to other mothers and identity issues related to disposal.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Foucault and the Subject of Stoic Existence

Foucault is typically seen as having rebelled against the previous generation of French philosophy, which was dominated by existential phenomenology, and by Sartre in particular. However, the relationship between these two generations and between these two philosophers is more complex than one of simple opposition. Through a refracted focus on Foucault??s late work on Greco-Roman philosophy and on the themes of the practice of the care of the self and the freedom associated with that practice, I argue that Foucault??whose philosophy is centered around the problematization of site-specific processes of subjectification?? is closer to existentialism than he seems.     

The Evidence-Based Practice of Applied Behavior Analysis

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a model of professional decision-making in which practitioners integrate the best available evidence with client values/context and clinical expertise in order to provide services for their clients. This framework provides behavior analysts with a structure for pervasive use of the best available evidence in the complex settings in which they work. This structure recognizes the need for clear and explicit understanding of the strength of evidence supporting intervention options, the important contextual factors including client values that contribute to decision making, and the key role of clinical expertise in the conceptualization, intervention, and evaluation of cases. Opening the discussion of EBP in this journal, Smith (The Behavior Analyst, 36, 7–33, 2013) raised several key issues related to EBP and applied behavior analysis (ABA). The purpose of this paper is to respond to Smith’s arguments and extend the discussion of the relevant issues. Although we support many of Smith’s (The Behavior Analyst, 36, 7–33, 2013) points, we contend that Smith’s definition of EBP is significantly narrower than definitions that are used in professions with long histories of EBP and that this narrowness conflicts with the principles that drive applied behavior analytic practice. We offer a definition and framework for EBP that aligns with the foundations of ABA and is consistent with well-established definitions of EBP in medicine, psychology, and other professions. In addition to supporting the systematic use of research evidence in behavior analytic decision making, this definition can promote clear communication about treatment decisions across disciplines and with important outside institutions such as insurance companies and granting agencies.     

machismo,misogyny, and homophobia in a male athletic subculture: a participant-observation study of deviant rituals in collegiate rugby

Sociological literature focusing on athletic subcultures is abundant; however, little exists that specifically addresses the deviant conduct inherent within these enclaves. Save a few select studies, this is especially true of male collegiate rugby in the United States. Collegiate rugby in the United States is considered by many to be an emerging sport; as such, little is known about the deviant conduct, both criminal and non-criminal, that is inherent within the subculture. Utilizing participant and non-participant observation over the course of several years, this study explores the ritualistic deviant conduct within the male collegiate rugby subculture. The behavior is framed in terms of a functional group phenomenon that appears to be largely perpetuated by the notions of homophobia, machismo, and misogyny. Variations of social learning theories are discussed as possible frameworks by which to examine this unique behavior in future analyses.     

Dissociable behavioural outcomes of visual statistical learning

ABSTRACT

Statistical learning refers to the extraction of probabilistic relationships between stimuli and is increasingly used as a method to understand learning processes. However, numerous cognitive processes are sensitive to the statistical relationships between stimuli and any one measure of learning may conflate these processes; to date little research has focused on differentiating these processes. To understand how multiple processes underlie statistical learning, here we compared, within the same study, operational measures of learning from different tasks that may be differentially sensitive to these processes. In Experiment 1, participants were visually exposed to temporal regularities embedded in a stream of shapes. Their task was to periodically detect whether a shape, whose contrast was staircased to a threshold level, was present or absent. Afterwards, they completed a search task, where statistically predictable shapes were found more quickly. We used the search task to label shape pairs as “learned” or “non-learned”, and then used these labels to analyse the detection task. We found a dissociation between learning on the search task and the detection task where only non-learned pairs showed learning effects in the detection task. This finding was replicated in further experiments with recognition memory (Experiment 2) and associative learning tasks (Experiment 3). Taken together, these findings are consistent with the view that statistical learning may comprise a family of processes that can produce dissociable effects on different aspects of behaviour.