Perceptions of primary family therapy supervisory techniques: A critical incident analysis

This study surveyed a randomly selected group of Approved Supervisors of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (n=275) and their supervisees (n=266) on their perceptions of the primary supervisory technique used in supervisory incidents that had a positive effect on supervisee development. Individual case consultation was the technique most often identified by both supervisors and supervisees.This study was funded in part by grants from the Research Committee of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy; the Agricultural Experiment Station, Purdue University; and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Purdue University Calumet.     

Attribution and expressed emotion in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia.

Indexes of expressed emotion (EE) in 58 relatives of patients with schizophrenia were related to those relatives' spontaneously expressed causal beliefs about the illness and about related symptoms and behaviors. Relatives made attributions predominantly to factors external, universal, and uncontrollable from their own perspective, and to factors internal, universal, and uncontrollable from the patient's perspective. Low-EE relatives were similar in their attributions to emotionally overinvolved relatives. Compared with these two groups, critical and/or hostile relatives made more attributions to factors personal to and controllable by the patient. Subsequent analyses suggested that hostile relatives were further characterized by making more attributions to factors internal to the patient and by making attributions with fewer causal elements.     

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Family Rules From the Past Questionnaire

This study describes an initial psychometric evaluation of a new 15–item self-report instrument, the Family Rules from the Past questionnaire (FRP), which measures perceived dysfunctional rules from the past. Reliability and validity tests were conducted including a factor analysis to determine the underlying dimensions of the FRP. A sample of 943 young adults completed the FRP, a demographic questionnaire, and measures of family health and competence, alcoholism in the family, and social desirability. Results showed support for internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, construct validity, concurrent validity, and criterion-related validity for the FRP. Individuals from dysfunctional families and adult children of alcoholics scored significantly higher on the FRP than individuals from more functional families. Implications for the uses of the FRP in individual, couple, and family therapy are discussed.     

The confounded nature of angry men and happy women

Findings of 7 studies suggested that decisions about the sex of a face and the emotional expressions of anger or happiness are not independent: Participants were faster and more accurate at detecting angry expressions on male faces and at detecting happy expressions on female faces. These findings were robust across different stimulus sets and judgment tasks and indicated bottom-up perceptual processes rather than just top-down conceptually driven ones. Results from additional studies in which neutrally expressive faces were used suggested that the connections between masculine features and angry expressions and between feminine features and happy expressions might be a property of the sexual dimorphism of the face itself and not merely a result of gender stereotypes biasing the perception.     

Psychiatry and Psychology in the Writings of L. Ron Hubbard

Objectives: Celebrity followers of the Church of Scientology have recently used their public forum to attack the modern practice of mental health. The practice of Scientology is rooted in the religious writings of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This paper will review the religious writings of L Ron Hubbard to understand Scientology’s position on mental health. Method: This paper reviews four of the major religious books written by L Ron Hubbard, in addition to a comprehensive overview of Scientology compiled by Scientology staff. Results: Hubbard’s theory of mind borrowed heavily from the earlier writings of Freud, until Hubbard’s psychological theory extended to include a spiritual existence that goes beyond the material world. The goal of Hubbard’s psychology and religion were to optimize the freedom of the individual, and he viewed psychiatry and psychology as inherently anti-spiritual and opposed to personal freedom and self-realization. Ultimately Hubbard presents a world view of potential nuclear world cataclysm, fueled by the geopolitical climate and mental health theories that dominated the mid 20th century. Conclusions: Hubbard’s writings mirrored the times in which he lived. His views that mental health practices are inherently anti-religious, freedom-inhibiting, and brain damaging do not reflect the modern-day practices of mental health. Dr. McCall is presently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He completed his medical degree and post-graduate psychiatric training at Duke University. He completed a Masters degree in Epidemiology from Wake Forest University. He is board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and sleep disorders medicine. His research interests include depression, electroconvulsive therapy, quality of life, and insomnia. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Mental Health since 1995, and he is author of more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is Editor of the Journal of ECT, Immediate-Past President of the Association for Convulsive Therapy, and a prior Director of the Board of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.     

Reversing presentation order of semantically related words reverses memory

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, words (e.g., sour, candy, sugar,…) related to one critical word (e.g., sweet) typically are encoded in descending order of their association with the critical word. When recognition is tested, memory is greater for related words than for critical words, as predicted by extant memory models. Surprisingly, however, memory is not greater for unrelated words (presented in other encoding lists) than for related words, in contrast with predictions from these same models. In two experiments, we tested whether intralist presentation order is responsible for the unexplained results. Word lists were studied in standard or reversed order (ascending order of association to critical words). Subsequent recognition for related words was high when lists were presented in the standard order but very low when lists were presented in reverse. Results indicate that presentation order affects related-word false alarms, providing important new constraints for memory models.     

Children's Repetition Choices in an Intellectual Achievement Situation following Success and Failure

(Ausubel, David P. Theory and Problems of Adolescent Development. New York: Grune &; Stratton, 1954. Pp. 580.) Reviewed By W. Drayton Lewis.     

The Survey of Achievement Responsibility (SOAR): Reliability and Validity Data on an Academic Attribution Scale

The Survey of Achievement Responsibility (SOAR) was designed to assess students' causal attributions of success and failure in school-related situations. Unlike other measures of locus of control and attributions, the SOAR simultaneously distinguishes among three broad subject areas—math/science, language arts/ social studies, and physical education-and between two possible outcomes—success and failure. Data on the psychometric characteristics of the SOAR came from two samples from each of two large school districts, one suburban and one metropolitan. A five-stage study of the psychometric qualities of this new instrument revealed: (a) Content validity is high—judges independently classified items into the attribution categories intended by the authors; (b) internal consistency reliabilities are in a range adequate for group research purposes and are comparable to the reliabilities of other measures of attributions; (c) test-retest reliabilities showed attribution profiles to be stable over a 2-month interval; (d) correlations between the SOAR scales and students' self-reports of ability in various subject areas showed differential relationship in the theoretically predicted directions; and (e) correlations between the SOAR scales and achievement tests were statistically significant, though low in magnitude, consistent with reports on other instruments. Finally, use of the SOAR in a spectrum of studies has demonstrated its research utility and indicated directions for further instrument development and research.     

Exploring the association between the 2-repeat allele of the MAOA gene promoter polymorphism and psychopathic personality traits,arrests, incarceration,and lifetime antisocial behavior

A line of research has revealed that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA gene is related to antisocial phenotypes. Most of these studies examine the effects of low MAOA activity alleles (2-repeat and 3-repeat alleles) against the effects of high MAOA activity alleles (3.5-repeat, 4-repeat, and sometimes 5-repeat alleles), with research indicating that the low MAOA activity alleles confer an increased risk to antisocial phenotypes. The current study examined whether the 2-repeat allele, which has been shown to be functionally different from the 3-repeat allele, was associated with a range of antisocial phenotypes in a sample of males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analyses revealed that African-American males who carried the 2-repeat allele were, in comparison with other African-American male genotypes, significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated. Additional analyses revealed that African-American male carriers of the 2-repeat allele scored significantly higher on an antisocial phenotype index and on measures assessing involvement in violent behaviors over the life course. There was not any association between the 2-repeat allele and a continuously measured psychopathic personality traits scale. The effects of the 2-repeat allele could not be examined in Caucasian males because only 0.1% carried it.     

Kelly and the concept of developmental stages

Abstract

Although personal construct theory (PCT; Kelly, 1955) shares with developmental-stage theories an emphasis on process and qualitative change, the concept of developmental stages is incompatible with PCT in several ways. Building on biological analogies of maturation and evolution, developmental-stage theories posit an inevitability of content or structure in the occurrence of stages and a directionality of the developmental process toward extraspective (as opposed to introspective) definitions of psychological maturity. PCT, in contrast, lacks these features of inevitability and directionality. Kelly intended an introspective view of development based on personal choice, conceived in psychological rather than biological terms. Implications of the Choice, Fragmentation, Commonality, Dichotomy, Modulation, and Experience Corollaries for the concept of stages are discussed. Kelly's PCT is compared with the theories of Piaget, Kegan, and Erikson to illustrate these points.