Professional Identity Development: A Grounded Theory of Transformational Tasks of Counselors

The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to investigate practicing counselors' professional identity development at nodal points during their career. Through the use of 6 focus groups of beginning, experienced, and expert counselors, 26 participants shared their experiences, and 6 themes emerged to form a theory of transformational tasks of professional identity development. Through these tasks, counselors encountered issues of idealism toward realism, burnout toward rejuvenation, and compartmentalization toward congruency.     

The Appearance‐Change Instruction Does Not Improve Line‐up Identification Accuracy

In many jurisdictions, police instruct a witness, before presenting a photo line‐up, that the suspect's appearance may be different in the photo than it was at the time of the crime. The experiments reported here examine the impact of this ‘appearance‐change instruction’ (ACI), exploring its effects with different crimes, perpetrators, line‐ups, and different phrasings of the ACI. The data indicate that the ACI increases witnesses' willingness to make a choice from a line‐up but does not increase accuracy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using Real‐World and Standardized Spatial Imagery Tasks: Convergence,Imagery Realism,and Gender Differences

Can realistic spatial scenarios be used to measure spatial mental imagery? Can people accurately evaluate their spatial imagery? Does gender moderate the relationship between performance on realistic spatial imagery tasks and ratings of imagery realism? Forty‐two female and 31 male undergraduates first rated the realism of their images after reading spatial scenarios based on actual spatial tasks. In phase 2, they solved closely related spatial scenario problems, and then completed the VZ‐2 Paper Folding test. Performance on realistic spatial scenarios predicted performance on the VZ‐2. Men's evaluation of their spatial imagery realism predicted their actual spatial performance, but women's did not. More task experience was positively related to more realistic images and higher scores on the VZ‐2. These results were generally consistent with those found with more artificial stimulus materials, but also demonstrated the importance of considering gender differences in spatial problem strategy and/or rating scale interpretation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personalization in Mother–Child Emotion Talk Across Three Contexts

An unexplored aspect of contextual variation in emotion talk is the extent to which the emotions mothers and children discuss relate to the child, mother, or another self. To establish the extent to which mothers and children personalize the emotions they discuss, we examined the emotion talk of 40 American mother–child dyads in three conversational contexts: reminiscing, book reading, and play. We found that both mothers and children talked about emotions directly relevant to the child mostly in the reminiscing context and about emotions relating to another self mostly in the book context. Interestingly, the discussion of personalized emotions did not significantly differ between the book and play contexts, but did for the independent emotions. The discussion of mothers' own emotions occurred with almost the same frequency in all three contexts. In addition, within‐context analyses revealed that while mothers discussed the child's and their own emotions in the book and play contexts at about the same rate, children focused on their own emotions significantly more than on mothers' emotions in all three contexts. We contextualize the significance of the results in light of intervention programmes and future research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Calming an aggressor through spontaneous post‐conflict triadic contacts: Appeasement in Macaca tonkeana

Peaceful third‐party interventions usually occur after an aggressive encounter and can be directed toward the victim or the aggressor. Macaca tonkeana, a cercopithecine species characterized by high levels of tolerance, frequently engage in consolatory contacts, which both calm the victim and reduce the probability of further attacks against him/her. Other post‐conflict affiliative interventions such as reconciliation and quadratic affiliation are also common in this species. However, little attention has been given to contacts directed toward the aggressor. Here, we explore the role of bystander affiliative interventions toward the aggressor in influencing the affective state of the aggressor and the consequences of triadic interventions at group level. We found that triadic post‐conflict affiliation occurred independently from the intensity of the conflict and that it was more frequent in absence of the conciliatory contact between the opponents (reconciliation). Bystanders showed a higher amount of post‐conflict affiliation toward low ranking aggressors. Post‐conflict triadic affiliation functioned as a tension reduction mechanism by lowering the arousal of the aggressor, which less frequently engaged in renewed aggression. All these findings suggest that post‐conflict triadic contacts in Tonkean macaques can be considered as a strategic mechanism to calm the aggressor and reduce the risk of retaliatory aggression.

     

The Relationship Between Automatic Thoughts and Irrational Beliefs Predicting Anxiety and Depression

Cognitive behavioral approaches differ in their views on core cognitions and their hypothesized role in the etiology of depression and anxiety. The present study provides empirical evidence regarding the relationship between irrational beliefs and components of automatic thoughts and their role in the etiology of depression and anxiety. The present study utilized newer and improved questionnaires to assess components of irrational belief. Based on prior research by Safren et al. (Cogn Ther Res 24(3):327–344, 2000), a three-factor structure of the combined automatic thought questionnaires were utilized to measure components of automatic thoughts as they relate to depression and anxiety. Factor analytical methods were utilized to confirm the factor structure of the irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts components. Advanced path modeling was utilized to model the relationship between irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts in predicting anxiety and depression. The study used a sample of N = 542 undergraduate psychology students during stressful exam times. Results indicated that the irrational belief Demandingness represents a primary factor, followed by the secondary irrational beliefs as proposed by Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory. Selfdowning beliefs were fully mediated by depressive automatic thoughts in the case of depressive affect. Low frustration tolerance contributed unique variance to anxious and depressive affect that was not fully mediated by automatic thoughts. Results from the present study add empirical evidence that irrational beliefs indeed represent core and intermediary beliefs that lead to specific automatic thoughts, which is congruent with cognitive behavioral theory as proposed by Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy.     

Wealth inequality and activism: Perceiving injustice galvanizes social change but perceptions depend on political ideologies

What motivates people to engage in activism against wealth inequality? The simple answer is perceiving injustice. However, the current work demonstrates that these perceptions depend on political ideologies. More specifically, for political liberals who frequently question the fairness of the economic system, messages simply describing the extent of the inequality (distributive injustice) are enough to motivate activism (Study 1). For political conservatives, who are inclined to believe that inequality results from fair procedures, messages must also detail how the system of economic forces is unjust (procedural injustice; Studies 2 and 3). Together, these studies suggest perceiving injustice can galvanize social change, but for conservatives, this means more than simply outlining the extent of the inequality.     

Letting Go: Conceptualizing Intervention De‐implementation in Public Health and Social Service Settings

The discontinuation of interventions that should be stopped, or de‐implementation, has emerged as a novel line of inquiry within dissemination and implementation science. As this area grows in human services research, like public health and social work, theory is needed to help guide scientific endeavors. Given the infancy of de‐implementation, this conceptual narrative provides a definition and criteria for determining if an intervention should be de‐implemented. We identify three criteria for identifying interventions appropriate for de‐implementation: (a) interventions that are not effective or harmful, (b) interventions that are not the most effective or efficient to provide, and (c) interventions that are no longer necessary. Detailed, well‐documented examples illustrate each of the criteria. We describe de‐implementation frameworks, but also demonstrate how other existing implementation frameworks might be applied to de‐implementation research as a supplement. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of de‐implementation in the context of other stages of implementation, like sustainability and adoption; next steps for de‐implementation research, especially identifying interventions appropriate for de‐implementation in a systematic manner; and highlight special ethical considerations to advance the field of de‐implementation research.     

Reducing gender identity bias through imagined intergroup contact

Transgender individuals face high levels of stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and violence. However, there is a paucity of research (particularly experimental work) investigating the magnitude of gender identity bias (GIB) targeting transgender individuals, as well as interventions designed to ameliorate it. To address this gap, we conducted experimental investigations of reactions to identical, highly qualified men or women job applicants described as either transgender or cisgender (Experiments 1a, 1b), and tested the efficacy of an imagined intergroup contact (IIC) intervention (relative to a control condition) in ameliorating GIB against transgender women (Experiment 2). As expected, all applicants were perceived as equally highly competent, adding to the literature suggesting that clearly demonstrating excellent qualifications can prevent biased judgments of candidate competence. However, revealing GIB, transgender men and women were rated as less likeable and hirable than the identical cisgender applicants, despite the fact that they were viewed as equally competent (Experiments 1a, 1b). Providing additional evidence of GIB, in the absence of IIC, participants rated a transgender female applicant as less likeable and hirable than the identical cisgender applicant, and also reported less self‐other overlap and perspective taking for the transgender applicant (Experiment 2). However, these target gender identity differences were reduced (for likeability) or fully eliminated (for the remaining outcomes) in the IIC condition. Put another way, while reactions to the cisgender applicant were unaffected by intervention condition, IIC elevated perceptions of the transgender applicant, suggesting that it may function as an effective GIB intervention.     

Theory of Mind in Infants and Young Children: A Review

Theory of mind, or mindreading, refers to our uniquely human capacity to infer what is in other people's minds. Recent research suggests that “implicit” elements of this ability can be seen as early as the second year of life, in infants’ spontaneous helping, communicative, and eye‐gaze behaviours. More “explicit” verbally mediated mindreading skills emerge in the preschool period, and these are positively linked to social competence. Research with typically developing children as well as those with autism spectrum disorders suggests that exposure to conversation about mental states promotes theory of mind development.