On the mechanisms and effects of feedback in group psychotherapy

Group psychotherapists commonly see feedback as one of the primary mechanism that furthers the goals of the group. This paper will summarize the research that has been done on the mechanisms leading members to produce feedback, the factors that induce members to accept feedback (for example, feedback valence and timing), and the effects of feedback on outcome and aspects of group process such as group cohesion. The article will address the practical implications of these findings for the interventions of the group psychotherapist. As will be discussed, the emphasis on the importance of feedback in the interpersonal group psychotherapy literature exceeds the programmatic research that has been done on basic questions. This paper will identify major lines of future investigation that could yield findings critical to the delivery of effective group psychotherapy such as the information processing sequences that underlie feedback delivery and reception.     

心理健康的测量与评估:大学生与成人及住院病人的纵向横向研究

对国内有关大学生心理问题比一般成人更严重的研究结论提出了质疑。使用总量4268人的样本,应用自编的心理健康评定量表(PHS)进行了纵向与横向研究。研究发现,大学生人群与一般成人同期相比,心理问题并非更严重。5项分量表中3项(抑郁、焦虑、躯体化)成人却明显比大学生人群要高,另外两项(强迫和精神病性)二者没有显著差异。但是,10年后的大学生与10年前的大学生在所有分量表上均见非常显著的差异,说明10年的变迁中,大学生的心理问题有非常明显的增长趋势,日见复杂化,虽然不能说比成人更严重,但是也足够引起我们的高度重视。将不同人群样本的数据按心理障碍严重性进行排列,依次是:住院精神障碍患者、成人、大学生。     

Participant loss due to "fussiness" in infant visual paradigms: a review of the last 20 years

One hundred and one published articles that used visual habituation or violation-of-expectation techniques with infants of 12 months or younger were surveyed. Information was compiled on the number of infants who failed to complete experimental procedures due to "fussiness" or other factors. Also noted for each experiment was whether or not infants as a group demonstrated differential responding to the test display. On average 13.7% (range 0-62%) of infants failed to complete these visual procedures as a result of fussiness. There was no correlation between experimental outcome and infant attrition due to fussiness or to any other factor. We thus found no evidence to suggest that differential exclusion rates systematically influence experimental outcomes. However, we urge researchers to provide operational definitions of "fussiness."     

Direction-of-motion discrimination is facilitated by visible motion smear

Recent evidence indicates that motion smear can provide useful information for the detection and discrimination of motion. Further, it has been shown that the perception of motion smear depends critically on the density of dots in a random-dot (RD) stimulus. Therefore, in the present experiments, the contribution of perceived motion smear to direction-of-motion discrimination was evaluated using RD targets of different densities. Thresholds for direction-of-motion discrimination and the extent of perceived motion smear were determined for RD stimuli with densities of 1, 2, and 10 dots/deg(2), presented for 200 msec at a velocity of 4, 8, or 12 deg/sec. To evaluate the contribution of information about orientation from motion smear, thresholds for orientation discrimination were measured using parallel lines with the same length as the extent of perceived smear. Despite the opportunity for increased summation as RD density increases, our results indicate that direction-of-motion discrimination worsens. Because perception of motion smear is reduced with an increase in RD density, our results are consistent with a facilitation of direction-of-motion discrimination by visible motion smear.     

Effort-reward imbalance, overcommitment, and psychological distress in Canadian police officers

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship among Effort, Reward, and Overcommitment dimensions of Siegrist's Effort-Reward Imbalance Model and Psychological Distress in a sample of 78 Canadian police officers. Ages of respondents ranged between 24 and 56 years (M=36.1, SD=8.0). 30% of respondents had been in policing for 16 years or more, 24% between 6 and 15 years, and 44% for 5 years or less. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to evaluate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. After adjusting for age, sex, education, and marital status, higher levels of Effort-Reward Imbalance and Overcommitment were associated with greater Psychological Distress. Present findings support the utility of the model in this particular occupational group and add to the increasing literature suggesting association of Effort-Reward Imbalance, Overcommitment, and reduced mental health.     

Appraisal Underpinnings of Affective Chronometry: The Role of Appraisals in Emotion Habituation

ABSTRACT In light of the lack of studies examining the cognitive components of affective chronometry, this research examined the appraisals associated with emotion habituation, using anger as the emotion of focus. Anger and its appraisals were assessed repeatedly over a day in the participants' naturalistic contexts. The trajectory of decline in anger over time after its first appearance was found to be a function of chronic coping styles. More importantly, the trajectories of anger-related appraisals generally corresponded to that of anger and were also moderated by coping styles in ways consistent with the moderating effects of coping styles on anger. Implications of these results for affective chronometry research and for appraisal research are discussed.     

无意识元认知调控下的策略转换

通过两位数乘法算式答案判别任务研究无意识元认知调控下策略转换的的认知加工特征。整个算式答案判别任务分为两种策略使用情境：一种为只可以使用尾数策略的任务情境;另一种为既可以使用尾数策略,又可以使用奇偶策略的任务情境。实验结果表明：1）无意识元认知具有高选择性、高效性和高潜力,能在策略使用情境转变之后,快速察觉并选择使用更为简单、高效的奇偶策略;2）尾数策略使用的强大思维定势阻止奇偶策略的意识化,致使绝大多数被试未能发现任务情境的变化而在内隐状态下使用了奇偶策略;3）策略在内隐或外显状态下使用具有同等效力,策略内隐使用具有高效性和高潜力。     

Evaluation of the Dispositional Hope Scale in injury survivors

Hope is a higher-order cognitive construct that encompasses the belief in one’s ability to accomplish personal goals. Hope has been conceptualised as consisting of two constructs – Pathways (the individual’s perceived means available to achieve goals) and Agency (belief in ones ability to succeed in using the identified Pathways). This study aimed to validate a measure of hope, the Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS: [Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigman, S. T., et al. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585]) in a large sample of traumatic injury survivors (N = 1025). The findings support the psychometric properties of the scale, as well as the two-factor structure of Agency and Pathways, in this population. This study provides support for the use of the DHS as a measure of hope in traumatised populations.