Counseling in Australia: Past,Present, and Future

The author describes the evolution of the counseling profession in Australia within the broader historic and sociocultural context. The process of professionalization is outlined, particularly over the past 15 years, and data on the demographic, professional, and practice characteristics of counselors are reviewed. Future professional directions and challenges are explored.     

Visual field asymmetry in attentional capture

The present study examined the spatial distribution of involuntary attentional capture over the two visual hemi-fields. A new experiment, and an analysis of three previous experiments showed that distractors in the left visual field that matched a sought-for target in color produced a much larger capture effect than identical distractors in the right visual field, revealing a visual field asymmetry in color-based contingent capture. On the other hand, abrupt onsets in the two hemi-fields did not differ in the magnitude of their capture effect, indicating a symmetric distribution of onset capture. The different spatial patterns for contingent capture and onset capture reveal differences between the two types of attentional capture, possibly indicating differences in the underlying brain mechanisms.     

Does the form of employment make a difference?—Commitment of traditional, temporary, and self-employed workers

Increasing change in the labor market has produced new forms of employment. A growing number of people have temporary jobs or are self-employed freelancers. The aim of our study is to address these changes by introducing commitment to the form of employment as a new focus in commitment. In addition, we compare organizational commitment under conditions of these forms of employment to traditional form of employment. The study is based on several samples representing conventional and new forms of employment (overall N = 494). The results indicate that commitment to the form of employment explains variance of organizational outcomes over and above organizational commitment. Generally, commitment to the form of employment reflects an important attitude to the work situation besides commitment to the organization or occupation. The results are discussed in the light of labor market trends.     

Using words instead of jumbled characters as stimuli in keyboard training facilitates fluent performance

Keyboarding skill is an important target for adult education programs due to the ubiquity of computers in modern work environments. A previous study showed that novice typists learned key locations quickly but that fluency took a relatively long time to develop. In the present study, novice typists achieved fluent performance in nearly half the time when words rather than jumbled characters were used as stimuli. This suggests that using real words in the keyboarding program can enhance the efficiency of training.     

Decreased load on general motor preparation and visual-working memory while preparing familiar as compared to unfamiliar movement sequences

Learning movement sequences is thought to develop from an initial controlled attentive phase to a more automatic inattentive phase. Furthermore, execution of sequences becomes faster with practice, which may result from changes at a general motor processing level rather than at an effector specific motor processing level. In the current study, we examined whether these changes are already present during preparation. Fixed series of six keypresses, either familiar or unfamiliar, had to be prepared and executed/withheld after a go/nogo signal. Reaction time results confirmed that familiar sequences were executed faster than unfamiliar sequences. Results derived from the electroencephalogram showed a decreased demand on general motor preparation and visual-working memory before familiar sequences as compared to unfamiliar sequences. We propose that with familiar sequences the presetting segments of responses is less demanding than with unfamiliar sequences, as familiar sequences can be regarded as less complex than unfamiliar sequences. Finally, the decreasing demand on visual-working memory before familiar sequences suggests that sequence learning indeed develops from an attentive to an automatic phase.     

Active and passive maladaptive behaviour patterns mediate the relationship between contingent self-esteem and health

People with an impoverished basic self-acceptance are compelled to seek external reassurances of their own value and to cope with the threats and challenges of social life by different compensatory behaviours. The present study examines the links between competence based self-esteem (CBSE) and relation based self-esteem (RBSE) (Johnson &; Blom, 2007), active and passive maladaptive socio-behavioural styles and health status. The active style was indicated by hostile perfectionistic strivings whereas the passive style was indicated by avoidance and emotion suppression. In a cross-sectional design 284 Swedish adults completed personality and health questionnaires. The results showed that CBSE is a stronger predictor of poor physical health than RBSE and that the relation is primarily mediated by an active “toxic” style, whereas the role of RBSE for health appears purely indirect, mediated by a passive repressive style. An additional finding was that the two types of contingent SE and socio-behavioural styles were associated with different kinds of health problems.     

Bringing (Contingent) Loss Aversion Down to Earth — A Comment on Gal & Rucker's Rejection of “Losses Loom Larger Than Gains”

Although we disagree with some of Gal and Rucker's (2018 – this issue) specific evidence and with their overstated conclusion regarding loss aversion, their overarching message makes a worthwhile contribution. In particular, loss aversion is less robust and universal than has been assumed while its most prominent empirical support — the endowment effect and the status quo bias — is susceptible to multiple alternative explanations. Instead of accepting loss aversion as true unless proven otherwise, we should treat it like other decision properties and psychological accounts that are contingent on various moderators and call for an analysis of psychological mechanisms. In this commentary, we suggest that gatekeepers, such as reviewers, tend to favor loss aversion and other widely accepted tendencies, while demanding a much higher support‐threshold for alternative or newer accounts. Although building on prior theories and concepts is of course important, the bias in favor of incumbent assumptions can impede scientific progress, bar new ideas from the literature, and reinforce well‐established but contingent notions that may apply under some conditions but not others.     

Response speed, contingent negative variation and P300 in Alzheimer’s disease and MCI

Background

Decreased speed of information processing is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Recent studies suggest that response speed (RS) measures are very sensitive indicators of changes in longitudinal follow-up studies. Insight into the psycho-physiological underpinnings of slowed RS can be provided by measuring the associated event-related potentials (ERP).

Aims

The current study aims to investigate the relation between RS and its psycho-physiological correlates in AD and MCI.

Methods

Fifteen psychoactive drug-naïve AD patients, 20 MCI patients and twenty age-matched, healthy control subjects participated. Response speed was measured during a simple (SRT) and choice reaction time task (CRT). An oddball and contingent negative variation (CNV) paradigm were used to elicit ERP. To evaluate test-retest reliability (TRR), subjects underwent a similar assessment one week after the first.

Results

The SRT and CRT distinguished the patient groups significantly. The P300 amplitude and latency also distinguished the groups and showed a significant correlation with response speed. The CNV amplitude did not reveal a significant difference between groups and also showed a low TRR.The TRR of the SRT, CRT and P300 amplitude and latency in general was moderate to high.The current study suggests that response speed measures on a behavioural and psycho-physiological level deserve attention as a possible marker in the diagnosis and follow-up of AD.     

The Australian Psychology Workforce 2: A national profile of psychologists' education,training, specialist qualifications and continuous professional development

Objective data on the training profiles of Australian psychologists is scarce, despite important reforms across the higher education sector. This study aimed to profile Australian psychological training leading to registration. Universities, Registration Boards and registrants were profiled during 2008. Results revealed that there were 1063 postgraduate places a year across 34 university postgraduate training programs, with two thirds of places in clinical psychology. However, half of psychologists do not undertake postgraduate training, but undertake four years of university psychology followed by a 2 year internship (4+2) to make up the minimum standard for registration of 6 years training. Those with over 6 years of university training tended to work more in clinical, university or specialised areas of practice, whereas those with 4+2 were more likely to work in schools and general counselling. One quarter of psychologists are College members and 13% have doctoral qualifications. Analysis revealed a workforce that is actively engaged in ongoing professional development, supervision and further training. The profession has grown steadily in size by 6.24% per annum over the past 8 years and this presents a challenge for increasing the supply of postgraduate training places.     

Contingent on contingencies: Connections between anger rumination,self-esteem,and aggression

Mixed findings have engendered debate regarding the relationship between self-esteem and aggression. The present study tested the hypothesis that the contingency of perceived self-worth on external factors (i.e., contingent self-esteem) predicts aggression, particularly reactive, over and above global self-esteem, and that anger rumination exacerbates this relationship. The potential moderating role of gender was also considered. Regression analyses on a sample of 729 undergraduates revealed that contingent self-esteem interacts with both anger rumination and gender to predict reactive aggression. In combination with observations for proactive aggression, results of the present study suggest that the variation in previous findings may be at least partly explained by failure to account for the influences of self-esteem contingency, gender, and functional subtypes of aggression.