Clinical Supervision of Couple and Family Therapy during COVID-19

This paper addresses the need for a swift transition from in-person clinical supervision to telesupervision during the time of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Five specific areas will be discussed in the effort to enhance the quality of clinical supervision provided to couple and family therapists in training at this time including the following: (1) COVID-19 and the structural changes and technological adaptation of supervision; (2) culturally and contextually sensitive guidelines for clinical supervision during COVID-19; (3) the supervisee’s competence and the clinical supervisory process; (4) the new set of boundaries and the supervisory role; (5) and the supervisory alliance and supervisees’ vulnerabilities in the face of COVID-19.     

Moderating Loss Aversion: Loss Aversion Has Moderators,But Reports of its Death are Greatly Exaggerated

Loss aversion, the principle that losses impact decision making more than equivalent gains, is a fundamental idea in consumer behavior and decision making, though its existence has recently been called into question. Across five unique samples (N_total = 17,720), we tested several moderators of loss aversion, which supported a preference construction account. Across studies, more domain knowledge and experience were associated with lower loss aversion, though people of all knowledge and experience levels were loss averse. Among car buyers, those who knew more about a particular car attribute (e.g., fuel economy) were less loss averse for that attribute but not other attributes (e.g., comfort), consistent with the idea that people with less attribute knowledge are more likely to construct preferences, thereby increasing loss aversion. Additionally, older consumers were more loss averse across different loss aversion measures and studies. We discuss implications for several accounts of loss aversion, including accounts rooted in status quo bias, emotion, or ownership. In addition to discovering loss aversion moderators, we cast doubt on recent claims that loss aversion is a fallacy or is fully explained by status quo bias, risk aversion, or the educated laboratory samples often used to study loss aversion.     

Human factors evaluation of an in-vehicle active traffic and demand management (ATDM) system

This research study focused on the evaluation of an emulated in-vehicle Active Traffic and Demand Management (ATDM) system on Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia. Traditional ATDM systems rely on infrastructure-mounted variable message signs (VMS) to provide information (speed limits, lane availability, etc.) to the traveling public. By providing information about dynamic roadway conditions on an in-vehicle device, the ATDM may improve driving safety and performance by allowing drivers to remain consistently aware of forthcoming traffic conditions and roadway requirements; even when external signage is inaccessible. This study represents an initial investigation of an emulated in-vehicle ATDM to provide developers with design guidance and ensure that unintended consequences, such as distraction, do not undermine the potential benefits.Twenty younger and 20 older participants, accompanied by a member of the research team, experienced the following ATDM features on an in-vehicle device (IVD) mounted to the dashboard: (1) dynamic speed limits, (2) dynamic lane use/shoulder control, (3) High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) restrictions, and (4) roadway information from variable message signs. The IVD was equipped with auditory and visual alerts notifying the driver when relevant visual information was updated. Research questions addressed distraction and driver behavior associated with use of the system. Qualitative and quantitative participant data was acquired from the instrumented vehicle, various questionnaires, and researcher observation.Several key findings were uncovered: (1) The IVD, as tested, did not warrant classification as a source of distraction according to the NHTSA guidelines; v2) There was a significant difference in eye-glance durations to the IVD when comparing the VMS alerts to both the speed limit and lane management alerts; and (3) The speed limit alert motivated participants to alter their speed (per survey results and participant speed data).     

Environnement psycho-technologique (EPT) et comportements d’apprentissage avec les technologies (CAT) : developpement et adaptation française de deux mesures

The 4th industrial revolution and the omnipresence of technologies have largely modified the work context and more specifically the learning process. We postulate the emergence of a new psycho-technological environment, which is characterized by more opportunities to learn and more accessible technologies. To our knowledge, no measurement can capture the perception of psycho-technological environment (PTE) and learning behaviors with technologies (LBT). The aim of this study is therefore to compensate for this lack of tools with the development of French-language. Two studies that combine 389 students were conducted. In the first study, based on a sample of 151 students, two scales were developed via an explanatory factorial analysis. In the second study, based on a sample of 238 students, a confirmatory factorial analysis confirmed the psychometric qualities of our scales. This first validation study shows good validity and fiability with the good psychometric qualities of our scales.     

The prospects for a Jungian psychology in China

The possibility of a Jungian psychology developing in China is considered by a brief historical excursion through the early translations of psychoanalytical works. Translation problems and the contentious nature of some of Freud's ideas have made for their difficult reception in China. The inattention to Jung's ideas in universities in the west in the past, and a reliance on science based subjects by Chinese students studying abroad, have meant little opportunity to study Jung, and, by implication, to translate him. The turbulent political climate in China over the course of the past century has also hindered developments in psychology generally. In addition, certain traditional practices of understanding mind-body relationships and reporting 'illnesses' have precluded the possibility of any psychotherapeutic psychology emerging. However, the present climate looks more favourable for the dissemination of Jungian knowledge, but the question of an appropriate context and a receptive readership remains. Certain Jungian notions can be seen to fit comfortably within traditional systems of Chinese thought but the present day psychology department in China is no more a congenial environment for Jungian psychology than its counterpart in the west. It may be that the success of importing Jungian ideas into China rests with those with a predilection towards arts and cultural sciences, and with the innovations of the organizers of conferences.     

Synchronicity and the I Ching: Jung, Pauli, and the Chinese woman

The capacity of the human mind to discover and invent both imagistic analogies and mathematical structures to represent reality is strikingly juxtaposed in the ancient Chinese text of the I Ching. Its emphasis on containing all sorts of opposites and its plastic appeal to multi-valenced experience has kept it alive through millennia and across cultures. Jung was introduced to its Taoist wisdom by the Sinologist Richard Wilhelm. The Nobel Laureate quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli became familiar with its philosophy and mathematics through his reading of Schopenhauer and Leibniz. In their correspondence about the nature of the unconscious and synchronicity, Pauli and Jung also exchanged their musings on Pauli's dreams of a Chinese woman, her role in his psyche and his scientific theories(1).     

A secret agent? How infants learn about the identity of objects in a causal scene

Four experiments examined the role of correlations between dynamic and static parts on 12- to 16-month-olds' ability to learn the identity of agents and recipients in a simple causal event. Infants were habituated to events in which objects with a dynamic or static part acted as an agent or a recipient and then were tested with an event in which the part-causal role relations were switched. Experiment 1 revealed that 16-month-olds, but not 12-month-olds, associate a dynamic part with the role of agent and a static part with the role of recipient. Experiment 2 showed that 12- and 16-month-olds do not associate a static part with the role of agent or a dynamic part with the role of recipient. Experiment 3 demonstrated that 14-month-olds will learn the relations presented in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. Experiment 4 revealed that 12-month-olds were able to discriminate the two geometric figures in the events. The results are discussed with respect to infants' developing ability to attend to correlations between dynamic and static cues and the mechanism underlying early object concept acquisition.     

Single unit activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during Pavlovian heart rate conditioning: Effects of peripheral autonomic blockade

Electrical activity was recorded from single neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex of rabbits during differential Pavlovian heart rate (HR) conditioning. A heterogeneous population of cells were found, some of which showed CS-evoked increases and others CS-evoked decreases in discharge, while some cells were biphasic. A subset of cells also showed trial-related changes in discharge that were related to acquisition of the HR discrimination between the reinforced CS+ and non-reinforced CS-. Administration of the peripheral cholinergic antagonist, methylscopolamine, and the andrenergic antagonist, atenolol, either increased or decreased maintained baseline activity of many cells, but had little or no effect on the CS-evoked activity of these cells. Waveform changes also did not result from administration of these drugs. This finding suggests that CS-evoked mPFC activity is not being driven by cardiac afferent input to CNS cardiac control centers. Previous studies have shown that ibotenic acid lesions of this area greatly decreases the magnitude of decelerative heart rate conditioned responses; the latter finding, plus the results of the present study, suggest that processing of CS/US contingencies by the prefrontal cortex contributes to the acquisition of autonomic changes during Pavlovian conditioning.     

Strategy choices in simple and complex addition: Contributions of working memory and counting knowledge for children with mathematical disability

Groups of first-grade (mean age = 82 months), third-grade (mean age = 107 months), and fifth-grade (mean age = 131 months) children with a learning disability in mathematics (MD, n = 58) and their normally achieving peers (n = 91) were administered tasks that assessed their knowledge of counting principles, working memory, and the strategies used to solve simple (4+3) and complex (16+8) addition problems. In all grades, the children with MD showed a working memory deficit, and in first grade, the children with MD used less sophisticated strategies and committed more errors while solving simple and complex addition problems. The group differences in strategy usage and accuracy were related, in part, to the group difference in working memory and to group and individual differences in counting knowledge. Across grade-level and group, the switch from simple to complex addition problems resulted in a shift in the mix of problem-solving strategies. Individual differences in the strategy mix and in the strategy shift were related, in part, to individual differences in working memory capacity and counting knowledge.     

The Decades of Life: Relocating Erikson's Stages

Erik H. Erikson's life cycle schema consists of eight stages. Three are located in infancy and early childhood (ages 1–5), one in childhood (5–12), one in adolescence, and three in adulthood. This essay proposes a relocation of the stages in terms of decades. The eight psychosocial crises in Erikson's model are retained, but each crisis and its resolution is the central theme of a decade of life. This relocation of Erikson's stages orients the life cycle schema more toward adulthood than to early childhood, as six of the stages now occur in the adult years. It also reflects Erikson's theoretical shift in emphasis from the ego to the sense of I in his later writings. A proposal for how the ninth and tenth decades fit into the schema is also offered.