Sensitivity analysis with interdependent criteria for multicriteria decision making: The case of soil pollution treatment

This paper is focused on interdependences between criteria in multicriteria decision analyses. Such interdependences are usually ignored in sensitivity analyses. After a discussion on the nature of interdependences, methods are presented to deal with interdependences in the context of Monte Carlo experiments. These methods are applied in the context of soil pollution treatment alternatives. It is shown that ignoring interdependences may have a distorting effect on the results of sensitivity analysis on rankings of alternatives.     

The Self As a Complex Adaptive System Part II: Levels of Analysis and the Position of the Observer

This article continues the project begun in the previous article titled: “The Self as a Complex Adaptive System. Part I: Complexity, Metapsychology, and Developmental Theories” (Palombo, 2013). Using systems theory and a complexity perspective, that article provided a critique of psychoanalytic developmental theories. This contribution addresses some of the methodological issues related to data collection on development and the effects of the observer on the observed. It introduces the Level of Analysis perspective as a heuristic that permits the use of a complexity view applicable to the construct of the self as a complex adaptive system. It proposes three levels, each of which is associated with a platform from which phenomena are observed, a neuropsychological level (L-1), an introspective level (L-2), and an interpersonal level (L-3). The article concludes with a plea for a unifying psychoanalytic paradigm that brings together the data from these three levels and that would lay the groundwork for a clinical theory that would bring together the major existing psychoanalytic theories.     

A Dyadic Analysis of the Between‐ and Within‐System Alliances on Distress

To read this article's abstract in both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, please visit the article's full‐text page on Wiley InterScience ( http://interscience.wiley.com/journal/famp ). This study examines the relationship between the therapeutic alliance and distress using the couple rather than the individual as the unit of analysis. One hundred and seventy‐three couples receiving treatment for relational distress at two university clinics participated in this study. The actor–partner interdependence model was used to analyze the relationship of each partner's between‐ and within‐system alliance scores and distress at session four. Results provide support for actor effects on relational distress for both male and female partners and for actor effects on psychological distress for female partners. Limited support was found for partner effects on distress. Furthermore, results indicate that the alliance between partners is a stronger predictor of improvement in early sessions in comparison with the alliance between the individual and the therapist.     

Body Psychotherapy with Couples

SUMMARY

Bodynamic Analysis combines depth cognitive psychotherapy and an emphasis on relationship with an understanding of the body based on an empirical study of the psychological function of each muscle. The resulting developmental understanding has been elaborated in the form of Seven Developmental Stages, each having specific themes and issues. These themes and issues are often found to be at the core of the conflictual dynamics presented by couples who are seeking therapy. Thus, while addressing the issues of one person, we can simultaneously be eliciting and working with the interpersonal dynamics of the couple.     

“I’ve got you under my skin”: Relational therapists’ experiences of patients who occupy their inner world

The aim of this study was to conduct an in-depth exploration of therapists’ experiences of patients who affect them more than others and occupy their inner world beyond the context of therapy sessions. A phenomenological analysis was performed on semi-structured interviews with five relational therapists. All the therapists had a strong experience of a particular patient getting “under their skin.” In all these cases, the patient was a traumatized woman. The distinctive characteristic of the phenomenon was a sense of blurred or too permeable boundaries between the therapist and the patient. This was associated with fear and anxiety, but also with feelings of love. The therapists’ reactions to having a patient “under their skin” varied from resistance to symbiotic relatedness. The therapists’ ideas of their professional role influenced how the experience of carrying the patient’s suffering was interpreted. The phenomenon of the patient’s presence in the therapist’s representational world might be interpreted as a distinct countertransference phenomenon when working in a more “thin boundary” manner with particular cases. The therapists’ ability to effectively manage their vulnerabilities, activated in the countertransference, seems to be crucial for therapeutic progress. Implications for research, clinical practice, and training are discussed.     

Dimensions of interpersonal orientation: Cross-cultural studies regarding the structure of the ‘DOI Kit’

The DOI Kit is a four-version instrument (Junior Self and Other-Report, and Adult Self-and Other-Report) developed in Spain to measure ‘Dimensions of Interpersonal Orientation’ (Spanish: ‘Dimensiones de Orientación Interpersonal’ or DOI), which are defined as prevalent postures in interpersonal behaviour. The DOI Kit has six first-level scales that collapse into two broad oblique dimensions: Prosocial versus Antisocial Behaviour, and Sociability versus Unsociability.The aim of this article is to find out whether the first- and second-level structure of the Spanish DOI Kit can also be applied to data gathered in Chile and in Germany. A total of eight groups of data were studied. In order to find the best common structure for Spanish, Chilean, and German samples, Simultaneous Component Analysis (SCA) was applied. SCA shows an excellent replication of the original DOI Kit structure. This is also found when separate factor analyses (varimax and oblimin rotations) are performed.     

Transformative Learning: A Case for Using Grounded Theory as an Assessment Analytic

Transformative Learning Theory and pedagogies leverage disruptive experiences as catalysts for learning and teaching. By facilitating processes of critical analysis and reflection that challenge assumptions, transformative learning reframes what counts as knowledge and the sources and processes for gaining and producing it. Students develop a broader range of perspectives on and entry points for learning and behavior change engaging cognition, embodiment, aesthetics, emotions, and ethics (see Mezirow 1991 and Figures 1 and 2). The open‐inquiry, multi‐modal nature of transformative learning defies most traditional assessment strategies. This article demonstrates that grounded theory offers the rigorous qualitative analysis needed to document and track transformative learning outcomes in practice. By applying a grounded theory approach to data from over eighty student portfolios across several iterations of a Religion and Ecology course at Emory University, this article demonstrates a successful and replicable assessment of transformative learning pedagogies.     

Analysis and meta-analysis of single-case designs with a standardized mean difference statistic: A primer and applications

This article presents a d-statistic for single-case designs that is in the same metric as the d-statistic used in between-subjects designs such as randomized experiments and offers some reasons why such a statistic would be useful in SCD research. The d has a formal statistical development, is accompanied by appropriate power analyses, and can be estimated using user-friendly SPSS macros. We discuss both advantages and disadvantages of d compared to other approaches such as previous d-statistics, overlap statistics, and multilevel modeling. It requires at least three cases for computation and assumes normally distributed outcomes and stationarity, assumptions that are discussed in some detail. We also show how to test these assumptions. The core of the article then demonstrates in depth how to compute d for one study, including estimation of the autocorrelation and the ratio of between case variance to total variance (between case plus within case variance), how to compute power using a macro, and how to use the d to conduct a meta-analysis of studies using single-case designs in the free program R, including syntax in an appendix. This syntax includes how to read data, compute fixed and random effect average effect sizes, prepare a forest plot and a cumulative meta-analysis, estimate various influence statistics to identify studies contributing to heterogeneity and effect size, and do various kinds of publication bias analyses. This d may prove useful for both the analysis and meta-analysis of data from SCDs.