Exploring client contribution in a cognitive intervention for test anxiety

Aim: To study client contributions in cognitive therapy. Specifically, to study ways of making an intervention against test anxiety work, based on interviews with 32 test‐anxious university students. Method: Interviews after their first examination following the intervention were analysed using a thematic analysis. Results: Although most participants reacted positively to the intervention, concerns emerged that adopting positive self‐statements might be deceptive. Concerns about the untruthfulness of positive self‐statements led clients to generate several possible resolutions, namely, to examine flaws in negative self‐statements, to realise that there is more than one realistic way to construe things, to consider the evidence in the form of reduced anxiety, to consider manageable steps, and to seek interpersonal validation of positive self‐statements. Conclusions: The results offer concrete resolutions developed by clients that might be useful for other clients who have reservations about positive self‐statements.     

Why Durkheim really thought that Buddhism was a ‘religion’ (in memoriam Massimo Rosati)

ABSTRACT

In The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, and in ‘On the Definition of Religious Phenomena,' Durkheim famously asserted both that Buddhism was a ‘religion' and an ‘atheistic' one at that. Why he did so is a problem long-considered settled. Of two possible answers, one is commonplace, while the other is uncommon and consequential. I shall attempt to explicate Durkheim's uncommon and far- reaching, but overlooked, reasons for declaring atheistic Buddhism a ‘religion.' This essay concurs with Martin Southwold that Durkheim believed – wrongly – that religion was ‘monothetic' class, when, in fact, it was ‘polythetic.' In order to admit Buddhism as a ‘religion,' Durkheim discovered that he had to apply different criteria for defining Buddhism as ‘religion’ than to theistic religions. Buddhism did not radiate dynamogenic force or induce a sense of existential dependence. Buddhism was a religion because it was an agent in making a meaningful life.     

国家公务员录用面试初步研究

本文结合湖北省公务员考试的实践对公务员录用面试进行了初步研究。本研究从参与 1 997年湖北省省直公务员考试的 3 9个部门中抽取了 8个部门共 1 5 3名被试的面试数据 ,分析表明 ,在本研究所采用的结构化面试中 ,测评要素间具有较高的一致性 ,经过严格培训的考官的评分者信度是可靠和有效的。本研究还对如何设计、实施此类面试提出了有益的建议。     

One-year test–retest reliability of the Maryland Resource for the Behavioral Utilization of the Reinforcement of Negative Stimuli (MRBURNS)

The Maryland Resource for the Behavioral Utilization of the Reinforcement of Negative Stimuli (MRBURNS) is a novel behavioral task designed to measure individual differences in negative reinforcement-based risk taking propensity. Performance on the MRBURNS has been linked with alcohol-related problems and negative reinforcement-based drinking motives, as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression; however, it is unclear if performance on the task represents a stable measure of negative reinforcement-based risk taking over time. As such, the current study aimed to examine the test–retest reliability of the MRBURNS over a period of one year. Results indicate that the correlation between year 1 and year 2 risk behavior (average number of pumps) on the MRBURNS was .43 across all trials. With the one year test–retest reliability of the MRBURNS established, the MRBURNS may be a useful approach to measuring the relative contribution of negative reinforcement-based risk taking in the development of risky behaviors over time, and may be used to monitor the effects of novel interventions that aim to reduce negative reinforcement based risk taking in the real world.     

BRIEF REPORT Forgetting “murder” is not harder than forgetting “circle”: Listwise-directed forgetting of emotional words

The list-method directed forgetting (DF) paradigm has attracted the attention of clinical psychologists because it is widely believed that a retrieval inhibition mechanism underlies its effects. Thus, the idea is that people are capable of intentionally forgetting negative emotional material. On the other hand, there are reasons to believe that negative stimuli are relatively resistant to forgetting. The present experiment compared listwise DF of emotional and neutral words in healthy college students. A modified procedure (i.e., a simulated computer crash) showed a reliable DF-effect in that list 1 recall was larger under remember than forget instructions whereas the reverse was true for list 2 recall. Emotionality did not modulate the magnitude of this effect. Thus, negative emotional material is not resistant to forgetting. Although overall, the present findings are in line with a retrieval inhibition interpretation (i.e., decreased access to list 1 material), attentional focusing during list 2 learning may provide a sufficient explanation.