Diaries of significant events: socio-linguistic correlates of therapeutic outcomes in patients with addiction problems

The principles of narrative therapy imply that autobiographical diaries written by patients in treatment will not only facilitate but also elucidate progress. The relationship between the linguistic content of diaries and progress in treatment was examined in this study. Complete sets of daily diaries of ‘significant events’ written by 16 patients receiving treatment for drug, alcohol and food addictions at a residential centre, using the 12-step approach of the Anonymous fellowships, were typed up for analysis. Three forms of socio-linguistic enquiry were employed: narrative characterization; evaluative statement coding and computer analysis of word strategies. Results indicated that success in treatment as rated by counselling and psychiatric staff was associated with the following characteristics of diary narratives. They are (a) focused on individual progress, whether adopting a ‘positive interpretative’ or ‘negative reactive’ style; (b) less critical of self over time and more positive about others external to the treatment centre; (c) both positive about the treatment programme and critical of self; (d) using words indicative of ‘insight’ and ‘negativity’ as assessed by Pennebaker's LIWC programme. It is concluded that autobiographical material can usefully be employed to assess progress in treatment, and that its intrinsic value in effecting change should be further explored. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Look-ahead content balancing method in variable-length computerized classification testing

Content balancing is one of the most important issues in computerized classification testing. To adapt to variable-length forms, special treatments are needed to successfully control content constraints without knowledge of test length during the test. To this end, we propose the notions of ‘look-ahead’ and ‘step size’ to adaptively control content constraints in each item selection step. The step size gives a prediction of the number of items to be selected at the current stage, that is, how far we will look ahead. Two look-ahead content balancing (LA-CB) methods, one with a constant step size and another with an adaptive step size, are proposed as feasible solutions to balancing content areas in variable-length computerized classification testing. The proposed LA-CB methods are compared with conventional item selection methods in variable-length tests and are examined with different classification methods. Simulation results show that, integrated with heuristic item selection methods, the proposed LA-CB methods result in fewer constraint violations and can maintain higher classification accuracy. In addition, the LA-CB method with an adaptive step size outperforms that with a constant step size in content management. Furthermore, the LA-CB methods generate higher test efficiency while using the sequential probability ratio test classification method.     

Perspectival representation and fallacies in metaethics

Abstract

The prevailing theoretical framework for theorising about representation construes all representation as involving objective representational contents. This classic framework has tended to drive philosophers either to claim that evaluative judgements are representations and therefore objective, or else to claim that evaluative judgements are not really representations, because they are not objective. However, a more general, already well-explored framework is available, which will allow theorists to treat evaluative judgements as full-fledged representations (thus doing justice to their representational aspects) while leaving open whether they are objective. Such a more general conception of representational content is exemplified, e.g. by Lewis’s ‘centred contents’ and Gibbard’s framework of ‘contents of judgement’, thus it is not new. I shall start in §1 by introducing the more general framework of perspectival contents and then illustrate in §2 how awareness of it can help expose the fallaciousness of certain widely used forms of argumentation in metaethics.     

Learning Related and Interpersonal Social Skills Constructs in Two Existing Social Skills Assessments

In the social skills literature it has been identified that both learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills may exist. This study ascertained the views of 16 experts regarding the existence of the two proposed constructs, learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills, within two pre-existing assessments: Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales–2nd edition and Child Behavior Rating Scale. Sixteen experts from Australia (n = 11) and Singapore (n = 5) with pediatric backgrounds in occupational therapy, speech pathology, psychology and early childhood education took part in the study. Experts were asked to sort cards with each of the items from the Child Behavior Rating Scale and Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales–2nd edition (66 items in total) into one of two piles (one for learning related social skills and one for interpersonal social skills) and then answered several open ended questions about the clinical utility of these constructs. Preliminary evidence demonstrated the existence of the learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills constructs within the items of the two assessments (Child Behavior Rating Scale and Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales–2nd edition). The experts' opinion also suggested the potential clinical benefits of assessing both learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills in preschool-age children. The study results and implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed.     

On Not Giving Up the World – Davidson and the Grounds of Belief

Abstract

What is the relation between our beliefs, or thoughts in general, and the perceptual experience of the world that gives rise to those beliefs? Donald Davidson is usually taken to have a well‐known answer to this question that runs as follows: while our beliefs are, at least in part, caused by our experience, such experience does not thereby count as providing a rational ground for those beliefs; our beliefs are thus evidentially grounded in other beliefs, but not in the experience that gives rise to them. John McDowell, among others, has challenged this Davidsonian picture on the grounds that it actually severs the connection between beliefs and their proper evidential grounds. Against such a view, this paper argues the Davidsonian position grounds belief in the specificity of our own locatedness in the world, and in the more general and prior embeddedness of belief in the world that is a part of the very concept of belief.     

Stereotypes and stereotyping: What's the brain got to do with it?

Influential social-psychological models suggest that perceivers frequently use information-processing strategies that result in the stereotype-based construal and treatment of other people. To elucidate in greater detail when, why, and how social encounters elicit stereotyping, researchers have begun to incorporate neuroscientific tools into their repertoire of investigative methods. The current article reviews these studies and considers their significance in light of existing theories of person perception, knowledge representation, and impression formation. Finally, using the concrete example of stereotyping, benefits and pitfalls of adopting a social neuroscience approach are discussed.     

Focusing on Educational Outcomes

National education goals, content standards, and national tests are the hot topics of the day in educational reform. Special services personnel eventually will be faced with these issues, and can either be part of the discussion from the beginning, or wait and have to deal with someone else's decisions. In this article, we highlight some recent national and state educational reform activities and their probable implications for students with disabilities. We explain in brief the impetus behind the thrust toward an outcomesbased approach to education, and summarize the response of the National Center on Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities to this push. Possible ways in which special service providers can act to influence the focus on outcomes are described.     

Effects of cultural themes in psychotic symptoms on the diagnosis of schizophrenia in African Americans

Cultural themes focusing on race-related issues and religiosity were identified via content analysis in the delusions and hallucinations of a sample of 118 African American psychiatric patients. The purpose of the study was to determine whether cultural themes in psychotic symptoms influence the diagnosis from different sources (i.e., chart, SCID, and best estimate) of schizophrenia for Black patients. It was hypothesized that the best estimate diagnoses of cultural experts would diagnose schizophrenia in African Americans more frequently when they exhibit race-related themes in their psychotic symptoms. It was also hypothesized that diagnosis of the paranoid subtype would yield a stronger difference among the sources than the broader category of schizophrenia. The results did not support the hypotheses. Implications for understanding the relationship between culture and psychosis among African Americans are discussed.     

The Layered Model: Metaphysical Considerations

Abstract

Action explanations that cite dynamic beliefs and desires cannot be modelled as causal explanations. The contents of dynamic psychological states cannot be treated as the causal antecendents to behaviour. Behavioural patterns cannot be explained in virtue of the patterns of operations performed upon the intentional antecedents to behaviour. Dynamic intentional states are persisting regulatory devices for behaviour that provide couplings with the environment. Behavioural patterns emerge from choice couplings rather than being produced by patterns for operating upon intentional antecendents to behaviour in cognition.