An abbreviated history of the International Stress Management Association (ISMA)

The American Association for the Advancement of Tension Control was founded in 1973 as an interdisciplinary effort encompassing the fields of dentistry, education, medicine, physical therapy, psychology, and speech pathology. The broad purpose was to facilitate the acquisition, dissemination, and application of sound knowledge for the benefit of society throughout the world. Annual meetings were held through 1978 with dues-paying members numbering almost 1000. Name changes were first to the International Stress and Tension-Control Association and then to the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) whereupon international meetings were held in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1988, and 1992. ISMA is flourishing, with meetings planned for The Netherlands (1995) and Australia (1996).     

The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: Toward an Adlerian vocational theory

Within the past couple of decades, the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler has become increasingly popular among consultants, educators, and psychotherapists alike. The approach also has gained the attention of several vocational researchers, and some vocational investigations on Adler's theory have appeared. Unfortunately, such empirical studies have been all too few, seemingly because no articulated framework exists of an Adlerian vocational theory. In this article, an Adlerian vocational theory is proposed. Specific hypotheses and corollaries, each derived from the substantive base of Individual Psychology, are presented and explained.     

RELAXATION TREATMENT OF PSEUDOINSOMNIA AND IDIOPATHIC INSOMNIA: AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC EVALUATION

Twenty-nine insomniacs underwent four consecutive sleep laboratory evaluations before and after receiving tension-release relaxation training, no-tension-release relaxation training, or no-treatment. On the basis of the discrepancy between subjective and EEG-defined measures of latency to sleep onset, subjects were classified as pseudoinsomniacs or idiopathic insomniacs. As predicted, tension-release relaxation was significantly more effective than the other two conditions on subjective sleep measures, regardless of insomnia subtype and on objective sleep measures only for idiopathic insomniacs. Subjective improvement was maintained at 12-month followup. Numerous differences between the two subtypes emerged on pretherapy and during-therapy measures distinct from the latency measures, but changes on those variables were unrelated to outcome improvement.     

Self-esteem,race, and job satisfaction

The present study investigated relationships between self-esteem (SE) and job satisfaction among black and white employees. The sample consisted of 523 (45% black) employees of a large, urban school system. There was a positive relationship between SE and job satisfaction for members of both racial groups. In addition, the correlation between need satisfaction and job satisfaction was stronger for high SE persons than for low SE persons. The relationships between two social reference variables (the perceived satisfaction of other employees and improved standard of living) and job satisfaction were, as predicted, stronger for low SE whites than for high SE whites. Among blacks, however, the social reference variables were strongly related to job satisfaction regardless of level of SE.     

Avoiding and seeking self-focused attention

Male and female undergraduates read aloud statements about women which were either attitudinally consistent, discrepant, or neutral relative to their attitudes toward women. Following this, they were given the opportunity to choose to wait in front of a mirror or a nonreflecting wall. Subjects engaging in attitudinally discrepant behavior avoided self-focusing stimuli; those engaging in attitudinally consistent behavior sought contact with self-focusing stimuli. Intermediate tendencies to seek or avoid self-focused stimuli were demonstrated by subjects reading attitudinally neutral material. The theory of objective self-awareness was extended by demonstrating that self-focusing stimuli are not just avoided in response to negative discrepancies, but are sought out in response to attitude-behavior consistencies.     

Quantitative CT scan studies in aphasia. I. Infarct size and CT numbers

Infarct si?e (number of 1-mm² pixels in the lesion) on CT scans of 30 aphasia patients was obtained with a semiautomated computer program. The mean number of lesion pixels present per slice containing lesion was approximately 500 for mild aphasias (transcortical motor and conduction), 700 for Wernicke's, 1000 for Broca's, 1500 for mixed, and 2000 for globals. These differences were significant for $\text{11}\text{15}$ of the group pairwise comparisons. When lesion locus was controlled for in the anterior/posterior plane, 73–100% of the aphasia patients were correctly classified as to type of aphasia by a discriminant analysis utilizing only the number of lesion pixels present on two CT slices. Different slice combinations were used for different aphasia group comparisons. There was a significant correlation between severity of aphasia and lesion size. There was a significant correlation between lesion size and the CT numbers in the lesion. This type of analysis may be useful to predict the prognosis for recovery potential in aphasics who have CT scans performed at 2 months poststroke.