Issues of Language and Culture in Family Therapy Training

Recent census data indicate continued growth in immigration trends as American society becomes increasingly diversified. Marriage and family therapy (MFT) training programs are also experiencing a growth in the number of immigrant students. As such, issues of language and culture play a progressively significant role in the MFT training process. The purpose of this study was to examine client, trainee, and supervisor feedback concerning the experience of therapy with non-native English-speaking trainees. Several themes emerged from the written and oral responses of participants. Implications for training and future directions for research are discussed.     

系统科学原理是心理病因研究的方法论基础--科学审视当代心理治疗理论的缺陷

各种心理治疗理论与当代神经科学和遗传学存在不一致和冲突,三大心理治疗流派存在盲人摸象式缺陷.近些年专业领域心理病因的探索,似乎也是只见树木,不见森林.应用系统科学原理,使其成为心理病因研究的方法论基础.     

国外生命科学哲学的研究

生命科学哲学是科学哲学的一个重要分支,也是国外科学哲学研究的一个热点领域.作为一门学科的生命科学哲学兴起于20世纪70年代.国外生命科学哲学研究有两种主要的理论倾向,一是分支论,一是自主论.说明了生命科学哲学研究的四个层次的问题.简要介绍了迈尔、霍尔、鲁斯、罗森伯格、索伯尔等人的生命科学哲学思想.     

Sir Karl, Sir Ronald, (Sir) Paul, and the human element in the progress of soft psychology

Meehl’s article related to theoretical risks and tabular asterisks reminds us of the importance of thinking and theorizing as well as hypothesizing and testing, a point that is as relevant today in soft psychology as it was in 1978. Although progress is impeded by the profusion of tabular asterisks, we should recognize as well that the course of events is shaped by the actors involved—theories not only fade away, they are excluded by these actors.     

2003年诺贝尔医学奖给科学界的多重启示(下)

在2003年诺贝尔医学奖获奖名单公布以后,未曾获奖的MRI人士达马迪安,自恃对MRI技术医用方面作出过杰出贡献,而未中选.遂与友人-起在三张美国大报和一张瑞典大报,刊登广告,声称不公平待遇.但医学奖诺贝尔委员会发言人认为,在大量未获奖人士中,这种做法极为罕见;这一现象对诺贝尔奖评选有参考价值,即使时科学界也有多重启示.至于诺贝尔基金会拟改革,估计未必触动"三人规则".     

Optimism across cultures: In response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak

Based on our early research, we predicted that the Chinese may be more optimistic and less pessimistic than North Americans in response to negative life events. A survey was conducted to investigate optimism cross culturally in the context of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks in Canada and China. Chinese students in Beijing and European Canadians in Toronto answered questions about their perceptions of SARS. No significant cultural difference was found on dispositional optimism, as measured by the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). Unrealistic optimism was measured in the context of SARS. Both groups demonstrated unrealistic optimism (i.e. reporting that the self was less likely than an average person to get infected with SARS). Such optimistic bias was stronger among Chinese than among Canadians. Compared to the actual infection rates in Beijing and Toronto, both Chinese and Canadian participants overestimated their own chances of getting infected, indicating that they were being pessimistic. Indeed, Chinese were less pessimistic than Canadians. In addition, even though the Chinese reported more inconvenience brought by SARS than did Canadians, they also reported more positive changes brought by SARS, reflecting the Chinese dialectical views of events. Implications for research on optimism in context are discussed.     

Terror management in Japan

Do terror management effects generalize to non‐Western cultures? This question is significant because terror management theory offers an explanation of the origin of self‐esteem, whereas other research finds divergent self‐esteem motivations across cultures. The effects of mortality salience (MS) on the dual‐component anxiety buffer were investigated in Japan. A control group and a MS group were given an opportunity: (i) to defend their cultural worldview by derogating an anti‐Japan essay writer; and (ii) to boost their value within their cultures by indicating a greater desire for high‐status over low‐status products. Replicating past research with Western samples, Japanese in a MS condition were more critical of the anti‐Japan essay writer and they indicated a marginal tendency to prefer high‐ over low‐status products, compared with a control group. The theoretical implications are discussed.     

Spiritual emergency and counselling: An exploratory study

Growing up in a multicultural community in England brought me into close personal contact with the beliefs and perceptions about healing held by people of many different cultures. In many cases, no strong boundary was seen between physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of an illness, and experiences of hearing voices or seeing visions were accepted as normal everyday occurrences. During my training as a counsellor, I came into contact with the work of Stanislav Grof on the concept of spiritual emergency, which, together with the work of African and European authors who were exploring transpersonal aspects of psychology, provided a theoretical framework for researching how counsellors respond to clients wishing to explore experiences of spiritual crisis. This paper describes an exploratory study into the phenomenon of spiritual emergency within counselling. Questionnaires were distributed by post to people known to have been in counselling relationships, and interviews were conducted with three informants reporting different types of spiritual experience. All respondents who completed questionnaires reported having at least one of the ‘non‐ordinary’ experiences classified by Stanislav Grof as characteristics of a ‘spiritual emergency’. Several participants felt unable to explore this experience with their counsellors, some for fear of being labelled as mentally ill, while others found their counsellors helpful and sympathetic. Differences in dealing with spiritual phenomena were apparent between European and non‐European participants. These findings are discussed in relation to theory and practice.     

论心理学发展的困境与出路

近年来西方心理学家对心理学发展取向提出强烈批评。综合各家所论,心理学以往发展的困境乃是由于：(1)自哲学心理学到科学心理学对人性解释的理论始终纷歧,以致无法形成常规科学条件;(2)科学心理学自始即标榜自然科学而缺独立意识;(3)强调科学方法,忽视人性特质而陷入削足适履困境。因此,今后国内心理学的发展势不能再全盘西化,而应在人性特质与本土文化基础上吸取西方心理学精义,针对国人心理特质研究发展出属於自己的理论与应用心理学。本文最后提出的四会能力教学构想,希望对本土文化取向应用心理学的研究发挥一点抛砖引玉作用。     

自然事物认知偏好的初步实验研究

本研究从认知心理学角度采用实验方法探索自然科学学习的影响因素。发现：1自然事物的认知偏好中存在内隐学习现象。2．自然事物认知偏好的表现非常复杂：年龄的影响并不显著,经验的影响不可忽视;3．性别差异十分明显,男生比女生的自然事物认知偏好更为肯定更为积极,很可能社会性别角色是造成自然科学学习结果差异的重要原因;4．内隐组学习坦率好奇,倾向于把自然事物看得更熟悉更容易,具有更强的探究兴趣：外显组学生矜持审慎,倾向于把自然事物看得更陌生更难以理解,探究兴趣较弱。因此,科学教育要创设情境让学生潜移默化地学以致用;要帮助学生利用经验并从中获取乐趣、增长兴趣、树立志趣;要鼓励女孩子大胆挑战科学。