Dilemmas in brief therapy

This paper examines three central concerns for the short-term therapist at a time when therapy is widely available free of charge in the community, in a model that has been called ‘ serial life-span therapy’. Issues of referral-on, topping-up or extending contracts are experienced as dilemmas or as temptations, depending on what therapists believe their clients need and what their clients may demand of them. Short-term therapy has become accepted in many contexts, with therapy no longer used as a once-and-for all solution to clinical problems, but as a serial method over time which includes topping up and re-contracting. After an initial agreement of brevity, depending on the client's disturbance levels at assessment and on availability, there may be the need for referral-on at the end of a brief contract, when clients may be offered a different, long-term service, or they may be recommended to return later in life for more, if and when this becomes necessary. Flexible contracts rather than rigid rules about the termination of therapy are being practiced in many contexts, depending on ‘what works’ and how methods can be adjusted to new evidence. There is danger of collusion or control, and this can lead to therapeutic dilemmas, which involve taking acceptable risks, or to therapeutic temptations, which are due to the desire for narcissistic gratification, benefiting the therapist rather than the client in terms of power or Eros. Being able to let go of clients and manage issues of loss, grief and greed requires a measure of maturity in the therapist that aims for good-enough results rather than striving for perfect endings.     

Successive independence and behavioral contrast in a closed economy.

Two pigeons had access to multiple concurrent schedules of reinforcement for 24 hours per day in their home cages. The variable-interval schedules comprising the multiple concurrent schedules were varied across 16 conditions. In three sets of conditions, one schedule was varied while its concurrent alternative and the concurrent schedules in the other component were held constant. Behavioral contrast was observed; that is, as the rate of reinforcement arranged by the varied schedule decreased, response rates on the constant schedules typically increased. These conditions formed part of two larger sets of conditions in which the concurrent schedules in one multiple-schedule component remained constant while the concurrent schedules in the other component were varied. Successive independence was found, in that behavior allocation during the constant component did not vary as a function of the reinforcer ratios in the varied component. Successive independence between components in multiple concurrent schedules is a robust result that occurs in closed economies and under conditions that promote behavioral contrast.     

思想史的"两重性"探求及意义衍生--李锦全先生对中国思想史本质的诠释

思想史的“两重性”是李锦全先生关注的焦点问题。文章通过考察他对思想史进行个案研究、学派分析、整体通观三个层次的翔实分析,探求他贯穿在对象研究中的“哲史融会”的方法取向和“承传创新”的文化立场,揭示他以传统观照现代的实践品格,把学术与社会紧密结合的学人精神。     

Spontaneous recovery of consummatory behavior, but not of consummatory successive negative contrast

Five experiments were designed to study spontaneous recovery (SR) in two situations involving consummatory behavior: consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) and consummatory extinction (cE). SR of consummatory suppression should occur if incentive downshift induces an egocentric memory encoding information about the emotional reaction to the downshift that is counterconditioned or extinguished during exposure to the downshifted reward. SR of cSNC failed to occur after resting periods of 24, 96, or 336 h interpolated following complete (Experiment 1) and incomplete (Experiment 2) recuperation of consummatory behavior, and was not induced by the opioid-receptor antagonist naloxone (2 mg/kg), known to enhance cSNC (Experiment 3). However, SR of consummatory behavior occurred across sessions in cSNC (Experiment 3) and cE (Experiments 4-5). Furthermore, naloxone facilitated cE without affecting SR (Experiments 4-5). These results are discussed in relation to evidence for the development of an egocentric memory of the aversive downshift experience in consummatory situations.     

Stimulus-specific contrast effects during operant discrimination learning

In two experiments, pigeons' responding was equally reinforced in the presence of four line-orientation stimuli. Responding was then reinforced when only two of the four orientation stimuli were present; the remaining two orientations appeared during extinction. Response rates were often highest in the stimulus adjacent to the orientations presented during extinction and often lowest in that orientation adjacent to the orientations presented with reinforcement. These effects were stronger and more persistent when the stimuli were separated by a smaller angle, rendering the discrimination more difficult. These and other data suggest that discrimination training may not be accurately explained in terms of the simple effects of reinforcement and nonreinforcement associated with isolated stimuli, nor by accounts that depend upon stimulus generalization. Recent accounts of contrast that depend upon “emotionality” produced by nonreinforced responding or upon reinforcement-elicited responses are also difficult to apply to these data.     

Additive structure in qualitative data: An alternating least squares method with optimal scaling features

A method is developed to investigate the additive structure of data that (a) may be measured at the nominal, ordinal or cardinal levels, (b) may be obtained from either a discrete or continuous source, (c) may have known degrees of imprecision, or (d) may be obtained in unbalanced designs. The method also permits experimental variables to be measured at the ordinal level. It is shown that the method is convergent, and includes several previously proposed methods as special cases. Both Monte Carlo and empirical evaluations indicate that the method is robust.This research was supported in part by grant MH-10006 from the National Institute of Mental Health to the Psychometric Laboratory of the University of North Carolina. We wish to thank Thomas S. Wallsten for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Copies of the paper and of ADDALS, a program to perform the analyses discussed herein, may be obtained from the second author.     

Maximum likelihood additivity analysis

A maximum likelihood estimation procedure was developed to fit unweighted and weighted additive models to conjoint data obtained by the categorical rating, the pair comparison or the directional ranking method. The scoring algorithm used to fit the models was found to be both reliable and efficient, and the program MAXADD is capable of handling up to 300 parameters to be estimated. Practical uses of the procedure are reported to demonstrate various advantages of the procedure as a statistical method.The research reported here was supported by Grant A6394 to the author from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Portions of this research were presented at the Psychometric Society meeting in Iowa City, Iowa, in May, 1980.Thanks are due to Jim Ramsay, Justine Sergent and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.Two MAXADD programs which perform the computations discussed in this paper may be obtained from the author.     

Multiple-probe technique: a variation on the multiple baseline

Multiple-baseline and probe procedures are combined into a “multiple-probe” technique. The technique is designed to provide a thorough analysis of the relationship between an independent variable and the acquisition of a successive-approximation or chain sequence. It provides answers to the following questions: (1) What is the initial level of performance on each step in the training sequence? (2) What happens if sequential opportunities to perform each next step in the sequence are provided before training on that step? (3) What happens when training is applied? (4) What happens to the performance of remaining steps in the sequence as criterion is reached in the course of training each prior step? The technique features: (1) one initial probe of each step in the training sequence, (2) an additional probe of every step after criterion is reached on any training step, and (3) a series of “true” baseline sessions conducted just before the introduction of the independent variable to each training step. Intermittent probes also provide an alternative to continuous baseline measurement, when such measurement during extended multiple baselines (1) may prove reactive, (2) is impractical, and/or (3) a strong a priori assumption of stability can be made.     

Additive summation following intradimensional discrimination training

Rats were exposed to intradimensional composite stimuli presented on the response lever that varied in both light intensity and flicker rate. For all subjects, pressing the lever was reinforced when it was illuminated at a high intensity and flickered at a low rate (I + f) or when it was illuminated at a low intensity and flickered at a high rate (i + F). For half the subjects, lever responding was not reinforced when it was illuminated at a low intensity and flickering at a low rate (i + f). For the remaining subjects, lever presses were not reinforced when the lever was illuminated at a high intensity and flickered at a high rate (I + F). When the composite stimulus composed of the light intensity and flicker rates that had been associated only with reinforced responding was displayed (I + F for half the subjects and i + f for the remaining subjects), it controlled the highest response rate of all stimuli (additive summation). The results demonstrated that similar attentional processes control intra- and interdimensional composite-stimulus discriminations in a manner consistent with Weiss' (1972) analysis of summation.