Development of self‐produced locomotion in the first year: changes in parent perceptions and infant behaviour

Self‐produced locomotion is regarded as a setting event for other developmental transitions in infancy with important implications for socioemotional development and parent–child interaction. Using an age‐held‐constant design, this study examined changes in reported infant behaviour and maternal proactive/reactive control and compared them with direct observations of infant and maternal behaviour associated with the development of self‐produced locomotion. Maternal reports were obtained prior to the locomotor transition and, for half the sample, after infants had transitioned to effective mobility. Observations of all infants were conducted shortly after the second interview. Prelocomotor and transitioning infants showed none of the expected behavioural differences (e.g. emotionality and compliance) associated with the locomotor transition. There was modest confirmation of expected differences in maternal behaviour, particularly in the use of reactive control techniques, and mothers of transitioning infants showed higher proactive controls before their infants began to crawl. These findings suggest that the changes in parent–child interaction associated with the locomotor transition may have as much to do with parental expectations than with changes in infant socioemotional behaviour. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How to Cook Rice: A Review of Ingredients for Teaching anti‐Prejudice

There is a pressing need to address prejudice, racism, and discrimination against marginalised groups in Australia. This involves change from the structural to the individual level. In this article, we discuss the merits of individual anti‐prejudice mechanisms within the Australian context. First, we expand on nine mechanisms described in a previous paper and then review five new mechanisms. We conclude that while some mechanisms are likely to be useful regardless of location, others need to be tailored to the local context. We also conclude that effective interventions need to utilise multiple mechanisms. It is hoped that the synthesis of the different mechanisms provided here will assist anti‐prejudice researchers, practitioners, and policymakers striving to improve relations among different groups in our society.     

Lutherans in Need of Self‐Discipline: Japanese Shugyō and the Art of Sanctification

Abstract : Lutherans have a reputation for not attending well to the life of sanctification. Whether or not this is deserved, it is clear that all believers should make greater efforts to live in conformity with the will of God. Distinctly lacking in the Lutheran heritage, however, are disciplines of self‐cultivation. Such methods could play a larger role in the spiritual lives of believers, not for the sake of one's own salvation, but for the benefit of others. With that in mind, this article considers the practice of shugyō in Japanese Buddhism. This concept of self‐cultivation can form a model for how we in the West might seek to attend to our own maturing in the Christian life, attending to a greater stewardship of our bodies and minds.     

Cross‐cultural validation of factor structure in the Japanese Counselor Burnout Inventory

This article describes the cross‐cultural validation of the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI; Lee, Baker, Cho, Heckathorn, Holland, Newgent, Ogle, Powell, Quinn, Wallace & Yu, 2007 ) on a sample of professional counselors and psychotherapists in Japan. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the validity of the CBI with three models: a one‐factor model, a five‐factor model, and a second‐order model. The results showed that the five‐factor model was a better fit and more parsimonious than both the one‐factor model and the second‐order factor model. Additionally, the internal consistency reliability for the CBI subscale scores proved equivalent to that found for other populations (e.g. American and Korean). The results suggest that counselor burnout is not a unidimensional construct but a multidimensional construct. Implications and recommendations for future research are provided.     

Cognitions associated with recovery from alcohol dependence1

The present study examined the cognitive factors uniquely associated with the status of alcohol dependence recovery, assessing Korean patients who were recovered (n = 57), having been alcohol‐abstinent for 4 months or more after treatment, and who were nonrecovered (n = 213), being still in treatment. Compared with the nonrecovered group, the recovered group reported lower levels of denial of drinking problems and rationalization of drinking (two dimensions of specific beliefs that facilitate alcohol use), dysfunctional attitudes, depressed mood, and emotion‐focused coping. The recovered group also showed higher levels of alcohol abstinence self‐efficacy and problem‐focused coping. Both denial and alcohol abstinence self‐efficacy were uniquely associated with alcohol dependence recovery, when we controlled for the other relevant predictors, whereas neither dysfunctional attitudes nor rationalization were so associated. These findings could be useful in refining psychological interventions facilitating the recovery of alcohol‐dependent patients.     

Psychological wellbeing of Turkish university students with physical impairments: an evaluation within the stress-vulnerability paradigm

Generally, universities in developing countries offer little in the way of provisions and support (material, emotional, etc.) for disabled students. Therefore, disabled students experience considerable burdens and barriers in their educational life. This study investigated the psychological wellbeing of disabled Turkish university students by examining influences on stress-related growth and psychological distress. Disability is defined within the framework of a social model. According to this view, impairment refers to the functional limitation(s) that affect(s) a person's body, whereas disability refers to the loss or limitation of opportunities owing to social, physical or psychological obstacles. Seventy disabled university students with physical impairments were administered a questionnaire package, including a sociodemographic information sheet, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Stress-Related Growth Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Social Support, Life Events Inventory, and Brief Symptom Inventory. Snowball sampling was used and voluntary participation was essential. The results showed that disability burden, daily hassles, and helplessness coping were significant predictors of psychological symptoms. For stress-related growth the only variable that appeared significant was problem-solving coping. The results pointed out that there may be different pathways to distress and growth. In order to decrease psychological distress and enhance growth in disabled university students, disability awareness programs, changes in the barriers in the academic and physical environments of the university campuses, and coping skills training to increase problem-focused coping and to combat helplessness may prove to be effective. Reducing daily hassles for the disabled students is likely to contribute to their wellbeing by decreasing their burdens. Also, a more disability-friendly environment is likely to be empowering for disabled university students.     

The relationship between the need for closure and deviant bias: an investigation of generality and process

The need for closure predicts an evaluative bias against people whose opinions or behaviors deviate from those of other members of their social groups. In the present study, we investigated whether the relationship between the need for closure and deviant bias generalized to nonsocial stimuli, and we examined the process underlying this relationship. Sixty-one undergraduate students completed measures of the need for closure, the need for structure, intolerance for ambiguity, and the ability to be decisive and achieve cognitive structure. They then rated their liking for letters of the Latin alphabet ("A" & "B") whose locations were consistent and inconsistent with relevant categories ("A circle" and "B circle"). Participants liked category-inconsistent letters less than category-consistent letters. Measures related to the need for structure and closed-mindedness correlated positively with this deviant bias, whereas measures related to the ability to be decisive and achieve cognitive structure did not. These results imply that the relationship between the need for closure and deviant bias is a relatively basic and pervasive effect that is not unique to social deviance and is driven by the need for structure and closed-mindedness. Implications for social and nonsocial stimuli are discussed.     

Psychoanalysis in the university: the natural home for education and research

Psychoanalysis as a theory of human mental functioning and a derived therapeutic for disturbed functioning would have its natural home in the university, and Freud gave evidence of harboring such an ambition. But the sociopolitical structure of the early 20th century Austro-Hungarian Empire precluded this, and analysis developed, by default, its part-time, private practice-based educational structure. Psychoanalytic penetration of academic psychiatry in the United States after World War II made possible a counter-educational structure, the department of psychiatry-affiliated psychoanalytic institute within the country's medical schools. This paper outlines, beyond these, other more ambitious vistas (David Shakow, Anna Freud, The Menninger Foundation, Emory University [US], APdeBA [Argentina]), conceptions even closer to the ideal (idealized) goal of full-time placement within the university with strong links to medicine, to the behavioral sciences, and to the humanities.     

The reversed work‐ethic effect: Monkeys avoid stimuli associated with high‐effort1

We investigated how different numbers of responses prior to the presentation of a stimulus influenced preferences for the stimulus in three Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata). Monkeys were trained for two kinds of simultaneous discriminations that followed a high‐effort or a low‐effort response. In probe test trials, the stimulus that followed the high‐effort and the stimulus that followed the low‐effort response during discriminations were presented simultaneously. All monkeys chose stimuli that in training followed a low‐effort response. This result suggested that monkeys avoided stimuli that followed high‐effort responses because of the association between those stimuli and the preceding greater effort. The present result is consistent with our previous study conducted with humans, but contradicts analogous studies carried out with pigeons that reported either opposite results (i.e. pigeons preferred the stimuli after high‐effort) or non‐biased preferences. The differences between mammals and birds are discussed in terms of the lack of a successive negative contrast effect in birds.     

Psychotherapy and close-process technique

The applicability and advantages of Paul Gray's concept of close-process in the practice of psychotherapy are discussed. Gray seems to have underestimated the potential and versatility of his technical approach to derivative psychotherapy procedures. Clinical vignettes are provided, describing some nodal points for intervention, and exploration of transferential, extratransferential and genetic aspects of the workable surface. Gray's methodology of intraclinical attention permits a more verifiable examination of sequences, an issue of special relevance in our age of empirical standards for the evaluation of dynamic therapies.