Experiential Tasks and Therapist Bias Awareness

All therapists have values, assumptions, and beliefs about groups of people who are different from the dominant culture. How the therapeutic process is shadowed by therapists' assumptions and attitudes toward ethnic minorities is discussed. The author provides experiential techniques such as visualization, role playing, role reversal, family sculpturing, and a written assignment as a vehicle to heighten a family therapists' awareness of underlying assumptions and biases toward clients of an ethnic minority.     

GENERALIZATION EFFECTS FROM INTRATHERAPY ARTICULATION TRAINING: A CASE STUDY1

This study analyzed generalization effects found associated with a language-training intervention to modify the articulation (/f/ phoneme) of a 3.5-year-old boy. The McLean and Raymore Stimulus Shift Articulation Program was implemented by the subject's mother. This language training program is designed to produce setting generalization effects based on an intratherapy training model (i.e., systematic training is applied in a single setting to promote transfer effects to nontraining environments). The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in the subject's production of the /f/ phoneme within the clinical setting in response to untrained stimuli (stimulus generalization). Additionally, the subject's correct phoneme production was observed to generalize to his home and school settings (setting generalization) under “opportunity loaded” (picture prompts) and “spontaneous” (no prompts) conditions. The results provide case-study evidence that stimulus generalization, both within and across settings, may occur with exclusively intratherapy articulation training.     

TEACHING SEVERELY MULTIHANDICAPPED STUDENTS TO PUT ON THEIR OWN HEARING AIDS

Two experiments were conducted with six severely multihandicapped students with hearing impairments to: (a) train the six students to put on their own hearing aids independently, and (b) provide an empirical evaluation of a comprehensive instructional program for putting on a hearing aid by assessing acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of that skill across environments. All six students acquired the skill rapidly, with two students requiring remedial training on one step of the program. Because for two of the original three students the newly learned skill failed initially to generalize to other environments, a second experiment was initiated to assess generalization across environments as well as to replicate the efficiency of the acquisition program. When a variation of the multiple-probe baseline technique was used, the behavior of three additional students generalized to other settings without direct training in those settings.     

精细阐述在先行信息通达中的作用

先前研究发现,在篇章阅读理解中,先行信息与当前信息的合适与否是影响其通达的重要因素。本研究进一步引入精细阐述因素,通过窗口阅读及命名探测技术,以含错误信息的文章为阅读材料,探讨在篇章阅读理解中,精细阐述、信息的合适与否两者相比,何者对先行信息的通达速度影响更大。结果发现,如果错误信息受到精细阐述,在遇到相关的回指词时该信息会比合适、但未受精细阐述的先行信息更快得以通达,表明精细阐述在先行信息通达过程中具有相当重要的作用。     

县级统计局局长的胜任特征成分研究

胜任特征是与优秀业绩有因果关系的所有个人特征的总和。对27名县级统计局局长的关键事件和行为事件访谈文本转录进行扎根理论分析,开放式译码提取并定义了60个简单译码概念,编制了胜任特征重要性调查问卷并对103位县级统计局局长进行调查,得到59个胜任特征成分,关联译码得到17个类属概念,主轴译码得到4个范畴,即：专业能动性、专业能力、政策水平与法律意识、伦理道德与领导能力。     

人类增强技术的伦理考量

人类增强技术作为利用高新技术提高人类机体功能或能力的一种技术干预手段,是对人类身体进行的一种技术上的改变,这必然在“人是什么”、社会公平、安全与自主权等方面引发一定的社会伦理问题。而这正是对“人是目的,而不仅仅是手段”这一绝对律令的违背。由此需要对人类增强技术进行全面的评估,从坚守“增强底线原则”、相关法规的制定和加强伦理审查等方面采取有效对策,预防或减少不良后果的产生。这样才能保证人类增强技术的发展做到有效性与合理性、真理性与价值性、安全性与效益性的完美统一。     

To switch or not to switch: Inviting bilingual clients to switch languages in psychotherapy

In the present study, we used an audio-analog design to test whether exposing bilingual participants to a therapist who invited a bilingual client to switch languages in a psychotherapy session would have a positive effect on participants’ perceptions of the therapist. We also explored whether participants’ sense of belonging to their ethnic group and to the larger US culture would enhance or attenuate this effect. Sixty-three bilingual Latino/a university students listened to one of two recordings of a simulated psychotherapy session with a bilingual Latina therapist and client. In one recording, the therapist invited the client to switch from English to Spanish when the client had trouble expressing complicated feelings; in the other, the therapist did not invite the client to switch. When listening, participants were asked to imagine themselves in the role of client and to rate the credibility and multicultural competence of the therapist, and the emotional bond they would anticipate with her. Contrary to expectation, only participants who expressed a greater sense of belonging to US culture rated the therapist who invited the client to switch as being more multiculturally competent. We discuss how these findings contribute to the literature on language switching and bilingualism in psychotherapy.     

Therapist attitudes and countertransference as predictors of professional quality of life and burnout among psychotherapists

This study aimed to examine the role of attitudes towards psychotherapy and countertransference dimensions as predictors of professional quality of life and burnout among psychotherapists in Iran. Participants were 259 psychotherapists who worked in mental health centres in Tehran (Iran), and they completed the Professional Quality of Life questionnaire, the Therapist Response Questionnaire and the Therapist Attitudes Scale. Professional quality of life was associated with countertransference dimensions and attitude towards psychotherapy. This study concludes that psychotherapists can benefit from working on their specific countertransference issues and re-evaluating their basic attitudes towards psychotherapy to achieve the highest levels of professional satisfaction. Culture may play a role in a specific therapist's attitude and difficulties in addressing certain aspects of countertransference.