Do Common Factors Account for Counseling Outcome?

This study drew from common factors as an explanatory model for how counseling produces client change. Client self‐report measures for 3 common factors—client factors, client–counselor relationship factors, and client expectancy factors—were examined at a counseling training clinic. Regression analyses revealed that 2 factors significantly predicted treatment outcome: client expectancy and the therapeutic alliance. One variable from client factors—abuse history—had a nonsignificant but modest relationship with outcome.     

Treatment manuals and the advancement of psychoanalytic knowledge: The Treatment Manual of the Tavistock Adult Depression Study

This paper has two aims: first, it seeks to understand the absence of treatment manuals in psychoanalysis. Secondly, it summarizes the treatment manual of the Tavistock Adult Depression Study, which describes the form of psychoanalytic psychotherapy whose effectiveness has been evaluated both in the Tavistock Adult Depression Study (TADS); and in the German Die Langzeittherapie bei chronischen Depressionen (LAC) Studie. Throughout the history of psychoanalysis, opinions about treatment manuals, empirical research and their antecedents have been deeply divided. After tracing the often polarized unfolding of these matters, the paper proposes that emotional and cognitive difficulties as well as scientific ones underpin their persistence. It is suggested that greater familiarity with them may lead to better combinations of outcome research and psychoanalysis: for example, the Tavistock manual seeks to match one account of the objects, aims, values, spirit and methods of psychoanalysis (as well as of connected forms of psychoanalytic psychotherapy); and also to meet what is required of treatment manuals by random allocation controlled trials. It has been a crucial element in the above studies of the outcome of long‐term psychoanalytic psychotherapies with chronically depressed patients. After describing the Tavistock Manual, the paper concludes suggesting that, if appropriately constructed, treatment manuals can make a contribution to the advancement of specifically psychoanalytic knowledge.     

Children With Conduct Problems and Co-occurring ADHD: Behavioral Improvements Following Parent Management Training

To scale up evidence-based treatment of conduct problems, parent management training, Oregon model (PMTO) has been disseminated throughout Norway. This study examined whether Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) predicted the outcomes of PMTO. Of 253 children and families, 97 were reported to have an ADHD diagnosis. Although different at intake, the groups with and without ADHD had close to an equal change in behavioral status following treatment. Maternal depression and family income predicted the combined group's behavior following PMTO. The study indicates that reductions in conduct problems following PMTO are of the same magnitude in children with or without ADHD. However, some characteristics may differentially predict outcomes for children with combined problems.     

The Relation of Birth Order,Age of Mother,and Size of Family to Intelligence

Variables thought to be associated with the magnitude of interrelationship observed among the elements in a system of social attitudes were investigated. Subjects (N = 753) were asked to respond to an inventory requesting self-report and background data. Several weeks later, Ss were given two forms of the Social Attitude Scale, a scale tapping the liberalism-conservatism domain. The results indicated that those Ss who reported recent changes in religious, moral, or political attitudes displayed a more highly interconnected system of liberal-conservative attitudes than those who did not. Variables relating to active participation in social affairs tended to be associated with higher levels of attitude system organization. Sex differences were observed, with men displaying higher levels of system organization than women. This relationship held even when participation rates were taken into consideration.     

Effect of Rate,Intonation, and Sentence Length on Nigerian Children's Imitation of Adults' Utterances

This Nigerian study replicated the work of Bonvillian et al. (1979) on the effects of rate, intonation, and sentence length on children's sentence imitation. Nursery school children (N = 12; M age = 5 years, 0.5 months) were asked to imitate sentences that varied in rate of presentation, intonation, and length. Results revealed better imitation of shorter sentences than longer ones, of sentences read at a rate nearer the children's normal speech rate than those read at a faster or slower rate, and of sentences read with normal intonation than those read with flat intonation. These findings replicated those of Bonvillian et al., while indicating an even stronger effect of intonation in the Nigerian sample, because its effect was not limited to long sentences but affected all sentences. Adults' utterances to children are often slow, with exaggerated intonation. The present findings suggest that such modifications in adults' speech facilitate children's language comprehension.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy plus motivational interviewing improves outcome for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: A preliminary study

Abstract

Lack of motivation may negatively impact cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) response for pediatric patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Motivational interviewing is a method for interacting with patients in order to decrease their ambivalence and support their self-efficacy in their efforts at behavior change. The authors present a preliminary randomized trial (N = 16) to evaluate the effectiveness of adding motivational interviewing (MI) as an adjunct to CBT. Patients aged 6 to 17 years who were participating in intensive family-based CBT for OCD were randomized to receive either CBT plus MI or CBT plus extra psychoeducation (PE) sessions. After four sessions, the mean Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) score for the CBT plus MI group was significantly lower than for the CBT plus psychoeducation group, t(14) = 2.51, p < .03, Cohen's d = 1.34. In addition, the degree of reduction in CY-BOCS scores was significantly greater, t(14) = 2.14, p = .05, Cohen's d = 1.02, for the CBT plus MI group (mean Δ = 16.75, SD = 9.66) than for the CBT plus psychoeducation group (mean Δ = 8.13, SD = 6.01). This effect decreased over time, and scores at posttreatment were not significantly different. However, participants in the MI group completed treatment on average three sessions earlier than those in the psychoeducation group, providing support for the utility of MI in facilitating rapid improvement and minimizing the burden of treatment for families.     

动态重复决策中先前结果对风险偏好的影响

在没有轮次限制的轮盘赌任务中考察了先前一轮及多轮的决策结果对后续决策风险偏好的影响模式, 结果表明：(1)无论盈亏, 前一轮获益或损失的程度越大后一轮的风险偏好越大; (2)先前获益后, 接下来的下注投入的金额小于先前一轮的获益金额, 先前损失后, 接下来的下注的潜在获益金额大于先前一轮的损失金额。实验结果定量地验证和拓展了私房钱效应(house money effect)和保本效应(break even effect), 在此基础上归纳出了动态重复决策中“决策前景与先前结果合并后规避损失”的决策标准, 即当决策情景具有重复性且可以自由制定决策方案时, 决策的标准是使得先前一次的获益(或损失)与下一次决策的潜在损失(或获益)合并后可以规避损失。实验结果还表明决策者仅合并最近一次的先前结果而不会合并先前连续获益或损失的结果。     

社会比较对合作任务结果评价的影响：来自ERP的证据

现实生活中人们通过社会比较获得对自身的认识。前人研究探讨了金钱收入的比较对个体结果评价的影响, 而非金钱的社会比较效应的神经加工机制尚不清楚。本研究分离比较和金钱收入, 使用双人合作的投骰子任务, 先呈现“>”或“<”代表两人点数大小的比较结果, 再呈现合作任务的输赢结果, 考察非金钱的社会比较对合作任务结果加工的影响, 记录任务表现的比较结果和最终合作任务结果的ERP数据。发现在任务表现比较结果阶段, FRN和P300对代表行为表现好坏的社会比较信息敏感, 呈现无金钱输赢提示的点数大小的比较结果时, 点数小于他人比大于他人诱发更大的FRN和更小的P300; 任务表现的比较结果对合作任务最终的金钱输赢结果的影响并没有反应在FRN上。这些表明, 对非金钱的社会比较信息的加工始于结果快速评价的早期阶段。     

The alternative explanation to the alternative‐outcome effect and the detection of the focal outcome effect

Abstract: Previous studies on subjective probability judgment indicate that pair‐wise comparison between the focal and the strongest alternative outcome plays an important role in probability judgment. This study, however, found that the randomness of alternative outcomes affected probability judgment for focal outcome. In the present study, 182 participants provided probability estimates for winning on hypothetical slot machines where both successes and losses were composed of multiple outcomes. The randomness of both the focal and alternative outcomes were defined by the expression used in Rappoport and Budescu (1997 ). The analysis indicated that the more random the distributions of both focal and alternative outcomes, the higher the estimated probability for focal outcome. Some theoretical suggestions are discussed.