Divergent and Convergent Group Creativity in an Asynchronous Online Environment

This study examined the influence of various group diversity dimensions on collaborative creativity related to the healthcare system. Research findings on the association between diversity and brainstorming performance has been mixed. Diversity that increases cognitive stimulation or promotes elaboration has been shown to increase group performance. Participants exchanged ideas, replied, and elaborated using an electronic discussion board in an asynchronous fashion in groups of five over a period of 4 weeks. The groups varied in diversity of ethnicity, gender, age, and political orientation, but participants were not made aware of this diversity. Age and gender diversity were related to lower levels of replying to ideas and lower idea novelty but political diversity was related to increased replies and novelty. If a topic engages people with different perspectives to actively respond to others’ ideas, this can increase the creative potential of idea sharing in groups. Political or value-based diversity has the potential for creative solutions if the other participants’ political or value-based identities are not made salient.     

Type A behavior, family history of hypertension, and cardiovascular responsivity among black women

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Type A behavior and family history of hypertension on cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress in a group of employed black women. Measures of heart rate and of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were taken at rest, during a mental arithmetic task, and during the Type A Structured Interview (SI). Results indicated that the Type A behavior pattern was associated with SBP and DBP hyperresponsivity during the SI but not during mental arithmetic. Additionally, certain speech components of the Type A pattern, as well as features of the potential-for-hostility component, were also related to cardiovascular responses during the SI. Family history of hypertension did not influence the cardiovascular parameters either alone or in combination with Type A behavior. The results suggest that many of the cardiovascular response characteristics of the Type A pattern that have been observed in predominantly white samples also hold true for blacks. Replication of these findings with other subgroups of blacks, such as young females and middle-aged males, will help document the generality of these findings within the black population.     

Personality and antisocial behaviour: A long-term study

The relationship between the personality components of psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism, and levels of conduct disorder, delinquency and therapy responsiveness in children is investigated. A series of studies reporting short- and long-term results test Eysenck's (1970) argument that extraverts, because of their lower levels of conditionability, should feature more prominently in groups showing higher levels of conduct disorder or delinquency. The extension of that argument to include the role of psychoticism (Eysenck H.J. and Eysenck S.B.G., Psychoticism as a Dimension of Personality, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1976) is also subjected to experimental test. Two alternative conceptions of the part played by neuroticism, either that it acts as an amplifying device (high N) or as a filter against pressure to change (low N), are considered. The results support the importance of including personality factors in the study of antisocial behaviour in children.     

The nature space. A reflexive thematic analysis of therapists' experiences of 1:1 nature-based counselling and psychotherapy with children and young people: Exploring perspectives on the influence of nature within the therapeutic process

Nature-based therapy is an emerging and rapidly developing field within counselling and psychotherapy, yet there is little published empirical research, or integrated models relating to its practice with Children and Young People (CYP). The present study aimed to explore therapists’ experiences of one-to-one nature-based counselling and psychotherapy with CYP, eliciting perspectives on the interaction between nature and the therapeutic process. A reflexive thematic analysis provides preliminary insights into possible mechanisms of action with the potential to inform a longer-term exploration of whether nature-based therapy is effective, for whom and why. The study highlights the need to better explore and understand how nature-based therapy supports relational and intrapsychic change in interaction with developmental processes, to inform construction of coherent and consolidated theory and models for practice.     

Peer review: Selecting the best science

The major challenge facing today’s biomedical researchers is the increasing competition for available funds. The competitive review process, through which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards grants, is built upon review by a committee of expert scientists. The NIH is firmly committed to ensuring that its peer review system is fair and objective. Wendy Baldwin, Ph.D., is Deputy Director for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health. This paper is based on a presentation at a workshop, “Advances in Peer Review Research”, American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting, Baltimore, MD, February 9, 1996.     

Ethical issues in cochlear implant surgery: an exploration into disease, disability, and the best interests of the child

This paper examines ethical issues related to medical practices with children and adults who are members of a linguistic and cultural minority known as the DEAF-WORLD. Members of that culture characteristically have hearing parents and are treated by hearing professionals whose values, particularly concerning language, speech, and hearing, are typically quite different from their own. That disparity has long fueled a debate on several ethical issues, most recently the merits of cochlear implant surgery for DEAF children. We explore whether that surgery would be ethical if implants could deliver close to normal hearing for most implanted children, thereby diminishing the ranks of the DEAF-WORLD. The ethical implications of eugenic practices with the DEAF are explored, as are ethical quandaries in parental surrogacy for DEAF children, and their parallels in transracial adoption.     

On seeing oneself as “left out”: The chronically complaining patient in psychotherapy

A clinical observation regarding patients who complain about feeling left out and/or second best provides the framework for this paper. What is expressed is a form of separation anxiety coupled with a loser self-concept. It is suggested that these patients represent a milder form of the moral masochism. Early theoretical formulations include Freud and his emphasis on the superego and Reich's emphasis on the masochist's fear of being left alone. Kramer's little man phenomenon is an example of a more current theoretical formulation which takes account of the complexities of the ego, and composite self and identity in the clinical phenomena observed. A case of a latency-aged child is provided.