Family Therapy in Trouble: Psychoeducation as Solution and as Problem

The authors cite clinical literature attesting to the importance of recognizing the family, rather than the individual, as the proper locus of conceptualizing, diagnosing, and treating mental illnesses. Specifically with regard to severe psychiatric illnesses, in particular schizophrenia, family dysfunction contributes to the emergence of the illness, significantly affects its course, and strongly influences the achievement and maintenance of treatment gains. Currently, a movement is afoot to limit sharply the amount and kind of treatment offered to schizophrenic patients and their families. Rooted in a “medical model” or “biogenic” view of the etiology of schizophrenia, this school of thought prescribes psychoeducation as the family treatment of choice. The present article looks at some misconceptions regarding treatment that prompted a widespread turning away from psychoanalytically oriented family psychotherapy for schizophrenic patients and their families, examines the reductionism (biological and behavioral) inhering in the exclusive use of psychoeducation, and looks at the clinical dangers of such reductionism. Finally, it proposes that family psycho-therapists should not abandon a concern with the inner lives of severely ill patients and their families in the face of spuriously generalized claims made by reductionist researchers.     

The Nature of Preference: A Response to Grantham and Gordon

Grantham and Gordon (1986) contended that preference was inadequately understood as a construct and that a more incisive conceptualization was needed to promote research and theoretical considerations. We contend that their offering adds to the terminological confusion. A brief critique of Grantham and Gordon's notions and an alternative conceptualization and schema are offered.     

QUESTIONING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BEHAVIOR MODELING TRAINING IN AN INDUSTRIAL SETTING1

The intention of this study was to improve behavioral modeling's effectiveness by substituting managers for professional trainers and to evaluate the effect on 44 male supervisors using Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation: reaction, learning, behavior on the job, and performance. Twenty-two supervisors were trained with six behavior modeling modules and the effect was compared to a control group consisting of 22 supervisors. The research also examined the effects of trainees’ self-esteem and the perceived power of the trainers. The results showed that behavior modeling resulted in favorable reactions and an increase in learning, but did not produce behavior change on the job, or improved performance results. Power and self-esteem did not moderate the training effectiveness. The findings are compared with previous behavior modeling research. The discussion concludes with a recommendation for researchers to identify more complete theoretical models which explain behavioral change on the job (e.g., Maltz's theory of psycho-cybernetics) as opposed to relying solely on Bandura's social learning theory.     

Questioning and Creating: A Model for Curriculum Reform

ABSTRACT Creativity research has unsettled education by newly defining neglected abilities, and by proposing new methods like training in questioning abilities, but conventional methods do not encourage students to learn or think by asking good questions. We need to cultivate the full spectrum of talents by bridging the research—classroom practice gap. A proposed three-dimensional model for analyzing curricula, courses, and classes would show us where we are not doing a good job in teaching students to think while we are simultaneously teaching them subject-matter content. Content is best learned as a by-product of thinking or learning processes. The proposed model capitalizes on transfer effects of both processes and content, and may be of value in working, not only with those highest in a talent, but also with the educationally deprived. Every student should learn to use each of his abilities at some point in the educational process, but different teachers may specialize in various contents, processes, or methods.     

MODERATOR RESEARCH AND THE LAW OF SMALL NUMBERS1

The thesis of this paper is that many proposed moderators in personnel psychology are probably illusory, having been created solely by belief in the law of small numbers. Evidence is presented that race as a moderator of test validity is one such illusory moderator. In addition, a model for validity generalization is described which, in addition to eliminating the need for criterion-related validity studies under certain circumstances, strongly calls into question the idea that situations moderate test validity, i.e., the traditional doctrine of situational specificity of test validities. Calculations are presented which show that adequate statistical power in moderator research requires much larger sample sizes than have typically been employed. This requirement is illustrated empirically using validity data for the Army Classification Battery for 35 jobs and 21,000 individuals. These analyses show that (1) even when a moderator is generally assumed to be large, large samples are required to gauge its effect reliably and (2) large sample research may show that moderators that appear plausible and important a priori are nonexistent or trivial in magnitude. The practice of pooling across numerous small sample studies to obtain statistical power equivalent to that of large sample studies is recommended. In light of the evidence that many proposed moderators may not exist, the authors hypothesize that the true structure of underlying relationships in personnel psychology is considerably simpler than personnel psychologists have generally imagined it to be.     

THE VALIDITY and FAIRNESS OF EMPLOYMENT and EDUCATIONAL TESTS FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS: A REVIEW and ANALYSIS

This study examined the questions of whether employment and educational tests demonstrate either differential validity or test unfairness to Hispanic Americans relative to the majority group. Relevant data from 19 published and unpublished studies formed the basis of the review and analysis. Results for employment tests, based on a very large amount of data, indicated that differential validity occurs no more frequently than would be expected on the basis of chance plus the operation of various statistical artifacts. The frequencies of slope and intercept differences between Hispanic and majority regressions were also within the chance range. A similar pattern of results obtained for the more limited amount of data available on educational tests. Taken together, the results provide strong evidence that tests are neither differentially valid for, nor unfair to, Hispanics. These findings are consistent with the results of previous studies of test validity and fairness for blacks.