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.     

The Empirical Evaluation of Family Therapy Training

This paper presents the results of the first comprehensive and empirical evaluation of a family therapy training program. Focusing on the first year of a two-year training program, the study found significant changes in the clinical conceptualizations and in-therapy verbal behaviors of a group of trainees. Additionally, this study involved the development and/or first use of various research instruments and procedures that can be used to facilitate further research on family therapy training.     

Rethinking Sadomasochism: Feminism,Interpretation, and Simulation

In reexamining the “sex war” debates between radical feminists and lesbian feminist sadomasochists, I find that the actual practice of sadomasochism provides the basis for a philosophically more complex position than has been articulated. In response to the anti-SM radical perspective, I develop a distinction between simulation and replication of patriarchal dominant/submissive activities. In light of this important epistemological and ethical distinction, I claim that the radical feminist opposition to SM needs reassessment.     

How to Understand the Completion of Art

There are a number of recent discussions on the question of when an artwork is complete. While it has been observed that a work might be complete in one way and not in another, the impact of this observation has been minimal. Discussion has been continued as if there is only one real sense of completion that matters. I argue that this is a mistake. Even if there were only one (or one most important) kind of completion, extant theories of completion would be bad candidates for that one kind. The best explanation of the failure of extant theories is that there are many kinds of completion, many corresponding senses of “completion,” and no kind of artwork completion is objectively more important than any other. We have a good reason to think that this is the case given the disparate interests we have when we ask completion questions. Once we have realized that those concerns track properties that are often unrelated, the question for theorists to answer becomes, “In how many ways can an artwork be complete?”     

Linkages Between Racioethnicity,Appraisal Reactions,and Employee Engagement

Because diversity is vital to many businesses, it is important to understand prospective racioethnic differences in employee engagement. Using survey data collected from a large (N = 5,537), diverse sample of retail employees, we found that more favorable appraisal reactions corresponded with more favorable psychological diversity climate perceptions; thus, higher levels of engagement. This indirect relationship was significantly stronger for ethnic minority employees (Blacks and Hispanics) than for White employees, indicating that members of traditionally disadvantaged groups respond differently to perceptions of appraisal systems. Finally, an exploratory assessment found that the hypothesized effects for racioethnicity do not generalize to sex, as the indirect effect of appraisal reactions on engagement was slightly, but not significantly stronger for women than for men.     

On being mindful,emotionally aware,and more resilient: Longitudinal pilot study of police recruits

Police officers are at particular risk of stress when compared to people in other occupational groups. A compounding factor is that police are prone to the use of avoidant coping strategies when attempting to deal with this stress. Evidence suggests that “anti‐avoidance” strategies, of acceptance, mindfulness and emotional awareness, are more effective ways of coping, and are linked to both mental health and personal effectiveness. This study followed 60 trainee police officers from the recruit phase into the workplace to determine if these processes predicted more positive mental health and wellbeing in police recruits after 1 year of service. Mindfulness predicted depression at follow‐up, while emotion identification skill predicted general mental health. These results suggest that police officers and police organisations may benefit from interventions aimed at developing and promoting mindfulness and emotion identification.