The typology of parricide and the role of mental illness: Data-driven approach

Parricide is a rare type of homicide in which mental illness is often an important factor. The aims of this study were (a) to describe the characteristics of parricide offenders with a focus on mental illness and clinical care and (b) to examine Heide's widely used typology of parricide through a data-driven approach. We analyzed all homicides in England and Wales between 1997 and 2014. Parricide offenders in our sample were most often male, unmarried, and unemployed, with a third of offenders diagnosed with schizophrenia; 28% had been in contact with mental health services before the offense. The latent class analysis resulted in three types of parricide offenders: middle-aged with affective disorder, previously abused, and seriously mentally Ill, which confirmed, to an extent, Heide's typology. Health and social care services should actively engage with carers of people with mental illness and support to those caring for older relatives and victims of abuse.     

Word imageability effects on naming: a pilot investigation of beginning readers of Turkish

Word imageability, a semantic variable, in naming by beginning readers of English is well documented particularly with poor readers naming high imageable words more accurately than low imageable words. The present study examined the role of imageability on word naming by 20 good and 20 poor beginning readers as a function of orthographic transparency by utilizing the peculiarities of the transparent Turkish writing system. Neither good nor poor beginning readers show any evidence of imageability for Turkish suggesting that the contribution of imageability to word naming may indeed be determined by orthographic transparency. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

On the control of visual word recognition: Changing routes versus changing deadlines

Two different accounts have been proposed to explain the fact that (1) an effect of word frequency is present when readers of transparent orthographies read only words aloud and (2) the effect of word frequency is eliminated when subjects name words and nonwords mixed together in a single block. In the route-shifting account, subjects shift from using a lexical route that can read only words to using a nonlexical route that can read both words and nonwords via the use of sublexical spelling-sound correspondences (hence, no word frequency effect). The essence of the second, time criterion account is that the elimination of the word frequency effect is determined by the speed with which the nonwords are processed, because subjects attempt to homogenize the point in time at which they release an articulation. These two different accounts are pitted against each other in a series of naming experiments utilizing the transparent Turkish orthography. A word frequency effect persists even when words and nonwords are mixed together, provided that nonword sets are matched so as to be named as quickly as the high-frequency words and as slowly as the low-frequency words, respectively. This result is argued to be consistent with the time criterion account, but not with the unadorned route-shifting account.     

Why do we eat? Children's and adults' understanding of why we eat different meals

In this study the author examined why children and adults think they need to eat. Preschoolers through adults were provided with physiological, social, psychological, and routine causes for eating breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner, and were asked to either agree or disagree with the causal responses provided. A 4 Reason x 4 Meal repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant main effects for meals and reasons, as well as significant Meal x Reason and Meal x Reason x Grade interactions. The effect sizes ranged from 0.1 to 0.7. Across all age groups, participants acknowledged physiological needs and desires (fulfilling hunger and needs to stay healthy) and routine (e.g., it is dinner time) as the primary causes for eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, for snack physiological needs were the primary reason. Second-grade students onward spontaneously produced biological justifications such as the need for energy and nutrition as important reasons for food consumption. These results lend support to the developmental model that children's and adults' understanding of eating changes in middle childhood.     

Productive Failure

This study demonstrates an existence proof for productive failure: engaging students in solving complex, ill-structured problems without the provision of support structures can be a productive exercise in failure. In a computer-supported collaborative learning setting, eleventh-grade science students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions to solve problems in Newtonian kinematics. In one condition, students solved ill-structured problems in groups followed by well-structured problems individually. In the other condition, students solved well-structured problems in small groups followed by well-structured problems individually. Finally, all students solved ill-structured problems individually. Groups who solved ill-structured problems expectedly struggled with defining and analyzing the problems, resulting in poor quality of solutions. However, despite failing in their collaborative efforts, these students outperformed their counterparts in the well-structured condition on individual near- and far-transfer measures subsequently, suggesting a latent productivity in what initially seemed to be failure.     

The Development and Role of the Therapeutic Alliance in Supportive Psychotherapy with Adolescents

The formation of a therapeutic alliance is considered a central issue in therapy, and particularly crucial and challenging in work with adolescents. The relational and technical components of the therapeutic alliance were examined from the perspective of the adolescent client. 40 emotionally disturbed adolescent girls, aged 13 to 16 years, received brief supportive psychotherapy in the school setting. The alliance was assessed at sessions 3, 6 and 9, and outcome was evaluated on measures of internalizing problems, self-esteem, adjustment and client satisfaction. The results indicated the stability of the alliance between sessions 3 and 6, followed by significant linear increases between sessions 6 and 9. The strength of the alliance was most consistently related to reductions in internalising problems and client estimates of change. The implications for training and clinical practice with adolescent clients are discussed and future research avenues outlined.     

Some Hindu Insights on a Global Ethic in the Context of Diseases and Epidemics

As we develop a global ethic in the context of diseases, we need to reconsider the wisdom of the religious traditions, for there is more to ailments than their material causes. In the Hindu framework, aside from the Ayurvedic system, which is based on herbal medicines and a philosophical framework, there is the insight that much of what we experience is a direct consequence of our karma (consequential actions). Therefore, here one emphasizes self–restraint and self–discipline in contexts that are conducive to self–hurting behavior.     

Terror in the countertransference: extreme anxiety as a clinician and organisational leader and its effects

Experiencing fear is a central feature of managing disturbed states of minds. In this paper, I will describe the experience of being terrified by a patient who was overtaken by extreme anxiety. Aetiologically, I will suggest that the lack of containment created terror in her mind. I will also describe my experience of leadership in a voluntary organisation. Using Hopper’s concept of a fourth basic assumption, I will highlight the omnipresence of annihilatory anxiety in an example of organisational trauma. I will suggest that focusing on the issues of countertransference, working through experiences of being terrorised and paying attention to how you emotionally respond are crucial to lessening terror.     

State of the States: A survey of statutory law,regulations and court rules pertaining to guilty pleas across the United States

A psycholegal research agenda on guilty pleas is in its nascent stage. Multijurisdictional surveys of related law and policy may advance this research agenda by focusing investigators on the specifics of existing policies and motivating cross‐jurisdictional comparisons of diverse policies. We thus conducted a systematic, national survey of statutes, regulations and court rules across the United States pertaining to nine aspects of the guilty plea process, including sentencing differentials, collateral consequences and waiver of rights, which have been identified in existing legal and psycholegal research and commentary. Following a discussion of these issues, including legal concerns and existing research findings, we present the results of our systematic survey. We supplement this review with a non‐systematic sampling of appellate case law. Broadly, there was notable diversity in whether and how jurisdictions approached these issues. We discuss general and specific implications of our findings for future research, emphasizing the importance of data on actual policies and procedures to the design of studies that may contribute to evidence‐based criminal justice policy.