Editorial Note.

At the 1962 APA meetings in St. Louis, the Council of Representatives voted to establish a continuing committee on clinical practice: "There shall be a Committee on the Practice of Clinical Psychology, responsible for collecting information and forming recommendations on relevant problems and issues in the area of clinical practice. The committee shall consist of five members, serving for staggered terms of five years. It shall report to Council through the Board of Professional Affairs." This formal action by the governing body of the Association gave expression to the concern of psychologists for the orderly and effective development of clinical practice. It provided a mechanism for the collection of information and the conceptualization of trends and issues. It is appropriate and relevant for this issue of the American Psychologist to focus, in part, upon the practice of clinical psychology. Many of the most significant trends, issues, and problems stand out in bold relief when examined from the perspective of private practice. The first three papers express the individual views of three psychologists, Leonard Small, James F. T. Bugental, and David Grossman, presently primarily engaged in private practice. Traditionally, the September issue of the American Psychologist carries accounts of the regional association meetings. Historically and traditionally the APA has had as a primary function the exchange of scientific information, accomplished in part by such meetings. In this September issue we have deliberately put in juxtaposition an emergent function and an historic function. It is an article of faith that the APA can with wisdom and maturity successfully engage these and diverse other functions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

United states research published in major surgical journals is decreasing

OBJECTIVE: The authors hypothesized that less research performed in the United States was reported in the five major general surgical journals in 1993 than in 1983. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Academic surgeons believe they have less time and fewer funds for research than previously. METHODS: Five journals were analyzed for the number of pages and articles devoted to basic and clinical research in 1983 and 1993 and for the country in which the research was performed. RESULTS: The number of U.S. research pages and articles decreased over the past decade, and the number of non-U.S. pages and articles increased. CONCLUSIONS: The reason(s) for the decrease in U.S. research reported in the general surgical journals should be studied, identified, and, if possible, rectified.     

Designing better graphs by including distributional information and integrating words, numbers, and images.

Statistical graphs are commonly used in scientific publications. Unfortunately, graphs in psychology journals rarely portray distributional information beyond central tendency, and few graphs portray inferential statistics. Moreover, those that do portray inferential information generally do not portray it in a way that is useful for interpreting the data. The authors present several recommendations for improving graphs including the following: (a) bar charts of means with or without standard errors should be supplanted by graphs containing distributional information, (b) good design should be used to allow more information to be included in a graph without obscuring trends in the data, and (c) figures should include both graphic images and inferential statistics presented in words and numbers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and Guillain-Barré syndrome

As genomic research proliferates, DNA banking will become more common. In research, samples will be banked largely in an effort to find and clone genes that predispose to disease. Commercially oriented banks, those that offer services to families, may also become more common. These entities will hold sensitive information. DNA banking is not yet regulated. We argue here that new laws are not needed at this time to regulate DNA banking. We suggest an approach that relies on a professional code of conduct and draws on principles of disclosure inherent to the process used in obtaining informed consent. In addition to suggesting 12 specific recommendations for the code of conduct, we suggest that items should be included in depositor's agreements. We offer a rationale for our suggestions.     

Information processing as problem solving: A collaborative approach to dealing with students exhibiting insufficient competence.

Although psychologists involved in the training of graduate students understand the importance of responding effectively to exhibited insufficient clinical competence, the extant literature offers little guidance on how best to make decisions during this process. The authors propose an adaptation of the information processing approach to problem solving applied to guide faculty in addressing student behaviors. Each of the steps will be discussed, along with their implications and our recommendations. A case example is presented to illustrate how that approach can be used by faculty. Finally, the authors discuss broader research and professional implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical implications of attentional bias in anxiety disorders: An integrative literature review.

Research on information processing biases has been motivated by the hope that it would lead to new and more efficient psychotherapeutic interventions. The literature is abundant with empirical data of attentional biases toward threat stimuli in anxiety disorders. This article aims to review the existing literature on the topic of attentional bias in anxiety disorders and discuss important implications for clinical practice. We adopted an integrative approach to link research data on attentional bias, information processing, and cognitive accounts (automaticity and controllability) with clinical practice in cognitive-behavioral therapy. It is important to develop and apply therapeutic interventions that can effectively reduce negative attentional biases while treating the main problems associated with anxiety disorders. However, it remains to be seen whether cognitive therapy interventions targeting more voluntary, strategic information processing can have a positive impact on automatic, involuntary processing involved in attentional biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posttraumatic stress disorders in Vietnam veterans: Selected bibliographical addendum to Fairbank et al., Silver, and Arnold.

J. A. Fairbank et al (see record 1982-12226-001), presented a selected bibliography on contributions relevant to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Vietnam veterans. Their selection included research and clinical reports found in psychological and medical journals, books and government publications, which were pertinent to epidemiology, etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of PTSD in Vietnam veterans, plus narratives by Vietnam veterans and research germane to PTSD from other conflicts. S. M. Silver (see record 1983-03626-001) updated Fairbank et al., with 171 since-published articles, reports, and other references. A. Arnold's (1987) bibliograpy contains over 1,000 clinical references, as well as accounts of the Vietnam War. This addendum is an attempt to update the enormous body of PTSD literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Graduate training...in Canada": Comment.

Comments on the original article by Dr. Park O. Davidson (see record 2007-02137-003) on "Graduate training and research funding for clinical psychology in Canada." Davidson has made some excellent recommendations regarding the nature of graduate training and research funding in psychology, and then has negated the effectiveness of such recommendations for social relevancy in community services by ignoring the spectrum of psychological services required and by restricting himself to a rather sterile Eysenckian model. Dr. Davidson's general recommendations regarding graduate training in clinical psychology are sensible and long overdue--less extreme specialization in Ph.D. programs, greater knowledge of problems of applied settings for research, more interdisciplinary training, broader methodology, more effective internship and practicum training, a community psychology program, and more effective bridging research. However when the needed spectrum of services for people is considered, there is an obvious need for psychologists who can share in the assessment and treatment of problems in human functioning beyond the technician level. Manpower needs will never be adequately met until service personnel and University personnel can share in the what, why and how of professional training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biographical evidence and the development of outstanding individuals.

Suggests that biographical sources of information should be drawn on to provide detailed accounts of the long-term progress of intellectual development in individuals. Biographical information can demonstrate the effects of the timing and sequencing of events in a person's life. Advantages of biographical information include: (1) the availability of detailed actual accounts of growth of knowledge, (2) information about relationships between early precocity and mature achievements, (3) information on the effects of family circumstances, (4) the availability of accounts of intensely experienced childhoods, (5) information on the interaction of motivational and intellectual determinants of developmental progress, and (6) information on the phenomena of commitment and specialization early in life. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Final report of the Task Force on Psychology and the Handicapped.

After outlining the activities and achievements of the Task Force on Psychology and the Handicapped from 1979 to 1983, 7 recommendations are made to be carried out by a Committee on Psychology and Handicaps. Recommendations include missions to (1) remove barriers in the field, in education, and in training for the disabled; (2) promote service-delivery models that are responsive to the needs of the handicapped and change environmental hindrances; (3) establish and maintain policies and communication with the governance of the American Psychological Association; and (4) serve as an information resource. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A pattern recognition account of decision making

In the domain of pattern recognition, experiments have shown that perceivers integrate multiple sources of information in an optimal manner. In contrast, other research has been interpreted to mean that decision making is nonoptimal. As an example, Tversky and Kahneman (1983) have shown that subjects commit a conjunction fallacy because they judge it more likely that a fictitious person named Linda is a bank teller and a feminist than just a bank teller. This judgment supposedly violates probability theory, because the probability of two events can never be greater than the probability of either event alone. The present research tests the hypothesis that subjects interpret this judgment task as a pattern recognition task. If this hypothesis is correct, subjects' judgments should be described accurately by the fuzzy logical model of perception (FLMP)--a successful model of pattern recognition. In the first experiment, the Linda task was extended to an expanded factorial design with five vocations and five avocations. The probability ratings were described well by the FLMP and described poorly by a simple probability model. The second experiment included (1) two fictitious people, Linda and Joan, as response alternatives and (2) both ratings and categorization judgments. Although the ratings were accurately described by both the FLMP and an averaging of the sources of information, the categorization judgments were described better by the FLMP. These results reveal important similarities in recognizing patterns and in decision making. Given that the FLMP is an optimal method for combining multiple sources of information, the probability judgments appear to be optimal in the same manner as pattern-recognition judgments.     

Getting meaningful informed consent from older adults: a structured literature review of empirical research

OBJECTIVES: To perform a structured literature review of the published empirical research on informed consent with older adults in order to make recommendations to improve the informed consent process and to highlight areas needing further examination. DESIGN: Relevant literature was identified by searching electronic databases (AGELINE, BIOETHICSLINE, CancerLit, Ethics Index, Health, LegalTrac, MEDLINE, PAIS International, PsycInfo, and Sociofile). Studies were included if they were reports of primary research data about informed consent and, if patients or other subjects were used, older subjects were included in the sample. Data related to the aspect of informed consent under study (recruitment, decision-making capacity, voluntariness, disclosure of information, understanding of information, consent forms, authorization, and policies and procedures) were abstracted and entered into a specially designed database. MEASUREMENTS: Characterization of the population, age of subjects, setting, whether informed consent was being studied in the context of research or treatment, study design, the nature of outcome or dependent variables, independent variables (e.g., experimental conditions in a randomized controlled trial or patient/subject characteristics in a nonrandomized comparison), and results according to the aspect of informed consent under study. RESULTS: A total of 99 articles met all the inclusion criteria and posed 289 unique research questions covering a wide range of aspects of informed consent: recruitment (60); decision making capacity (21); voluntariness (6); disclosure (30); understanding (139); consent forms (7); authorization (11); policies (13); and other (2). In the secondary analyses of numerous studies, diminished understanding of informed consent information was associated with older age and fewer years of education. Older age was also sometimes associated with decreased participation in research. Studies of disclosure of informed consent information suggest strategies to improve understanding and include a variety of novel formats (e.g., simplified, storybook, video) and procedures (e.g., use of health educators, quizzing subjects, multiple disclosure sessions). CONCLUSIONS: A systematic review of the published literature on informed consent reveals evidence for impaired understanding of informed consent information in older subjects and those with less formal education. Effective strategies to improve the understanding of informed consent information should be considered when designing materials, forms, policies, and procedures for obtaining informed consent. Other than empirical research that has investigated disclosure and understanding of informed consent information, little systematic research has examined other aspects of the informed consent process. This deficit should be rectified to ensure that the rights and interests of patients and of human subjects who participate in research are adequately protected.     

Institutional affiliations of contributors to scholarly and professional activities in counseling psychology: 1980–1983.

Used presentations at Division 17 programs of the American Psychological Association conventions, affiliations of authors of articles in the Journal of Counseling Psychology and The Counseling Psychologist, and Division 17 leaders to determine that the University of Maryland (College Park), Ohio State University, and the University of Iowa were the most highly active institutions in counseling psychology over the period 1980–1983. The size of the faculty and faculty rewards and pressures appear to be factors in determining ratings. Counseling psychologists in nonacademic settings are disadvantaged in making research contributions by these factors. Since most current counseling and clinical psychology graduate students are trained to be practitioners, it is suggested that research and professional leadership dimensions should be measured on their value to practitioners. It is further suggested that quality of supervision, knowledge of practitioner skills, and capacity to meet credentialing and/or licensing requirements should be included in evaluating graduate education in counseling psychology. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cancer risk assessment of extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields: a critical review of methodology

This review provides a discussion of cancer risk assessment methodology pertinent to developing a strategy for extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields (EMF). Approaches taken for chemical agents or ionizing radiation in six key topic areas are briefly reviewed, and then those areas are examined from the perspective of EMF, identifying issues to be addressed in developing a risk assessment strategy. The following recommendations are offered: 1) risk assessment should be viewed as an iterative process that informs an overall judgment as to health risk and consists of a complex of related activities incorporating both positive and negative data, tumor and nontumor end points, and human and nonhuman sources of information; 2) a hazard identification resulting in a conclusion of weak or null effects, such as may be associated with EMF, will need to assign significant weight to animal cancer bioassays conducted under defined exposure conditions as well as to human epidemiologic studies; 3) a default factor to account for possible age differences in sensitivity to carcinogenesis should be included in an EMF risk assessment; 4) lack of evidence of dose response and the apparent lack of DNA reactivity of EMF suggest that a safety (or uncertainty) factor or margin of exposure type of risk characterization may be most appropriate; and 5) an EMF risk assessment should permit at least tentative conclusions to be reached as to the limits of carcinogenic risk from exposure to EMF, and should also define an efficient research agenda aimed at clarifying uncertainties appropriate to a more complete assessment.     

Lessons from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC): Toward a new cognitive assessment model.

When the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC; A. S. Kaufman & N. L. Kaufman, 1983a, 1983b) was published just over 10 years ago, it had many unique features, including its information processing model and specific recommendations for educational remediation. Although the test has received much attention because of these characteristics, the K-ABC has also been the subject of much controversy. Through consideration of some of these arguments, lessons that researchers in the field of child assessment may learn from the K-ABC and their implications for future directions are identified. Based in part on lessons from the K-ABC, an alternative assessment model for the evaluation of children with reading problems is proposed at the end of this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Broad and cutting-edge training in applied psychology: A clinical science perspective.

In discussing a clinical science perspective on the Commission on Accreditation's breadth requirements, we believe that rather than focusing on the acquisition of passive knowledge in areas that are beyond applied specialties, training should enhance students' inclination and ability to translate knowledge into clinical applications and research. Moreover, though breadth is important, so too is depth, both in terms of quantity of knowledge within a particular domain and in terms of the ability to think deeply about the material. We believe that flexible, customized training is superior to a one size fits all approach. To achieve and assess competence, ordinary survey courses and exams are not necessary, nor are they sufficient. We end by summarizing our recommendations and discussing their implications for the American Psychological Association's Commission on Accreditation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manfred J. Meier (1929-2006).

Manfred J. Meier, one of the most influential figures in the establishment of clinical neuropsychology as a specialty field, died at age 77 in Mexico on August 27, 2006, after a one-year battle with lung cancer. Manny's college and graduate school studies were completed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a bachelor's degree (1952), a master's degree (1953), and a doctorate (1956)--all in psychology. During his graduate years, his mentors included Charles Bridgeman and Karl U. Smith, but he was also influenced by Harry Harlow, for whom he served as a research assistant in his primate laboratory. Manny's attendance at a 1952 conference where the speakers included Ward Halstead, Donald Hebb, Roger Sperry, and Hans-Lukas Teuber solidified his interest in the emerging field of neuropsychology. During his 36-year career at the University of Minnesota, Manny published more than 70 professional papers, book chapters, and books. He was promoted to associate professor in 1962 and to professor in 1966. At his retirement in 1993, he was named professor emeritus. A committed educator, Manny served as the director of the APA-accredited Psychology Internship Consortium from 1983 to 1993 and as director of a postdoctoral program in clinical neuropsychology from 1985 to 1993. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)