Psychology, religion, and the family: It's time for a revival.

Comments on the articles by A. Mahoney et al (see record 2001-05578-002), B. H. Fiese and T. J. Tomcho (see record 2001-05578-003), K. T. Sullivan (see record 2001-05578-004), and D. L. Flor and N. Flanagan Knapp (see record 2001-05578-005). Despite some occasional efforts to link psychology, religion, and the family, psychological research has largely ignored the topic. Three fundamental psychological questions about the role of religion in the family are raised. The publication of the 4 studies in this issue represents a watershed in this area, and these articles provide a model for future research. However, several pitfalls in this area of research are identified. These pitfalls are primarily due to the complexity of religion and heterogeneity associated with it. Four research directions are then recommended. It is concluded that this area is ripe for a research revival. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehabilitation Psychology, Medical Psychology, Health Psychology, and Behavioral Medicine.

In their recent article, "The Distinctiveness of Rehabilitation Psychology," Shontz and Wright (see record 1981-26520-001) attempt to differentiate rehabilitation psychology from other areas of applied and professional psychology in health settings. Although the authors' historical recounting of early research and theory in rehabilitation psychology is informative, too little emphasis is placed on the relationship between rehabilitation psychology and "mainstream" professional psychology, particularly with regard to its health-setting applications. There appear to be more similarities than differences. The authors' argument runs full circle, namely, that rehabilitation psychology is distinct because of its philosophy, but its philosophy and "principles are valuable to psychologists in many specialties" (p. 919). The notion of involving a patient in his/her care and treatment planning also is not unique to rehabilitation psychology. Shontz and Wright state that rehabilitation psychology is not medical psychology; however, instead of defining medical psychology, they go on to talk about medical care. Medical care is not medical psychology. Further confusion is added by the statement that medical psychology should be a component of rehabilitation psychology. The authors are using medical psychology, health psychology, and behavioral medicine as if they are synonymous, when they are not. Each discipline is made distinct here. Shontz and Wright do not address what the majority of psychologists in rehabilitation do, that is, provide services. In short, although the authors complain about the unfamiliarity of rehabilitation psychology relative to the profession as a whole, their article does little to promote rehabilitation psychology as an area of interest important to professional psychologists in health care and/or rehabilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health Psychology: The time is now.

Based on his presidential address delivered to the Division of Health Psychology in 1980, the author (1) reviews factors responsible for the current state of issues affecting health and illness; (2) assesses the future of health research, clinical application, training, and employment opportunities; and (3) discusses 3 modulator issues that may determine effectiveness and capacity to meet the future health challenges. Three major themes emerge that are affecting health issues: Costs are out of control; chronic illness has become the greatest concern; and the development of consumerism and self-management strategies are affecting health care. The author discusses commitment, ethics, and the concept of the health model as they affect health psychology. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, psychiatry, and legislation.

'The APA Committee on Relations with Psychiatry and the Psychiatric Committee on Relations with Psychology held a joint meeting on January 22 and 23 for the purpose of clarifying the earlier proposal for a joint agreement, on some legislative and other matters, between the two APA's… Each committee produced a statement." The two statements are incorporated as the main portions of this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotropics, Consultation, and Psychology.

The status of psychology in national health insurance is clouded in the minds of some Washington planners because the independent practice of psychology is identified with fee-for-service payment mechanisms, active treatment is identified with drug therapy rather than psychotherapy, and planners are unfamiliar with the nature and the scope of the practice of psychologists. Also, some feel that psychology is not equivalent in practice to psychiatry because psychologists are not integrated into the medical community and because psychologists do not prescribe drugs. These criticisms seem unfounded, since physicians and psychologists have regular consultations and psychologists see many patients who have previously been treated with psychotropic medications. Further, clinical experience indicates frequent therapeutic success by reducing or discontinuing medication rather than placing patients on psychotropics. Accordingly, a questionnaire was sent to the 87 members of the Cleveland Academy of Consulting Psychologists (CACP), requesting information concerning the prescribing of psychotropics and records of interprofessional consultations. The results are provided here. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, population, and reproductive behavior.

This special section on international perspectives in psychology focuses on population issues and reproductive behavior across national and cultural boundaries, emphasizing the responsibility of psychologists and colleagues in related disciplines to generate and communicate culturally mindful findings likely to shape public health policy and improve human well-being. After considering the historical and policy context, it highlights internationally collaborative research projects in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Mexico, and the United States that address reproductive behavior, women's roles and status, responsible parenthood, and abortion legislation in terms of cultural context, gender equity, the needs of adolescents, and public health policy. The articles illustrate the importance of the cultural context within which psychological research is conducted and how psychology can be informed by international perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, technology, and professional service.

The author discusses his career in relation to an observed shift in the philosophical basis of scientific psychology from logical positivism toward realism, a shift that seems to supply a logical basis for integrating the data from scientific, technological, and professional efforts. Psychology as a technology is illustrated by reference to the author's involvement in the development of the technology of training, and the proper content of training for the practice of psychology is considered. It is suggested that psychology has broadened its scope as a science, a technology, and a practice insofar as psychologists have recognized that a human event, like any other natural event, is determined by the simultaneous action of many factors at various levels. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, research, and social policy.

Contends that although it is important and timely for psychologists to be concerned with the interface between psychological research and social policy, academic and research psychologists may encounter problems in relating or adapting their research to matters of policy. For some researchers, there are few problems because their focus of research has both theoretical and policy relevance (e.g., those exploring the scientific question at hand with relevant populations or in policy-connected settings). However, it is suggested that the larger group of behavioral scientists are engaged in research that is more removed from immediate practicality or policy relatedness. It is argued that the ideal solution is not to promote the wholesale conversion of research scientists to redirect their scientific inquiry so that it deals directly with issues of policy. Rather, suggestions are tendered for the melding of policy concerns into research that maintains its relevance to the discipline and to issues of psychological theory or practice while touching also on issues of relevance to social policy. A classification model of social scientists involved with policy is included. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, religion, and world loyalty.

This article provides a critical commentary on Slife and Reber’s (2009) article, “Is There a Pervasive Implicit Bias Against Theism in Psychology?” Drawing on A.N. Whitehead’s (1926/2005, 1928/1985) process philosophy, I challenge the bifurcation between naturalism and theism and suggest that religion is better conceived as world loyalty than as supernaturalism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, law, and the expert witness.

Stresses for the psychologist called on for expert testimony stem from (1) the general nature of court procedure and (2) the "special stresses which inhere in the present position of psychologists as experts and their uncertain status relative to physicians… . The general responsibility of psychologists to society entails efforts to bring legal practice into line with facts derived from the scientific investigation of behavior—normal, criminal, and insane. These efforts should be direct and continuous." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, attitude shifts, and prison growth.

Comments on the article by C. Haney and P. Zimbardo (see record 1998-04417-001) regarding shifts in criminal justice and correctional policies in the past 25 yrs. The author discusses the shift from environmental situations to current person-centered, trait-fixated paradigms related to criminal justice. The author believes that, to be effective, psychologists should apply what is known about behavior change at the individual level while examining prison environments and testing them against rational alternatives. Furthermore, psychologists should not apply research and intervention skills only to vulnerable institutions and their residences and staff; they must also examine current policies that may actually contribute to collective harm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narratology, Cultural Psychology, and Counseling Research.

Narratological research is defined in relation to narrative theory and a cultural psychology perspective. Narrative concepts and methodology are explained, including the configural mode of understanding and principles of narrative analysis. Examples of application in psychological and counseling research are presented, with a discussion of issues of validity and voice. Suggestions are made on how narrative studies are to be evaluated. It is concluded that narratological research, with its focus on meanings and the storied nature of human life, can be especially useful in discovery research on identity development and the experience of counseling and life transitions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, ideology, utopia, and the commons.

Argues that the failure of social scientists to seriously question their own ideological and methodological assumptions contributes to the complex interrelationship between global ecological and individual psychological problems. Much of the literature (e.g., G. Hardin, 1968) on the tragedy of the commons focuses on saving the global commons through increased centralization and regulation, at the expense of the individual's autonomy and psychological sense of community. It is suggested that utopian speculation in general and anarchist political analysis in particular are necessary correctives to misplaced attempts to rearrange the elements of the status quo rather than to alter it in a direction more in keeping with both survival and human dignity. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology in prisons, 1952.

An analysis of the results of a questionnaire sent to 60 psychologists known to be operating in adult correctional institutions in terms of training, supervision, job requirements, salaries, work activities, evaluation methods, etc. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health Care, National Health Insurance, and Psychology.

The role of psychologists as health care providers and the parameters of reimbursement for health care services are timely and controversial issues. A landmark decision was reached in this controversy in the 1980 appeal of a Virginia suit by clinical psychologists in which the court ruled that Blue Shield's refusal to directly reimburse psychologists was a violation of antitrust law. Thus, the requirement that psychologists bill through physicians was not upheld. In recent years a specific aspect of this controversy involved psychologists' roles in potential national health insurance programs. A limited study (appearing in the "National Register of Health Services Providers in Psychology" 1976-1978) of clinical psychologists' attitudes toward national health insurance suggests that Congress and psychologists may have disparate views. In addition to favoring national health insurance, over 85% of psychologists surveyed responded that consumers would benefit from such a program with mental health coverage. Only 16% agreed that such a program would constitute a subsidy of the rich by the poor (Albee, 1977). Several areas of conflicting or confusing responses in this study may reflect legitimate reasons for concern by Congress regarding institution of national health insurance. Belief that providers would benefit from mental health coverage in a national health insurance program was shared by 80% of respondents. Ninety-five percent of respondents identified the inclusion or exclusion of clinical psychologists in such a national health insurance as affecting the future of the profession. Curiously, over 50% of respondents agreed that primary care physicians should be reimbursed for mental health services, although such physicians have received no formal training in psychological services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spirituality, Health, and the Discipline of Psychology.

Replies to comments by D. J. McCormick (see record 2004-10043-013), L. J. Richmond (see record 2004-10043-014), C. A. Rayburn (see record 2004-10043-015), and F. J. Kier and D. S. Davenport (see record 2004-10043-016) on the special section on spirituality, religion, and health in the January 2003 issue of American Psychologist (2003, Vol 58, 24-74). Each of the comments is addressed in turn. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relational aggression, gender, and peer acceptance: Invariance across culture, stability over time, and concordance among informants.

It has been proposed that overt physical and verbal aggression are more prevalent among boys and that covert aggression in the context of interpersonal relationships is more typical of girls. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend American research on this topic to Italy. Italian elementary school pupils (n?=?314) and their teachers provided nominations for aggression and prosocial behavior on 2 occasions within a single school year. Both peer and teacher nominations were highly stable, though there was very poor concordance between them. Peer nominations for both overt and relational aggression were linked to peer rejection. Contrary to expectations, boys scored higher than girls in both overt and relational aggression. Nevertheless, on the basis of the gender composition of extreme groups, the authors conclude that the distinction between overt and relational aggression is as useful in facilitating research on aggressiveness among girls in Italy as it is in the United States. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, mental health, and the public interest.

Discusses existing similarities and differences in the situations of practitioners and academicians. Professional associations have increasingly offered the practitioner the career and status supports that academic settings have offered their faculties. Whereas tenure supports academic freedom, guarantees of third-party reimbursement support professional freedom. Both obviously establish financial security. Despite the seemingly self-serving quest of the practitioner for professional autonomy, he or she has functioned no more according to the principle of self-interest than has the academician who has accepted and supported the precept to "publish or perish." If the major constraints on the functioning of both groups were significantly altered, mental health problems might be addressed more coherently and collaboratively. This would require renunciation of the unequivocal commitment to publishing, on the one hand, and realization of genuine professional autonomy, on the other. Substantive issues might then more often replace concerns with status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and Health: Research, Practice, and Policy.

Since World War II, American psychology's role in health care has significantly expanded. This was formally recognized in 2001 when the membership of the American Psychological Association (APA) approved a bylaw change in its mission statement to include the word health. An accumulating body of research demonstrates and recent reviews conclude that psychological factors are primary in health and in illnesses. This article proposes a vision of psychology that endorses a bio-psycho-socio-cultural model of health research and interventions. The author provides 4 definitions of health, reviews selected psychology health research and interventions, summarizes APA's recent health-related activities, and presents 5 policy recommendations for consideration and debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)