Introduction to the special section: Foreword.

For many years, researchers and practitioners have devoted much of their time and resources to studies of criminals, on treatment and rehabilitation of criminals, and on psychology and the law, with particular focus on criminals and the criminal justice system. It is only very recently that the victims of crime and violence have begun to command the attention and study so long neglected. Where can psychology make its most significant contribution? It is to this question that this special issue is essentially addressed. Psychology can perhaps make its greatest contribution to the victims of crime and violence. The following articles demonstrate this initiative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special series.

The topic of violence spans multiple disciplines and areas of research. Even within a given discipline, violence is an arena in which several specialty areas can be enacted. Within our own field, theory and research from experimental, comparative, physiological, developmental, social, clinical, and other areas of psychology can be brought to bear on the topic in significant ways. The purpose of the present series is to highlight a segment of the larger topic by focusing on violence in the home. The goal is to draw general attention to the area and to convey the relevance to our clinical focus. The present articles illustrate significant areas of research rather than systematically represent the full set of ways in which violence in the home may be manifest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special section on couples and couple therapy.

Introduces the special section on couples and couple therapy, which brings together representative, state-of-the-art contributions from both basic and applied research on couples. Two contributions from the basic research domain attempt to better understand the interactional dynamics of normal marriages; both also have implications for marital and relationship distress. Two articles focus specifically on domestic violence. In the domain of clinical research, there are four articles that examine outcome and change mechanisms, the process of change within emotionally focused couple therapy, predictors of short- and long-term outcome after behavioral or insight-oriented marital therapy, and findings from a research program on preventing marital discord. The section closes with a commentary in which the articles are put into a broader context, and the interaction between basic and applied research is emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section.

Higher education will play an increasingly prominent role in determining a nation's competitiveness in the world marketplace. Just as raw resources were once considered as critical factors for survival in the 20th century, intellectual capacity and technological innovation will provide key ingredients for success in the 21st century. Instruction will make a major contribution to these developments. This article introduces the Special Section on Instruction in Higher Education, a collection of articles addressing issues of concern from the evaluation of teaching to the remediation of student failures. It provides a brief review of the studies and offers a critical analysis of key issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section.

Areas of research are invigorated by new methods, approaches, and theoretical perspectives. The integration of psychological and biological approaches to psychopathology research is a major theme in research at this time. This special section consists of three articles relevant to biopsychological studies of schizophrenia. The first article provides an overview of cognitive dysfunctions in schizophrenia. The second article considers the topic of high-risk group research. The third article deals with a longstanding problem in schizophrenia research—the effects of pharmacotherapy. Pharmacotherapy has important beneficial effects on measures of theoretical interest in psychological studies of schizophrenia, but it may also produce impairments in cognitive processes. The cognitive psychopharmacology of schizophrenia is a topic of both theoretical and methodological relevance in psychopathology research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists as state legislators: Introduction to the special section.

Although many psychologists have engaged in political advocacy on behalf of their patients and their profession, few psychologists consider politics as a career choice. Special sections feature articles by five psychologists who have run for or have served in state legislatures. The authors describes how their training as psychologists has been both a help and a hindrance in legislature. They candidly disclose the satisfactions and frustrations of serving in elected office and being in the public eye. Several themes emerge from their accounts, including making personal sacrifice, dedicating oneself to the community, and having potential impact on society. If psychology is to have a greater opportunity to influence public policy and contribute to the public good, support for professional psychologists who serve as legislators is essential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on personality development.

For years the author has been struck by the oddity of having two separate fields that study personality--one in children and one in adults--with relatively little contact between the two. Those who study adult personality rarely refer to the child disposition literature, for example, and those who study childhood temperament infrequently describe how it unfolds into adult personality. Admittedly, part of the problem is that data that shed a bright light on the transition from childhood to adult personality have been hard to obtain and are scarce. Nonetheless, it is crucial to both developmental psychology and personality psychology for researchers to study transitions and continuities in personality throughout the life course. It is to this end that this special section was created. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on normative assessment.

This article introduces the special section on normative assessment. This special section has three main objectives. First, we provide guidelines and criteria for evaluating normed and standardized assessment instruments. Second, cross-cultural normative assessment is examined. In this context, translation issues influencing norming and test interpretation are highlighted. Our third and final objective is to provide a means of judging appropriate gender-based norms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victims of crime: The roles of psychologists.

The articles that make up this Psychology in the Public Forum section dramatically portray the pervasiveness of criminal activity and the fact that every criminal act produces at least one victim of crime. The articles further document that victims frequently need the aid of mental health professionals. Unfortunately, psychologists, like other mental health professionals, have traditionally been given little, if any, training in how to work with victims of crime and violence. Psychologists, like members of other disciplines, have focused on the criminal to the neglect of the victim. This Psychology in the Public Forum section is an attempt to inform psychologists about activities initiated by the executive and legislative branches of the federal government and by the APA Task Force on the Victims of Crime and Violence. It will have served its purpose if increasing numbers of psychologists turn their attention and skills to the plight of victims. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special section: Comorbidity and treatment implications.

Initiates the special section on comorbidity and treatment implications. The presence of comorbidity is recognized, the multiple meanings of comorbidity are mentioned, and an invitation for much-needed research on comorbidity and related treatment is extended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special section: Single-case research in psychotherapy.

As a method of inquiry, single-case research has been relegated conventionally to the role of discovery or hypothesis generation. New developments in the methodology of intensive single-case designs has extended its applicability to the testing of clinical theoretical constructs and even the identification of causal relations. A series of articles illustrates newer developments in single-case research and its use in addressing a wide range of clinical and research questions. It has often been noted that psychotherapy research has had little influence on clinical practice. Single-case designs are more closely linked to traditional means of clinical inquiry, teaching, and learning than are large-sample studies, and they are likely to have more immediate relevance for how intervention is conducted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section: Providing psychological test feedback to clients.

This article introduces the special section on providing psychological test feedback to clients. This Special Section has three main objectives. First, we will explore the ethical issues involved in discussing test results with clients. Next, we will illustrate the test feedback process with an often complex clinical assessment situation: neuropsychological evaluation. Finally, the process of incorporating test feedback into the treatment context has not been extensively researched and not much is known about whether clients effectively use information they are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The intergenerational transmission of parenting: Introduction to the special section.

Long-standing interest in the intergenerational transmission of parenting has stimulated work focused on child maltreatment, harsh parenting, and warm–supportive rearing. In addition to documenting significant, even if modest, continuity in parenting across generations, research in this area has addressed questions of mediation and moderation. This special section extends work in this general area, with 2 studies further chronicling intergenerational transmission and 3 further illuminating mechanisms through which parenting in 1 generation is repeated in a subsequent generation. Lacking, however, is high-quality work highlighting the conditions under which parenting is not transmitted across generations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory: Introduction to the special section.

This special section includes a set of 5 articles that examine the nature of inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory, using working memory span tasks as the main research tools. These span tasks are different from traditional short-term memory spans (e.g., digit or word span) in that they require participants to maintain some target memory items (e.g., words) while simultaneously performing some other tasks (e.g., reading sentences). In this introduction, a brief discussion of these working memory span tasks and their characteristics is provided first. This is followed by an overview of 2 major theoretic issues that are addressed by the subsequent articles—(a) the factors influencing the inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory performance and (b) the domain generality versus domain specificity of working memory—and also of some important issues that must be kept in mind when readers try to evaluate the claims regarding these 2 theoretical issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Families and HIV/AIDS: Introduction to the special section.

This article provides an introduction and overview of the role of families in preventing and adapting to HIV/AIDS. The unique definition of family in the context of HIV/AIDS is discussed as well as the importance of considering the family as a context for research in this area. Families can be important in deterring the spread of the disease because of their pivotal role in education and training about sexual behavior and health promotion. Families also serve a critical role in helping their HIV-infected members cope with disease. A taxonomy of the problems faced by families is presented. The role of the National Institute of Mental Health's Initiative on Family and HIV/AIDS in supporting and stimulating current and future research is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on motivation and efficacy.

This article summarizes the research articles in this special section on motivation and efficacy. These articles stress the idea that motivation and efficacy are interacting mechanisms in views of educational achievement that include learner, social, and instructional variables. An initial sense of efficacy for performing well can motivate learners to act in ways that enhance performance. As students perceive their progress, their sense of efficacy is validated, which sustains motivation. The articles have been clustered around four themes: attributions, learning strategies, learner characteristics, and teacher efficacy. A suggested future research agenda includes models of achievement, student behaviors, and teaching processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special section: Mental retardation and mental illness.

Historically, the perceived relation between mental illness and mental retardation has undergone substantial changes. During the past 2 centuries, clinical observations and systematic research addressing these 2 constructs have developed along separate lines. Consequently, the pathogenesis and treatment of psychopathology, emotional disorders, and behavior problems experienced by individuals with mental retardation have not been the purview of mainstream clinical psychology. This article initiates a special section on mental retardation and mental illness to provide up-to-date summaries of various key clinical and research issues regarding this population (i.e., individuals with "dual diagnoses"). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual orientation across the life span: Introduction to the special section.

What impact does sexual orientation have on human development over the life span? As questions related to sexual orientation have become increasingly topics of public discussion and debate in recent years, psychological study of the issues has also burgeoned. What was once a new frontier for research has matured into a large, complex, and rapidly growing area of knowledge. Important research is being conducted on many issues, by diverse investigators, from a number of theoretical perspectives, in many parts of the world. The articles in this special section provide only a sampling of current research, but they begin to suggest the vitality and excitement of a field that is coming into its own. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on the structure of emotion.

This section is devoted to articles about the structure of affect, the patterned interrelations of moods and emotions. Structural features of affect, such as a bipolar pleasantness–unpleasantness dimension, a circumplex ordering, prototypical discrete emotions, and separable positive and negative emotion clusters, are discussed. It is proposed that positive and negative affect systems create the conditions for the co-occurrence of discrete positive emotions with each other and of discrete negative emotions with each other. The experience of affect tends to be felt along a bipolar pleasantness–unpleasantness dimension because pleasant emotions and unpleasant emotions tend not to be experienced together at intense levels. To move beyond current knowledge, future research in the area must more often use non-self-report measures, more sophisticated statistical and measurement methods, dynamic as well as static data, systematically varied response formats, and experimental manipulations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on the concept of disorder.

Despite the absence of a consensual definition of disorder, considerable research and clinical work is based on the categorization and diagnosis of mental disorder. This article introduces a special section of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology that expands the debate between J. C. Wakefield (1999), who has proposed a harmful dysfunction analysis of disorder and S. O. Lilienfeld and L. Marino (1995, 1999), who offer an alternative Roschian or prototype analysis. This introduction summarizes the main arguments of Wakefield's target article and eight critiques and discusses the conceptual value of the debate, especially an integration of diverse viewpoints and stimulation to further consideration of this important topic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)