A socially contextualized model of African American identity: Possible selves and school persistence.

Schooling, critical to the transition to adulthood, is particularly problematic for urban and minority youths. To explore predictors of school persistence the authors propose a socially contextualized model of the self. Strategies to attain achievement-related possible selves were differentially predicted for White and Black university students (Study 1, n?=?105). For Whites, individualism, the Protestant work ethic, and "balance" in possible selves predicted generation of more achievement-related strategies. For Blacks, collectivism, ethnic identity, and low endorsement of individualism tended to predict strategy generation. In middle school, performance was predicted by "gendered African American identity schema," particularly for females (Study 2, n?=?146), and the effects of social context appeared gendered (Study 3, n?=?55). Balance in achievement-related possible selves predicted school achievement, especially for African American males (Study 4, n?=?55). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond Aristotle and Galileo: Toward a contextualized psychology of persons.

Psychologists of my generation will recognize the implicit reference in my title immediately: to Kurt Lewin's (1931) classic paper that introduced most of us to the excitement of his ideas when we read it as the initial chapter of A Dynamic Theory of Personality (Lewin, 1935). When Lewin wrote about "The Conflict Between Aristotelian and Galilean Modes of Thought in Contemporary Psychology" over a half a century ago, it was indeed a breath of fresh air. Along with a very few other books and papers, it stands out saliently in my memory as having had a large part in forming my enduring perspective in psychology. It surely played a similar role for many others, by no means just Lewinians. We cannot readily recall its content since we've absorbed it, and built it into the fabric of our thought. I turn back to Lewin's essay because it represents the psysicalist tradition in psychological theory at its best, free of many faults that tainted the behavioristic expressions of positivism. All the same, the hermeneutic and contextualist critique of positivism should leave us dissatisfied with Lewin's version of a Galilean strategy for psychology. In one respect, thus, I am using this occasion for my own "me-too" endorsement of post-positivist theorizing. My second concern here is to focus attention on the need for a culturally and historically contextualized approach in personality theory. Finally, this occasion lets me talk some sense about post-positivist perspectives in psychology. As usual, the conceptual innovators have not been very reasonable. If a contextualized psychology of persons is to be advanced, we need a more plausible version of contextualism than is being argued by the leading polemicists. This is also an effort, therefore, to domesticate a contextualized approach, to accommodate it to its prospective role of defining a new mainstream of theorizing at the softer, more human end of the psychological spectrum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of an adapted interactive writing intervention on kindergarten children's phonological awareness, spelling, and early reading development: A contextualized approach to instruction.

Using a pretest-posttest comparison-group design, this 16-week study investigated the effects of 2 instructional approaches on the phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and early reading of kindergarten children. The primary goal was to compare a form of contextualized instruction based on an adapted interactive writing program with a field-tested program of metalinguistic games. For instructional purposes, the children in each treatment group were divided into small intervention classes, with groupings based on children's common strengths and needs. Each week, these classes met with trained literacy tutors for 4 20-min lessons. Pretest and posttest measures provided data on children's phonological awareness, spelling, and reading development. Statistical analyses of the data indicated no between-groups differences with regard to phonological awareness and spelling achievement. In contrast, results revealed statistically significant differences between the 2 groups on word identification, passage comprehension, and word reading development measures, with the adapted interactive writing group demonstrating greater achievement. These findings verify that the children participating in a contextualized program matched or exceeded the achievement of the children participating in a structured program of metalinguistic games. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic intervention with terminally ill children: A review.

Reviews the literature of psychological treatment strategies used with terminally ill children to provide a framework for psychological intervention in a pediatric setting. Topics discussed include the responsibilities of the professional role, the emotional and developmental impacts of long-term hospitalization, and therapeutic goals—which involve normalization, developing mastery and self-esteem, enhancement of social support, and the provision of information about symptoms, complications, and treatments. Interventions include individual, group, and play therapies, and consulting with other hospital personnel. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syndromal versus contextualized personality assessment: Differentiating environmental and dispositional determinants of boys' aggression.

Two studies examined how "syndromal" approaches to assessment confound differences between individuals in the person and situation variables that contribute to their behavior. In a field study, a widely used instrument was found to be sensitive to the base rates of boys' aggression but, as expected, did not discriminate between boys who were similar in their behavior base rates but different in their social environments and how they responded to them. A laboratory experiment replicated this finding and demonstrated that social observers discriminated between targets on the basis of their functional properties even though syndrome scores did not. The results clarify how syndromal methods can obscure situational factors, conflict with people's social knowledge, and reinforce the view that syndromes exist "in the individual" rather than in person–environment interactions. Implications for developing more contextually sensitive instruments are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Labeling without understanding: A response to Kelly.

The label of sexism by K. R. Kelly (see record 1990-29250-001) is unwarranted. Speculations about research results may need to be more complex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recognition-by-components: A theory of human image understanding.

The perceptual recognition of objects is conceptualized to be a process in which the image of the input is segmented at regions of deep concavity into an arrangement of simple geometric components. The fundamental assumption of the proposed theory, recognition-by-components (RBC), is that a modest set of generalized-cone components, called geons, can be derived from contrasts of five readily detectable properties of edges in a two-dimensional image. The detection of these properties is generally invariant over viewing position and image quality and consequently allows robust object perception when the image is projected from a novel viewpoint or is degraded. RBC thus provides a principled account of the heretofore undecided relation between the classic principles of perceptual organization and pattern recognition. The results from experiments on the perception of briefly presented pictures by human observers provide empirical support for the theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pursuing an evidence-based culture through contextualized feedback: Aligning youth outcomes and practices.

How can contextualized feedback on therapy practices and youth outcomes promote an evidence-based culture for adolescent mental health? Relative to other quality improvement tools, feedback and progress monitoring systems are generally underutilized. This article describes a feedback system collaboratively developed by the Hawai'i Department of Health Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division and private agency staff contracted to provide mental health services to youth. Feedback reports allow providers to monitor progress of their youth clients, compare their progress with youth receiving similar services, examine the extent they are using practices derived from evidence-based protocols, and compare these practice profiles to what other youth are receiving. Providers gather to discuss reports, share success stories, and offer suggestions to improve practices and outcomes based on data from the reports. The provider feedback system in Hawai'i has emphasized youth outcomes and has promoted an “evidence-based culture.” This article encourages direct providers and supervisors to consider how such a system might fit in their current practice and whether contextualized feedback might be one way to enhance services and outcomes for youth with mental health needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thorough informed consent: A developing clinical intervention with suicidal clients.

In this article, I provide commentary on the Rudd et al. (2009) article advocating thorough informed consent with suicidal clients. I examine the Rudd et al. recommendations in light of their previous empirical-research and clinical-practice articles on suicidality, and from the perspective of clinical practice with suicidal clients in university counseling center settings. I conclude that thorough informed consent is a clinical intervention that is still in preliminary stages of development, necessitating empirical research and clinical training before actual implementation as an ethical clinical intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical intervention trials: the ACE unit

The loss of independent self-care by older patients during hospitalization for an acute illness can be modified by specific interventions. Acute care geriatric units appear to be the most effective intervention, but geriatric consultation on specific units, comprehensive discharge planning, and nutritional support also appear to have beneficial effects on clinical outcomes of hospitalization. These studies highlight the potential of geriatricians, in the setting of interdisciplinary care, to improve the process of patient care and to serve as directors of medical units that focus on management of acutely ill older patients.     

Internalized homophobia and relationship quality among lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals.

The authors examined the associations between internalized homophobia, outness, community connectedness, depressive symptoms, and relationship quality among a diverse community sample of 396 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. Structural equation models showed that internalized homophobia was associated with greater relationship problems both generally and among coupled participants independent of outness and community connectedness. Depressive symptoms mediated the association between internalized homophobia and relationship problems. This study improves present understandings of the association between internalized homophobia and relationship quality by distinguishing between the effects of the core construct of internalized homophobia and its correlates and outcomes. The findings are useful for counselors interested in interventions and treatment approaches to help LGB individuals cope with internalized homophobia and relationship problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A path of understanding for psychology.

Proposes the path for understanding human existence developed by M. Merleau-Ponty (1962, 1963, 1964, 1968) as a replacement for the paths historically employed by psychology. Descartes established the agenda for modernistic philosophy when he proposed that the task of philosophy is to provide a foundation on which assurances of certain truth can be built. Modernist philosophers diverged, following the paths of sensation (empiricism) and of reason (rationalism). Postmodernists argue that Descartes's agenda was misguided and that there is no foundation for certain knowledge. They set upon the path of language which led them to the dismissal of the human S. Merleau-Ponty explored the path of the lived body in which thought and extension are intertwined, and along which is located the human S in its temporality and embodiment. The path of embodiment is held to be a more fruitful path than the path of language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term family intervention: A therapy outcome study.

Attempted to modify the destructive communication patterns of delinquent families by systematically shaping in behaviors characteristic of adaptive family systems (increased reciprocity, greater activity, and increased clarity). Based on direct observation of family interaction in a discussion task with 20 teenage delinquents and their families, results indicate a significant change in the 4 interaction measures, while 2 indexes of questionnaire agreement remained unchanged. Use of a rigorous experimental design that controlled for pretest sensitization, maturation, and nonspecific professional attention demonstrated that these changes did not occur as a function of extraneous variables. The need for rigorous process research regarding the characteristics of specific target populations coupled with equally sound outcome research that can then evaluate change within these populations is emphasized by the results. (35 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crisis intervention: A review of outcome research.

Critically evaluates crisis intervention studies conducted (a) in community suicide prevention/crisis intervention programs, (b) in psychiatric settings, and (c) with surgical patients. In the 1st area, the impracticality of suicide as an outcome measure and the need for shifting evaluation emphasis from crisis worker performance to client behavior change measures is stressed. Also, the virtual impossibility of demonstrating overall program impact on the community and the need for developing overall program evaluation procedures is noted. Other criticisms are made as follows: Studies in psychiatric settings suffer from considerable methodological shortcomings that prohibit definitive conclusions; studies operationally specifying treatment components are greatly needed here. Studies with surgery patients indicate the necessity for developing intervention techniques most appropriate for individuals differing in their typical manner of dealing with stress. In all settings, outcome measures should be appropriate to the situation and logically related to the goals of intervention. (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical workstations: identifying clinical requirements and understanding clinical information

A preliminary exploration of the problem of defining and meeting users' needs, this paper draws the bulk of its content from experiences in the PEN&PAD project in the UK. This program has been researching and developing prototype clinical workstations for direct use in patient care by health care professionals, chiefly doctors. Focusing more on general issues rather than the specific functional requirements embodied in the PEN&PAD prototypes, the paper begins with a brief summary of the goals of PEN&PAD and then outlines the three main axes of the work: user-centred design, medical concept and medical record models, and user interfaces and architectures. The remainder of the paper then concentrates on the first of these topics--working with users to define functional requirements.     

Metrics and mappings: A framework for understanding real-world quantitative estimation.

Estimation is influenced by a variety of processes: application of heuristics, domain-specific reasoning, and intuitive statistical induction among them. In this article, the authors propose the metrics and mapping framework to account for how these processes are integrated to generate estimates. This framework identifies 2 types of information as critical: knowledge of distributional properties (metric knowledge) and knowledge of relative status of individual entities within the distribution (mapping knowledge). Heuristics and domain-specific knowledge are both viewed as cues that contribute to mapping knowledge; intuitive statistical induction is viewed as providing cues to metric properties. Results of 4 experiments illustrate the framework's usefulness for integrating these types of information and for predicting when people emphasize heuristics and when they emphasize domain-specific knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Synesthesia: A new approach to understanding the development of perception.

In this article, the authors introduce a new theoretical framework for understanding intersensory development. Their approach is based upon insights gained from adults who experience synesthesia, in whom sensory stimuli induce extra cross-modal or intramodal percepts. Synesthesia appears to represent one way that typical developmental mechanisms can play out by magnifying connections present in early life that are pruned and/or inhibited during development but persist in muted form in all adults. As such, the study of synesthesia provides valuable insights into the nature of intersensory development. The authors review evidence on the perceptual reality and neural basis of synesthesia, then summarize developmental models and evidence that its underlying mechanisms are universal in adults. They illustrate how evidence for consistent sensory associations in adults leads to predictions about toddlers' perception and present 3 bodies of work that have confirmed those hypotheses. They end by describing novel hypotheses about intersensory development that arise from this framework. Such intersensory associations appear to reflect intrinsic sensory cortical organization that influences the development of perception and of language and that may constrain the learning of environmentally based associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crisis intervention with children.

Proposes an alternative approach to crisis intervention in response to that described by D. Dallas (see record 1979-09745-001) for the case of a patricide. The alternative centers on the need for community psychologists (1) to demonstrate caution and humility, (2) to specify and assess their services, (3) to respect and take advantage of the competencies and healing powers already existing within a community, and (4) to weigh in advance the possible detrimental impact and potential benefits of their interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A naturalistic study of children's social understanding.

Examined developmental aspects of social understanding in 3 related contexts: a one-to-one interview, a real-life activity group, and related group discussions. 24 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, homogeneous with respect to level of reflective social understanding (as expressed in the interview), were assigned to each of 4 small activity groups. Each group met for 12 consecutive school weeks in adult-supervised after-school cooperative group activities and discussions about group functioning. Discussions from each group meeting were coded for instances of verbally expressed communicative competencies. Results suggest a relation between level of social understanding, reflectively expressed, and frequency of competent communications expressed in the course of the group discussions. Ss' strategies for task-related negotiations were also coded. The number of developmentally advanced strategies was significantly lower for the group of young Ss with low-level reflective social understanding as compared to the other 3 groups. Results are discussed in the context of problems associated with assessing developmental levels of social understanding in natural settings. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blushing: A modified behavioral intervention using paradoxical intention.

A case history is presented of a 27-yr-old male for whom blushing had become a significant problem. He was successfully treated over a 7-session period primarily by paradoxical intention therapy. Other treatment reports on therapies for blushing are called for, and paradoxical intention is recommended as an effective treatment. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)