Effects of media on picturing by children and adults.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 21(3) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2008-10969-001). The reference to Copple, Cocking, and Waxman on pages 667 and 672 is incorrectly cited as 1968. The correct date is 1980.] Examined the hypothesis that adults and children have media-specific conceptions of picturing and that the functional uses of photography and drawing differ across development. 30 preschoolers (aged 4.0–5.6 yrs), 30 schoolchildren (aged 6.6–10.0 yrs), and 30 adults (aged 17–63 yrs) responded to either a photographic or drawing task. In each task, Ss were asked to talk aloud about what they were doing or thinking as they produced their pictures. The results show a progression with age from viewing photography as only reflecting the real object (preschoolers), to viewing it as a medium that allows for control and alteration of reality (school age children and adults). For drawing, all age groups displayed knowledge of the ability to control aspects of their productions. Symbolic performance is thus as closely linked to the S's experience in the use of a medium as to the age of the S. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remission: An experiential account.

In a highly subjective and experiential account, the author describes the ways in which she dealt with the diagnosis of terminal cancer, chemotherapy, and remission and offers observations of dealing with her illness in her clinical practice as well as in her personal life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creative teams: an experiential activity

BACKGROUND: Staff development educators in a Department of Education & Development were seeking a creative activity to reinforce the qualities of effective teams. METHOD: Staff development educators developed an experiential activity that provides an opportunity to observe team behaviors by introducing several glitches into a goal-oriented team project. Later, observed team behaviors were explored with the group. RESULTS: The activity allowed participants to practice collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills while functioning as a team. CONCLUSION: This activity, which is easily adaptable to any audience, creatively integrates the principles of adult learning to provide participants with an opportunity to discuss and practice behaviors necessary for teamwork in the current health care settings.     

Dream recall and dream recall failure: An arousal-retrieval model.

Proposes an arousal/retrieval model to account for difficulties in sleep learning and dream recall. The model is based on 2-stage memory theory, which assumes that information processing in a short-term memory store facilitates subsequent retrieval from long-term memory storage. It is proposed that the effectiveness of processing of target material is impaired during sleep. Thus, dreams and information contained in stimulus presentations to a sleeping person very likely can only be retrieved if an awakening occurs during the life of the short-term memory trace. It is further proposed that experiences occurring during or shortly after awakening compete with the target material for space in the limited-capacity processing system, with the most salient of the set favored in the competition. Interference and repression effects are assumed as additional factors in retrieval from long-term storage. (11/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narrative, yes: Narrative ad infinitum, nop.

Comments on G. S. Howard's (see record 1991-17124-001) assertion that all human thought is storytelling. Howard failed to define narrative and to distinguish between narrating, narrative, and that which is narrated (the latter originating in cognitive processes that may not take narrative form). Simple exposure cannot be posited as the sole mechanism for the acquisition of narrative thinking; if some sort of story faculty is implied, it is still necessary to specify the role of the story environment. Howard advocates matching patients and therapists according to similarity of their narratives; however, the substitution of semantic or thematic similarity for salience in any number of demographic or psychological variables as ascertained through interviews or standardized tests may not be easily accomplished, even if it were reasonable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Holotropic breathwork: An experiential approach to psychotherapy.

Investigated the relationship between the use of Holotropic Breathwork and therapeutic changes in levels of distress associated with self-identified problems, death anxiety, self-esteem, and sense of affiliation with others. Two groups of 24 Ss (aged 22–50 yrs) were compared using a repeated measures design. One group participated in a combination of experientially oriented psychotherapy plus 6 monthly session of Holotropic Breath work (Breath work Group); the 2nd group participated only in experientially oriented psychotherapy (Therapy Group). Dependent measures were the Death Anxiety Scale, the Abasement and Affiliation subscales of the Personality Research Form-E, and a questionnaire regarding self-identified problems. The Breathwork Group showed significant reductions in death anxiety and increase in self-esteem compared to the Therapy Group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic blindness: A behavioral and experiential analysis.

This research examined the influence of visual information on a decision task that subjects were administered during hypnotically suggested blindness. Real, hypnotizable subjects and simulating, unhypnotizable subjects were tested in two experiments. Experiment 1 focused on behavioral responses, and Experiment 2 focused on experiential reactions. In both experiments, the findings indicated that the behavioral responses of reals were influenced by visual information despite their reported blindness. The behavioral responses of reals and simulators were essentially similar. The experiential data in Experiment 2 provided information about the phenomenal nature of subjects' reported blindness. The experiential reactions of reals and simulators were essentially different. The research is discussed in terms of the issues that need to be considered in the development of a model of hypnotic blindness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training in experiential therapy.

Literature on training in the core facilitative conditions is reviewed to highlight issues that have emerged from this research tradition. A reconceptualization of the way in which empathic responding is conceptualized is called for, and suggestions are made about features that need to be addressed in empathy training. Four methods of training therapists (didactic, skill training, experiential, and personal growth) are examined, and a combination of these methods is proposed as the best means of training experiential therapists. Current developments in manualization and adherence measurement in experiential approaches are reviewed. The advantages of context-sensitive, process diagnostic manuals are discussed. These manuals specify not only what the therapist does but also when and in what sequence interventions are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Termination of experiential therapy.

In this article, a set of principles governing termination in experiential therapy are laid out. These involve viewing the client as an agent, viewing change as a process, dealing with separation and loss, empowering the client, consolidating meanings, predicting relapse, tapering of sessions, and offering the possibility of a future relationship. Case examples are given. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression in college students: Personality and experiential factors.

In this study we examined the nature of college-student depression and its relation to personality variables and to experiences unique to college life. Thirty-five depressed and 39 nondepressed students completed a depression inventory, a series of personality scales, and a survey developed to investigate the impact of potentially distressing components of college life. Results revealed that college-student depression, though mild in intensity, represents a serious problem: Three quarters of depressed students had been depressed for more than 3 months, and half had contemplated suicide. Both personality characteristics and experiential variables were found to be significantly related to depression, together accounting for approximately half the variance. We examined individual personality traits and experiential variables that were found to differ between depressed and nondepressed subjects, and we discuss the implications of the findings for counseling and for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

State-trait measure of experiential guilt.

Developed the Perceived Guilt Index, a self-report measure, to meet the need for a situational measure of guilt. 2 scales which assess guilt as an affective state of the person at the moment (G-State) and as a generalized self-concept (G-Trait) were formed from initial studies with 300 undergraduates. Comprised of 11 adjectives empirically weighted to represent relatively evenly distributed intensity points along a guilt continuum and chosen because of their common semantic structure, the Perceived Guilt Index represents an attempt to quantify common verbal labels used to communicate the intensity of emotional relations to guilt. Construct validity studies were performed with 93 undergraduates and strong support was found for the theory underlying the development of the instrument. Implications pertaining to future research with the Perceived Guilt Index are discussed. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social consequences of experiential openness.

Openness to Experience is one of the 5 broad factors that subsume most personality traits. Openness is usually considered an intrapsychic dimension, defined in terms of characteristics of consciousness. However, different ways of approaching and processing experience lead to different value systems that exercise a profound effect on social interaction. In this article, the author reviews the effects of Openness vs Closedness in cultural innovation, political ideology, social attitudes, marital choice, and interpersonal relations. The construct of Openness and its measures could profitably be incorporated into research conducted by social psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and historians. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial recall versus recall by categories in short-term memory.

C. G. Penney (1980) reported that serial recall of a list containing both auditorily and visually presented verbal items produced a lower level of recall than did separate recall of auditory and visual items. This finding was interpreted as support for the hypothesis that auditory and visual items are processed in separate streams in short-term memory, and that it is difficult to integrate these 2 streams into 1 sequence for rehearsal. The present study tested an alternate interpretation of the earlier results, the hypothesis that retention of order information is facilitated by S's being able to organize the list into 2 short sequences rather than 1 long sequence. Three experiments (72 university students) were carried out in which spatial location or category of stimulus material (letters or digits) was used to establish 2 types of items. Total recall from a list did not differ significantly between the serial and category recall conditions. Results rule out the organizational interpretation of the bisensory experiment and, therefore, provide indirect support for the separate streams hypothesis. (French abstract) (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Person-centred counselling: An experiential approach.

Reviews the book, Person-centered counselling: An experiential approach by David Rennie (1998). In this book, David Rennie gives priority to the working alliance between counsellor and client, and he outlines various ways in which that alliance can be enhanced. This work began as a training guide, which was eventually expanded to include reflections on the way others have approached central issues in the counselling experience. Rennie draws on a range of theorists such as Carl Rogers and Eugene Gendlen, and makes clear his agreements and disagreements with their positions. In some preliminary chapters, Rennie addresses general issues in counselling before embarking on ideas about counselling itself. He emphasizes, in the Rogerian tradition, the importance of empathy for what clients are feeling as they enter the somewhat unusual context of counselling. The remaining chapters are devoted to the therapeutic craft, including such topics as how to listen to clients, the counsellor's reactions to the client's account of his or her experience, openness and transparency in the relationship with the client, identifying process issues, metacommunication, and the working alliance. This book is a refreshing alternative for practitioners and for students students learning the art of therapeutic intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word recall in schizophrenia: a connectionist model

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined word recall of patients with schizophrenia by using an experimental paradigm generated from connectionist models of memory. METHOD: Schizophrenic patients and normal comparison subjects first studied and then recalled a list of 32 words of equal difficulty. Both the connectivity (associative strength) and the network size (number of associates) of the words varied in such a way that the list contained equal proportions of four types of words: 1) high connectivity-small network size, 2) low connectivity-small network size, 3) high connectivity-large network size, and 4) low connectivity-large network size. RESULTS: The schizophrenic patients recalled fewer words and showed a particularly pronounced effect of the connectivity of the to-be-remembered words. For the patients, regardless of network size, recall improved substantially for words of high connectivity and declined dramatically for words of low connectivity. By contrast, the comparison subjects showed the expected effects, with the best recall for words of high connectivity-small network size, followed by words of low connectivity-small network size, then by words of high connectivity-large network size, and finally by words of low connectivity-large network size. CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenia may be characterized by faulty modulation of associative links within a putative lexicon that is thought to be widely distributed across frontal and temporal lobes.     

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: The effect of concurrent task performance.

In 3 experiments, participants saw lists of 16 words for free recall with or without a 6-digit immediate serial recall (ISR) task after each word. Free recall was performed under standard visual silent and spoken-aloud conditions (Experiment 1), overt rehearsal conditions (Experiment 2), and fixed rehearsal conditions (Experiment 3). The authors found that in each experiment, there was no effect of ISR on the magnitude of the recency effect, but interleaved ISR disrupted free recall of those words that would otherwise be rehearsed. The authors conclude that ISR and recency cannot both be outputs from a unitary limited-capacity short-term memory store and discuss the possibility that the process of rehearsal may be common to both tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Growth effects of experiential movement psychotherapy.

Examined growth effects promoted by experiential movement psychotherapy, a therapeutic approach integrating felt-movement, imagery, and thought through a single unified process. Pre/post measures obtained from 2 experimental groups (volunteer participants in experiential movement psychotherapy groups) were compared with pre/post measures obtained from 2 control groups (a ballet class and a waiting-list control group drawn from the same population as the experimental groups). Evidence of significant change attributable to experiential movement psychotherapy is presented with respect to 6 measures of degree of self-actualization (inner-directedness, existentiality, feeling reactivity, spontaneity, self-acceptance, and capacity for intimate contact) as measured by the Personal Orientation Inventory, and on physical body-self acceptance as assessed by the Body-Cathexis Scale. Preliminary findings relative to a measure of individual expressive movement range—the Dosamantes-Alperson Expressive Movement Scale—are described. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irrelevant sound disrupts order information in free recall as in serial recall

The claim that the sensitivity of free recall to disruption by irrelevant sound is a function of the extent to which rote rehearsal is employed as a mnemonic strategy was investigated in two experiments. The degree of disruption by irrelevant sound in terms of both item and order information was contrasted under serial and free recall instructions. Irrelevant sound was found to disrupt order and item information equally in serial and free recall tasks (Experiment 1). Contrary to previous reports, an effect of irrelevant sound was also demonstrated on free recall of particularly long lists, and the interaction between list length and retention interval in the irrelevant sound effect was examined (Experiment 2). Generally, the results support the view that irrelevant sound disrupts the use of order cues.     

"Effects of media on picturing by children and adults": Correction to Seidman and Beilin.

Reports an error in "Effects of media on picturing by children and adults" by Susan Seidman and Harry Beilin (Developmental Psychology, 1984[Jul], Vol 20[4], 667-672). The reference to Copple, Cocking, and Waxman on pages 667 and 672 is incorrectly cited as 1968. The correct date is 1980. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1984-25563-001.) Examined the hypothesis that adults and children have media-specific conceptions of picturing and that the functional uses of photography and drawing differ across development. 30 preschoolers (aged 4.0-5.6 yrs), 30 schoolchildren (aged 6.6-10.0 yrs), and 30 adults (aged 17-63 yrs) responded to either a photographic or drawing task. In each task, Ss were asked to talk aloud about what they were doing or thinking as they produced their pictures. The results show a progression with age from viewing photography as only reflecting the real object (preschoolers), to viewing it as a medium that allows for control and alteration of reality (school age children and adults). For drawing, all age groups displayed knowledge of the ability to control aspects of their productions. Symbolic performance is thus as closely linked to the S's experience in the use of a medium as to the age of the S. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of dreaming recall: An EEG study.

11 recallers and 11 nonrecallers of dreams were compared with respect to several characteristics of their rapid eye movement (REM) periods during sleep. Continuous recordings of REMs and EEGs were obtained for 2 consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep for each S. The records were scored to yield measures of total dream time (TDT) and rate of eye movements during REM periods. Recallers had significantly higher TDT than nonrecallers. However, contrary to prediction, nonrecallers had a significantly higher rate of REMs during dreaming than recallers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)