Replacing "who is the client?" with a different ethical question.

The familiar question, "Who is the client?" has become a distraction from more important ethical questions. By requiring a singular answer, the question obscures the fact that psychologists have ethical obligations toward every party in a case, no matter how many or how named. Making the question plural is not a sufficient solution, because identifying the client(s) should not be treated as an end in itself; it is simply a means of clarifying the nature of the relationship(s) and understanding the accompanying ethical obligations. After exploring the underlying implications for informed consent, confidentiality, and other ethical duties, the author suggests that psychologists adopt an alternative ethical question: "What are my ethical responsibilities to each of the parties in this case?" Finally, a case example illustrates the fact that the old question has several different meanings (and therefore different answers), depending upon whether it is asked as an ethical, clinical, legal, or reimbursement question. The proposed new question avoids such confusion because it is easily identifiable as an ethical question and its meaning is clear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative usefulness of three forms of the Mini-Mult with college students.

Administered the standard MMPI to 121 undergraduates. Later, Ss completed an oral question form, a written question form, and a written statement form of the Mini-Mult. Correlations between the standard MMPI and the Form M Mini-Mult (scored directly from standard MMPI answer sheets) ranged from .76-.94. Correlations between the standard MMPI and those of the 3 Mini-Mults administered ranged for .50-.88 for the oral form, .46-.88 for the written question form, and .58-.91 for the written statement form. Data from the comparison of individual profiles indicate that, while correlations were higher with the written statement form, the individual analyses provided mixed results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The artful dodger: Answering the wrong question the right way.

What happens when speakers try to “dodge” a question they would rather not answer by answering a different question? In 4 studies, we show that listeners can fail to detect dodges when speakers answer similar—but objectively incorrect—questions (the “artful dodge”), a detection failure that goes hand-in-hand with a failure to rate dodgers more negatively. We propose that dodges go undetected because listeners' attention is not usually directed toward a goal of dodge detection (i.e., Is this person answering the question?) but rather toward a goal of social evaluation (i.e., Do I like this person?). Listeners were not blind to all dodge attempts, however. Dodge detection increased when listeners' attention was diverted from social goals toward determining the relevance of the speaker's answers (Study 1), when speakers answered a question egregiously dissimilar to the one asked (Study 2), and when listeners' attention was directed to the question asked by keeping it visible during speakers' answers (Study 4). We also examined the interpersonal consequences of dodge attempts: When listeners were guided to detect dodges, they rated speakers more negatively (Study 2), and listeners rated speakers who answered a similar question in a fluent manner more positively than speakers who answered the actual question but disfluently (Study 3). These results add to the literatures on both Gricean conversational norms and goal-directed attention. We discuss the practical implications of our findings in the contexts of interpersonal communication and public debates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Answering questions with an electroencephalogram-based brain-computer interface

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate that humans can learn to control selected electroencephalographic components and use that control to answer simple questions. METHODS: Four adults (one with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) learned to use electroencephalogram (EEG) mu rhythm (8 to 12Hz) or beta rhythm (18 to 25Hz) activity over sensorimotor cortex to control vertical cursor movement to targets at the top or bottom edge of a video screen. In subsequent sessions, the targets were replaced with the words YES and NO, and individuals used the cursor to answer spoken YES/NO questions from single- or multiple-topic question sets. They confirmed their answers through the response verification (RV) procedure, in which the word positions were switched and the question was answered again. RESULTS: For 5 consecutive sessions after initial question training, individuals were asked an average of 4.0 to 4.6 questions per minute; 64% to 87% of their answers were confirmed by the RV procedure and 93% to 99% of these answers were correct. Performances for single- and multiple-topic question sets did not differ significantly. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that (1) EEG-based cursor control can be used to answer simple questions with a high degree of accuracy, (2) attention to auditory queries and formulation of answers does not interfere with EEG-based cursor control, (3) question complexity (at least as represented by single versus multiple-topic question sets) does not noticeably affect performance, and (4) the RV procedure improves accuracy as expected. Several options for increasing the speed of communication appear promising. An EEG-based brain-computer interface could provide a new communication and control modality for people with severe motor disabilities.     

An anecdotal example of ambiguity because of grammatical form.

Describes a question contained in an examination for graduate students in information science. The question used the word "transmitted." The absence of any explicit mention of the receiver (of the transmitted information) in the question created an unintended ambiguity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance subsequent learning.

Taking tests enhances learning. But what happens when one cannot answer a test question—does an unsuccessful retrieval attempt impede future learning or enhance it? The authors examined this question using materials that ensured that retrieval attempts would be unsuccessful. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were asked fictional general-knowledge questions (e.g., “What peace treaty ended the Calumet War?”). In Experiments 3–6, participants were shown a cue word (e.g., whale) and were asked to guess a weak associate (e.g., mammal); the rare trials on which participants guessed the correct response were excluded from the analyses. In the test condition, participants attempted to answer the question before being shown the answer; in the read-only condition, the question and answer were presented together. Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhanced learning with both types of materials. These results demonstrate that retrieval attempts enhance future learning; they also suggest that taking challenging tests—instead of avoiding errors—may be one key to effective learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Question asking: To know that you do not know is not enough.

Effects of prior knowledge on question asking were examined. Fifth graders with little or much prior knowledge had to indicate the meaning of a set of words. Pupils could (a) not ask a question, (b) ask a global question, or (c) ask a specific question. In Study 1, prior knowledge significantly affected the number of questions asked and the pragmatic significance of the questions. In Study 2, selection was contrasted with production of questions. Pupils with little prior knowledge asked fewer specific questions and more global questions in production. The pragmatic significance of the questions was lower for all pupils in production. The pupils' questions were found wanting in information-gathering and communicative qualities. In Study 2, asking for "provisional answers" in advance of question asking strongly stimulated question asking. It presumably enhances commitment, stimulates monitoring, and alleviates social constraints in asking questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stages of question answering.

The process of question answering includes numerous stages. Stage analysis oversimplifies the processes of question answering in some respects. In spite of this, considerable progress in the understanding of question answering processes has been facilitated by stage analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reuniting the psychic couple in analytic training and practice: A candidate's experience.

In the course of training at a comparative psychoanalytic institute, the author fixed upon a technical question: how to find optimal psychological distance from her patients. She struggled to integrate the diverse perspectives that the literature provided on this question. She also became aware of a conflictual phantasy of a polarizing internal mother and father that underlay her interest in the question. A dream about her work with a control patient eventually allowed her, with the aid of both supervisor and personal analyst, to work through the phantasy, and to bring her internal "psychic couple" into creative contact with one another. As a result, her capacity to analyze her patient increased. The author concludes that when supervisors and seminar leaders (in addition to the candidate's analyst) make themselves available to unconscious aspects of a candidate's learning process, institutes provide a more spacious container for psychoanalytic development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Straight talk about cognitive assessment and diversity.

Examines the issues surrounding alternative assessments for culturally diverse groups. The issues discussed include: (1) the criteria that distinguish alternative assessment from traditional assessment are considerably blurred; (2) the question of whether alternative assessments are more appropriate than traditional cognitive ability assessments. The author also discusses the "real" question behind these issues: to what extent can school psychology place confidence in the expectation that social problems have measurement solutions? The term "straight talk" is also defined in this article and used to articulate what is known surrounding the use of traditional and alternative cognitive assessments with culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fruits of Our Labors: Comment.

Comments on the question of publication of books of readings which are compilations of articles from the scholarly journals bearing on some problem or topic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a counselor verbal response category.

Developed a counselor response category system for measuring counselor verbal behavior by incorporating components from 11 existing systems, refining the categories after use, and having experts match examples to the definitions. The resulting system had 17 mutually exclusive categories, which had at least minimal face and content validity. In rating 3,866 counselor response units from 12 personal/emotional intake sessions, the category system resulted in high agreement levels between 3 judges. An analysis of the agreement levels for individual categories led to a revised 14-category system: minimal encourager, approval-reassurance, information, direct guidance, closed question, open question, restatement, reflection, nonverbal referent, interpretation, confrontation, self-disclosure, silence, and other. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Where leading questions can lead: The power of conjecture in social interaction.

Postulated 2 distinct processes through which leading questions may mislead people. When a questioner asks a leading question of a respondent, observers may use their knowledge of conversational rules to infer that the questioner had an evidentiary basis for the question. Hence, observers will treat the question as conjectural evidence for the view of the respondent implied by the question. Observers who listen to respondents answer leading questions may be misled because, in an effort to cooperate with the questioner, respondents may supply behavioral evidence that misrepresents their actual personalities. To test these hypotheses, 2 experiments (344 undergraduates) were conducted in which Ss listened to tape-recorded interviews. Questioners in these interviews asked respondents a series of leading questions that probed for evidence of either intro- or extraversion. Exp I showed that it did not matter whether Ss had access to the conjectural evidence in the interviewer's questions, the behavioral evidence in respondent's answers, or both. In each case, Ss inferred that the respondent possessed the characteristics for which the questioner had probed. Exp II showed that when the evidentiary basis of the conjectures was undermined by informing Ss that the leading questions had been drawn from a fishbowl, Ss ignored conjectural evidence but still used behavioral evidence. The discussion considers the processes through which conjectures may create their own cognitive and behavioral reality. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The idea of history in psychoanalysis: Freud and the "Wolf-Man."

Discusses the question of history in psychoanalysis. The advocates of narrative (e.g., R. Schafer, 1983) question whether there is a history in the positivist sense, whereas the followers of Kohut (e.g., A. Ornstein, 1983) want to revive the idea that patients suffer from real past events. Through a close reading of Freud's (1918) "Wolf-Man," the author elaborates the conflicts and contradictions in the psychoanalytic attempt to establish a history. The way Freud complicates the idea of history in the "Wolf-Man" is an example of the psychoanalytic willingness to stay in the ambiguous area between fact and fiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Note on the Seriousness of Psychology to Psychologists: A Semiserious Commentary.

This paper is an attempt to raise the question, Do psychologists take themselves seriously? It should be understood that the author himself is only partly serious (serious coefficient of .46). The question will be approached in what is certainly an unfair manner. The author suggests that the question can be answered by looking at what psychologists do in their own life--at home and at the university psychology department. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The organization of behavioral values during late adolescence: Change and stability across two eras.

Comparison of value responses of 67 undergraduates in 1969 with similar data gathered from 60 undergraduates in 1975 showed that the relative frequency of achievement as opposed to interpersonal morality responses to an open-ended question concerning pride significantly increased over time. While responses to a question dealing with shame did not yield a significant change pattern, the shame items did elicit more interpersonal morality than achievement completions. It is concluded that achievement and interpersonal morality may be conceptualized as 2 stable value domains, with the former based largely on pride and the latter on shame. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lacan, transference and the place of the criminal subject.

Addresses the issue of transference from a Lacanian perspective and discusses the implications which transference has in working with criminal clients. The article begins by briefly discussing the constitution of Lacanian subjectivity which includes a discussion of J. Lacan's (1977, 1981, 1982, and 1990) concepts of the imaginary and symbolic orders. The idea of transference is then situated between the play of the imaginary and symbolic orders which constantly asks the question, what does the Other want. This question is especially important in the therapeutic work with criminal Ss, and reveals certain countertransference possibilities which when left unexplored, can greatly threaten the success of the treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociation and the question of history: "What, precisely, are the facts?"

In the wake of interest in the issue of the knowability of history and the rise of clinical and theoretical interest in dissociation, contemporary psychoanalysis continues to struggle with the basic question of what exactly constitutes a "fact" in the psychoanalytic process. This article considers this difficulty in light of the interpenetration of these two issues--dissociation and the question of history. A brief review of the prevailing alternative viewpoints on dissociation reveals how the question of history--the traditional controversy between narrativist and positivist views--re-emerges from it. This is further born out through a rereading of S. Freud's (1918/1955) most famous case of clinical dissociation, the "Wolf-Man" case, in which, as R. May (1990) showed in his critical analysis, the knowability of history emerged as the central problem. An alternative epistemological point of view on the problem of history is then presented that sheds light on the nature of a "fact" in psychoanalysis. This view enables a relational research paradigm for the empirical investigation of the psychoanalytic process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moral of her story: Exploring the philosophical and religious commitments in Mary Whiton Calkins' self-psychology.

Over the course of 3 decades, from the turn of the century to the late 1920s, Mary Whiton Calkins articulated and defended a system of self-psychology that held that psychology as a field should be organized as the science of selves. Calkins' system was far from popular at the time, which leads one to question why she persisted in dedicating herself to the cause of defending it. Previous research has sought answers to this question through examination of Calkins' experience as a faculty member at Wellesley College. In this article it is additionally argued that Calkins was not prepared to abandon her system of self-psychology because it was intricately connected to her ideas about ethics and morality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)