The coming age of telecommunications in psychological research and practice.

Rapid and far-reaching technological advances are revolutionizing the ways in which people relate, communicate, and live their daily lives. Technologies that were hardly used a few years ago, such as the Internet, e-mail, and video teleconferencing, are becoming familiar methods for modern communication. Telecommunications will continue to evolve quickly, spawning telehealth applications for research and the provision of clinical care in communities, university settings, clinics, and medical facilities. The impact on psychology will be significant. This article examines the application of developing technologies as they relate to psychology and discusses implications for professional research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The implications of pager use for the therapeutic relationship in independent practice.

Therapist accessibility by pagers raises many questions regarding between-session and within-session calls. What are the main purposes of pagers in clinical settings, and what are the rationales for their use? The authors explored the parameters established by clinicians regarding pagers and how these expectations were communicated to patients. The degree of interference the clinician allows in the therapy session when paged is pivotal because of the potentially distancing, distracting, and enervating effect this may have on the relationship. The implications for the therapist's private life and his or her significance in the patient's life are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contextual therapeutic relationship: Ecological considerations in psychotherapy research and practice.

While the psychotherapeutic relationship has been assumed to be relatively free from external influence, we suggest that the therapeutic alliance develops within a larger environment, much of which is beyond the control of client and therapist. The reticence of practitioners and researchers to recognize and explore ecological issues is likely related to therapeutic tasks that are necessary for insight-oriented treatments (e.g., developing a therapeutic setting that protects clients from the intrusion of outside influences). Two sources of ecological disruption are discussed, managed care and psychotherapy research, and an illustrative case example of ecological disruption within a psychotherapy research setting is presented. We suggest that addressing ecological disruptions in the context of the therapeutic relationship may facilitate the establishment and maintenance of a positive therapeutic alliance. By doing so, the therapist can integrate the demands of the external world into the therapeutic relationship, thereby increasing the meaningfulness of interpersonal interventions and easing discussions about therapeutic alliance ruptures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validating the confluence model.

Some studies that claimed to have tested the confluence model concluded the model invalid and the data unreliable. The present paper shows these "tests" to be inappropriate because, among other things, they substitute simple linear regression equations for quite different nonlinear equations of the confluence model. The disparity between the amount of variance accounted for when aggregate and individual data are compared is explained by the failure to consider parental intellectual levels when individual data are analyzed. A review of empirical evidence on the effects of family configuration factors on intellectual performance scores reveals a consistent pattern of results supporting the assumptions and predictions of the confluence model. With one exception, all studies show performance scores to decline with family size for sibships larger than one. The pattern of these effects remains the same even when SES is held constant. As predicted by the confluence model, birth order effects are found to be age dependent, with children younger than 13 yrs showing no birth order effects. Older children's intellectual performance scores are found to be influenced negatively by birth order. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist's most creative years.

According to 2 sources (Flügel and Hulin), the peak production rate of a psychologist is between the ages of 35-39. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A therapeutic community: Theory and practice.

Describes a therapeutic community approach to psychotherapy in a large group practice of over 275 clients and 15 therapists. The 3 treatment modalities of individual therapy, ongoing group therapy, and periodic marathons, supplemented by family therapy, marital therapy, and by special groups and workshops, form an integrated instrument for change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some implications of psychotherapy research for therapeutic practice.

Implications for practice and research are drawn from a survey of psychotherapy research findings, condensed into 6 broad conclusions: (1) psychotherapy causes clients to become better or worse adjusted than controls; (2) control Ss improve with time as a result of informal therapeutic encounters; (3) therapeutic progress varies with therapist warmth, empathy, adjustment, and experience; (4) client-centered therapy is the only interview-oriented method that has been validated by research; (5) traditional therapies are seriously limited in effectiveness and are relevant for a small minority of disturbances; and (6) behavior therapies have considerable promise for enhancing therapeutic effectiveness and should be utilized or experimented with more widely. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and nurture of creative talent.

"Creativity… is a process extended in time and characterized by originality, adaptiveness, and realization." Except for mathematicians "where there is a low positive correlation between intelligence and the level of creativeness, we have found within our creative samples essentially zero relationship between the two variables." A research study of the characteristics and background of creative architects is extensively discussed. Implications of the nature of creative talent for the nurturing of it in school and college through the processes of education are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The value and meaning of creative leisure.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the construct of creative leisure and explore its implications for both the fields of creativity and leisure. The relationship between the constructs of creativity and leisure has yet to be considered directly, and these fields indeed overlap in significant and important ways. When one has the perception of freedom and the intrinsic desire, creates for the sake of creating, and perceives this to be creative, this is creative leisure. Research and theory that relates to creative leisure is identified. The author proposes why creative leisure should be examined and poses future research questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The therapeutic personality in the therapeutic community.

Identified personality characteristics associated with the rated ability of various types of mental hospital support personnel to interact in a therapeutically beneficial manner with patients. The Gordon Personal Profile, the Gordon Personal Inventory, the Work Environment Preference Schedule, and an experimental mental health aptitude test were administered to the female support personnel in 6 state hospitals (N = 257). Ss judged by peers to be the more effective were inclined to take their responsibilities seriously, to be emotionally stable, to be cautious, to have trust and confidence in other people, to be nonbureaucratic in their work orientation, and to be aware of the therapeutically preferred procedures for handling patients. Few significant relationships were found with the supervisory ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The confluence model's good predictions of mental age beg the question.

Empirical support of the confluence model (R. B. Zajonc; see record 1983-25674-001), when based on the model's ability to predict observed MA, is shown to be logically invalid. The model's ability to predict MA is a mathematical artifact whose precise character is demonstrated formally. The artifact stems from the model's inclusion of CA as one of its parameters. There is a built-in correlation between CA and MA. That correlation is shown to be a function of the age bounds of a sample (M. C. Outhit, 1933). (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does sex matter? The confluence of gender and transference in analytic space.

What is the role of gender in transference? This article outlines some aspects of gender and gender construction that may potentially affect analytic space. Relational and classical notions of intersubjective, intrapsychic, and the analytic third are explored for ways in which they both converge and diverge and shed light on the reciprocal interplay between gender and transference. A clinical vignette illustrates theoretical considerations, highlighting the jointly created elements of gender-linked transferential configurations within a female-female dyad. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The second annual creative talent awards program in psychology.

The program evaluates "dissertations of doctoral candidates on the basis of originality and creativity, indicative of the author's promise of an eminent contribution to the science of psychology." The winners were Karl E. Weick, who received $1000 and Michael I. Posner and David J. Reynolds, who received $500 each. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of creative thinking in resilience after hurricane Katrina.

This study hypothesized that creative thinking can help predict the process of resilience, manifested as subjective well-being despite exposure to adversity, either directly or with moderation of personality and demographic variables. Eighty survivors of hurricane Katrina who have lost their homes were asked to respond to measures of creative thinking, perception of adversity, well-being, a short personality inventory, and a demographic questionnaire. Supplementary qualitative exploration of 17 participants’ experiences augmented understanding within contextual framework. Findings suggest that originality and flexibility are significant predictors of well-being when personality traits and demographic variables are taken into account. Specifically, originality was found to be a significant predictor for extroversion, which was a significant predictor of life satisfaction measure. In addition, flexibility and originality were significant predictors of clinical stress and life satisfaction for the African American participants but not for the European American participants; originality and flexibility were also significant predictors of resilience for participants reporting greater income disparity. Triangulation of interviews with these findings further supports the notion that manifestations of creative thinking as resilience are likely moderated by SES, culture and social structure, and might be masked under condition of social privilege and prevalence of resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Soviet psychology's coming of age.

In the continuing development of Soviet psychology, a 1968 decree provides for the awarding of advanced degrees in the psychological sciences, thus recognizing psychology as a science in its own right. A full translation of this historically significant decree is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

冶金工程专业培养高素质创新人才的探索与实践

冶金工业作为国家的基础原材料工业,在国民经济中有着十分重要的作用.2004年,我国的钢产量达2.72亿吨,连续9年钢产量居世界第一,预计2005年钢产量将超过3亿吨,是名副其实的钢铁大国.创新人才培养是高校深化教育教学改革的选择,是落实中共中央、国务院关于全面推进素质教育的决定的一项重要举措.冶金工程专业在教学改革的不断深化过程中,我们认真组织全院师生员工,学习江泽民同志关于教育和创新问题的重要论述,学习教育部关于开展大学生文化素质教育的系列文件,以观念的转变为先导,大胆进行教育创新,努力培养高素质的适应21世纪钢铁工业发展的冶金工程专业应用型人才.