Distinguished Scientific Awards for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology: Steven Pinker.

The Early Career Awards recognize the large number of excellent young psychologists. Recipients of this award may not have held a PhD for more than eight years. For 1984, Steven Pinker is recognized for distinguished work from both cerebral hemispheres. Using imaginative methods, he has studied the representation of three-dimensional space in visual imagery and the distribution of attention over that space. In language acquisition he has formulated explicit theories motivated by language universals and by the best established facts of language development. His book, Language learnability and language development, is a landmark in a challenging branch of psychological science. In addition to the citation, a biography and bibliography of Pinker's works are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Brain, environment and social psychology.

Reviews the book, Brain, Environment and Social Psychology by J. K. Chadwick-Jones, I.I. Lenzer, J. A. Darley and K. A. Hill (1979). The best chapter in this book is James Darley's on ethology and animal behaviour. This chapter provides a clear exposition of basic ethological concepts, and some excellent examples of how ethology differs from comparative psychology, and some excellent examples of the interaction of hereditary and environmental factors in the control of animal behaviour. Other relatively strong chapters include Irmingard Lenzer's chapter on human neuropsychology and Kenneth Hill's chapters on social perception and communication in children. The weakest chapters in the book are those by Chadwick-Jones on methods in social psychology (Chapter 5), and language and social behaviour (Chapter 6). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not a page-turner, but a very intellectually-challenging book.

Reviews the book, How the mind works by S. Pinker (1998). How the mind works provides an excellent example of what I consider a very good, thought-provoking scientific book. It is true that I often put the book down, sometimes for long periods. But during those down times I still continued to read, in the sense described earlier. That is, I continued to consider the thoughts and issues raised by Pinker, often discussing them with colleagues, in an attempt to decide for myself where I stood on the issues. I found that I agreed with some of Pinker's views while disagreeing with others. However, I will not recount my opinions here, because I expect a different reader would have very different opinions for the reasons described above. Instead, I will highlight the characteristics of Pinker's book that make it such a non-page-turner. In my view, the strengths of the book are rooted in three characteristics: (a) the perspective, (b) the subject matter, and (c) the writing style. The combination of interesting and relevant issues, an engaging writing style, and a strong stance on every issue make the book very challenging intellectually. I was not comfortable moving on to some new issue before I had formed an opinion on the previous one. Often this required me to talk with colleagues and at the end of the title. Perhaps it would not reflect the extend the debate beyond the book and into the faculty conviction with which Pinker holds his opinions, but it lounge. At other times it pushed me to simply take some would better reflect the challenge to readers to form their time to reflect on the issues. Perhaps the highest accolade own opinions. that can be given to a scientific book is that it forces one to think and form opinions. How the mind works is clearly deserving of that accolade. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Five therapists and one client.

Reviews the book, Five therapists and one client by Raymond J. Corsini (see record 1993-97589-000). To address the question of how the course of therapy would differ depending on the therapist's basic orientation, Corsini created a fictitious client with relatively minor but persistent problems. Therapists from five major systems of psychotherapy were chosen to write very specifically about how they would treat this client. The five systems include Adlerian, person-centered, rationale-emotive, behavioral, and eclectic. The book is divided into six chapters with one chapter for each of the five systems and an introductory chapter in which the problems of the client are given. This is an informative book for professionals, students, and those who are simply interested in the process of psychotherapy and human growth. The book provides very practical, basic information about the therapeutic process from five different perspectives as well as deeper theoretical insight into these respective approaches. Even the sophisticated reader will find much of value in Corsini's book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of psychopathy.

Reviews the book, Handbook of psychopathy edited by Christopher J. Patrick (2007). This book aims to address these new developments. The book includes 31 chapters from leading researchers in the field. Chapters are organised into six sections, although the final one consists solely of a summary commentary by Patrick. Overall, this book provides a comprehensive review of the divergent research areas that have surfaced in the decades following the advent of the PCL-R and, as such, it promises to be an important reference for years to come. Some chapters are well suited for graduate courses in psychology (e.g., those reviewing theoretical perspectives and applied topics), criminology (e.g., Farrington's chapter), psychiatry (e.g., Minzenberg and Siever's chapter), and neuroscience (i.e., those reviewing neurobiological findings), and some will undoubtedly serve as important starting points for future research (e.g., chapters on etiological mechanisms), both in terms of delineating potentially fruitful lines of enquiry and important methodological limitations to overcome. However, this text is primarily of academic interest, with chapters mainly authored by researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A quarter century of normalization and social role valorization: Evolution and impact.

Reviews the book, A quarter century of normalization and social role valorization: Evolution and impact edited by Robert J. Flynn and Raymond A. Lemay (see record 2001-00115-000). The appearance of this new book by Flynn and Lemay presents a timely opportunity to reassess the status and value of the concepts of normalization and social valorization as they pertain to people with developmental, psychiatric, and intellectual impairments. The book consists of an introduction and 29 chapters organized into seven parts: historical evolution of the concepts (4 chapters), critical perspectives (4 chapters), links with social science theory and research (5 chapters), dissemination through training and education (3 chapters), international impact (9 chapters), personal impact (3 chapters), and the future (1 chapter). This organization holds together reasonably well. As might be expected, the chapters vary in both precision of writing and robustness of content. This book has value at many levels. Most immediately, it provides a useful historical overview and summary of concepts that have had an impact on human services in the latter half of the past century. At an intermediate level, it stimulates thinking about conceptual research issues that have immense relevance to psychology generally and to the enhancement of life opportunities for marginalized citizens. At a deeper level, the debates and discussions prompt serious thought about the fundamental forces driving social policy and about the ways in which humans relate to each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Méthodes de recherche en psychologie.

Reviews the book, Méthodes de recherche en psychologie (2000). The intention, the invoice and the type of language utilized in the method of research in psychology are very pedagogic. This is a handbook of teaching. The 15 chapters have an imposing structure: Setting in situation, Introduction, Headings of the chapter, Summary, Exercises, Specialized bibliography. At the end of the book, a Glossary takes again some principal terms and concepts. The level of the treatment, in general, corresponds to the first university cycle in psychology, just like in the comparable works of Robert (1988) and Bouchard and Cyr (1998). The student who picks up this book will come into contact with many interesting questions about the human sciences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Les concepts fondamentaux de la psychologie sociale.

Reviews the book, Les concepts fondamentaux de la psychologie sociale by Gustave-Nicolas Fischer (2010). This work is intended as an introduction to social psychology and will be a welcome contribution to the field. It consists of eight chapters presenting various concepts of social psychology, each of which is covered with a level of detail that is appropriate for a text aimed at undergraduate university students. Certainly this text will help meet the need for French-language works in social psychology. Overall, the work is quite successful in achieving its objective, presented in the Foreword, namely to provide readers with a better knowledge of the psychosocial processes at work in the world in which they live. This work, divided into eight chapters, presents the key concepts of social psychology. Definitions, approaches and concepts are clearly stated. Sometimes a critical analysis of a theme is offered, other times not. Few practical applications and examples from everyday life are included. The author does, however, provide a wrap-up question at the end of each chapter, and also a list of supplementary readings. The overall quality of the work is very good and it is well suited to the target population. One weakness, though, is the lack of references to recent studies and texts, the latest being from 2004. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Evolutionary and neurocognitive approaches to aesthetics, creativity and the arts.

Reviews the book, Evolutionary and neurocognitive approaches to aesthetics, creativity and the arts, edited by Colin Martindate, Paul Locher, and Vladimir M. Petrov (see record 2007-00414-000). This book follows in the line of Jungian, Humanistic, and Existential theories in proclaiming that the arts are essentially connected to human nature in a meaningful way. Like May, many of the chapter authors agree that the arts have a purpose beyond mere amusement, entertainment, or stress relief. With Freud, they also agree that the arts emerged through the evolutionary process, but they disagree that this was merely a useful by-product of natural selection. Rather, the arts are innately connected to human survival and development. The approach in this book is very distinct from the methods of Freud, Jung, and May. The chapter authors use quantitative research, genetic research, and electroencephalographic (EEG) studies to examine the purpose of the arts, aesthetics, and creativity. Although their results often feel much blander than the mythical interpretations of Jung and May, they continue to provide important empirical support for the utility and need for the arts using more contemporary methods. Many of the chapters in this book provide important insights into the creativity process. Some chapters provide more understanding than utility, which is a major weakness of the book. It would have been helpful to have some of the chapters make more direct connections to the practical utility and meaning of the research presented or reviewed. However, in the end, this book provides a wealth of information from many different perspectives and, as a whole, provides a significant contribution to the psychological and scientific literature on creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The sociogenesis of language and human conduct.

Reviews the book, The sociogenesis of language and human conduct edited by Bruce Bain. It is no mean task to set forth in a few paragraphs what it is that Bain has attempted to do in preparing this book, and to assess the extent to which he has been successful. A glance at the number of pages will provide an initial clue to the problem; this is an omnibus consisting of thirty-two separate essays and a poetic epilogue. To borrow Professor Bain's own words, it is "a multidisciplinary book of readings addressed to various aspects of the theme that the genesis--the origins and development--of language and human conduct are to be found in the practical or social relations between people...an attempt to accelerate the process of adopting an integrative approach to the study of language by focusing on a general position which has already played a significant role in this process, namely sociogenesis." This is a lengthy book and I suspect that it could have been edited down to a more manageable size. The chapters need not be read in any given order--I found that the editor's attempt to structure them under four headings was not particularly successful. In spite of these reservations, and a plethora of typographical errors as well as the odd dismal chapter, the book is an exciting one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive science: Making the whole different from the sum of its parts.

Reviews the book, From models to modules: Studies in cognitive science from the McGill workshops edited by I. Gopnik and M. Gopnik (1986). This book is only moderately successful in conveying the exciting advances that are beginning to appear as a result of the interdisciplinary efforts in cognitive science. The book's emphasis on language processes and linguistics will seriously limit its potential readership, although there are some contributions from outside that domain. Moreover, many of the chapters were not prepared with a general audience in mind, and to appreciate a number of the chapters fully the reader must have a strong linguistic background. A more severe problem is that the chapters are based on a series of workshops held at McGill University in 1982 and 1983. The sad consequences are that (a) the book is badly out of date (few references are more recent than 1983), (b) most of the contributions were not original but were based on ideas and results that were or were about to be in print at the time the workshops were held, and (c) many of the chapters are so short that they do not provide adequate depth of coverage. At this late date, the value of the book may be as a summary of a few of the early issues and methodologies that have captured the attention of cognitive scientists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Drugs and behavior: An introduction to behavioral pharmacology.

Reviews the book, Drugs and behavior: An introduction to behavioral pharmacology by William A. McKim (1986). This book effectively describes in 14 chapters the diverse aspects of behavioural pharmacology. The structure of the chapters ensures that a continuity of basic principles in behavioural pharmacology will emerge, and the reader will be able to understand the behavioural consequences of drugs with respect to their physiology and pharmacology in each chapter. This book covers the material well, and in my opinion its greatest strength is its readability. The author produced a book that will not only give undergraduate and graduate students a solid foundation in behavioural pharmacology, but will also provide an enjoyable reading experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Language functions and brain organization.

Reviews the book, Language functions and brain organization edited by Sidney J. Segalowitz (1983). This volume attempts an up-to-date summary of our knowledge of brain/language relationships by 24 distinguished researchers in the field (six of them Canadian). The four parts deal with "the general concept of language as a mental organ or a mental complex," "the brain base for language," developmental aspects, and hemispheric lateralization. For each part, the editor has written a brief introduction, which is followed by three or four chapters. The book as a whole presents a delightful though somewhat idiosyncratic selection of topics, loosely focused on the general theme of brain and language. Systematic coverage is not attempted, nor is it likely to be gained from an edited book with its inevitable problems of unevenness in style, differences in approach, and overlap in content. The editor seems to have given at least some of his authors free rein to write about their topic of specialization, and they do it well. It is fun to pick and choose chapters of interest, but I would not recommend front-to-back reading in the expectation of a textbook introduction to the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Les troubles liés aux événements traumatiques: Dépistage, évaluation et traitements.

Reviews the book, Les troubles liés aux événements traumatiques: Dépistage, évaluation et traitements by Stéphane Guay and André Marchand (2006). By the variety and the depth of the fields which it covers, there is no doubt that this volume will prove to be the reference work of choice of French language as regards knowledge on PTSD. This collection, under the direction of Stéphane Guay and André Marchand, made state of current knowledge on the post-traumatic state of stress (PTSD) and gathers the collaboration of various specialists in mental health all connected by their work in the field in of PTSD. It acts of the first work of this style, as much in the French language that English, which makes it possible to gather in a whole current knowledge on various aspects of the phenomenon of the psychological trauma while bringing a critical and exhaustive analysis there. Moreover, contrary to other works on the subject, particularly of English language, this one does not limit itself simply to a specific group of victims of the disorder of PTSD. By the diversity of its contents, this volume will be able to meet the needs for a variety of people as much university clinicians, researchers, professors and students like interesting speakers on the subject or working near the traumatic victims of events. This work gathers 14 chapters written in the form of critical reviews of the writings. The reader will appreciate at the same time the uniformity between the chapters in the presentation, the form and the style of writing and the absence of redundancy in the contents from one chapter to another in spite of the sometimes similar fields. The chapters are comprised of clearly identified sub-sections. Each chapter finishes by proposing therapeutic aims or recommendations and by suggesting tracks of future research. Like any review, each chapter is accompanied by a list by bibliographical references. The whole of the work is written in an open language and accessible which allows to the reader various levels of expertises to easily include/understand the concepts and the notions which are exposed there, and this by maintaining rigorously the character's scientific base of contents. The clearness and the concision of information are also accentuated by many tables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Occupational health psychology.

Reviews the book, Occupational health psychology edited by Stavroula Leka and Jonathon Houdmont (see record 2010-10988-000). Leka and Houdmont describe their book as the first textbook devoted to occupational health psychology intended for undergraduate instruction in the field. Leka and Houdmont have chosen an interesting strategy in creating an edited textbook with individual chapters written by established experts in the field. In doing so, they have in many cases gotten “the best” people in a particular area to write chapters in their area of expertise. Despite their reliance on multiple authors, the editors have maintained a consistent style throughout the volume—each chapter begins with a chapter outline and ends with a chapter summary. Textboxes throughout are used to highlight individuals prominent in the field (e.g., Tom Cox) or to highlight applications and research issues and to provide definitions of key terms. I would expect that students will appreciate such pedagogical features in addition to the depth of expertise that underlies each chapter. Although not divided into sections, one can intuit a structure to the book that begins with a broad perspective on occupational health psychology and then progressively adopts a narrower focus. When I first heard of this book, I was pleased at the prospect of being able to assign a single textbook that would offer a survey of occupational health psychology. Although the authors met their explicit goal of covering the core education curriculum defined by the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology, I am not convinced that they have produced a “stand-alone” text that provides an adequate coverage of the field. In particular, issues of workplace safety are strikingly absent from the text. Personally, I would feel the need to supplement this text with specific readings on issues of occupational safety and occupational disease in order to cover the major topics that comprise the field of occupational health psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Cambridge handbook of literacy.

Reviews the book, The Cambridge handbook of literacy by David R. Olsen and Nancy Torrance (see record 2009-03310-000). This handbook sets out to examine literacy in its widest sense; to examine both the visual signs for linguistic forms, and the social and personal uses of these signs, from the mundane to the literary, both historically and currently. It aims to address a gap that it identifies in the literature: the lack of an authoritative text on literacy as a field in itself, and in providing such a text, further aims to provide scope for future interdisciplinary work. The book is divided into five parts (Literacy as a Scientific Subject, Literacy and Language, Literacy and Literatures, Literacy and Society, and Literacy and Education), described in the preface as representing “transformations in our understanding of literacy.” Overall, the handbook feels more like a set of separate chapters than an integrated work, with very little cross-referencing across the chapters. This book includes many examples of chapters that build from generally known linguistics, cognitive and developmental theories to make their ideas accessible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Casebook for clinical supervision: A competency-based approach.

Reviews the book, Casebook for clinical supervision: A competency-based approach by Carol A. Falender and Edward P. Shafranske (see record 2008-06295-000). Falender and Shafranske's previous book, Clinical Supervision: A Competency-Based Approach, examined the practise of supervision in the language and framework of competencies. Although this comprehensive book makes a valuable contribution, the writing is decidedly conceptual and abstract, leaving the reader to wonder just how these principles might operate in practise. As if to answer this very question, Falender and Shafranske’s (2008) edited Casebook for Clinical Supervision: A Competency-Based Approach has appeared. The title and editors’ opening chapter promise that the model of supervision described in the earlier text will be illustrated through case material derived from the supervision sessions of the assembled experts and that the chapters of the two books correspond to and complement one another. After finishing the book, I found that although the Casebook did not fully deliver on its promises, I learned a great deal that will be of use in my teaching and practise of supervision. Most of the topics addressed in the Casebook chapters reflect focal concerns in the earlier text, including best practises of supervision, competency-based clinical supervision, alliance issues in treatment and supervision, ethics and legal issues, issues of culture and context, and evaluation. However, it must be said that many of the authors do little to explicitly tie their material to the editors’ model, leaving the reader with the task of determining just how the chapters explicate the earlier model. Overall, although it has some surprising weaknesses, the Casebook’s strengths outweigh them by a wide margin. The book may be read profitably on its own or in conjunction with the earlier companion volume. Graduate students learning how to conduct supervision as well as seasoned supervisors will find a great deal they can learn from in these chapters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A perilous calling: The hazards of psychotherapy practice.

Reviews the book, A perilous calling: The hazards of psychotherapy practice by Michael B. Sussman (1994). In this book, the author presents chapters by therapists from various disciplines (e.g., psychology, social work, psychiatry) that examine the "hazards" that lay hidden in the practice of psychotherapy. The author contends that doing psychotherapy "poses significant dangers to clinicians" (p. 1). He believes that there are forces both internal and external to the therapist that may take their toll on the therapist's well-being. Sussman makes the point that while other overtly dangerous professions (e.g., firefighter) warn prospective candidates of the perils of their field, novice psychotherapists are not prepared for what awaits them. Psychotherapists, then, enter the profession unprepared for, if not blind to, possibilities that not only make them less effective in their work, but might actually harm themselves and their families. Sussman sees a real human cost to not preparing clinicians to be aware of, and deal with, these hazards. The book is divided into six parts that range from the therapist's personal development to renewal. Along the way the reader encounters professional, ethical and legal issues, clinical dilemmas, the emotional impact of the work, and the ailments of the therapist. Within each particular area are rather personal, and at times idiosyncratic, chapters from a variety of psychotherapists. There are chapters that deal with AIDS, the Holocaust, body shame, and being a female therapist. Most of the chapters have a distinctly clinical orientation, while a few come across as philosophical discourses. There is one chapter by an expert witness in the Margaret Bean-Bayog case who warns of the dangers of the press on one's career. The wide scope of the chapter topics, at times, gives the book a disjointed feel and the sense that it is trying to tackle too many issues at once. Overall, this book provides a new slant on what is involved in the practice of psychotherapy. It raises some important questions about the field and how we prepare for its impact on our lives, for the practice of psychotherapy surely does affect the practitioner. Sussman and some of the chapter authors make a good case for increasing communication about potential hazards and developing strategies and training methods that will minimize their effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)