The case of Gary: In search of post-hoc quixotic flexibility.

Responds to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1995-22250-001) commentary on T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1994-18427-001) response to Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) commentary on Van Denburg and Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article about a case of premature therapy termination. Issues related to limits and flexibility in treatment are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic flexibility in the case of Gary: Too little, too late.

Responds to T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1994-18427-001) response to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) commentary on Van Denburg and Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article about a case of premature therapy termination. When a treatment is not working try something different. The issue is not long vs short therapy, but a readiness to respond flexibly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Despotism, democracy, and the evolutionary dynamics of leadership and followership.

Responds to comments made by George B. Graen (see record 2008-19206-015) and Stephen J. Guastello (see record 2008-19206-016) on the current author's article Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past by Van Vugt, Hogan, and Kaiser (see record 2008-03389-004). In the original article my co-authors and I proposed a new way of thinking about leadership, informed by evolutionary (neo-Darwinian) theory. In the first commentary, Graen (see record 2008-19206-015) noted that we ignored a number of recently developed psychological theories of leadership that take into account the leader-follower relationship, most notably LMX theory. LMX theory asserts that leadership effectiveness and team performance are affected by the quality of working relationships between superior and subordinates. Because the original article primarily dealt with questions about the origins of leadership--the phylogenetic and evolutionary causes--we had to be concise in our review of proximate psychological theories of leadership. In the second commentary, Guastello (see record 2008-19206-016) concurred with the importance of an evolutionary game analysis for studying leadership but disagreed with certain details of our analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is EMDR being held to an unfair standard? Rejoinder to Van Ommeren (1996).

Replies to comments by M. Van Ommeren (see record 1996-00480-017) on R. Greenwald's (see record 1996-00401-008) article, in which Greenwald argues that fidelity to the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) protocol is the critical factor that determines wehther a treatment outcome study will show that EMDR is effective. Here, Greenwald contends that Van Ommeren's recommendation regarding the formation of EMDR-neutral panels is probably unattainable, even though it is ideal from a scientific perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The case of Gary: Alternatives perhaps, incapable no.

Responds to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) critique of T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article on premature termination of therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a better approach to goodness: Comments on Van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1996).

Some regularities are more salient to the visual system than others. P. A. Van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (see record 1996-01780-002) have proposed a new approach that quantifies the goodness of a pattern's regularity as the number of holographic identities constituting the regularity, relative to the total amount of information needed to describe the pattern. This holographic approach to goodness was compared with previous approaches and was presented in relation to metatheoretical issues. These 3 aspects are discussed further here. First, the theory is shown to contain implausible assumptions and unfortunate gaps with respect to the required processing. Second, Van der Helm and Leeuwenberg's critique on preceding theories is refuted. Third, some metatheoretical issues need to be qualified or at least clarified. Together, these concerns suggest that a better approach to goodness might result from a synthesis of the most useful aspects of diverse theories of goodness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freedom of choice for poor families.

Responds to comments by E. Zigler (see record 1999-00297-007) and M. L. Van Horn and W. Newell (see record 1999-00297-008) regarding Scarr's original article (see record 1997-38813-002) regarding the state of quality child day care in the US. Scarr rebuts Zigler's comments on the usefulness of Head Start, citing reasons why Head Start centers should have to compete in the marketplace for poor families' dollars. Scarr agrees with Van Horn and Newell, but stresses that the qualities that professionals believe are desirable features of early education and care are not universally preferred by parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On not being heard: Response to Gargiulo (2007) and Mills (2007).

Replies to comments made by G. Gargiulo (see record 2007-16468-013) and J. Mills (see record 2007-16468-014) on the current author's original comments (see record 2007-00135-013) on an article by K. Maroda (see record 2007-00135-012). I stand by the extensive clinical evidence that I have garnered, which indicates that a revised version of Freud's topographic theory is superior to his structural theory as a platform for psychoanalytic understanding and technique. I support my position here by citing some original contributions made by the adaptive approach and then highlight adaptive insights into patients' archetypal, unconscious perceptions of the moral implications of a therapist's use of a home office. I conclude with a discussion of why psychoanalysts have rejected the adaptive approach out of hand. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An autoassociative model of causal reasoning and causal learning: Reply to Van Overwalle's (1998) critique of Read and Marcus-Newhall (1993).

The authors respond to F. Van Overwalle's (see record 1997-38975-003) critique of the explanatory coherence (ECHO) model of causal reasoning (P. Thagard, 1992) and its application to social reasoning (S. J. Read & A. Marcus-Newhall; see record 1994-01615-001). Contrary to Van Overwalle's doubts about its possibility, a feedback model similar to ECHO that learns covariation information appropriately is presented. This model simulates Read and Marcus-Newhall's results and can also simulate findings from the causal learning literature. In contrast, because of limitations in feedforward networks, Van Overwalle can simulate many of Read and Marcus-Newhall's results only by making incorrect assumptions about their procedures. Further, the model presented handles several issues that Van Overwalle's cannot, such as asymmetries in reasoning between cause and effect, evaluation of explanatory coherence, and causal chains. Finally, limitations of feedforward models of causal reasoning are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When selective adaptation and contrast effects are distinct: A reply to Diehl, Kluender, and Parker.

Two alternative conceptualizations of selective adaptation with speech have recently received attention: the adaptation level theory (AL) outlined by R. L. Diehl (see record 1981-05067-001) and a 2-stage model outlined by the 1st author and P. Jusczyk (see record 1982-00351-001). Diehl et al (see record 1986-05428-001) reported evidence of streaming in selective adaptation and claimed that their results provide a counterdemonstration to recent studies that have argued against the AL approach. It is shown how the Diehl et al results can be accounted for by both the 2-stage model and AL theory. Results are presented from a study with 74 undergraduates that compared adaptation and paired-comparison procedures. These results are precisely as predicted by the 2-stage model, but they cannot be accounted for by AL theory. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design and evaluation issues in an experiment on teaching thinking skills.

Addresses methodological issues (related to design and analyses) raised by G. J. Mellenbergh and W. P. Van den Brink (see record 1988-37230-001) and I. S. Schonfeld (1987) concerning the study by the present author and colleagues (see record 1987-08654-001) on teaching thinking skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Focusing on weight is not the answer to America's obesity epidemic.

Current authors respond to two comments on their article Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer (see record 2007-04834-008). The two comments state opposing views of the validity and novelty of the articles conclusions. In his comment, Applebaum (see record 2008-03389-008) claimed that our conclusion is "provocative and unproven" (p. 200), whereas Herman, Van Strien, and Polivy (see record 2008-03389-009) generally agreed with our findings but stated that "this conclusion is hardly new" (p. 202). Research on obesity treatment often leads to polarizing views, and our aim was to present a dispassionate analysis of the methodological issues in the long-term studies of diets. We believe we accomplished this goal, and the conclusions we presented were based on this analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Framing the question: Psychoanalytic process, the unconscious, and home offices--An alternate perspective.

This essay is a personal reflection on articles by Karen Maroda (see record 2007-00135-012) and Robert Langs (see record 2007-00135-013) that concluded that home offices were an example of a self-serving and possibly unethical frame violation on the part of the therapist. In contradistinction to Maroda and Langs, I argue that such an approach misconceives the essence of psychoanalysis in both its practice and in its theory, particularly at issue is Langs' understanding of the unconscious. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Termination in the case of Gary: Overdue, not premature.

Using the recent report of T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg (see record 1993-06526-001) as a case in point, the author advocates that when a patient quits treatment it may be more useful to ask "What should I have done differently?" rather than wonder why the patient finally declined more of the same. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freud and sociobiology.

Discusses comments made by M. Eber (see record 1984-00023-001) and E. I. Pollak (see record 1984-00042-001) on a synthesis of Freudian psychoanalysis and sociobiology by the present authors (Leak and Christopher; see record 1982-29262-001). Eber writes from the psychoanalytic perspective and criticizes the stress on the biological/scientific aspect of Freud's work. Pollak takes a more sociobiological approach and criticizes the present authors' article for stressing those aspects of sociobiological theory that place greater emphasis on biological determinism as opposed to behavioral plasticity. The present authors reply that (1) the original Freudian conception of psychoanalysis is the version that offers valuable insights for mainstream scientific psychology, and (2) many of Freud's notions are quite similar to contemporary sociobiological concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epistemology is more than method: A reply to Yanchar and Kristensen.

Responds to S. C. Yanchar and K. B. Kristensen's (see record 1997-02285-001) comments on L. T. Hoshmand and J. Martin's (see record 1995-28533-001) proposal for a naturalistic epistemological approach. Further clarification of the proposal is provided and implications for the development of a theory of method and issues of communal evaluation and intelligibility are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evolutionary game theory and leadership.

Comments on the article Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past by Van Vugt, Hogan, and Kaiser (see record 2008-03389-004). This article offers a fresh perspective on leaders, followers, and their possible origins in nonhuman and primitive human behavior patterns. The connections between group coordination, leadership, and game theory have some prior history (Guastello, 2002; Guastello, Bock, Caldwell, & Bond, 2005; Guastello & Bond, 2004, 2007; Guastello & Guastello, 1998), however, that suggests that some points made by Van Vugt et al. could have been more accurate. The current author provides some suggetions to the author to improve on the accuracy of this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the psychological meaning of information about competence: A reply to Ryan and Deci's comment on Butler (1987).

The comment by R. M. Ryan and E. L. Deci (see record 1989-34660-001) addresses a study (R. Butler; see record 1988-21628-001) in which I investigated the motivational effects of different kinds of information. Findings were related to several issues, including the different emphases of J. G. Nicholls's (see record 1984-28719-001) theory of task/ego involvement and their cognitive evaluation theory. Ryan and Deci's comment on my article reflects cognitive evaluation theory's emphasis on perceived autonomy as the major determinant of intrinsic motivation. I discuss certain methodological and conceptual limitations of their approach in understanding the impact of different achievement goals and competence strivings on intrinsically motivated behavior. I suggest that it would be fruitful to work toward a synthesis between cognitive evaluation theory and achievement theory that would clarify the relation between perceptions of autonomy and conceptions of competence. Such a synthesis should be helpful in achieving their common aim of promoting task-involved, intrinsically motivated learning in the classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concerning dual-coding and simultaneous-successive processing.

Replies to J. R. Kirby and J. P. Das's (see PA, Vol 59:0000) criticisms of the author's (see record 1976-02530-001) imagery theory and views of dual coding research. It is argued that their criticisms serve only to confirm and extend misconceptions of dual coding theory such as alleged distinctions between that approach and simultaneous successive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)