Herbert J. Cross

Semistructured child sexual abuse interviews: Interview and child characteristics related to credibility of disclosure.

This study provided the first empirical description of child and interviewer behaviors occurring within semistructured assessment interviews with children suspected of being victims of sexual abuse. Specifically, relationships between child and interviewer characteristics and interview credibility were examined. Using the Child Abuse Interview Interaction Coding System (CAIICS, Wood, 1990), 55 videotaped interviews of high-risk sex abuse cases seen at a multidisciplinary assessment center were behaviorally coded. Support was found for the interrater reliability and criterion related validity of the CAIICS was found. Results also revealed that children were initially rated as relaxed and displayed few emotional behaviors. Thus, the assumption that a credible disclosure of abuse must necessarily include the display of emotion by the child was not supported. Second, several behavioral differences between preschool and school-aged children were identified: however, no meaningful gender differences were found. Third, supporting evidence was found for both age and gender effects in judgments of interview credibility, with girls and school-aged children judged as more credible. Fourth, while the interviewer did engage in so called leading behaviors, these behaviors were not found to be related to rating of interview credibility. However, interviewer behaviors may have affected interview credibility through an intervening variable. Finally, implications, for further use of the CAIICS for examining interviewer-child interactions, evaluating standards of practice, and assisting with interviewer training are discussed.

A Comparison of Androgynous, Feminine, Masculine, and Undifferentiated Women on Self-Esteem, Body Satisfaction, and Sexual Satisfaction

Unmarried female undergraduates (n = 204) completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory and measures of body image and self-esteem. Androgyny and masculinity were associated with self-esteem, body satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction. Androgynous and masculine subjects were generally similar and well adjusted; whereas feminine and undifferentiated subjects were similar and less well adjusted. Results are interpreted as evidence for the adaptive nature of changing female sex roles.

Modifying hypnotic suggestibility with the Carleton Skills Training program.

The Carleton Skills Training (CST) program was used to investigate (a) whether increases in hypnotic responsiveness obtained at Carleton University could be replicated at a different laboratory, (b) the influence of demand characteristics on suggestibility gains, and (c) whether initial gains are maintained over time. After two screening sessions, a replication and experimental group received the CST program, while a control group was allowed to practice hypnotic responding. All groups were then tested twice. Whereas the replication group was told that training and testing were part of the same experiment, the experimental group was told that training and testing were unrelated. Trained subjects returned after 4 months for a final session. Results indicated that (a) the CST program does increase hypnotic responsiveness, (b) suggestibility gains found in this study were relatively modest, (c) demand characteristics may influence suggestibility gains, and (d) suggestibility gains were not maintained at follow-up.

Hypnotic Susceptibility, Hypnosis, and EMG Biofeedback in the Reduction of Frontalis Muscle Tension

Abstract Biofeedback and hypnosis have been used in the treatment of similar disorders. While each has been useful, it is unclear whether they involve similar or conflicting processes. Bowers and Kelly (1979) have hypothesized that high hypnotizable Ss are more likely to benefit from hypnosis and similar procedures, than moderate and low hypnotizable individuals. In contrast, Qualls and Sheehan (1979, 1981a, b, c) have argued that hypnosis and biofeedback involve antithetical abilities. In the present study, high, moderate, and low hypnotizable individuals (N = 60) were randomly assigned to either EMG biofeedback or hypnosis conditions and instructed to relax. It was found that the mean percent reduction in frontalis muscle tension over the last 5 trials was significantly greater for the high hypnotizable Ss during hypnosis than the moderate and low hypnotizable Ss. The moderate and low hypnotizable Ss demonstrated greater reductions in frontalis muscle tension during EMG biofeedback than during hypnosis....

How the personality dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism relate to self-actualization

Abstract This study examines the relationship between the personality dimensions of ‘neuroticism’, ‘extraversion’, ‘psychoticism’, from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and ‘self-actualization’, measured by the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) for 212 undergraduate students. The two major scales of the POI, (Time Competence and Inner Directed), both separately and as a combined measure of self-actualization were correlated with the scores obtained on the EPQ. The results showed the hypothesized significant negative relationship between neuroticism and self-actualization, and for females only, the hypothesized significant positive relationship between extraversion and self-actualization. Contrary to hypothesis, no relationship between psychoticism and self-actualization was found.

The relationship between level of adjustment and expectations for therapy

Investigated Goldsteins (1962) hypothesis of a curvilinear relationship between client expectancy and psychotherapy outcome, based partly on a similar relationship between client expectancy and adjustment. One hundred and ten new clients at a university counseling center completed self-assessments and were rated on an adjustment scale by their therapists at the beginning and end of therapy. There was no curvilinear relationship between adjustment and expectancy, but a linear relationship between expectancy and self-assessed outcome was found. Because no relationship was obtained between expectancy and therapist-defined outcome, method variance may account for the association between expectancy and outcome from the clients perspective.

Relationship between Psychological Androgyny and Self-Actualization Tendencies

Bems Sex-role Inventory and the Personal Orientation Inventory were administered to 339 college men and 265 women to test Berns hypothesis that a relationship would exist between androgyny and a measure of psychological adjustment. Analysis gave some support for the relationship between sex-role identity and self-actualizing tendencies for women but not for men.

A Social-Learning Approach to Student Marijuana Use

Three hundred seventy-two college students were administered a battery of questionnaires designed to assess the predictive power of four social variables (social support, perceived sanctions, availability, family models), and six psychological ones (locus of control, mortality-conscience guilt, personal meanings, functions for continuing use, belief in consequences, societal and non-societal means of valued goal attainment) with respect to marijuana use. Results support a social learning theory interpretation of marijuana use. Users have had pleasant experiences, believe that sanctions are minimal, and that marijuana is not harmful. Six predictor variables correlated +.76 with use.

Sex-role orientations of high school and college students

Previous studies (e.g., Matthews & Tiedeman, 1964; Rand & Miller, 1972) have found a decrease in career commitment of women between the junior high school and senior high school years. These studies hypothesized that this decrease may be a result of senior high school women giving marriage a greater priority in their plans. Interest in the psychology of women, however, has increased in recent years, with particular emphasis on the emotional, intellectual, and behavioral consequences of stereotypic sex-role connotations. The traditional roles of women in the educational and occupational sectors of society have been challenged by thoughtful and vocal advocates of equality and social change, necessitating reevaluation and redefinition of sex-appropriate behavior by both men and women. To explore possible reevaluations of sex-role attitudes, the present study analyzed sex-role orientations of 86 (43 females, 43 males)undergraduate introductory psychology students enrolled at Washington State University and 86 (43 females, 43 males) students attending Pullman, Washington, Public High school. All class levels were represented in the high school sample. Participation in the study was voluntary on the part of all students. Each student was issued a copy of the revised French-Lesser Student Attitude Scale, a 65-item true-false questionnaire (French & Lesser, 1964). This attitude scale consists of two subscales: a 34-item scale, which measures the extent to which subjects value various aspects of intellectual (career) attainment,