Michael T. Nietzel

Relationship of dependency and achievement/autonomy to depression

Abstract We review research pertaining to two personality characteristics that have been depicted as vulnerabilities to depression. One pathway is marked by excessive dependency involving intense needs for acceptance and love from others in order to maintain fragile self-esteem and to prevent depressed feelings. The second pathway is marked by excessive demands for accomplishment and control accompanied by very stringent self-standards and relentless self-criticism when these standards are not met. Our review is organized around four topics: (a) measurement of dependency and achievement/autonomy needs; (b) meta-analytic estimation of the effect sizes for these two characteristics on standardized measures of depressive symptoms; (c) investigation of moderators of the personality-depressive experiences relationship paying special attention to the interaction of personality with negative life events; and (d) discussion of clinical implications of current findings and future research directions for potential depressogenic personality dispositions. Although relationships between depression and dependency or depression and achievement/autonomy are moderated by several factors, both relationships are of sufficient magnitude to merit continued attention by clinicians and researchers.

The use of meta-analysis to assess the clinical significance of behavior therapy for agoraphobia

Meta-analysis was used to evaluate the clinical significance of behavior therapy for agoraphobia. Three issues were addressed: (a) extent of similarity between posttreatment, self-reported adjustment of adults with agoraphobic symptoms and level of symptoms in two nonclinical samples; (b) extent of similarity at follow-up between the clinic and nonclinic samples; and (c) dimensions of treatment, therapists, or study design associated with clinical significance. Normative data were obtained on the Fear Questionnaire (FQ) (the most frequently used outcome measure in the literature) from both collegiate and community samples. Nineteen outcome studies using the FQ were located, from which 39 effect sizes were calculated. The results indicated that behavior therapy produces clinically significant outcomes (as measured by self-report), that these outcomes are well-maintained at follow-up, and that treatments involving exposure were associated with greater improvement. We discuss the appropriateness of different norms for agoraphobia, and we urge researchers to examine directly the clinical significance of outcomes in original studies and to employ standardized, well-accepted measures across the three anxiety measurement channels so that more valid estimates of clinical significance, aggregated across studies, can be accomplished.

Behavioral ecology: Contingency management of consumer energy use

Monetary incentives were made contingent on reduced energy (electricity and natural gas) use by residential consumers (N = 16) given information on reduction procedures. Reductions in electricity use were significantly greater during a 4-week period by these consumers than by a matched group who received only the information on how to reduce use (N = 15). The two groups did not differ in level of natural gas reduction. Differences between groups in electricity use tended to be maintained at 2-week and 8-week follow-up assessments. The results are discussed in terms of a behavioral ecology framework which specifies functions that behavioral scientists can perform in the area of environmental protection. 24 references, 1 figure.

The effects of variations in voir dire procedures in capital murder trials

Psychologists and social scientists must begin to evaluate the effects of the jury selection methods they employ. These methods include a preference for attorney questioning of individual, sequestered venirepersons. This study examines the effects of four types of voir dire on sustained challenges for cause by defense and prosecution attorneys. Using transcripts and our own notes we classified thirteen capital cases, comprising approximately one-third of similar trials in Kentucky for the period 1975–1980, according to whether venirepersons were questioned individually oren masse, and whether sequestration was used for voir dire. Results show significantly more sustained defense challenges for cause under conditions of individual sequestration of venirepersons during voir dire than when voir dire is conducteden masse in open court. Other effects are examined, and generalization of the results is discussed. We interpret the outcomes to show that bias in potential jurors is best revealed when venirepersons are examined while individually sequestered.

The effects of covert modeling with and without reply training on the development and generalization of assertive responses

The present study compared two variants of covert modeling for the training of assertion skills in a self-referred unassertive population ( n =31). Subjects were randomly assigned to covert modeling (visualization of situations in which a model behaved assertively and was reinforced by compliance with the assertion), covert modeling with reply training (visualizations of situations in which a model performed assertively but also had to respond effectively to initial noncompliance with the assertion), placebo condition (visualization of the situation only) or a no-treatment condition. The reply training condition resulted in significantly greater changes in behavioral assertion on post-test measures as well as on measures of treatment generalization. However, treatment differences were not observed on a phone-call measure collected 4 months after treatment. Treatment parameters likely to be important to the maintenance of newly developed social skills are briefly, discussed.

Psychologists as consultants for changes of venue the use of public opinion surveys

This study reports the use of public opinion surveys to support motions to change venue. Step-bystep procedures of venue surveys are outlined, and results of their use in five capital murder trials are presented. Employing a quasi-experimental approach to the surveys allows inferences, about the likelihood of obtaining between-county differences of certain magnitudes. In addition, the use of a survey instrument with standardized subparts permits a second, novel type of contrast: comparisons previous cases. The responsiveness of this approach to the typical criticisms of venue surveys is discussed.

Juror Experience and Jury Verdicts

Most trial attorneys believe that repeated jury service produces several effects in jurors, one of the most important of which is an increased disposition toward conviction of criminal defendants. However, case law reveals a reluctance to accept the proposition that prior service per se would disquality a juror from sitting on an instant case because of actual or implied bias. The need for direct empirical investigation of the effects of prior jury service prompted the present study, which examined a complete docket of 175 consecutive criminal trials across onecalendar year in a state circuit court which required a 30-day term of its venire. The results indicated that as the number of jurors with prior jury experience increased there was a modest, but significant, increase in the probability of a conviction. Analysis of the relationship between initial verdicts and subsequent service disconfirmed the alternative hypothesis that attorneys deselected jurors on the basis of their first verdicts. Several parameters of experience were also related to foreperson selection. Implications for legal practice and for additional research are discussed.

Prevention of Crime and Delinquency

Prevention of crime is an ancient objective. In the first century A.D., Seneca exhorted his fellow Greeks, “He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it,” and Cicero added, “Every evil in the bud is easily crushed.” Since Seneca and Cicero, the cloak of prevention has been wrapped around a large body of interventions, lending to these interventions an air of au courant fashionableness and providing them insulation against the stormy blasts of critics who decry their ineffectiveness, expense, or unfairness.

Sex role orientation and assertiveness among female college students

Eighty college women, classified into four sex role orientations (feminine, masculine, androgynous, and indeterminate) by the PRF ANDRO Scale, participated in a behavioral role-playing task requiring their “usual” responses to situations in which an assertive response was appropriate. In the second phase of the experiment, 1/2 the women in each orientation were exposed to instructional demands to respond much more assertively. Relative to women who did not receive these high demand instructions, women in all four groups were able to increase their rated assertiveness significantly, suggesting that the differences in assertiveness (androgynous and masculine women outperforming feminine and indeterminate ones) which were present in the first phase of the experiment and were corroborated by self-and peer-reported data are more appropriately understood in performance rather than competence terms.

Psychological Research on the Police

As a context for this special section, we surveyed the published research literature on the psychology of law enforcement in four specialty journals that feature law and psychology studies and two more broadly targeted scholarly outlets. The volume of research studies was scant and concentrated on two targets: clinical services to the police and eyewitness identification studies. We call for social scientists to engage in empirical study of psychological variables that affect the full spectrum of police activities.