P. Erwin

Developing multicultural competence: perspectives on theory and practice

As the literature in multi- and cross-cultural counselling continues to grow, counselling psychologists are faced with the task of making sense and finding guidance out of a bewildering amount of data, assertions and theory. In this article, an examination of significant issues and alternative viewpoints in the practice of counselling with multicultural clients is presented to stimulate thought and encourage further engagement, discussion and improvements in professional practice. A concluding synopsis of basic guidelines for development and competence in practice is given.

A study of posttraumatic stress in a student population

Abstract The authors examined the incidence of posttraumatic stress (PTS), with respect to levels of exposure to traumatic events, in a British student population. Respondents (N = 700) completed a standard questionnaire booklet that contained a posttraumatic stress disorder interview. The questionnaire collected personal demographic information and was used by researchers to ascertain whether respondents had experienced a traumatic event. Consistent with previous American studies, PTS was found to be relatively common; 23.3% of the sample showed either current or past PTS. Female participants had a significantly higher incidence of PTS than did male participants, although the latter were more likely to report having experienced a traumatic event. The experience of trauma was significantly associated with the likelihood of PTS. The authors discuss implications of their results in terms of long-term consequences of unresolved trauma.

Task Characteristics and Performance in Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-solving

The authors examined the extent to which performance on interpersonal cognitive problem-solving (ICPS) tasks is affected by whether the goals within the dilemmas to be addressed are sex typed. Fifty children, aged 7-8 years old, were tested for the core ICPS skills of Alternative Solutions Thinking (AST) and Consequential Thinking (CT) on a series of 8 social problem-solving tasks, 4 having goals characteristically more attractive to boys and 4 with goals more attractive to girls. A 2 × 2 MANOVA was used to compare the performances of boys and girls on each set of sex-typed tasks with the 3 dependent variables of liking for the tasks, number of alternative solutions suggested, and the number of consequences anticipated. As expected, liking for the tasks was higher if the activities were characteristically associated with the participants own gender (p < .001), although the different tasks did not produce any significant gender differences in the numbers of AST or CT suggestions they prompted. Gender differences in childrens peer relationships were considered, and the implications of these results for the format of ICPS interventions are noted.

Post-traumatic stress and self-disclosure.

Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is a significant clinical problem in the general population. However, only a portion of those exposed to trauma develop PTS. Patterns of emotional self-disclosure have the potential to explain some of the individual differences in the development and continuation of symptoms. In this study, the authors investigated the links between emotional self-disclosure, as measured by the Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale (ESDS; W. E. Snell, R. S. Miller, & S. S. Belk, 1988), and a post-trauma psychological state, as measured by the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI; J. Briere, 1995). Their results showed that, in general, men engaged in less emotional self-disclosure than did women, and as TSI scores increased, the men were significantly less willing to disclose emotions of happiness. For women, as TSI scores increased they were significantly more willing to engage in talk about emotions related to anxiety but less willing to talk about emotions related to fear. The authors considered these data within current understandings of the role of emotional self-disclosure in the processing of traumatic experiences.

THE EFFECTS OF SHYNESS ON LOVE STYLES AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS

As prior research has indicated that shyness is associated with social anxiety, inhibition, and generally less fulfilling social relationships, this study examined the possible affect of shyness on one specific type of relationship, romantic love. Participants (N=124) completed the Revised Cheek-Buss Shyness Scale and the Love Attitudes Scale, and provided basic information about themselves and their current romantic relationships. A chi-square test showed no significant association between high or low Shyness scores and whether participants were currently involved in a romantic relationship, but there were significant positive correlations between these scores and those on two of the six love styles, Storge and Mania. In interpreting the results, the effects of shyness on relationships, social expectations, and love attitudes are discussed.

The relationships of ‘ecstasy’ (MDMA) and cannabis use to impaired executive inhibition and access to semantic long-term memory

This study aimed to examine the relationship between the consumption of ecstasy (3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)) and cannabis, and performance on the random letter generation task which generates dependent variables drawing upon executive inhibition and access to semantic long‐term memory (LTM). The participant group was a between‐participant independent variable with users of both ecstasy and cannabis (E/C group, n = 15), users of cannabis but not ecstasy (CA group, n = 13) and controls with no exposure to these drugs (CO group, n = 12). Dependent variables measured violations of randomness: number of repeat sequences, number of alphabetical sequences (both drawing upon inhibition) and redundancy (drawing upon access to semantic LTM). E/C participants showed significantly higher redundancy than CO participants but did not differ from CA participants. There were no significant effects for the other dependent variables. A regression model comprising intelligence measures and estimates of ecstasy and cannabis consumption predicted redundancy scores, but only cannabis consumption contributed significantly to this prediction. Impaired access to semantic LTM may be related to cannabis consumption, although the involvement of ecstasy and other stimulant drugs cannot be excluded here. Executive inhibitory functioning, as measured by the random letter generation task, is unrelated to ecstasy and cannabis consumption. Copyright

The Role of Attitudinal Similarity and Perceived Acceptance Evaluation in Interpersonal Attraction

Summary The distinction is made between acceptance-liking evaluations and performance-character evaluations. The relationship between attitudinal similarity, perceived probability of acceptance, and interpersonal attraction is then empirically examined. Fifty Ss were presented with a standard “bogus stranger” attitude scale. Perceived probability of acceptance and interpersonal attraction were elicited by means of a modified Interpersonal Judgement Scale. Multiple regression analysis showed only perceived probability of acceptance to have a significant linear relationship with interpersonal attraction (p < .001). Similarity was significantly correlated with perceived probability of acceptance (p < .005), supporting the hypothesis that this information may be used in making acceptance inferences.

Attachment Style, Family and Romantic Relationships

In 1987 Hazan and Shaver showed that patterns of romantic love reflected attachment styles. In an extension of that study with 39 men and 33 women in college (ages 18–36 years), this research shows that family relationships may also affect romantic relationships indirectly through their association with attachment styles.

The Role of Attitudinal Similarity and Direct Acceptance Evaluations in Attraction

Summary The distinction is made between performance-character evaluations and acceptance-liking evaluations. The relationship of attitudinal similarity (and hence, perceived probability of acceptance) and direct probability of acceptance evaluations is examined. Each of 48 undergraduate subjects received a positive, negative, or no probability of acceptance evaluation from a bogus stranger with similar or dissimilar attitudes. Analysis of variance showed a significant main effect for probability of acceptance and a significant interaction effect. These results are interpreted as providing support for a model in which attraction to a stimulus figure is based both on the figures reinforcement value and evaluative congruency.

Children's Evaluative Stereotypes of Masculine, Feminine, and Androgynous First Names

This study examined children’s evaluative stereotypes of masculine, feminine, and androgynous first names. Attractive and unattractive masculine, feminine, and androgynous first names were presented to 50 primary school children. The gender-typed names were attributed to the appropriate sex; the androgynous names were repeated and attributed to both sexes. Participants were required to evaluate the names using a series of 20 bipolar adjectives that were later summed to give an overall evaluation score. Results showed that evaluations were significantly influenced by the gender typing of the names and the sex of the participants but not by the attractiveness of the name. The results are discussed in terms of existing research and theory.