Steven Jay Gross

A Research Strategy for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Psychotherapy

A classification scheme is proposed that integrates previous outcome studies in psychotherapy. Studies are classified into one of three frameworks according to the question addressed, the assumptions made, and the experimental designs used. Strengths and weaknesses of the three frameworks are examined within the context of specific studies of outcome. Evidence from the three frameworks suggests an alternative formulation of the question about outcome and a new experimental design. Specifically, the design involves evaluating the effectiveness of psychotherapy with respect to a population of patients deemed appropriate for psychotherapy. This design avoids random assignment of patient to psychotherapist and permits the investigator to address the question of whether psychotherapists are effective with patients whom they regard as appropriate for their particular type of therapeutic intervention.

Families' Affective Rules and Their Relationship to the Families' Adjustment.

Abstract This study tested two hypotheses concerning the nature of family rules about affect which were derived from the systems models of Satir (1967, 1972); Satir, Stachowiak and Taschman (1975); Turner and Gross (1976); and Umana, Gross and Turner (1978). The major hypotheses examined were: 1) family members share common rules about how they should handle their affect and 2) family rules about handling affect differentiate families according to their level of adjustment. Fifty-four family triads of father, mother and an adolescent child filled out questionnaires designed to measure how family members believed that they should behave (ideal) in affective situations and also how they perceived themselves behaving (actual) in the same situations. The results indicated support for the first hypothesis but not for the second. Alternative explanations of the data were offered including the idea that the questionnaire tapped social norms.

Staying--or Splitting: What's Best for the Kids?.

Abstract In todays society a continual question plaguing people involved in dying marriages is, “Are our children better off if we stay together or if we divorce?” As family counselors we have met with numerous parents struggling with this decision. Actually, the issue for them is not whether people should choose to stay together or divorce, but rather, how people choose to stay together or divorce.

An Experientially Based Problem Solving Teaching Approach

Teaching a course in clinical psy chology so as to foster development of problem solving skills and atti tudes and behaviors such as auton omy, creativity, and independent thinking is reported by faculty mem bers of Ohio State University. Schwebel: Associate Professor (B.A., Antioch College; M.S., Ph.D., Yale). Gross: Assistant Pro fessor (B.A., Brooklyn College; M.A., Ph.D., Cincinnati). Clarren: Research Associate, The Urban In stitute, Washington, D.C. (A.B., Oberlin College; M.A., Ph.D., Ohio State).

Subject-task interaction in selective attention research.

Two methods of investigating human information processing, the one focusing on the manipulation of experimental tasks and the other emphasizing individual differences, were compared. The design utilized the experimental tasks of Treisman and Riley (1969) while examining for individual differences on the basis of Witkins field-articulation dimension. The findings of Treisman and Riley were replicated, while no differences were found among Ss categorized on the individual-difference dimension, suggesting that task variables were most important in performance requiring selective attention.