Humor in therapy: the case for training therapists in its uses and risks.

Formal humor training for therapists is proposed as an elective part of their academic curriculum. The paucity of rigorous empirical research on the effectiveness of this historically controversial form of clinical intervention is exceeded only by the absence of any training for those practitioners interested in applying humor techniques. A representative sample of its many advocates' recommendations to incorporate humor in the practice of psychological therapies is reviewed. Therapeutic humor is defined, the role of therapists' personal qualities is discussed, and possible reasons for the profession's past resistance to promoting humor in therapy are described. Research perspectives for the evaluation of humor training are presented with illustrative examples of important empirical questions. In addition to its potential salubrious effects on clients, therapeutic humor might have the positive side effect of preventing or minimizing professional burnout in therapists. This potentially major psychotherapeutic resource, highly praised by some, remains insufficiently evaluated and essentially untapped.

Heteronegativism? The attitudes of gay men and lesbians toward heterosexuals.

Although many studies have been conducted on homophobia, little information exists about the attitudes of homosexuals toward heterosexuals. In order to compare the attitudes of both groups, a well-known homophobia questionnaire (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980) was reworded to assess the attitudes of homosexuals toward heterosexuals, forming a "heterophobia" questionnaire. The less clinical term "heteronegativism" is introduced here to refer to the range of negative feelings that gay individuals could possess regarding heterosexuals. Sixty homosexual students were matched with 60 heterosexual psychology students on sex, age, race, and education. Each group was given its respective "phobia" questionnaire. Hypotheses that homosexual participants would report less phobia and more negative experience than heterosexuals and that gay women would report more phobia than gay men were supported. Hypotheses that level of abuse in closeted homosexuals would be positively correlated with phobia scores and that being "out of the closet" would be negatively correlated with phobia scores were not supported.

Personality characteristics of condom users.

The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and a survey of sexual behavior and condom use specifically developed for this descriptive study were administered to 132 sexually active, heterosexual male university students (mean age = 19.2 years; 75% Caucasian). Condom "users" (44% of this sample) were defined as those who reported using a condom in their last sexual encounter to ejaculation. "Sexually active" men were defined as those who reported some form of intercourse with a partner to ejaculation within the past 3 months. On the CPI, the condom users scored significantly higher than nonusers on the Achievement via Independence scale and marginally higher on the Socialization and the Social Presence scales. The mean CPI profile for the condom users yielded the Gamma personality type which denotes an externally-oriented, norm questioning personality. Gammas tended to be uninhibited, clever, witty, pleasure-seeking risk takers. Those men who did not use a condom in their last sexual encounter offered their reasons for not doing so. The most common reasons were not expecting intercourse to occur and they were not available. In terms of perceived risk for HIV-infection, only 12.3% of the men had taken the antibody test and 75% considered themselves to be at zero or low risk. Several suggestions were made for counseling strategies in promoting condom use in college-age populations.

Effects of a peer-led AIDS intervention with university students.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has become a major health threat to university students. This study evaluated a peer-led AIDS intervention program with university students (1) increase knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission and infection; (2) change attitudes to reflect scientific information on AIDS-related facts; and (3) change behavioral intentions to correspond with safer sexual practices. Subjects were students (N = 142) from four undergraduate classes and were predominantly female (65%), white (82%), and sexually active (86%). A non-equivalent control group design was used, with two classes receiving the intervention and two classes receiving no information. For the intervention, peer educators presented AIDS-related information, modeled ways to use condoms safely and ways to discuss condom use with sexual partners, and led discussions on HIV infection and use with sexual partners, and led discussions on HIV infection and AIDS, relationships, sexuality, and condom use. A questionnaire was administered to assess differential changes in AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions between the intervention and control groups. The results showed significant improvements among intervention subjects on the knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions scales compared with the control group.

Promoting AIDS risk reduction via behavioral training.

The present study employed behavioral techniques to teach assertive strategies designed to reduce the risk of contracting AIDS and to promote "safer-sex" behaviors. A total of 79 university students (38 male and 41 female) were included in the final data analysis. Subjects participated in three one-hour training sessions which included live modeling of assertive interactions, role-playing, behavior shaping, corrective feedback, verbal reinforcement, assertiveness training, and an AIDS educational lecture. Dependent measures included ratings of the key components of assertive behavior from videotaped role-plays at pre- and posttests. Behavioral training had a positive effect on participants' assertive behavior. On the role-play ratings, experimental subjects were rated higher on overall assertiveness than the controls. Even brief behaviorally based educational interventions can produce increases in assertive behaviors known to be related to AIDS prevention, for example, insisting on condom use and requesting information about a prospective partner's sexual and drug use histories. Behavior changes extended to in vivo situations, of course, remain less assured.

Health professionals' factual knowledge and changing attitudes toward transsexuals.

General practitioners (GPs), obstetrician-gynecologists, urologists, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists (total N = 202) were randomly surveyed to assess their knowledge of the syndrome of transsexuality and their attitudes toward transsexual patients and sex reassignment surgery. A low return rate, though, requires that the present data be interpreted prudently. Where possible, the current findings were compared with the attitudinal data published in 1966 by Green, Stoller and MacAndrew. Over this interval an increasingly liberal and favorable trend in attitudes was noted amongst all medical specialties. 'Liberal' refers to a willingness to recommend a surgical remedy and 'favorable' refers to a less psychopathological perspective of the syndrome and greater social acceptance of these individuals. In the present sample GPs tend to hold the most conservative views, while clinical psychologists consistently endorse the most liberal positions. No differences emerged among the five groups of health care professionals on the factual knowledge assessment.

Some assumed characteristics of voluntarily childfree women and men.

PIP: From written descriptions, 2 experiments were conducted to assess student's perceptions of women and men who are voluntarily childless. Experiment 1 examined attitudes toward a hypothetical childfree women who opted for sterilization. The decision for sterilization denotes a behavioral commitment to remaining childfree. 156 undergraduates and 29 high school and 32 adult school students were questioned. The childfree woman was seen as less sensitive and loving, less typical as an American woman, and more likely to be active in woman's liberation. Also, she was rated less happy, less well-adjusted, and less likely to be content at age 65. She is seen as significantly different in several important ways from an otherwise identically described parent. The perception that a childfree woman is atypical in American society is the only 1 which is demonstrably accurate. However, the study does not support all of the pronatalist charges. In Experiment 2, the subjects were 116 undergraduates. Brief descriptions of 2 men and 2 women (hypothetical) were included; 1 had 2 children, 1 was childfree, and 2 made no mention of children. In 1/2 the cases, the woman was childfree; in the other 1/2 it was the man. The woman with no children was seen as more selfish and more atypical than was the woman who was the mother of 2. The mother was seen as happier and better adjusted. Students' perceptions of the males were quite striking. the childfree husband was perceived as signficantly more selfish and less typical than the father of 2, as well as less well-adjusted, less sensitive, less loving, and less fulfilled. Thus both experiments' results find less desirable traits ascribed to the sterilized childfree woman. Data also show that nonsterilized men and women are perceived differently when they are childfree and choose to remain so. There were more significant differences in perceptions of the childfree husband than for the childfree wife. It seems that married men who opt not to have children may also be victims of negative stereotyping.^ieng

Self-regulation in retarded persons: acquisition of standards for performance.

Twenty-four TMR children (mean IQ = 40.1, mean MA = 46.4 months) were divided into three groups equated by stratified assignment on IQ, MA, and CA. One group was then randomly assigned to each treatment condition: (a) Training 1 (live/film), (b) Training 2 (film/live), and (c) control. In the first phase of the study, both training groups watched five clown models set their standard at 6 on a bowling game. Subsequent standards set by the training and control groups indicated that these retarded children did base their standards on the models' standards (i.e., social referent). A training program including both live and filmed demonstrations was developed in order to teach the children a concept (i.e., "between") that would allow them to set their standards based on their own past performance. We found that both training groups acquired, retained, and generalized the concept as evidenced by the standards they set.

Developmental priority of identity conservation: acceleration of identity and equivalence in normal and moderately retarded children.

In an attempt to clarify the chronological relationship between identity and equivalence conservation, normal preschool-aged children (experiment 1) were exposed to brief videotape demonstrations of a model conserving identity and equivalence, identity only, equivalence only, or neither. Subsequent performances indicate that identity was easier to accelerate than equivalence, and training in both identity and equivalence appeared to be most effective in accelerating conservation. Trainable mentally retarded (TMR) children were then exposed to either the identity-equivalence-conserving or control model (experiment 2). This population, which some have argued remains at a preoperational level of functioning, was more likely to conserve identity than equivalence. In addition, conservation in the training group increased following training, though these gains were not maintained over a 3-week retention interval.

Immediate and delayed reward preferences of TMR adolescents.

Adolescent TMR students (mean IQ = 37) were presented with a list of 32 reward options, consisting of primary (food) and secondary (cash equivalent) rewards that were immediately available or delayed one day at a ratio of 1:2. The greatest number of delay choices occurred when the decision was between immediate/secondary and delayed/primary rewards. Subjects subsequently classified as delayers (34.3% of this population) made the fewest delay choices when presented with immediate/primary vs. delayed/secondary/options. Nondelayers made the most delay choices when given an immediate/secondary or delayed/primary choice.

Delay of gratification: decisional self-control and experience with delay intervals.

Actual and verbally reported decisional self-control choices (e.g., 1 penny now or 2 pennies in 1 minute) were obtained from 40 retarded adolescents who participated in a sheltered workshop. Prior to each of their eight choices, one-half of the students experienced the same time interval that was included in the choice for that day (e.g., 1 minute). Analysis of the number of actual and reported delay choices yielded a significant effect for experience, with the treatment group making more delay choices. In addition to suggesting that decisional self-control can be facilitated by prior exposure to delay intervals, the results indicated that verbally reported choices can be used as a reliable and valid indication of actual choices.

Detectability and perceptions of a transsexual: implications for therapy.

Transsexuals are concerned with being accepted in straight society, that is, "passing" successfully. Ninety-one undergraduates were shown a videotaped discussion of interracial dating by five heterosexual biological females and one cross-dressed male transsexual. Experimental subjects, who had been previously informed of the presence of the transsexual, were all able to identify her, significantly more than control subjects who had not been given this set. Ratings were obtained on eight personal attributes of the transsexual and the five biological females prior to the subjects' attempts to identify the transsexual in the group. The results of these ratings indicated that detection of the transsexual was related to perceived femininity and happiness. Based on these findings and subjects' reports of how they correctly identified the transsexual, suggestions were made for a therapy package to assist transsexuals in minimizing the probability of their detection.

Acquisition of concepts by TMR children as a function of type of modeling, rule verbalization, and observer gender.

A four-factor repeated measures design was established in order to determine (a) whether or not TMR children could acquire a novel rule-governed concept via modeling and (b) the effects of type of modeling demonstration, verbal rule provision, and observer gender on concept matching and transfer by TMR children. Twenty-four male and 24 female TMR children (mean IQ=44 and mean MA=5.67 years) were divided into four groups each equated by stratified assignment on IQ and MA. One male and one female group were randomly selected to observe a live female model present (a) massed-demonstration trials while verbalizing the concept, (b) massed trials without the concept being verbalized, (c) distributed-demonstration trials with the conceptual verbalization, and (d) distributed trials without conceptual verbalization. Subjects were then presented with three transfer tasks, each subsequently requiring a greater degree of generalization from the demonstration task. It was found that TMR children could acquire and transfer the complex concept via modeling. Distributed demonstrations yielded better initial response matching, while massed demonstrations led to better transfer. Rule provision facilitated transfer for massed-demonstration groups and facilitated matching for the male distributed-trials groups.