Reliability and validity of the translated Psychotherapy Expectancy Inventory.

Matching treatment to therapy expectations is important. It increases treatment benefit and prevents dropout. No treatment expectation inventory existed in Hebrew, therefore a translation from English, of the Psychotherapy Expectancy Inventory-Revised, developed by Berzins, was undertaken. The questionnaire was given to 268 students twice, to 21 therapists and 107 parents of children referred to a child and adolescent clinic once. The translated questionnaire has high test-retest reliability, high internal consistency and significant criterion related validity-contrasted groups on advice, audience and relationship. Factor analysis yielded the four original scales, with the exception of two questions, which were moved to different scales.

Patient treatment interaction: where are we and how do we proceed.

The need to maximize our treatment efforts and arrive at better therapy results has led to comparative therapy research. However, due to significant differences between patients, this approach has not been successful. Therefore, research into matching treatment to patient began. Unfortunately, single variable models predominated in the field, yielding meager and contradictory results. Two comprehensive models now exist, one offered by Beutler and Clarkin and the other by Anderson. It is hoped that both clinicians and researchers will begin to use these models in therapy as well as in research so that we will not continue behaving as Maslow commented "if you only have a hammer you treat everything like a nail."

College women's expectations about pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care: a prospective study.

A prospective study of 103 women undergraduate students explored expectations and knowledge about pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care. Participants completed a 35-item questionnaire based on a planned pregnancy. Most women (68%) thought they were extremely likely to become pregnant in their lives and planned to have an average of 2.6 children. Positive emotions about pregnancy were most frequently excited, happy, and proud, and negative emotions were most frequently nervous, scared, and anxious. Women expected that pregnancy and parenting would interfere most with work or education plans. Choices of birthplace were hospital delivery room (54.4%), in-hospital birthing room (35%), out-of-hospital birth center (3.9%), and home (2.9%). One-half of the women planned to breastfeed, 35 percent had not decided, and 10.7 percent would not breastfeed. Positive feelings about pregnancy were correlated with positive feelings about labor and birth (r = 0.48, P < 0.001). Negative feelings about pregnancy were correlated with a low self-assessment of ability to care for an infant (r = -0.27, P < 0.01). Some college women's expectations are similar to those held by pregnant women, and suggest the need for further education of young women in areas such as prenatal health care and breastfeeding.

Identity imposition and its role in a stereokinetic effect.

Lines of constant curvature, a circle or a straight line, have no distinguishable parts. Yet they are perceived as if they did. When they move and intersect, they are perceived to slide across each other as if one of them had parts that can be seen to move in relation to the other line. With no such parts present in stimulation, they are products of perception. It was found that a third line of constant curvature, the helix, is also seen to slide when two helixes intersect and are in motion. Another manifestation of perceived identical parts is that rotating circles and similar shapes are perceived not to rotate even when cues for rotation are present. Furthermore, changes between merely perceived identical parts can result in apparent depth. Evidence is presented that such depth, known as the stereokinetic effect, results from kinetic depth-effects that are based on perceived identical parts instead of on actually identical parts, and that depth is seen when the intervals between such perceived parts change length and orientation simultaneously.

Shape constancy and polar perspective.

The distortion of polar perspective depends on the depth of the tridimensional shape and on the observation distance. In four experiments using 54 undergraduates as subjects, we found that a compensation process which takes depth and observation distance into account corrects for such distortions. Compensation was demonstrated in experiments in which deceptive information on depth and on observation distance was provided. The result was distortions of the perceived shapes that would be expected if compensation were based on the deceptive information.

Vector analysis and process combination in motion perception.

Experiments are reported supporting an altered explanation of the vector analysis that occurs in certain motion displays discovered by Johansson (1950). What seemed the result of a perceptual vector analysis is ascribed to the outcome of two different, independent stimulus conditions to which such displays can give rise because of external vector analysis. The different stimulus conditions are configurational change on the one hand and one of the subject-relative stimulus conditions on the other. In two of Johansson's displays, conditions for configurational change were altered by adding stationary reference points in the surround of the displays. Veridical perception of the displays resulted in a majority of instances. We also found that the different motions that result from configurational change and from subject-relative stimulation may combine to form unitary perceived motions and that this happens quite frequently under some conditions.

A limitation of position constancy.

When the eyes track a moving object, the image of a stationary target shifts on the retina colinearly with the eye movement. A compensation process called position constancy prevents this image shift from causing perceived target motion commensurate with the image shift. The target either appears stationary or seems to move in the direction opposite to the eye movement, but much less than the image shift would warrant. Our work is concerned with the question of whether position constancy operates when the image shift and the eye movement are not colinear. That can occur when, during the eye movement, the target undergoes a motion of its own. Evidence is reported that position constancy fails to operate when the direction of the target motion forms an angle with the direction of the eye movement.