History and Iatrogenic Effects of Conversion Therapy.

Research indicates that sexual orientation change efforts (SOCEs) are not effective and furthermore commonly lead to iatrogenic effects such as depression, anxiety, and even suicide. Negative attitudes toward homosexuality derive from most formal religions and are incarnated in medical and psychological theories that support and encourage SOCEs. Oppression of sexual minorities makes it unlikely that change requests by patients are voluntary. Recently there has been a dramatic change as the field moves from reparative to affirmative approaches. Here, we review the history of SOCEs, their consequences, current affirmative treatments, and future directions in the field as they pertain to the well-being of the queer community. From an institutional community psychology perspective, we argue that even if true conversion were possible, such efforts are unethical and should not be pursued even if requested. As is the case with all psychological/psychiatric interventions, the issue is not "can" but "ought."

Examining the Role of Source Credibility and Reference Group Proximity on Personalized Normative Feedback Interventions for College Student Alcohol Use: A Randomized Laboratory Experiment.

BACKGROUND: Personalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions are designed to reduce misperceived drinking norms by delivering feedback regarding the actual drinking behavior of college students, thereby leading to subsequent reductions in one's own drinking. OBJECTIVE: We examined the roles of data source credibility and reference group proximity in the effectiveness of a laboratory-based PNF intervention to reduce perceived drinking norms and thereby decrease intentions to drink. METHOD: Following completion of an online preintervention survey and using a 2 (highly credible data source/low credible data source) × 2 (proximal reference group/distal reference group) between-subjects factorial design, 104 college student drinkers were randomly assigned to condition. Participants then completed a postintervention questionnaire to assess for changes in various aspects of drinking. RESULTS: Highly credible feedback was associated with greater reductions in perceived weekly drinking by American college students compared to feedback with low credibility. Similarly, more proximal than distal reference group feedback led to greater reductions in perceived weekly drinking by a same-gender/same-class year students at one's university. No condition effects emerged for intended drinks per week. CONCLUSIONS: PNF interventions may benefit from considering data source credibility and reference group proximity to reduce misperceptions of college student drinking, depending on the goals and resources of practitioners implementing such programs. Even the use of such a distal reference group as American college students can indeed lead to a reduction of normative perceptions provided there is an emphasis on the credibility of the data source.

Cognitive-Affective Change Mechanisms in Personalized Normative Feedback via the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations Paradigm.

The research explored explanatory mechanisms of change for a personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention, through an adapted application of the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situation (ATSS) cognitive think-aloud paradigm. A sample of 70 (51% female) U.S. adjudicated students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a PNF-ATSS condition, a PNF-Only condition (without ATSS), and an active Control+ATSS condition which received psychoeducation about alcohol use. Students in both the PNF-Only and PNF-ATSS conditions reported significant reductions in their misperceived peer drinking norms and alcohol-related consequences at the 30-day follow-up, relative to students in the control condition. Participants in the PNF-ATSS condition drank significantly fewer drinks per week at follow-up than participants in the PNF-Only condition, but not less than participants in the control condition. Significant indirect effects were found for the ATSS codes of participants' neutrality and believability toward PNF content. This study presents a proof of concept for an adapted ATSS think-aloud methodology as a clinical science intervention tool to specify the cognitive-affective processes of change linked to complex intervention for particular problems, persons, and contexts.

An evaluation of a brief HIV/AIDS prevention intervention for college students using normative feedback and goal setting.

This study evaluated the ability of a 20-minute self-administered intervention to increase HIV/AIDS risk reduction among sexually active college students. The intervention presented normative data on the relatively low prevalence of HIV risk behaviors among college students for the purpose of conveying the idea that risk reduction was the prevailing social norm among their same age peers. The intervention also invited students to select specific risk reduction goals to be implemented over a 30-day follow-up period. Participants (N = 155) were assigned in alternating order to receive either the intervention or a control condition that entailed reading a general AIDS information pamphlet. Results were partially moderated by gender. Compared with controls, men in the intervention group reported significantly higher condom use, whereas women in the intervention group reported significantly fewer sexual partners.

Psychology should list empirically supported principles of change (ESPs) and not credential trademarked therapies or other treatment packages.

Current systems for listing empirically supported therapies (ESTs) provide recognition to treatment packages, many of them proprietary and trademarked, without regard to the principles of change believed to account for their effectiveness. Our position is that any authoritative body representing the science and profession of psychology should work solely toward the identification of empirically supported principles of change (ESPs). As challenging as it is to take this approach, a system that lists ESPs will keep a focus on issues central to the science and practice of psychology while also insulating the profession from undue entrepreneurial influences.

Bystanders' perceptions of perpetrators and victims of hate crime: an investigation using the person perception paradigm.

This study used the person perception vignette method to examine whether people perceive hate crime victims as more culpable than non-hate crime victims. In a between-participants design, participants were randomly assigned to read a vignette depicting a nonhate crime or a comparable hate crime motivated by the perpetrator's hatred for either the victim's race, sexual orientation, or religion. Results showed that participants assigned more blame to the victim in the non-hate crime condition compared to the victims in each of the three hate crime conditions. In addition, they perceived the perpetrators as more guilty in each of the three hate crime conditions compared to the non-hate crime condition. In addition, people with prejudiced attitudes perceived both hate crime and non-hate crime victims as more culpable and both hate crime and non-hate crime perpetrators as less culpable than did unprejudiced people.

Base rates of hate crime victimization among college students.

This study uses the unmatched count technique (UCT) to estimate base rates for hate crime victimization in college students and compares the results with estimates found using conventional methods. Hate crimes, criminal acts perpetrated against individuals or members of specific stigmatized groups, intend to express condemnation, hate, disapproval, dislike, or distrust for a group. The UCT is a promising tool in the investigation of hate crime because it does not require participants to directly answer sensitive questions. This may provide more accurate responses than other methods. The UCT revealed higher estimates for a variety of serious hate crimes, including physical and sexual assault. These higher estimates provide a better feel for the level of hate crime victimization and point to the increased need for hate crime victims' assistance programs on college campuses.

Gordon L. Paul (1935-2014).

Gordon L. Paul was a foundational scholar in the transformation of clinical psychology from its beginnings in anecdotal, largely untestable explanation and practice to the evidence-based assessment and intervention that currently characterize the field. Gordon was one of the most highly cited researchers of his time and had a profound influence on the development of modern-day clinical research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Arnold A. Lazarus (1932-2013).

Arnold A. Lazarus, distinguished professor emeritus at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, passed away on October 1, 2013. He is regarded as one of the founders of behavior therapy and one of its leading practitioners and teachers. Throughout his career Lazarus enjoyed the rare distinction of being one of the most influential, creative, and highly regarded clinical practitioners in the field of clinical psychology. To those fortunate to have been his students, colleagues, or friends, Lazarus's intelligence, creativity, kindness, and mischievous and often irreverent wit made him very special indeed.

Experimentally induced distraction impacts cognitive but not emotional processes in think-aloud cognitive assessment.

Studies have examined the impact of distraction on basic task performance (e.g., working memory, motor responses), yet research is lacking regarding its impact in the domain of think-aloud cognitive assessment, where the threat to assessment validity is high. The Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations think-aloud cognitive assessment paradigm was employed to address this issue. Participants listened to scenarios under three conditions (i.e., while answering trivia questions, playing a visual puzzle game, or with no experimental distractor). Their articulated thoughts were then content-analyzed both by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program and by content analysis of emotion and cognitive processes conducted by trained coders. Distraction did not impact indices of emotion but did affect cognitive processes. Specifically, with the LIWC system, the trivia questions distraction condition resulted in significantly higher proportions of insight and causal words, and higher frequencies of non-fluencies (e.g., "uh" or "umm") and filler words (e.g., "like" or "you know"). Coder-rated content analysis found more disengagement and more misunderstanding particularly in the trivia questions distraction condition. A better understanding of how distraction disrupts the amount and type of cognitive engagement holds important implications for future studies employing cognitive assessment methods.

Age-related affective modulation of the startle eyeblink response: older adults startle most when viewing positive pictures.

Previous studies reveal age by valence interactions in attention and memory, such that older adults focus relatively more on positive and relatively less on negative stimuli than younger adults. In the current study, eyeblink startle response was used to measure differences in emotional reactivity to images that were equally arousing to both age groups. Viewing positive and negative pictures from the International Affective Picture System had opposite effects on startle modulation for older and younger adults. Younger adults showed the typical startle blink pattern, with potentiated startle when viewing negative pictures compared to positive pictures. Older adults, on the other hand, showed the opposite pattern, with potentiated startle when viewing positive pictures compared to viewing negative and neutral pictures. Potential underlying mechanisms for this interaction are evaluated. This pattern suggests that, compared with younger adults, older adults are more likely to spontaneously suppress responses to negative stimuli and process positive stimuli more deeply.

Some critical observations on twenty-first century graduate education in clinical psychology.

A number of issues raised in the C.R. Snyder and T.R. Elliott article, "Twenty-First Century Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology: A Four Level Matrix Model" (this issue, pp. 1033-1054), are critically examined: the role of interpersonal and societal factors in understanding the human condition, the desirability of breadth in both undergraduate and graduate education, political and scientific issues in prevention research and application, problems in the use of randomized clinical trials for evaluating psychotherapy, and the efficacy-effectiveness debate in therapy research.