THE POLITICS OF FUNCTIONAL FAMILY THERAPY: A FEMINIST CRITIQUE*

This paper examines the political processes inherent in Functional Family Therapy (FFT). It argues that this model of family therapy takes a covert political stance which reinforces traditional gender roles in both family and therapist. Of particular interest are FFT's affirmation of existing interpersonal functions in the family, as well as suggested therapist use of self. The implications of this stance are discussed, as well as recommendations for change.     

An investigation of the age of an alleged centenarian

At times, persons have been reported as living to extremely advanced ages such as 130, or even higher (McWhirter and McWhirter, 1977, p. 26; Medvedev, 1974; Merrill, 1976). However, controlled studies of closed groups like Civil War veterans (Myers and Shudde, 1955) have not shown any persons surviving beyond age 110, when age has been reasonably verified. It seems, therefore, highly plausible that reports of extremely advanced ages at death reflect exaggerations of age rather than reality. This note reports a case history which supports this view and illustrates how ages can be verified using available census data.     

Who is the victim anyway? The effects of bystander victim impact statements on mock juror sentencing decisions

Victim impact evidence was varied in a brief trial scenario given to 120 participants eligible for jury service. The scenario concerned the murder trial of a disgruntled employee accused of bombing his former workplace. Participants read either no victim impact evidence or one of three victim impact statements. For the victim impact statements, we varied the identity of the witness. The victim impact statement was given by either the wife of the victim, a coworker of the victim, or a firefighter called to the crime scene. Results revealed that only the victim impact evidence given by the coworker lead to harsher sentencing judgments. However, participants rated the suffering of the victim's wife as most severe, indicating that perceptions of suffering may not predict sentencing judgments in a straightforward manner. Implications for these findings for legal decisions such as Payne v. Tennessee (1991) are discussed.     

As the Twig Is Bent: Children Reared in Feminist Households

This is a study of children in families in which both the responsibility for income production and the household division of labor is actually post-gendered. Our data come from a larger study of privileged white parents who intentionally organize their households fairly, sharing housework, child care, and emotion work. These parents deconstruct gender not only by encouraging their daughters and sons to develop free from stereotypes but also by modeling such behavior in their own social roles. The data reported here are based on interviews with the children themselves and home observations. We have drawn two main conclusions. First, children do seem to adopt, uniformly, their parent's non-sexist attitudes but then they must negotiate serious inconsistencies between their beliefs and their lived experiences with peers. They resolve this with a dichotomy: men and women are similar and equal, but boys and girls are different and unequal Second, personal identities seem to be forged more from lived experiences than from ideology.     

Extrapolating human probability judgment

We advance a model of human probability judgment and apply it to the design of an extrapolation algorithm. Such an algorithm examines a person's judgment about the likelihood of various statements and is then able to predict the same person's judgments about new statements. The algorithm is tested against judgments produced by thirty undergraduates asked to assign probabilities to statements about mammals.     

A multitrait-multimethod investigation of interpersonal distance

Prior research has investigated the validity of interpersonal distance measures with respect to only one trait — comfort. This study expanded the previous research by measuring interpersonal distance along the trait dimensions of comfort, control and privacy. In addition, measures were taken along three different measurement techniques: stop distance, silhouette placement, and a paper and pencil measure (CID). The results were interpreted in terms of a multitrait-multimethod matrix. Results indicated that these measures were reliable and valid and the traits did have convergent validity. However, all of these measures were uncorrelated with a disguised distance measure of interpersonal distance.