Coaching und Psychotherapie — Differenz und Konvergenz

Coaching and psychotherapy — difference and convergence. A discussion on counseling between professional and personal issuesThe author discusses the relation between coaching and psychotherapy. He emphasises several crucial differences, but here he is concerned with the interfaces between these formats. He demonstrates, that in many cases psychotherapeutic views — basing on corresponding qualifications — may offer an important improvement of coaching. This is illustrated by some case studies.     

Die Rolle von Psycholog/innen in den Medien

The role of psychologists in the mediaDiscribing the phenomena of frequently asking journalists the authors are trying to describe the social meaning of role-and functiontaking of the science of psychology in the public discussion. They are following the question whether it could be possible to publish scientific results without banalizing, taking part in voyerism and reprehensible emotion creating.     

Rethinking twins and environments: possible social sources for assumed genetic influences in twin research

A central sociological problem is the extent to which genetics and the environment influence human behavior. Studies of twins are a core method in attempts to disentangle and to determine the comparative strength of genetic and environmental influences on psychosocial outcomes. A critical assumption of twin studies is that both monozygotic "identical" twins and dizygotic "fraternal" twins share common social environments. Therefore, any greater similarity of monozygotic than dizygotic twins is attributed to genetic influences. This paper tests the equal environment assumption by examining the extent to which greater concordance of adolescent monozygotic compared to dizygotic twins results from social, as well as genetic, influences. Bivariate comparisons indicate that monozygotic twins show greater similarity than dizygotic twins in socially-based characteristics including physical attractiveness, time spent in each other's company, the overlap in friendship networks, and friends' use of alcohol. Multivariate analyses indicate that measures of the social environment sometimes reduce or eliminate apparent genetic effects. In comparison with genetic indicators, social variables are usually stronger predictors of depression and alcohol use and abuse. These findings suggest that past twin studies could overstate the strength of genetic influences because some similarities in behavior among monozygotic compared to dizygotic twins stem from social influences.     

Treatment of incarcerated, sexually-abused adolescent females: an outcome study

This study examined the psychosocial functioning of 100 adolescent females (ages 12-17) sentenced to secure care in a southeastern state and the impact of gender-specific, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention on the psychosocial functioning of subjects who reported a history of sexual abuse. The Multidimensional Adolescent Assessment Scale (MAAS) was used to assess psychosocial functioning. Pre-test scores on the MAAS revealed significantly higher scores on 12 of 16 dimensions of psychosocial functioning and higher rates of serious criminal behavior for youth who subsequently disclosed sexual abuse histories as compared to those without such histories. At post-test, statistically significant improvements in psychosocial functioning were observed on 14 of 16 MAAS subscales for those who received the CBT intervention. Thus, incarcerated female adolescents who reported a history of sexual abuse demonstrated more impairment in their functioning as compared to those without a reported history of sexual abuse and responded positively to gender-specific, CBT-based intervention.     

Auswirkungen von Downsizing-Maßnahmen auf das organisationale Commitment der verbleibenden Mitarbeiter: Ein Vorher-Nachher-Vergleich

This study examines the consequences of downsizing efforts on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and work motivation of the remaining workforce (?survivors“) in a middle-sized telecommunication company. Employees were surveyed five months prior to the downsizing process (n=150) and eleven months thereafter (n=160). The assessment of organizational commitment was based on a questionnaire that was developed by Allen and Meyer (1990) within the scope of their three-components-model which includes affective, continuous and normative commitment. Although layoffs — as one part of the whole downsizing process — were not implemented in the investigated company, but only in a sister enterprise, which is part of the same holding, the affective commitment of employees towards their corporation dropped. On the other hand, the normative and the balanced commitment remained constant. Moreover, every second survivor showed reduced job satisfaction and work motivation. It should be noted that although the results of reorganisation and restructuring did not directly affect the employees of the investigated company, the emotional linkage between employees and employer was affected in a negative way. Additional findings from qualitative interviews suggest that restructuring was perceived to cause a crack in the prevailing corporate culture and the psychological contract. In addition, a deterioration of work conditions through work overload resulted.     

Entwicklung eines Programms zur kollegialen Introvisions-Supervision (KIS) für inner- und außerschulische Handlungsfelder

This article presents a new program of collegial supervision called ‘Collegial Introvision-Supervision’ (KIS). This phased program is based upon different concepts of collegial supervision (Pallasch, 1996; Spiess, 1996; Voss, 1996) and in particular on concepts of the TZI group supervision (Meister, 1996). The theoretical development is based on the ‘Integrative Introvision-Councelling’ and the practical foundation builds upon numerous supervision experiences of the author as well as upon tests in two projects of the professional education of teachers and social workers. A substantial aim of this new program is to find a procedure that optimises the perception of the factors taking part in the educational situation in order to make, based on that new perception, a new situational processing possible which allows a more appropriate educational reaction. The core of this change of perception is to reduce biographically caused aspects of a stress-generating estimation of the situation and to establish a calmer educational-acting mode.     

The finite-sample performance of robust unit root tests

This paper investigates the relative small sample performance of several robust unit root tests by means of a simulation study. It is confirmed that the traditional least-squares based Dickey-Fuller test has substantially lower power than several robust alternatives if the error distribution is fat-tailed while its power gain is small at the normal model. Particularly good results are achieved by a quasi-maximum likelihood test. However, all robust tests under consideration exhibit severe size distortions if the disturbances follow a skewed distribution. Moreover, under additive outliers, robust tests fail to produce stable sizes and good power properties. Consequently, the value of using robust unit root tests depends heavily of the type of nonnormality at hand.     

元人关于文学本体问题的思考

元代文论家从哲学高度对文学本体论进行了深入的探讨 ,形成了文学本于“理”和本于“气”两种文学本体论 ,这成为考察元代文学思潮不可回避的一个既复杂又重要的问题。元人对这一问题的探讨 ,也深化了对一些文学基本问题的认识。在元代 ,文学“气”本论占据了主导地位 ,而且形成了理论体系 ,这一理论体系在中国文论史上具有较高的理论价值     

Money as a Tool for Negotiating Separateness and Connectedness in the Therapeutic Relationship

It is nothing new to suggest that money has meaning. Whether or not one accepts Freud's (1908)linkage of money and feces, within our culture money is frequently seen as a direct pathway to feelings of power, agency, self-directedness, and personal satisfaction. Trachtman (1999) states, Money, psychologically speaking, is our projection onto coins, bills, bank accounts, and other financial instruments of our beliefs, hopes, and fears about how those things will affect who we are, what will happen to us, and how we will be treated by others or by ourselves...(Trachtman, 1999, p. 283). Yet this material is often unavailable for therapeutic exploration or understanding until it explodes into the therapy, often in unmanageable and countertherapeutic ways. This article will look at some of the ways in which money can be utilized to negotiate the ever-changing tensions between self and other, object and subject, intrapyschic and interpersonal, connection and separation that appear in every relationship. In particular, it will explore some ways that money issues within the therapeutic relationship can be turned into significant tools for understanding and working with anxieties about connection and separateness, both within and outside the therapeutic dyad.