An interactional model of questions as therapeutic interventions

We dedicate this article to the memory of Steve de Shazer, who was the University's External Examiner for the doctoral dissertation on which this article is based. His comments were both generous and influential, as they were on many other occasions. We would also like to thank Ron Chenail (as Editor of JMFT ) and Dora Fried Schnitman (as Editor of Sistemas Familiares) for coordinating the simultaneous review and publication of this article in English and Spanish.     

The effects of seasonal demand on depot location

Many of the cost functions associated with depot location algorithms assume an overall demand for a fixed period, usually one year. This paper describes an investigation into the effect of high seasonality within such demand figures on the optimal location of storage facilities. The preliminary results indicate that a more flexible approach for certain products could be worthwhile.     

The Listener as Addressee in Face-to-Face Dialogue

Face-to-face conversation is a unique listening setting, with a particular kind of listener; the person the speaker is directly addressing is the addressee. Our research program has included several experiments involving detailed, reliable examinations of the subtle yet crucial behaviors that addressees use to collaborate with the speaker in face-to-face dialogue. We have found that addressees respond to speakers using either generic back channels (e.g., “m-hm” or nodding) or responses that specify what the addressee has understood (e.g., opening eyes wide to show surprise). Addressees timed these specific responses to precise moments in the speaker's narrative, and they tailored their responses to that moment (e.g., wincing when the speaker described something painful). Distracting addressees with a task that prevented them from following the speakers' narratives made these addressees unable to contribute specific responses, which, in turn, had a deleterious effect on the speakers' storytelling. Further research showed that addressees who were not distracted used a wide variety of behaviors to contribute to dialogue without interrupting the speaker, such as brief vocalizations, facial displays, and even gestures. Speakers and addressees regulated the timing of addressee responses using an interactive pattern of gaze. Addressees also indicated understanding by their formulations, which summarized or paraphrased what the speaker had said. However, our analysis showed that these formulations were not neutral. The analysis of addressees in face-to-face dialogue generates a deeper understanding of the listening process and has implications for listening in applied settings, such as psychotherapy or health care interactions.     

Marketing segmentation research—An application to bank services

The research reported here analyses data relating to bank services obtained by a stratified random sampling technique using stepwise linear regression and canonical correlation for the purpose of illustrating the application of segmentation principles to marketing research.     

Experimental methods for studying “elementary motor mimicry”

For over two hundred years, social psychologists have been puzzled by elementary motor mimicry—overt behavior by an observer that is appropriate to the situation of the other rather than to the observer's situation. This ubiquitous but fleeting behavior has not previously been amenable to experimental study, which might elucidate its meaning or meanings. The present article describes techniques for eliciting and videotaping such reactions in the lab. A wide variety of stimuli can be used to evoke smiling, wincing, leaning, and other motor mimicries. Recording is best done in split-screen, so that the relation between the behaviors of observer and observed can be analyzed. Several reliable scoring options are described (qualitative, quantitative, microanalysis, and self-report). Experimental controls can be introduced to rule out artifacts that might appear to be motor mimicry. These methods are introduced in the hope that the many different theories that have been offered to explain this phenomenon might finally begin to be tested.