Research on humanistic-experiential psychotherapies

In this chapter we focus on research published since our previous reviews (Greenberg, Elliott & Lietaer, 1994; Elliott, Greenberg & Lietaer, 2004), which covered research published between 1978 and 2001, plus additional earlier research on humanistic-experiential psychotherapy (HEP) outcome that we have been able to track down. A key element of the chapter is a meta-analysis of nearly 200 HEP outcome studies (through 2008) and a survey of the use of the approach with different client groups. In addition, we offer a meta-synthesis of qualitative research on these therapies (cf. Timulak, 2007), and provide a narrative review of recent quantitative research on change processes in HEPs. We conclude by reviewing and integrating the literature reviewed and discuss policy implications

Rural Competitiveness: Results of the 1996 Rural Manufacturing Survey

Establishments in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locations are surprisingly similar in their adoption of new technologies, worker skill requirements, use of government programs and technical assistance, exports, and sources of financing, according to the results of a nationwide survey of 3,909 manufacturing businesses. The most widespread concern of both metro and nonmetro businesses appears to be with quality of labor. Survey respondents report rapidly increasing skill requirements, and many report problems finding qualified workers. Quality of local labor is the most frequently cited problem associated with nonmetro business locations. Access to credit, transportation, and telecommunications infrastructure is a problem of secondary importance for both metro and nonmetro respondents. Rural communities face a considerable challenge in supplying workers with needed skills. The fastest-growing skill requirements -- computer, interpersonal/teamwork, and problem-solving skills -- are not central to traditional academic instruction.rural manufacturing, sample survey, worker skills, manufacturing location, credit availability, technology adoption, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

The Effects of Visual Search Efficiency on Object-Based Attention

The attentional prioritization hypothesis of object-based attention (Shomstein & Yantis in Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 41–51, 2002) suggests a two-stage selection process comprising an automatic spatial gradient and flexible strategic (prioritization) selection. The combined attentional priorities of these two stages of object-based selection determine the order in which participants will search the display for the presence of a target. The strategic process has often been likened to a prioritized visual search. By modifying the double-rectangle cueing paradigm (Egly, Driver, & Rafal in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 161–177, 1994) and placing it in the context of a larger-scale visual search, we examined how the prioritization search is affected by search efficiency. By probing both targets located on the cued object and targets external to the cued object, we found that the attentional priority surrounding a selected object is strongly modulated by search mode. However, the ordering of the prioritization search is unaffected by search mode. The data also provide evidence that standard spatial visual search and object-based prioritization search may rely on distinct mechanisms. These results provide insight into the interactions between the mode of visual search and object-based selection, and help define the modulatory consequences of search efficiency for object-based attention

Reclaiming Vacant Houses & Preventing Foreclosure: Lessons from LISCs New York State Vacants Initiative

The housing instability caused by COVID has continued into 2022, even as foreclosure moratoria end at federal and state levels around the country. This report, Reclaiming Vacant Houses & Preventing Foreclosure: Lessons from LISC's New York State Vacants Initiative, a collaboration of LISC and the Urban Institute, provides lessons and evidence of outcomes of a path-breaking law and LISC initiative in reducing vacant houses and preventing foreclosures in jurisdictions across New York State

Rephasing Invariants of Quark and Lepton Mixing Matrices

Rephasing invariants of quark and lepton mixing matrices are obtained in the standard model extended by the seesaw mechanism, and in its low-energy effective theory with the dimension-five Majorana mass operator. We classify the basic invariants, discuss non-trivial relations between them, and determine the independent invariants which characterize all the information in the mixing matrices in a basis-independent way. We also discuss the restrictions on the allowed ranges for the mixing phases, and on the rephasing invariants, which follow from a discrete invariance of the Majorana mass matrix.Comment: Some references added, and typos correcte

Is a Sense of Inequity an Ancestral Primate Trait? Testing Social Inequity in Cotton Top Tamarins

To address a controversy in the literature concerning whether monkeys show an aversion to inequity, individuals of a New World monkey species, cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) were tested in an offering task and in a bartering task. At issue was whether the monkeys rejected rewards because of a violation of expectancy of the preferred reward, or whether they rejected rewards because of a sensitivity to socially mediated inequity. The data from both tasks indicated that the subjects were more likely to reject when preferred rewards were presented, either because of another animal eating the reward (the social condition) or because of rewards being presented but inaccessible. The bartering task led to the only behavioral indication of aversion due specifically to social inequity, which was demonstrated when tamarins’ sensitivity to the difference in rewards increased with exposure to other tamarins working to receive the preferred rewards. The results suggest that social inequity aversion will be assessed by tamarins, and possibly by other primates, only under conditions of limited resources and a requirement of work, which may make the situation a bit more competitive and thus drives attention toward both social and reward evaluatio

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Expression and Respiratory Function Improve after Ampakine Treatment in a Mouse Model of Rett Syndrome

Rett syndrome (RTT) is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Although MeCP2 is thought to act as a transcriptional repressor of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Mecp2 null mice, which develop an RTT-like phenotype, exhibit progressive deficits in BDNF expression. These deficits are particularly significant in the brainstem and nodose cranial sensory ganglia (NGs), structures critical for cardiorespiratory homeostasis, and may be linked to the severe respiratory abnormalities characteristic of RTT. Therefore, the present study used Mecp2 null mice to further define the role of MeCP2 in regulation of BDNF expression and neural function, focusing on NG neurons and respiratory control. We find that mutant neurons express significantly lower levels of BDNF than wild-type cells in vitro, as in vivo, under both depolarizing and nondepolarizing conditions. However, BDNF levels in mutant NG cells can be increased by chronic depolarization in vitro or by treatment of Mecp2 null mice with CX546, an ampakine drug that facilitates activation of glutamatergic AMPA receptors. Ampakine-treated Mecp2 null mice also exhibit marked functional improvement, characterized by restoration of normal breathing frequency and minute volume. These data demonstrate that BDNF expression remains plastic in Mecp2 null mice and raise the possibility that ampakine compounds could be of therapeutic value in the treatment of RTT