Irrationalism in Affective and Cognitive Personality Types

Psychologists generally consider personality to be a collection of characteristics and traits. These characteristics are manifested through two domains: affect (emotion) and cognition (thinking). Evidence has shown affect and cognition to be closely related. Psychotherapy modalities can be categorized along a continuum, from highly rational and logical (cognitive) on one end, to highly affective on the other. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between cognitively and affectively oriented persons and irrational thoughts or ideas as defined by a highly rational therapy modality (Rational-Emotive Therapy) in an effort to determine a treatment of choice for these persons. Two instruments were used in the present study. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a Jungian instrument consisting of four indices that determine personality type: Extraversion-Introversion, Sensation-Intuition, Judgment-Perception, and Thinking-Feeling. The Irrational Personality Trait Inventory (IPTI) is a self-report device that determines frequency and strength of irrational thoughts or ideas that a person possesses. 65 undergraduate students from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois and Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan were administered the MBTI and IPTI. Only the first two of the three parts of the IPTI were administered because of the length involved. All of the MBTI was administered, but only the Thinking-Feeling index was used in this study, since it was the affective/cognitive domains that were of interest. The following hypotheses were offered: (1) A significant relationship exists between affect and irrational ideas, (2) A significant relationship exists between cognition and irrational ideas. In addition, the following null hypothesis was offered: There will be no significant differences between those subjects who prefer affective modes, as measured by the MBTI, and those who prefer cognitive modes in their frequency of irrational beliefs, as measured by the IPTI. The MBTI and IPTI were scored for each subject. The raw scores of the Thinking scale of the MBTI were compared with the IPTI raw scores for all subjects by means of the Spearman Rank-Order Correlation test. The results indicated that a low, non-significant, negative relationship exists between the two tests. The raw scores of the Feeling scale were compared with the IPTI raw scores for all subjects by use of the Spearman. The results indicated that a low, nonsignificant, positive relationship exists between these two sets of scores. A t-test was made between IPTI scores for the group that was predominantly Thinking in preference and the IPTI scores for the group that was predominantly Feeling. The results of this t-test were also non-significant. A number of possible explanations for the nature of the results were offered. These explanations involve the possible incompatibility of the two theories used in the study, differences in operational terms used, and the use of only the verbal self-report mode for measuring emotion employed by the IPTI. Suggestions were also offered for further experimentation and research on this issue. The results of the study were unable to provide an answer to the original research question posed, and so were unable to point to a treatment of choice based on specific personality types

Children's participation in child protection—How do practitioners understand children's participation in practice?

Children's participation is essential to achieve good outcomes for children involved in child protection systems. Despite this, research has consistently found children report low levels of participation, are poorly consulted and feel inadequately involved in decisions about their lives. To explore how practitioners understand children's participation, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with statutory child protection practitioners in Australia. The interviews explored the ways child protection practitioners understand children's participation. Our findings show practitioners conceptualize children as rights holders and believe it is essential to hear directly from children about their needs and wishes to keep them safe. Practitioners identified the importance of transparent processes and decisions. Different understanding of participation emerged, with some participants talking about children as their central focus but not discussing meaningful participation of the child. It appeared that children's participation relied largely on the views and skills of individual workers, as well as their ability to incorporate meaningful participation in limited time and in complex practice environments where children's safety is a primary concern. Systemic changes to address time barriers, training practitioners to understand and implement participatory practice, and seeking children's input into service design, will support consistent and meaningful participation

Safe and Sound : Creating safe residential care services for children and young people

ssue 18 of the ICPS Research to Practice series explores the development of safe residential services for children and young people, and discusses the factors preventing them from seeking support for safety concerns, strategies for preventing harm, and responding to safety concerns. It is based on a study conducted by ICPS, and colleagues from Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology, for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which interviewed 27 children and young people with lived experience of residential care in Australia. More information about the project is provided at the end of the issu

Planning Future Strategies for Domestic and International NeuroAIDS Research, July 24–25, 2008

The National Institute of Mental Health in cooperation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke organized a meeting on July 24–25, 2008 to develop novel research directions for neuroAIDS research. The deliberations of this meeting are outlined in this brief report. Several critical research areas in neuroAIDS were identified as areas of emphasis. Opportunities for collaborations between large NIH-funded projects were also discussed

Clinical Trials in Hiv-Associated Cognitive Impairment: Cognitive and Functional Outcomes

Cognitive and functional outcomes are of primary interest in the design of efficacy trials in HIV-associated cognitive impairment. In a longitudinal cohort study, weak associations were found between measures of cognitive performance and commonly used measures of daily functioning (mostly self-report measures) in HIV-infected individuals. Modifications of current functional scales or new functional instruments are needed to assess the clinical relevance of cognitive changes in clinical trials of HIV-associated cognitive impairment

Inter-Rater Reliability of a Clinical Staging of HIV-Associated Cognitive Impairment

Objective: To determine the inter-rater reliability of a modification of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSK) Staging for HIV-associated cognitive impairment. Methods: Data were abstracted on neurologic, neuropsychological, and functional status on 100 individuals participating at four sites in the Northeast AIDS Dementia (NEAD) Consortium cohort study, a longitudinal study of predictors of cognitive impairment in HIV-infected individuals. Neuropsychological performance was defined 1) based on the neuropsychologist’s global impression and 2) solely based on neuropsychological test scores. Raters at each site used the abstracted data to assign an MSK stage to each subject blind to any identifying information. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using kappa statistics. Agreement between computer-generated ratings and site-generated ratings was also assessed. Results: Kappa statistics for pair-wise agreement among the sites regarding MSK stage ranged from 0.70–0.91, representing good to excellent agreement between sites. Agreement between computer-generated ratings and site-generated ratings was in the good to excellent range (0.62–0.79). Conclusions: The authors have modified the MSK rating scale and developed a reliable instrument that can be used in multicenter studies. This instrument will be useful in staging HIV-dementia in future longitudinal studies and will be valuable in increasing accuracy of clinicopathologic studies