Evidence from studies of pathological arson and normal fire setting as well as the authors' clinical experience with arsonists in a maximum security hospital is employed to generate a model of recidivistic arson within the conceptual framework of functional analysis. It is contended that certain psychosocial stimuli, in the context of major setting conditions, predispose the individual towards incendiarism which is initially positively and negatively reinforced. However, the longer-term consequences of arson are considered to maintain and exacerbate the antecedent problems encountered by arsonists. Specifically, arson is viewed as an attempt to exert a change in the arsonist's life conditions where alternative behaviours have proved, or are perceived to be, ineffective. The model incorporates adaptations of the displaced aggression and arousal hypotheses of arson, and examines possible developmental aspects of pathological arson from normal childhood fire play, and suggests that a transition from fire setting in the company of others to incendiarism alone constitutes a major factor in the pathological process. The social, clinical and theoretical implications of the model are discussed with reference to current management and treatment strategies as well as future research.
Over the last two decades, the importance of executive functions in successful adaptive living has been increasingly recognized. Hence, investigation of executive functioning has become a core component of neuropsychological assessment. At present, correct identification is seen as crucial to ensuring adequate treatment, compensation and support. It is argued here that, in the medico-legal arena especially, but also in clinical practice, neuropsychological assessment may rely too heavily on data derived from office-based tests of executive functioning both for the identification of deficits and also for the prediction of their real world consequences. This paper discusses the discriminant and ecological validity of such tests and implications for the future assessment of executive functioning. Additionally, the importance of reliable behavioural observations, made in more ecologically valid environments than purely the consulting room is stressed.
After more than 90 years of research in which the presence or absence of a diagnosis of schizophrenia has been used as an independent variable, little of certainty has been found out about the aetiology of the hypothesized schizophrenia disease process. One possible reason for this lack of progress is that schizophrenia is not a valid object of scientific inquiry. Data from published research (mainly carried out by distinguished psychiatrists) are reviewed casting doubt on: (i) the reliability, (ii) the construct validity, (iii) the predictive validity, and (iv) the aetiological specificity of the schizophrenia diagnosis. It is argued that continued research into the aetiology of schizophrenia is likely to prove fruitless and that psychologists should adopt alternative methods of studying psychosis. Two alternative strategies--the development of empirical methods of psychiatric classification and the study of individual symptoms--are discussed.
Four tests of emotional recognition from facial expression and posture cues were administered to 15 male closed head injury patients who had previously shown no impairment on a visual perception task. An equivalent number of controls matched for sex, age and verbal IQ were administered the same tests. Only those stimuli which validly depicted the stated emotion, identified by the controls performance, were included in the final analyses. Head injury patients were impaired on emotional recognition across all four tests compared to controls. No relationship between age, verbal IQ and emotional recognition could be found in either subject group. Similarly, no significant correlation between head injured and control performance across the 31 affective stimuli was found. Results indicated that the head injured were more impaired on the recognition of negative emotions than positive emotions. These findings are discussed with reference to the psychosocial difficulties encountered by the severely head injured.
This study attempted to establish criteria for distinguishing patients with genuine memory problems from those who are attempting to simulate amnesia. The performance of simulators and genuine amnesics was compared under distraction conditions in which subjects had to count backwards between presentation and recall, and under no-distraction conditions in which the retention interval was unfilled. Genuine amnesics performed significantly worse than controls under distraction conditions, but did not perform significantly worse than controls under no-distraction conditions. However, those attempting to fake amnesia performed significantly worse than controls under no-distraction as well as under distraction conditions. They also exaggerated the memory deficit overall relative to genuine amnesics. It is suggested that these two criteria might be used successfully in clinical settings to assist in the detection of simulators.
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