Studies of conceptually mediated behavior in human beings are often concerned with the effects of variations in previously established concepts on behavior in the solution of problems. This is true, for example, of the work of Maier (1930) with practical problems; of Luchins (1942) on water-jar problems; and of Maltzman and his collaborators (Malzman, Eisman, Brooks, & Smith, 1956;Maltzman & Morrisett, 1952, 1953a v , 1953b on anagrams; to mention a few well-known investigations. Usually, in such studies, the concepts employed by 5 are assumed to have a history of previous establishment, and are considered to be available to 5 at the time the problem is set. In a different category can be placed research on the learning (or formation) of concepts, such as that of Hull (1920), Smoke (1932), Reed (1950), and Heidbreder (1947, which need not be reviewed here. The concepts acquired in the course of the experiment are usually not further "used," as in the solution of a problem, but are

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Rates of depression are reported to be between 22–33% in adults with HIV, which is double that of the general population. Depression negatively affects treatment adherence and health outcomes of those with medical illnesses. Further, it has been shown in adults that reducing depression may improve both adherence and health outcomes. To address the issues of depression and non-adherence, Health and Wellness (H&W) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and medication management (MM) treatment strategies have been developed specifically for youth living with both HIV and depression. H&W CBT is based on other studies with uninfected youth and upon research on adults with HIV. H&W CBT uses problem-solving, motivational interviewing, and cognitive-behavioral strategies to decrease adherence obstacles and increase wellness. The intervention is delivered in 14 planned sessions over a 6-month period, with three different stages of CBT. This paper summarizes the feasibility and acceptability data from an open depression trial with 8 participants, 16–24 years of age, diagnosed with HIV and with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) diagnosis of depression, conducted at two treatment sites in the Adolescent Trials Network (ATN). Both therapists and subjects completed a Session Evaluation Form (SEF) after each session, and results were strongly favorable. Results from The Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Clinician (QIDS-C) also showed noteworthy improvement in depression severity. A clinical case vignette illustrates treatment response. Further research will examine the use of H&W CBT in a larger trial of youth diagnosed with both HIV and depression.

These nine often researched misconceptions appear to be candidates for qualification or at least a caution in interpretation.Studies showing .that beginning psychology students enter the classroom with misconceptions about the subject matter can only confirm what most teachers of psychology already know (e.g., Brown, 1983;Vaughan, 1977). What is perhaps surprising, or at least disconcerting, is evidence that the introductory course is not very successful at dispelling the misconceptions (Lamal, 1978;Gutman, 1979;McKeachie, 1960;Vaughan, 1977). Belief in misconceptions, measured by truelfalse tests, declines by only about 6% as a function of taking the introductory course. Not unexpectedly, the decline appears to depend to some extent on the ability of ,the student, with AIB students dismissing more misconceptions during the course than DIF students (Gutman, 1979) A large part of the subject matter of introductory psychology probably challenges few preconceived notions. Much of it in fact bolls down to vocabulary development (Brown, 1983) Textbook assignments, workbook exercises, andlor summary class coverage should probably sufflce for most of the material, at least for the motivated student. Pr~mary among the areas that would seem to deserve speclal rnstruct~onal effort in the classroom are those that challenge preconceived notlons. and that reslst modlficatlon (Vauahan. 1977). Proceedlng, therefore, on the assumption that-l m~ght do well to spend more of my time In class analyzing and systematically destroying the erroneous assumptions of lay psychology, I set to work constructing a set of lecture notes des~gned to dispel a number of wrdely shared m~sconceptions Some of the m~sconcept~ons were taken from the work of others (Lamal, 1979, Panek, 1982, Vaughan, 1977, some were derlved from my own data (Brown, 1983).What I soon discovered was that some of the bel~efs are not entlrely false Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. The lay observer of bekav~or 1s not Insensate. Moreover, the behav~or of humans and other an~mals IS so unbel~evably complex, and the flndlngs of psycholog~sts so fraught wlth qualrf~cat~ons, that simple truelfalse statements about psychology must be v~ewed wlth susplclon Gardner and Hund (1983) asked a group of psychology professors to evaluate the falslty of a set of m~sconcept~ons and found that the overall med~an ratlng corresponded to "mostly false," not "completely false " For several of the mlsconceptlons, the med~an ratlngs approached the ratlng corresponding to "partly false and partly true " S~milarly, Lamal (1979) asked several psychology instructors to evaluate a set of mlsconceptlons and found that nine of the statements were rated as true by at least one instructor Thls certainly doesn't mean that the majonty of bel~efs labeled as "m~sconcept~ons" In the lrterature are In fact true. It does mean, however, that the instructor should be careful when attempting to correct student misbeliefs. Many of the misbeliefs should not be dismissed out of hand, but be presented in such a w...

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One-hundred fifty human Ss viewed 32 patterns under neutral (N), pleasingness (P), or interestingness (l) instructional sets. An analysis of variance indicated that patterns with larger areas were viewed longer than patterns with smaller areas under all conditions; however, this effect was more pronounced under the P and I conditions than under the N condition. Patterns containing 9-sided shapes were viewed longer than those containing 3-sided shapes under the Nand I conditions, while the reverse was true for the P condition.

Two studies examined cognitive maps of environmental knowledge and preference shown by nursing home patients. In study I, knowledge of the nursing home environment was investigated. Age was found to be negatively related to accuracy in identifying the locations of slide-depicted scenes. Also, patients who had lived several years in the nursing home were less able to identify the locations than were students who received a five-minute exposure to each area. Variable identification performance across areas was determined to be the result of relative visual distinctiveness rather than differential familiarity. Study II examined preference structures for different areas of the nursing home. Patients indicated a marked preference for their own room relative to common areas. Two different models of nursing design were suggested: 1) a social facilitation model emphasizing the allocation of a large proportion of space to common areas, and 2) an ethological model emphasizing preferences of patients for more private space.

Familiarity failed to enhance perceptibility of patterns (Same-Different thresholds) but did facilitate naming them (Identification thresholds). These results add to the recent accumulation of evidence showing that experience does not modify (and certainly does not create) visual impressions which are present, even in humans, from the first day's exposure to the visual world. It is by means of experience, however, that such an organism eventually comes to terms with these impressions.