Correction to “Atypical child–parent neural synchrony is linked to negative family emotional climate and children’s psychopathological symptoms” by Su et al. (2024).
American Psychologist, Vol 79(2), Feb-Mar 2024, 240; doi:10.1037/amp0001345Reports an error in "Atypical child–parent neural synchrony is linked to negative family emotional climate and children’s psychopathological symptoms" by Haowen Su, Christina B. Young, Zhuo Rachel Han, Jianjie Xu, Bingsen Xiong, Zisen Zhou, Jingyi Wang, Lei Hao, Zhi Yang, Gang Chen and Shaozheng Qin (American Psychologist, Advanced Online Publication, Jul 13, 2023, np). In the article “Atypical Child–Parent Neural Synchrony Is Linked to Negative Family Emotional Climate and Children’s Psychopathological Symptoms,” by Haowen Su, Christina...
Source: American Psychologist - March 14, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Developing process sensitivity: Reply to Wilcox (2024) and Boswell (2024).
American Psychologist, Vol 79(2), Feb-Mar 2024, 182-184; doi:10.1037/amp0001257Wilcox (2024) and Boswell (2024) make a number of important observations about facilitating process sensitivity training, and here, we respond to those suggestions. We postulate that cultivating process sensitivity is complementary, not antithetical, to traditional training in viewing therapy from a theoretical lens, and thus, can serve to enhance, rather than replace one’s existing psychotherapy skills. Moreover, we argue that seeing the impact of process adjustments in real time can be a significant motivator for training in process sensitiv...
Source: American Psychologist - March 14, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A refreshing and necessary start: Commentary on Westra and Di Bartolomeo (2024).
American Psychologist, Vol 79(2), Feb-Mar 2024, 179-181; doi:10.1037/amp0001235Westra and Di Bartolomeo (2024) make a compelling case for integrating “process acuity” skills into routine clinical training. The authors have done the field a service by articulating the need for novel and process-science-informed psychotherapy training and practice. This brief commentary echoes the authors’ observations about the status quo of clinical training and expands upon what else will need to be considered to fully realize the goals of their proposal. Specifically, research on negative process signals has outpaced research on th...
Source: American Psychologist - March 14, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Process-focused psychotherapy training is evidence-based psychotherapy training: Commentary on Westra and Di Bartolomeo (2024).
American Psychologist, Vol 79(2), Feb-Mar 2024, 175-178; doi:10.1037/amp0001236Westra and Di Bartolomeo (2024) made a strong case for psychotherapy training to focus more on psychotherapy process rather than content (e.g., manuals). Their recommendations are consistent with the preponderance of the evidence that finds that psychotherapy process variables (and psychotherapist variables related to the process, such as empathy) account for most of the variance in psychotherapy outcomes. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the Great Psychotherapy Debate (Wampold & Imel, 2015) rages on. In this commentary, I emphasize and strive...
Source: American Psychologist - March 14, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Developing expertise in psychotherapy: The case for process coding as clinical training.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(2), Feb-Mar 2024, 163-174; doi:10.1037/amp0001139Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is a major development in the field since it offers likely outcome trajectories and is particularly helpful for failing cases. However, ROM has not led to improved skill development more generally, and it is debatable as to whether expertise is even possible to acquire in psychotherapy. What is missing but crucial to expertise is feedback on the outcome of one’s actions in real time, which would enable responsive adjustments and improve outcomes. It is argued in this article that by identifying empirically vali...
Source: American Psychologist - March 14, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Persons or data points? Ethics, artificial intelligence, and the participatory turn in mental health research.
This article identifies and examines a tension in mental health researchers’ growing enthusiasm for the use of computational tools powered by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Although there is increasing recognition of the value of participatory methods in science generally and in mental health research specifically, many AI/ML approaches, fueled by an ever-growing number of sensors collecting multimodal data, risk further distancing participants from research processes and rendering them as mere vectors or collections of data points. The imperatives of the “participatory turn” in men...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Expanding the role of justice in secondary research using digital psychological data.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 123-136; doi:10.1037/amp0001190Secondary analysis of digital psychological data (DPD) is an increasingly popular method for behavioral health research. Under current practices, secondary research does not require human subjects research review so long as data are de-identified. We argue that this standard approach to the ethics of secondary research (i.e., de-identification) does not address a range of ethical risks and that greater emphasis should be placed on the ethical principle of justice. We outline the inadequacy of an individually focused research ethic for DPD and descri...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Visual digital data, ethical challenges, and psychological science.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 109-122; doi:10.1037/amp0001192Digital visual data afford psychologists with exciting research possibilities. It becomes possible to see real-life interactions in real time and to be able to analyze this behavior in a fine-grained and systematic manner. However, the fact that faces (and other personally identifying physical characteristics) are captured as part of these data sets means that this kind of data is at the highest level of sensitivity by default. When this is combined with the possibility of automatic collection and processing, then the sensitivity risks are compounde...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
On conducting ethically sound psychological science in the metaverse.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 92-108; doi:10.1037/amp0001211As the next generation of the internet, the metaverse is an immersive three-dimensional (3D) world that incorporates both physical and virtual environments. The metaverse affords numerous advantages for advancing our theoretical and practical understanding of human cognition, emotion, and behavior, as well as shaping our methodological approach to conducting psychological science. However, undertaking research in a world that merges the physical and virtual, also presents new and unique ethical challenges that are not addressed by current ethical gui...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A framework for language technologies in behavioral research and clinical applications: Ethical challenges, implications, and solutions.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 79-91; doi:10.1037/amp0001195Technological advances in the assessment and understanding of speech and language within the domains of automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning present a remarkable opportunity for psychologists to learn more about human thought and communication, evaluate a variety of clinical conditions, and predict cognitive and psychological states. These innovations can be leveraged to automate traditionally time-intensive assessment tasks (e.g., educational assessment), provide psychological information and care (e.g., cha...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Attitudes among the Australian public toward AI and CCTV in suicide prevention research: A mixed methods study.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 65-78; doi:10.1037/amp0001215Research is underway exploring the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) for suicide prevention research in public locations where suicides occur. Given the sensitive nature and potential implications of this research, this study explored ethical concerns the public may have about research of this nature. Developed based on the principle of respect, a survey was administered to a representative sample of 1,096 Australians to understand perspectives on the research. The sample was aged 18 and older, 53% female...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The use of GNSS technology in smartphones to collect sensitive data on human mobility practices: Ethical challenges and potential solutions.
This article examines how such research raises novel ethical concerns. To do so, we outline two research projects: one based in Northern Ireland (The Belfast Mobility Project) and the other in Chile (The Norm-Contact Mobility Project), drawing concrete examples of the ethical challenges encountered throughout both projects, which used global navigational satellite systems as a tool for data collection. We discuss new threats to participant confidentiality and anonymity, problems of “unanticipated” data collection and exploitation, emerging difficulties in achieving properly informed consent, and concerns regarding the ...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Ethical considerations in using sensors to remotely assess pediatric health behaviors.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 39-51; doi:10.1037/amp0001196Sensors, including accelerometer-based and electronic adherence monitoring devices, have transformed health data collection. Sensors allow for unobtrusive, real-time sampling of health behaviors that relate to psychological health, including sleep, physical activity, and medication-taking. These technical strengths have captured scholarly attention, with far less discussion about the level of human touch involved in implementing sensors. Researchers face several subjective decision points when collecting health data via sensors, with these decisions p...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Navigating ethical challenges in psychological research involving digital remote technologies and people who use alcohol or drugs.
American Psychologist, Vol 79(1), Jan 2024, 24-38; doi:10.1037/amp0001193Digital and remote technologies (DRT) are increasingly being used in scientific investigations to objectively measure human behavior during day-to-day activities. Using these devices, psychologists and other behavioral scientists can investigate health risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use, by closely examining the causes and consequences of monitored behaviors as they occur naturalistically. There are, however, complex ethical issues that emerge when using DRT methodologies in research with people who use substances. These issues must be ident...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Ethical applications of digital community-based research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families.
We describe and apply four research frameworks—community-based participatory research, transdisciplinary team science, representational ethics, and cross-cultural psychology—that can be integrated to offer practical solutions to ethical challenges in digital research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families. Then, as an illustration, we provide a case example of this approach using the Food, Culture, and Health Study conducted with Black Jamaican American and Somali American youth and families, who experience tridimensional acculturation due to their race and have been disproportionately impacted by the dual...
Source: American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
