Jungian psychology and a deepening of spirituality

The study is an interpretative and personal account of a woman's self-reported dreams and inner life. It embraces unconscious factors by approaching Jungian psychology through alchemical hermeneutics. Psychological development enables Mrs. York to cultivate a non-dogmatic spiritual life based in life experience and expressive of her unique disposition.

Human rights and forensic psychology

Objectives. Human rights serve to orientate practitioners to the necessary conditions for a minimally worthwhile life for service users, the prerequisites for a life of dignity and a chance at happiness, and the opportunity to incorporate into their life plans cherished values and goals. In this introduction to the special section paper, I discuss the basic concept of human rights and outline their relevance for clinical practice with offenders.

Method. I explore the core values associated with human rights and suggest that one of their primary functions is to protect the internal and external conditions of individuals' agency and their pursuit of better lives.

Conclusion. I briefly outline the three articles comprising this special section of LCP on human rights that address issues of risk, therapeutic jurisprudence, and the rights of detained persons.

Evolutionary psychology and the rehabilitation of offenders : constraints and consequences

The mainstream view in criminology and correctional psychology is that evolutionary perspectives have little to offer researchers or practitioners and may in fact lead to overly reductionist and crude responses to the complex issue of crime and its consequences. However, in our view all the major evolutionary approaches to the explanation of human behavior have something of value to contribute, with niche construction providing a particularly useful lens upon crime and its management. In this paper we analyze the concept of rehabilitation and describe the key features of effective rehabilitation. We argue that niche construction is responsive to the cognitive versatility and behavioral flexibility of human beings and can also accommodate the important role of social and cultural scaffolding in the rehabilitation process.

Professional training in applied psychology : towards a signature pedagogy for forensic psychology training

Forensic Psychology is a recognised and important sub-specialty of the Psychology discipline. However, after an expansion in the number of training places that were offered when programmes were first developed, recent years have seen these diminish in response to changes in university policies, resulting from reformulated Federal government funding models. In this article, we argue that it is important for the future of specialist areas of professional psychology to not only articulate the core skills and competencies that are associated with specialist practice but also to develop unique and distinctive approaches to teaching and learning signature pedagogies. Based on the premise that forensic psychological practice is, indeed, a distinctive activity that requires different skills and, importantly, different ways of thinking about the work from other areas of professional psychology, it is suggested that professional training in this area should aim to develop a signature pedagogy which combines methods of teaching and learning that have been developed in legal training programmes with principles of problem-based learning.

Comparison theory in economic psychology regarding the easterlin paradox and decreasing marginal utility : a critique

This paper challenges the assumption within Economics that the relationship between money and subjective wellbeing is determined by processes of cognitive comparison. An alternative explanation for such well known phenomena as the Easterlin Paradox and Decreasing Marginal Utility are provided through a consideration of affect. The theoretical basis for such explanations relies on theory from Psychology usually overlooked by Economists, such as affect heuristics and Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. The presented evidence for this alternative source of explanation melds psychological theory with empirical data. It is concluded that affective processes offer a coherent alternative explanation for the phenomena under discussion.

The nature of supervision in forensic psychology : some observations and recommendations

Purpose – Supervision is often regarded as an important aspect of forensic psychological practice and yet little evidence exists to support the idea that supervised practice leads to better outcomes for either clients or organisations. This paper seeks to discuss some of the aims of supervision in relation to the needs of forensic psychologists, such that practice in this area can be developed further.

Design/methodology/approach – The current published literature on the nature of forensic supervision is reviewed and discussed.

Findings – A number of different models of supervision have been proposed and supervisory experiences can vary markedly according to both the individuals involved and the setting in which the work is conducted. There is a need to develop specialist models of supervision for those who work in forensic settings. Further research is needed to establish an evidence-base for supervisory practices.

Originality/value – There has been very little previous consideration of the nature of post-qualification forensic supervision despite the need, and in some cases requirement, that forensic practitioners receive supervision. This paper discusses some of those issues that are considered important to effective supervision in the forensic setting.

An empirical case for introductory psychology tutorials in a large-class format

This study examined the effectiveness of an instructional format that Involved conducting introductory psychology tutorials in large conventional lecture theatres with over 100 students per class. We maximised the use of skilled tutors, sharing of student perspectives, and cooperative learning in delivering interactive, active learning activities, Students (N = 284) within each class were randomly assigned to smaller groups that were scaled within the same large class environment. Students reported positive perceptions of their learning experience at an end-of-semester survey. Moreover, they performed significantly better in a major assessment on the tutorial component than a previous cohort taught in conventional small tutorial classes. Our finding indicate that active learning techniques can be implemented just as effectively in a large class tutorial format. These findings have practical implications for designing cost effective yet pedagogically vigorous instructional formats for introductory psychology and other liberal arts courses.

Training postgraduate psychology students to deliver psychological services online

Information and communication technologies are increasingly being used to remotely deliver psychological services. This delivery method confers clear advantages to both client and therapist, including the accessibility of services by otherwise unserved populations and cost-effective treatment. Remote services can be delivered in a real-time or delayed manner, providing clients with a wealth of therapy options not previously available. The proliferation of these services has outstripped the development and implementation of all but the most rudimentary of regulatory frameworks, potentially exposing clients to substandard psychological services. Integrating mandatory training on the delivery of online psychological services into accredited postgraduate psychology courses would aid in addressing this issue. The purpose of this article is to outline issues of consideration in the development and implementation of such a training programme. An online etherapy training programme developed by Swinburne University's National eTherapy Centre will be used as an example throughout.

Towards a transpersonal psychology of Daoism

Daoism (Taoism) is a collection of Chinese philosophical beliefs and psychospiritual practices with a history of thousands of years, and a living community that stretches throughout East Asia. I will argue that Daoism and its corresponding texts such as those included in the Daozang provide a wealth of material regarding trans-egoic experiences (e.g., unitive absorption in the Dao), that may enhance Western psychologists’ understanding of transpersonal phenomena. Curiously, however, despite the obvious points of intersection between Daoism and transpersonal psychology (e.g., a mutual interest in phenomena typically referred to as altered states of consciousness), to date transpersonal psychologists have neglected to investigate Daoism. Indeed, the majority of published research concerning the relationships between Daoism and Western psychology has been undertaken from within the Jungian analytic and humanistic psychological movements. After reviewing this literature, I will formulate various proposals for future empirical studies that may interest transpersonal psychologists.