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Attribution processes of family members and therapists
Abstract
The new epistemology of second order cybernetics and constructivism has influenced a shift in the emphasis from behavior to meanings by the systemic family therapies. While this shift to an emphasis on cognition represents a further step in the evolution in the family therapy movement, the manner in which it has been presented provides continued support for a number of criticisms. Included in these are complaints that the systemic family therapies have erroneously rejected individual psychological models, tended to generate theoretical statements that are vague and abstract, and inappropriately discouraged the development of empirical research. This study employed concepts and research findings, from family theory and attribution theory to identify a number of theoretically and clinically relevant issues pertaining to family members and therapists during a course of family therapy. Specific areas of interest included the relationships of family members' and therapists' attributions at the beginning and after a period of family therapy, the relationships of pre-treatment to post-treatment attributions, and the relationships of attributions to therapeutic outcome. Eight families and their family therapists participated in this study. All subjects completed an amended version of the 4-ADS, a direct rating instrument that measures an individual's attributions on the causal dimensions of Locus, Stability, Globality and Controllability. A dimension of Intentionality was added, as well. Attributional ratings were made at the start of therapy and following a period of two months for a presenting problem identified by the family. All subjects were also asked to indicate whether or not there had been improvement in the presenting problem following therapy. For the most part, the attributions made by family members did not differ significantly. Likewise, therapists' attributions did not differ significantly from family members' attributions. Consistent with previous attributional studies of families in therapy, there were only a few instances in which family members' or therapists' attributions changed over the course of therapy. Similarly, there were few instances in which changes in the presenting problem were accompanied by changes in attributions.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology
Recommended Citation
Lafleur, Daniel Gerald, "Attribution processes of family members and therapists" (1994). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9420645.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9420645