Relative contribution of specific and nonspecific treatment effects: Meta-analysis of placebo-controlled behavior therapy research.

Bowers, Thomas G.; Clum, George A.

doi:10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.315

Cited by 84 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Similarly, other researchers have provided confirming evidence regarding the construct validity of judges' ratings of the affect and cognitions experienced by study participants (Bowers & Clum, 1988;Eagly & Carli, 1981;Eagly & Crowley, 1986;Eagly & Steffen, 1986;Hull & Bond, 1986;Johnson & Eagly, 1989;Mullen et al, 1985;Rojahn & Pettigrew, 1992;Steele & Southwick, 1985). Based on this array of evidence attesting to both the convergent and construct validity of judges' ratings of the emotional experiences and cognitions of study participants, we had strong reason to anticipate that our judges would provide valid ratings of the cognitive and emotional states of the participants in the studies comprising the displaced aggression literature.…”

Section: Meta-analytic Procedures For Examining Moderatorsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Displaced aggression is alive and well: A meta-analytic review.

Marcus‐Newhall¹,

Pedersen²,

Carlson³

et al. 2000

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

331

239

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Content analysis of 122 social psychology textbooks confirmed that displaced aggression received a surge of attention immediately following J. Dollard, L. W. Doob, N. E. Miller, O. H. Mowrer, and R. R. Sears (1939), but subsequent interest sharply declined. Contemporary texts give it little attention. By contrast, meta-analysis of the experimental literature confirms that it is a robust effect (mean effect size = +0.54). Additionally, moderator analyses showed that: (a) The more negative the setting in which the participant and target interacted, the greater the magnitude of displaced aggression; (b) in accord with N. E. Miller's (1948) stimulus generalization principle, the more similar the provocateur and target, the more displaced aggression; and (c) consistent with the contrast effect (L. Berkowitz & D. A. Knurek, 1969), the intensity of initial provocation is inversely related to the magnitude of displaced aggression.

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Section: Meta-analytic Procedures For Examining Moderatorsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Displaced aggression is alive and well: A meta-analytic review.

Marcus‐Newhall¹,

Pedersen²,

Carlson³

et al. 2000

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

331

239

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They found, for example, that behavioral therapies yielded d = .98, verbal therapies yielded d= .85, and developmental therapies yielded d = .42. Such breakdowns are reported in all 19 psychotherapy recta-analyses we located in recent years in Psychological Bulletin (Berman, Miller, & Massman, 1985;Berman & Norton, 1985;Bowers & Clum, 1988;Casey & Berman, 1985;Dush, Hirt, & Schroeder, 1989;Hazelrigg, Cooper, & Borduin, 1987;Matt, 1989;Miller & Berman, 1983;Robinson, Berman, & Neimeyer, 1990;Shapiro & Shapiro, 1982) and Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Benton & Schroeder, 1990;Christensen, HadziPavlovic, Andrews, & Mattick, 1987;Dew, Bromet, Brent, & Greenhouse, 1987;Dobson, 1989;Hahlweg & Markman, 1988;Nietzel, Russell, Hemmings, & Gretter, 1987;Shoham-Salomon & Rosenthal, 1987;Steinbrueck, Maxwell, & Howard, 1983;Weisz, Weiss, Alicke, & Klotz, 1987).…”

Section: Traditional Analyses In Meta-analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediators and moderators in meta-analysis: There's a reason we don't let dodo birds tell us which psychotherapies should have prizes.

Shadish¹,

Sweeney²

1991

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

224

164

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In primary studies, psychotherapy researchers frequently search for mediator and moderator variables that can help them understand the relationship between treatment and outcome. Yet a review of past psychotherapy meta-analyses revealed that none examined the possible role of mediator variables; and although all of them searched for moderators of study outcome, that search was generally not as complete as it could have been. This article illustrates methods for studying such mediator and moderator variables in meta-analysis, discusses their advantages and disadvantages, and shows how the inclusion of these variables can change interpretation of meta-analytic results. In particular, the perennial interpretation of past psychotherapy meta-analyses that therapeutic orientation makes no difference to outcome--or as the dodo bird put it: "Everyone has won and all must have prizes'--may be wrong. Orientation may make significant difference, but only by virtue of its moderating and mediating effects.To the best of our knowledge, all meta-analyses ever done have concluded that (on the average) clients receiving psychotherapy do better than clients not receiving psychotherapy. In fact, the computation of average therapy effects over studies is the defining strength of meta-analysis. But this strength leads to a criticism of meta-analysis: Knowledge of average effects says nothing about when, where, why, and how therapy works. The latter questions concern mediators and moderators of therapy outcome. The present article describes methods for addressing such questions in meta-analysis.Moderators and mediators are third variables that help researchers to understand the relationship between independent and dependent variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986). "A moderator is a qualitative (e.g., sex, race, class) or quantitative (e.g., level of reward) variable that affects the direction and/or strength of the relations between an independent or predictor variable and a dependent or criterion variable" (Baron & Kenny, 1986, p. 1174. Moderators cause statistical interactions. Some moderator variables are categorical. Suppose, for example, that behavioral therapies yielded high effect sizes on behavioral presenting problems but low effect sizes on nonbehavioral presenting problems, with the opposite pattern emerging for nonbehav-

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“…Focusing on therapy with adults, Frank (1973) and others (see Brown, 1987) have argued that therapy has a variety of "nonspecific effects" (e.g., increasing the client's hopes and expectations of relief, producing cognitive and experiential learning, generating experiences of success, and enhancing feelings of being understood). Such speculation has led some outcome researchers (e.g., Bowers & Clum, 1988;Horvath, 1987) to explore the specificity of effects in psychotherapy (i.e., the extent to which an intervention's effects are specific to the theoretically targeted symptom domain vs. generalized across other symptom domains). Some (e.g., Horvath, 1988) have even taken the position that psychotherapy effects are "artifactual" to the extent that the therapy influences theoretically off-target symptoms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of psychotherapy with children and adolescents revisited: A meta-analysis of treatment outcome studies.

Weisz¹,

Weiss²,

Han³

et al. 1995

Psychological Bulletin

766

574

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A meta-analysis of child and adolescent psychotherapy outcome research tested previous findings using a new sample of 150 outcome studies and weighted least squares methods. The overall mean effect of therapy was positive and highly significant. Effects were more positive for behavioral than for nonbehavioral treatments, and samples of adolescent girls showed better outcomes than other Age X Gender groups. Paraprofessionals produced larger overall treatment effects than professional therapists or students, but professionals produced larger effects than paraprofessionals in treating overcontrolled problems (e.g., anxiety and depression). Results supported the specificity of treatment effects: Outcomes were stronger for the particular problems targeted in treatment than for problems not targeted. The findings shed new light on previous results and raise significant issues for future study.Over the past decade, applications of the technique known as meta-analysis (see Cooper & Hedges, 1994;Mann, 1990;Smith, Glass, & Miller, 1980) have enriched our understanding of the impact of psychotherapy with children and adolescents (herein referred to collectively as "children"). At least three general meta-analyses encompassing diverse treatment methods and diverse child problems have indicated that the overall impact of child psychotherapy is positive, with effect sizes averaging not far below Cohen's (1988) threshold of 0.80 for a "large" effect. Casey and Herman (1985) reported a mean effect size of 0.71 for a collection of treatment outcome studies with children 12 years of age and younger (studies published from . Weisz, Weiss, Alicke, and Klotz (1987) We are grateful to Danika Kauneckis and Julie Mosk for their help with various phases of the project. We also thank the outcome study authors who provided us with information needed to calculate effectsize values for this meta-analysis.

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Relative contribution of specific and nonspecific treatment effects: Meta-analysis of placebo-controlled behavior therapy research.

Cited by 84 publications

References 87 publications

Displaced aggression is alive and well: A meta-analytic review.

Displaced aggression is alive and well: A meta-analytic review.

Mediators and moderators in meta-analysis: There's a reason we don't let dodo birds tell us which psychotherapies should have prizes.

Effects of psychotherapy with children and adolescents revisited: A meta-analysis of treatment outcome studies.

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