How a thing is called—A study of mothers' and children's naming

Mothers' selections of category names in object-naming tasks were examined using the levels of categorization defined by Eleanor Rosch (E. Rosch. In T. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language, New York: Academic Press, 1973. E. Rosch. In E. Rosch & B. Lloyd (Eds.), Cognition and categorization. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1978. E. Rosch, C. Mervis, W. Gray, D. Johnson, & P. Boyes-Braem. Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 8, 382–439). The effect of three variables—Presentation Context, Taxonomy, and Age (of person for whom mother was naming the items)—on mothers' choice of category names, was also investigated. The stimuli were 36 photographs of common concrete objects representative of four taxonomies. Forty mothers named the stimulus items for their 2-year-olds (N = 20), for their 4-year-olds (N = 20), and for the Experimenter. The category labels that children of both ages used when naming the same items, and mothers' independent predictions of the names their children would use in the naming task, were recorded. Contextual factors were found to have a primary role in determining mothers' selections of category names and the three independent variables had a complex and dynamic effect on mothers' naming practices.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Marriage Counseling in Groups, by M. M. Ohlsen. Champaign, IL: Research Press Co., 1979, paperback, 200 pages, $6.95.

Common Sense in Therapy, by Yoosuf A. Haveliwala, Albert E. Scheflen and Norman Ashcraft. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1979, 199 pages, $13.50.

Handbook of Suicidology: Principles, Problems and Practice, by Louis Wekstein. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1979, 303 pages, $17.50.

Making It as a Stepparent: New Roles, New Rules, by Claire Berman. New York: Doubleday, 1980, 202 pages, $8.95.

Invitation to a Dialogue: Union and Separation in Family Life, by Otto Pollak and Ellen S. Wise. New York: Spectrum, 1979, $9.95.     

Career choice and orality

The field of vocational psychology is replete with schemata for the determinants of career choice in adulthood (e.g., A. Roe, The psychology of occupations. New York: Wiley, 1956; D. E. Super, The psychology of careers. New York: Harper &Row, 1957; J. O. Crites, Vocational psychology: The study of vocational behavior and development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969). A view not given much weight in empirical research in this area is that of psychoanalytic theory relating career choice to unresolved childhood conflicts and their derivatives. To examine the validity of this psychoanalytic prediction, students' Rorschach protocols were analyzed to yield an index of frustrated oral needs. The students were given decks of careers to rank from most to least preferable. Results showed that the ranking of the oral careers was a function of the Rorschach index of frustrated oral needs for women only but not for men.     

Sex-role stereotyping and patterns of self-disclosure

Students enrolled in psychology courses completed a Bem Sex-Role Inventory and a self-disclosure scale. A three way ANOVA (sex by sex role by target of disclosure) was used to determine if androgynous subjects differed from stereotyped by not conforming to standard sex differences in: (a) pattern of targets disclosed to; (b) amount of intimate disclosure. Results indicated: (a) androgynous females reported a peers first profile, typical of males; (b) androgynous males reported more disclosure than stereotyped males, especially on intimate topics; (c) androgynous females reported more nonintimate discussions with their fathers; and (d) androgynous males reported the highest level of intimate disclosures to father. Sex role is a better predictor of reported self-disclosure than is sex.The order of the authors' names was randomly determined: Both contributed equally. Correspondence should be sent to either author at the following address: Department of Psychology, State University of New York, College at Cortland, Cortland, New York 13045.     

Books

Maccurdy, J. T. Common Principles In Psychology And Physiology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1928. Pp. Xvii + 284. Reviewed by James Drever.

Brasol, B. The Elements Of Crime. New York: Oxford University Press, 1927. Pp. Xi + 433. $5.00. Reviewed by Carl Murchison

Luckiesh, M. Foundations Of The Universe. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1925. Pp. Vii + 245. $3.00. Reviewed by Carl Murchison

Watson, J. B. Psychological Care Of Infant And Child. New York: Norton, 1928. Pp. 195. $2.00. Reviewed by M. Goodrie

Herskovits, M. J. The American Negro. New York: Knopf, 1928. Pp. Xiv + 92. $2.00 Reviewed by Carl Murchison

Rickman, J. Index Psychoanalyticus. London: Hogarth, 1928. Pp. 276. 18S. Reviewed by Carl Murchison     

Differentiation of Self,Interpersonal Conflict,and Depression: The Mediating Role of Anger Expression

The current study investigated how differentiation of self (Bowen in Family therapy in clinical practice. Jason Aronson, New York, 1978; Kerr and Bowen in Family evaluation. W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 1988) was related to interpersonal conflict and depression, and tested mediation hypotheses involving anger expression. The results revealed that anger expressed outwardly partially mediated the relationship between emotional reactivity and interpersonal conflict, and that anger expressed inwardly fully mediated the relationship between emotional cutoff and depression among 260 college students attending an urban university located in Midwestern United States.     

What’s In a Name? Marital Name Choice Revisited

In two studies we assessed the percentage of brides who chose nontraditional marital names and characteristics that were related to name choice. In Study 1 we analyzed wedding announcements from The New York Times, 1982–2002. In Study 2 we surveyed the name choices, reasons for them, and associated characteristics of a sample of 126 college-educated women who have been part of a longitudinal study since 1993. A substantial minority of brides (29%) chose nontraditional names in Study 1, whereas 46% did in Study 2; the difference reflects the higher proportion of Women of Color and the higher educational level of women in Study 2. Other characteristics associated with nontraditional naming were: older age at marriage, more feminist attitudes, higher career commitment, and less value of the role of mother.     

Integrating the Relational Matrix: Attachment Style,Differentiation of Self,Triangulation, and Experiential Avoidance

In light of the recent call for greater efforts toward integration in psychotherapy theory, research, and practice (Gaete and Gaete in J Psychother Integr 25(2):158–174, 2015; Ziv-Beiman in J Psychother Integr 24(3):251–257, 2014), this study aimed to evaluate the relationships among attachment style, differentiation of self (DoS), triangulation, and experiential avoidance in an integrated model. Although attachment theory (Bowlby in Attachment and loss. Attachment, vol 1. Basic Books, New York, 1969; Cassidy and Shaver in Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications, 3rd edn. Guilford Press, New York, 2010) typically views relationships in terms of dyads, Bowen theory and other systemic theories focus on human relationships in terms of triangles, indicating that attachment theory may be overlooking the role of a second parent in psychological well-being. Furthermore, links between attachment theory and DoS (Kerr and Bowen in Family evaluation. W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 1988) may be characterized by the avoidance of painful private experience, termed experiential avoidance. A sample of 167 U.S. students enrolled at an urban Midwestern University filled out electronic surveys containing a demographic questionnaire and the Differentiation of Self Inventory-Short Form, the Triangular Relationship Inventory, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire—II (AAQ-II). We found that experiential avoidance partially mediated the relationships between avoidant attachment and emotional cut-off, as well as between anxious attachment and I-position. In addition, both anxious and avoidant attachment were associated with higher levels of triangulation and fully mediated the relationship between triangulation and DoS, suggesting that dyadic relationship patterns originate in triadic family processes and eventually effect DoS. Overall, these results connect the dyadic parent–child relationship, the central construct of attachment theory, to the triadic field of Bowen and other systemic theories.     

Books

Abstract

Lynd, R. S., & Merrell, H. Middletown, a Study in Contemporary American Culture. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929. Pp. 550. $5.00.

Mead, M. Coming of Age in Samoa. New York: Morrow, 1928. Pp. 297. $3.00.

Hollingworth, L. S. The Psychology of the Adolescent. New York: Appleton, 1928. Pp. 227. $2.50.

Chadwick, M. Difficulties of Child Development. New York: Day, 1928. Pp. 411. $4.00.

Johnson, Harriet M. Children in the Nursery School. New York: Day, 1928. Pp. 325. $3.00.

Gesell, A. Infancy and Human Growth. New York: Macmillan, 1928. Pp. 418. $3.50. Reviewed by Helen McM. Bott

Hamilton, G. V. A Research in Marrige. New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1929. Pp. 570. $10.00

Hamilton, G. V. & Macgowan, K. What is Wrong With Marriage? New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1929. Pp. 319. $3.00. Reviewed by Ernest R. Groves

Hollingworth, H. H. Vocational Psychology and Character Analysis. New York: Appleton, 1929. Pp. 409. $3.00. Reviewed by June E. Downey

Cason, H. Common annoyances: a psychological study of every-day aversions and irritations. Psychol. Monog., 1920, 40, No. 182. Pp. v+218.

Kroh, O. Die Psychologie des Grundschulkindes. Friedrich Mann's Päd. Mag., 1930, No. 1122. Päd. Untersuchungen (V. Reihe: Untersuchungen zur Psychologie und Theorie der Bildung), No. 1. Pp. 352. 6,60 RM.

Lasswell, H. D. Psychopathology and politics. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, 1930. Pp. x+286. $3.00.

Maeterlinck, M. The life of the ant. (Trans. by Bernard Miall.) New York: Day, 1930. Pp. xiii+282.

Seligman, E. R. A., & Johnson, A. [Eds.] Encyclopedia of the social sciences. Vol. II: All-Bri. New York: Macmillan, 1930. Pp. xxvii+ 646. $7.50.

Saint-Paul, G. Invertis et homosexuals. Paris: Vigot, 1930. Pp. 158. 15 frs.

Wheeler, R. H. Readings in psychology. New York: Crowell, 1930. Pp. x+597. $3.97.     

Book Notes

Abstract

Identification of Book Reviewers for this Number. John H. Wigmore is Dean of the Northwestern University Law School. George F. White is Professor of Chemistry in Clark University. Edward W. Flagg is Professor Emeritus, State Normal School, Potsdam, New York. Carl Murchison is Editor of this journal.

American White Criminal Intelligence. By Carl Murchison. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Vol. 15, No. 2, August, 1924, 77 pages. Vol. 15, No. 3, November, 1924, 60 pages.

Education for Moral Growth. By Henry Neuman, Ph.D. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1923, 383 pp.

Prisons and Common Sense. By Thomas Mott Osborne. Philadelphia, J. P. Lippincott Co., 1924. pp. 105. $1.25.

Twenty-five Years of American Education. By I. L. Kandel. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1924. pp. 469.

Elements of Educational Psychology. By Lawrence Augustus Averill. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1924. pp. 425.

Psychological Principles Applied to Teaching. By William Henry Pyle. Baltimore, Warwick & York, Inc., 1924. pp. 190.

The Education of Handicapped Children. By J. E. Wallace Wallin. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1924. pp. 369. $2.25.

Fundamentals of Vocational Psychology. By Charles H. Griffitts. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1924. pp. 372.

Laboratory Studies in Educational Psychology. By Egbert Milton Turner and George Herbert Betts. New York, D. Appleton & Company, 1924. pp. 217.

Mind as Behavior. By Edgar Arthur Singer, Jr. Columbus, R. G. Adams, 1924. pp. 293.

The Child's Mind and the Common Branches. By Daniel Wolford La Rue. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1924. pp. 479.

An Introduction to Philosophy. By G. T. W. Patrick. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1924. pp. 463. $2.50.

Principles of Psychology. By J. R. Kantor. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1924. pp. 464.

An Intermediale Textbook of Physiological Chemistry with Experiments. By C. J. V. Pettibone, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physiological Chemistry, Medical School, University of Minnesota. Second edition. C. V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, 1923. pp. 376.     

Conflict and integration in career decision schemes

This study investigates three aspects of the way high school seniors (166 males, 187 females) construe occupational alternatives: intensity (how strongly are career considerations related), conflict (how much conflict is involved in these relations), and evaluative accord (to what extent are one's stated preferences in agreement with the positivity with which occupations are rated on considerations). Using a variant of G. Kelly's (New York: Norton, 1955) grid methodology, students rated 10 career alternatives on 10 career considerations. The results indicate that the three variables are significantly interrelated.     

Misattribution of arousal and attraction: Effects of salience of explanations for arousal

Based on previous research demonstrating that salience of a plausible cause increases the likelihood of causal attribution (S. E. Taylor & S. T. Fiske, in J. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 11), New York: Academic Press, 1978) it was predicted that salience of plausible causes of arousal would affect romantic attraction. Male subjects were differentially aroused by running in place. Aroused subjects were particularly likely to be attracted to an attractive female confederate if they expected to meet her (high salience of confederate) and if cues associated with the running in place were minimized (low salience of exercise). Though results are consistent with a misatribution of arousal hypothesis, it is suggested that emotion schemata are a potentially more useful explanation.     

Thinking Styles and the Eriksonian Stages

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the predictive power of thinking styles for psychosocial development. Four hundred and twenty-six (212 men and 214 women) students from a large comprehensive university in Shanghai, the People??s Republic of China, responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II (TSI-R2, Sternberg, Wagner, and Zhang 2007) and the Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD, Hawley 1988). The TSI-R2 is based on Thinking styles, Cambridge University, Press, New York, (1997) theory of mental self-government, while the MPD is based on Identity: Youth and crisis, W.W. Norton, New York, (1968) theory of psychosocial development. Results suggested that after the variables gender and academic discipline were controlled for, creativity-generating styles positively contributed to psychosocial development and that norm-favoring styles negatively contributed to psychosocial development. Implications of these findings are discussed for university students, faculty members, and for university student development educators.     

Mother, Melancholia, and Play in Erik H. Erikson’s Childhood and Society

In an earlier article on Erik H. Erikson’s earliest writings (Capps, 2007), I focused on the relationship between the child’s melancholia and conflict with maternal authority, and drew attention to the restorative role of humor. In this article, I discuss two of the three chapters in part three, “The Growth of the Ego,” of Erikson’s first major book, Childhood and Society [Erikson, Childhood and society. New York: W. W. Norton, 1950, Childhood and society (rev. edition). New York: W. W. Norton, 1963]. I explore the same theme of the relationship of melancholia and the mother, but focus on the restorative role of play. I interpret the differences between the two cases in light of Sigmund Freud’s essay, “Mourning and Melancholia” [Freud, Mourning and melancholia. In S. Freud, General psychological theory (pp. 164–179). P. Rieff (ed.). New York: Collier Books. 1963].

Letting a little nonverbal air into the room: Insights from acceptance and commitment therapy Part 1: Philosophical and theoretical underpinnings

In recent years, a new “wave” of mindfulness based Cognitive Behavior Therapies (CBT) has become popular. Such approaches include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behaviour change. New York: Guilford Press, 1999), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York: Guilford Press, 2002), and Mindfulness-based Stress Management (Full catastrophe living: using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York: Dell Publishing, 1990). In contrast to traditional CBT, these approaches often minimize attempts to change the form and frequency of dysfunctional thoughts. Is there any way to integrate traditional CBT with mindfulness based CBT? To answer this question, we discuss the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of one form of traditional CBT (Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and one form of mindfulness based CBT (ACT). We argue that some aspects of each therapy can be integrated. However, in order to prevent techniques from being used haphazardly or inconsistently, we suggest that the different forms of CBT need to be driven by a common philosophical orientation (e.g., functional contextualism) and theoretical orientation (e.g., Relational Frame Theory).     

Functional similarity and interpersonal attraction

A pair of related experiments examined the relationship of functional similarity (i.e., the degree of similarity between two interactants in assessing mutually known others on personal construct dimensions) to interpersonal attraction. In Experiment I, 10 previously unacquainted college students of both sexes participated in 10 hours of dyadic disclosure exercises over a 5-week period. As predicted, members of high functional similarity dyads evidenced greater attraction to one another than did members of low functional similarity dyads. Experiment II investigated the relationship of functional similarity to level of acquaintance (i.e., friends, nominals) and type of assessment (i.e., physical, interactional, psychological) in a 2 × 3 factorial design. As hypothesized, “friendship” pairs of male undergraduates displayed greater functional similarity than did “nominal” pairs from the same population, particularly at the deeper level of “psychological” assessment. Results are discussed in relation to classical conditioning (D. Byrne, In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 4. New York. Academic Press, 1969), affect-reinforcement (G. L. Clore, In S. W. Duck (Ed.), Theory and practice in interpersonal attraction. New York/London: Academic Press, 1977) and information processing ( I. Ajzen, In S. Duck (Ed.), Theory and practice in interpersonal attraction, New York/London: Academic Press, 1977) models of interpersonal attraction, and are interpreted as supporting and extending (S. Duck's Theory and practice in interpersonal attraction, New York/London: Academic Press, 1977) filtering theory of friendship formation.     

Resilient,Undercontrolled, and Overcontrolled Personality Prototypes Among Persons With Spinal Cord Injury

Brendan Maher (Ed.). Clinical Psychology and Personality (The Selected Papers of George Kelly). New York: Wiley, 1969. 361 pages + viii, $8.95. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

L. J. Bischof. Interpreting Personality Theories. New York: Harper &; Row, 1970. 653 pages, $10.95.

L. A. Pervin. Personality—Theory, Assessment and Research. New York: Wiley, 1970. 632 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

Michael Cole &; Irving Maltzman, Editors. A Handbook of Contemporary Soviet Psychology. New York and London: Basic Books, Inc., 1969, 832 pages, $25.00. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

Edwin I. Megargee and Jack E. Hokanson. The Dynamics of Aggression. (Individual, Group and International Analyses) New York: Harper &; Row, 1970. 271 pages, $3.95. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

Pat Powers and Wade Baskin (Eds.) New Outlooks in Psychology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1968, 512 pages, $12.00. Reviewed by Spencer B. Sterne

Salo Rosenbaum and Ian Alger, (Eds.). The Marriage Relationship, Psychoanalytic Perspectives. New York: Basic Books, 1968. 366 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by S. G. Vandenberg

Rudolph Wittenberg. Postadolescence: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects of Psychoanalytic Therapy. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1968. 138 pages, $6.50. Reviewed by Sarah A. Alleman

Liam Hudson. Frames of Mind. New York: Norton, 1968. 134 pages, $5.50. Reviewed by Russell Eisenman

Irving L. Janis, George F. Mahl, Jerome Kagan, &; Robert R. Holt. Personality: Dynamics, Development, and Assessment. New York: Harcourt, Brace, &; World, 1969. 859 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Andrew M. Barclay     

ON THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOANALYTIC FIELD THEORY,PART 1

Defining Psychoanalysis: Achieving a Vernacular Expression, by Ian Miller. London: Karnac, 2016. 116 pp. The Pioneers of Psychoanalysis in South America: An Essential Guide, edited by Nydia Lisman‐Pieczanski and Alberto Pieczanski. London/New York: Routledge, 2015. 537 pp. Reading Italian Psychoanalysis, edited by Franco Borgogno, Alberto Luchetti, and Luisa Marino Coe. London/New York: Routledge, 2016. 738 pp.     

Distinguishing lexical- versus discourse-level processing using event-related potentials

Two experiments examine the links between neural patterns in EEG (e.g., N400s, P600s) and their corresponding cognitive processes (e.g., lexical access, discourse integration) by varying the lexical and syntactic contexts of co-referential expressions. Experiment 1 examined coreferring expressions when they occurred within the same clause as their antecedents (John/Bill warmly dressed John). Experiment 2 examined between-clause co-referencing with expressions that also varied in lexical frequency (John/Weston went to the store so that John/Weston could buy milk). Evidence of facilitated lexical processing occurred after repeated names, which elicited smaller N400s, as compared with new names. N400s were also attenuated to a greater degree for low-frequency expressions than for high-frequency ones. Repeated names also triggered evidence of postlexical processing, but this emerged as larger P600s for within-clause co-referencing and delayed N400s for between-clause co-referencing. Together, these results suggest that linguistic processes can be distinguished through distinct ERP components or distinct temporal patterns.     

Memory and aging: Implications for theories of memory development during childhood

Research is reviewed suggesting that early school age children and older adults demonstrate a similar pattern of performance deficits (relative to the performance of young adults) on memory tasks, raising the possibility that age-related changes in some common factor might account for both memory development and memory decline. It is argued here that whereas “metamemory” theory of memory development does not provide a viable theory of memory decline, Craik's (F. I. M. Craik & M. Byrd, 1982, in F. I. M. Craik & S. E. Trehub (Eds.), Aging and cognitive processes, New York: Plenum; F. I. M. Craik & E. Simon, 1980, in L. W. Poon, J. L. Fozard, L. S. Cermak, D. Arenberg, & L. W. Thompson (Eds.), New directions in memory and aging, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum) attentional deficit theory of memory decline provides a viable theory of memory development as well. Evidence supporting this position is reviewed, and directions for future research are discussed.