The interpretive process in Rorschach testing

In this article, two complimentary and interwoven approaches to Rorschach interpretation are described. The first, a more structural approach, emphasizes test responses, the response process, and test rationales. Theorists with this emphasis focus primarily on the structural features of a test record?the scores and their interrelations. Interpretations drawn from the structural features of a record themselves tend to have a structural emphasis. A second approach, referred to as experiential, is more subjective and phenomenological. Based on the examiner's empathy, this approach is applied to other aspects of a Rorschach protocol such as content of responses and the testee's more spontaneous and off-handed comments. Each of these interpretive approaches must be given its due and integrated with interpretations drawn from the other.     

A new test of an old hypothesis: a quantification of sequence in the Rorschach

Rorschach interpretation often assumes that successive responses are not independent of one another but rather that they are part of a series of interconnected events. In this study, methods that have been used to analyze event sequence data were applied to Rorschach protocols. Results from a nonclinical group of 102 university students showed that location scores on successive responses were repeated more frequently than was predicted by chance. There was also a tendency for subjects to make transitions from larger to smaller or more detailed areas of the inkblot on successive responses. In addition, we found that subjects tended to make transitions from more adequate to less adequate use of form, and that the unusual and minus form categories tended to be repeated. A modest association between transition frequencies and individual differences in anxiety, but not between transition frequencies and depression or overall symptomatology, was demonstrated.     

On the representation of multiple languages in the brain: old problems and new directions

This paper has attempted to show that when the relevant literature is critically scrutinized there is very little evidence for the idea that the right hemisphere participates in multiple languages in any way significantly different from the case of a single language. We have seen that most of the clinical data support the simple notion that the left hemisphere controls the first and subsequent languages to the same degree. The experimental data are full of contradictions, but many of the claims are invalid due to various methodological and analytical problems explained previously. It is suggested that future research concentrate on finer-grained questions than simply whether a language is left lateralized or not. These questions should make connections with other known neurological and neuropsychological facts. Of primary interest is obtaining converging evidence on the hypothesis of differential cerebral territories within the left hemisphere of bilinguals for different languages. In conclusion, we would be wise to consider the bilingual as a very rich potential source for testing various hypotheses about linguistic and neurolinguistic organization. But we should not lose the opportunity to test both more general and more specific hypotheses to which the multilingual gives us access. If treated with care the multilingual will tell us much, even though he may speak in many tongues.     

Influence of instructions on expectancy effects in Rorschach testing

Videotaped Rorschach instructions from a previous study in which two experimenters had biased subjects for high productivity and two experimenters had biased subjects for low productivity were played (audio or combined audio-visual channels) to matched subjects who then took the free association portion of the test. Biased results were obtained for one experimenter only. These did not interact with communication channels. It was concluded that experimenter-expectancy effects in Rorschach testing are not transmitted simply by exposing subjects to biased experimenters' instructions, but instead depend upon experimenter attributes which may or may not manifest themselves during the instructional phase. Limited evidence suggesting that expectancies are transmitted as effectively by audio as by a combination of audio and visual cues was obtained.     

The introductory class in higher education: Some old problems and new considerations

The traditional text and lecture format has remained the norm in introductory college courses despite evidence, such as the personalized system of instruction, that other practices could improve what is learned and retained. The growth of distance learning provides new opportunities to implement effective teaching practices. Unfortunately, an adequate comparison of various teaching practices is not possible (even with regard to the teaching of behavior analysis). Few practices have been assessed with respect to course-end effects (final exam performance), and longer term effects remain almost wholly unexplored. Studies of the retention of academic materials, the practice required for mastery or fluency, and the relation between verbal repertoires and correspondent everyday behaviors suggest course outcomes more modest than those hoped for earlier. Suggestions for changing current practices have little credibility until the size of the gap between present and possible learning outcomes is much better known, and the personal, social, and economic consequences of bridging that gap (or not) are assessed.     

Psychological testing on the Internet: new problems, old issues

The Internet has significantly changed the way people conduct business, communicate, and live. In this article, the authors' focus is on how the Internet influences the practice of psychology as it relates to testing and assessment. The report includes 5 broad sections: background and context, new problems yet old issues, issues for special populations, ethical and professional issues, and recommendations for the future. Special attention is paid to implications for people with disabling conditions and culturally and linguistically diverse persons. The authors conclude that ethical responsibilities of psychologists and current psychometric standards, particularly those regarding test reliability and validity, apply even though the way in which the tests are developed and used may be quite different.     

Some Developmental Aspects of Primary Process Manifestations in the Rorschach

A group of 27 male subjects were administered the Rorschach at ages 14 and 24. The protocols were scored for the main categories of the Holt Primary Process scoring system. A comparison of the two age groups indicates that at age 24 there is a decrease in the percentage of primary process responses and an increase in “adaptive regression.” Individual differences for all the primary process scoring categories remained highly consistent for the 10-year period spanned by the data. Adaptive regression was found to be significantly correlated with IQ, field independence (RFT), and Rorschach ratings of intellectualization at both ages. The results were viewed as suggesting that primary process manifestations on the Rorschach seem to be mediated by stable aspects of an individual's cognitive abilities and cognitive style.     

Category theory,logic and formal linguistics: Some connections,old and new

We seize the opportunity of the publication of selected papers from the Logic, categories, semantics workshop to survey some current trends in logic, namely intuitionistic and linear type theories, that interweave categorical, geometrical and computational considerations. We thereafter present how these rich logical frameworks can model the way language conveys meaning.     

Some future directions for global justice

The fields of global ethics and global justice have expanded considerably over the last two decades and they now cover a wide variety of topics. Given this huge range there are many areas that are ripe for important developments. In this commentary I identify some useful directions for promising exploration in the field of global justice. I argue that expanded dialogue networks would considerably enhance work in philosophy and be beneficial to other disciplines as well. I indicate also how we could develop work on allocating responsibilities for reducing global injustices in useful ways, by considering a wider range of considerations that give rise to responsibilities and expanding the scope of, and audience for, these discussions. I catalog some under-theorized topics that should get more philosophical attention (including the notions of complicity, exploitation, and corruption). In addition, I draw attention to the ways in which a journal such as this one could facilitate a number of important dialogue networks.     

Some foundations and directions for applied developmental psychology

Applied developmental psychology (ADP) is an “umbrella” discipline which includes a range of psychological sciences and professions committed to use of the data base and methods of developmental psychology to address problems in education, health, human services and public policy. ADP emerges now as a manifestation of increasing recognition of the limits of developmental psychology's traditional models and paradigms, increasing recognition of our appropriate role in social problem-solving and public policy formation and an employment market which reflects these awarenesses. Consideration of clinical psychology as an ADP provides examples of synergies and distinctions helpful in defining ADP. The “linkage” concept inherent in a “scientist-practitioner” model is emphasized as a key in this definition and as a basis for designing appropriate doctoral training programs in ADP.     

Job burnout: new directions in research and intervention

Job burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job and is defined here by the three dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism, and sense of inefficacy. Its presence as a social problem in many human services professions was the impetus for the research that is now taking place in many countries. That research has established the complexity of the problem and has examined the individual stress experience within a larger social and organizational context of people's response to their work. The framework, which focuses attention on the interpersonal dynamics between the worker and other people in the workplace, has yielded new insights into the sources of stress, but effective interventions have yet to be developed and evaluated.