Paradigms,Metaphors, and Narratives

This paper addresses the issue of the status of developmental theories. It discusses the concepts of paradigm, metaphor, and narrative as these apply to developmental theories. The author argues that all developmental theories use metaphors as explanatory models. The type of metaphor a theory uses determines whether or not it has a narrative structure. Developmental theories that use a contextual metaphor as opposed to those that use mechanistic or organismic metaphors do not have narrative structure, although their applications to individual cases create narratives. By examining the type of metaphor developmental theories use it is possible to construct a theory that is both coherent and that corresponds to the events associated with development. This conclusion leads to the rejection of constructivist approaches to viewing development, and suggests that it is possible for a developmental theory to attain the status of a paradigm.     

Contextualism and the issue of continuity

In the study of continuity development, two models have predominated in the research literature: organismic vs. contextual model. The first, the organismic, is characterized by the claim that early individual characteristics—what I refer to as traits—have predictive power in relation to subsequent behavior. The contextual model, on the other hand, stresses that predictive power of early individual characteristics is rather weak and that the best predictor of later behavior is the nature of the environment the individual occupies at that point in time. In this paper, both models are presented (including an interactive one), using data from a longitudinal study of attachment. Findings from children 1 to 18 years reveal that 18-year-old models of attachment, as well as the level of psychopathology shown, are best predicted by concurrent family status (whether the mother and father are divorced), rather than early attachment or the interaction between early attachment and family status.     

威廉·斯特恩的儿童人格发展观及其历史效应

威廉·斯特恩是被历史遮蔽的现代儿童发展心理学的重要创建者,对儿童人格发展理论作出了原创性卓越贡献。他以批判人格主义为哲学基础提出了人文科学取向的儿童人格发展观,主要表现在整体论、过程论和情境论三个维面。他认为儿童人格发展是多元统一的整合性发展,是主动、动力、辩证、独特和开放的过程性发展,是内在于生活世界的情境性发展。他的观点为奥尔波特和勒温、维果茨基、皮亚杰、彪勒及里格尔等人的儿童发展理论提供了直接或间接思想来源。     

A Hierarchical Multiple-Level Approach to the Assessment of Interpersonal Relatedness and Self-Definition: Implications for Research,Clinical Practice,and DSM Planning

Extant research suggests there is considerable overlap between so-called 2-polarities models of personality development; that is, models that propose that personality development evolves through a dialectic synergistic interaction between 2 key developmental tasks across the life span—the development of self-definition on the one hand and of relatedness on the other. These models have attracted considerable research attention and play a central role in DSM planning. This article provides a researcher- and clinician-friendly guide to the assessment of these personality theories. We argue that current theoretical models focus on issues of relatedness and self-definition at different hierarchically organized levels of analysis; that is (a) at the level of broad personality features, (b) at the motivational level (i.e., the motivational processes underlying the development of these dimensions), and (c) at the level of underlying internal working models or cognitive affective schemas, and the specific interpersonal features and problems in which they are expressed. Implications for further research and DSM planning are outlined.     

The support of autonomy and the control of behavior

In this article we suggest that events and contexts relevant to the initiation and regulation of intentional behavior can function either to support autonomy (i.e., to promote choice) or to control behavior (i.e., to pressure one toward specific outcomes). Research herein reviewed indicates that this distinction is relevant to specific external events and to general interpersonal contexts as well as to specific internal events and to general personality orientations. That is, the distinction is relevant whether one's analysis focuses on social psychological variables or on personality variables. The research review details those contextual and person factors that tend to promote autonomy and those that tend to control. Furthermore, it shows that autonomy support has generally been associated with more intrinsic motivation, greater interest, less pressure and tension, more creativity, more cognitive flexibility, better conceptual learning, a more positive emotional tone, higher self-esteem, more trust, greater persistence of behavior change, and better physical and psychological health than has control. Also, these results have converged across different assessment procedures, different research methods, and different subject populations. On the basis of these results, we present an organismic perspective in which we argue that the regulation of intentional behavior varies along a continuum from autonomous (i.e., self-determined) to controlled. The relation of this organismic perspective to historical developments in empirical psychology is discussed, with a particular emphasis on its implications for the study of social psychology and personality.     

Self-terminating versus exhaustive processes in rapid visual and memory search: An evaluative review

A major issue in elementary cognition and information processing has been whether rapid search of short-term memory or a visual display can terminate when a predesignated target is found or whether it must proceed until all items are examined. This study summarizes past and recent theoretical results on the ability of self-terminating and exhaustive models to predict differences in slopes between positive (target-present) and negative (target-absent) set-size functions, as well as position effects. The empirical literature is reviewed with regard to the presence of slope differences and position effects. Theoretical investigations demonstrate that self-terminating models can readily predict the results often associated with exhaustive processing, but a very broad class of exhaustive models is incapable of predicting position effects and slope differences typically associated with self-termination. Because position effects and slope differences are found throughout the rapid search literature, we conclude that the exhaustive processing hypothesis is not tenable under common experimental conditions.     

Generational Conversion? The Role of Religiosity in the Politics of Evangelicals

The political environment for evangelical Protestants has changed substantially since the Christian Right reached its apex, as a more issue and ideologically diffuse political environment has emerged. The present study tests two different theoretical perspectives on whether these contextual changes may have altered Millennial evangelicals’ political perspectives vis‐à‐vis those of previous generations of evangelicals. On the one hand, theoretical perspectives related to differential political socialization processes across generations would lead to expectations of generational change among evangelicals. On the other hand, theoretical perspectives related to social identity theory would suggest far less change across generations. Using Pew's 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, we test these expectations by comparing the relationships between religiosity and political attitudes across three generations of evangelicals. Ordered probit and logistic regression models estimate the impact of religiosity on various political attitudes. These models reveal that Millennial evangelical religiosity continues to be strongly related to Republican Party identification and opposition toward abortion, which is largely consistent with the social identity perspective. Generational change is most evident in a variety of nonsocial issues in which religiosity is associated with less conservatism among Millennials. Additional analysis using the 2012 Religion and Politics Survey with a smaller sample of Millennial evangelicals confirms these results.     

Personality in Cultural Context: Methodological Issues

Methodological issues in cultural and cross-cultural personality research are described. A taxonomy of these studies is presented, based on whether a study is exploratory or tests hypotheses, and whether or not contextual information is measured. Core methodological issues are bias and equivalence: a taxonomy and a brief overview of statistical procedures to examine equivalence are presented, with a focus on procedures for assessing structural equivalence (i.e., similarity of meaning of an instrument across cultures). Examples are given of studies in which cultural and cross-cultural approaches, often seen as antithetical, have been fruitfully integrated. Finally, multilevel models are described in which personality characteristics are examined at individual and cultural level.     

Visual search: efficiency continuum or distinct processes?

Whether visual search involves two distinct processes—traditionally referred to as serial and parallel— or a single process operating on a continuum of efficiency or speed, is an issue with a long history in the study of attention. On the basis of the unimodality of search slope distributions in a very large data set, Wolfe (1998) argued for a continuum model. Reanalysis of this data set using statistical procedures more appropriate for adjudicating between continuous and discontinuous models supports the existence of two distinct processes.     

Psychological Needs and the Facilitation of Integrative Processes

ABSTRACT The assumption that there are innate integrative or actualizing tendencies underlying personality and social development is reexamined. Rather than viewing such processes as either nonexistent or as automatic, I argue that they are dynamic and dependent upon social-contextual supports Pertaining to basic human psychological needs. To develop this viewpoint, I conceptually link the notion of integrative tendencies to specific developmental processes, namely intrinsic motivation; internalization; and emotional integration. These processes are then shown to be facilitated by conditions that fulfill psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and forestalled within contexts that frustrate these needs. Interactions between psychological needs and contextual supports account, in part, for the domain and situational specificity of motivation, experience, and relative integration. The meaning of psychological needs (vs. wants) is directly considered, as are the relations between concepts of integration and autonomy and those of independence, individualism, efficacy, and cognitive models of “multiple selves.”     

The logic of interpreting evidence of developmental ordering: strong inference and categorical measures

Developmental ordering is a fundamental prediction of developmental theories and a central issue in developmental research. However, logically sound evidence of developmental ordering is difficult to obtain. This article analyzes the logical basis of testing developmental order hypotheses with categorical measures. Depending on whether saltatory (i.e., discrete) or continuous developmental changes are being assessed, the observed relationship between categorical measures yields very different types of information about developmental ordering. When change is continuous, the relationship between the measures does not confirm any one ordering hypothesis, but rather, disconfirms one or more hypotheses. Whether an underlying variable undergoes saltatory or continuous development has long been recognized as an important theoretical issue, but its impact on the interpretation of developmental ordering has not previously been explicated.     

Delusion in general and forensic psychiatry--historical and contemporary aspects

Delusion has always been a central topic for psychiatric research with regard to etiology and pathogenesis and to diagnosis, treatment, and forensic relevance. Throughout the history of psychiatry as a scientific discipline, there has been dissent on the issue of whether chronic delusion is a nosological entity of its own or just a specific type of another mental disorder, e.g. schizophrenia, mania, or personality disorder, and there already is a considerable literature on this. This article seeks to elucidate the central lines of thought that have governed the scientific debate on delusions and delusion-associated phenomena since the early 19th century. Special attention is given to the practical relevance of these theoretical considerations for forensic questions and psychiatric research. Due to the complex features of delusions, research in this area may well become paradigmatic for many other complicated psycho(patho)logical phenomena, e.g. consciousness, hallucinations and psychotic depression.     

探测认知发展的非连续性:思路与方法

认知发展是连续性的还是非连续性的是发展心理学中一个重要理论问题.目前研究者逐渐认识到发展既有连续性的也有非连续性的,因而关键的问题是什么情况下是非连续性的,什么情况下是连续性的.该问题的回答与非连续性的检测标准有很大关系.本研究详细介绍了考察发展非连续性的三种思路和方法:量表图分析和多重任务法;Rasch模型分析和Saltus模型分析;突变理论的应用.最后,强调了影响发展非连续性问题探讨的一些因素.     

Cohort differences in Hand Test performance: a time lagged analysis

In order to examine the impact of cultural differences (cohort and/or time of measurement) on the intrapsychic processes of older adults, two samples (1976, n = 102; 1986, n = 88) of older persons were compared with regard to their Hand Test (HT; Bricklin, Piotrowski, & Wagner, 1962; Wagner, 1983) performance. Relative to those studies investigating cultural effects in personality at the socioadaptational level (Neugarten, 1977), no research to date has examined this issue utilizing projective methods of assessment. Time-lagged analyses of HT scores of these two samples of elderly adults suggested that there appear to be clear age-related variance in HT performance for both content and derived HT variables. Age-related within-sample variability for most HT scores supported this interpretation. These findings are in contrast to those utilizing more standardized, nomothetic measures of personality functioning that suggest stability of personality in adulthood.     

Personality and self-regulation: trait and information-processing perspectives

This article introduces the special issue of Journal of Personality on personality and self-regulation. The goal of the issue is to illustrate and inspire research that integrates personality and process-oriented accounts of self-regulation. The article begins by discussing the trait perspective on self-regulation--distinguishing between temperament and personality accounts--and the information-processing perspective. Three approaches to integrating these perspectives are then presented. These range from methodological approaches, in which constructs representing the two perspectives are examined in integrated statistical models, to conceptual approaches, in which the two perspectives are unified in a holistic theoretical model of self-regulation. The article concludes with an overview of the special issue contributions, which are organized in four sections: broad, integrative models of personality and self-regulation; models that examine the developmental origins of self-regulation and self-regulatory styles; focused programs of research that concern specific aspects or applications of self-regulation; and strategies for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of self-regulation.     

Cohort Differences in Hand Test Performance: A Time Lagged Analysis

In order to examine the impact of cultural differences (cohort and/or time of measurement) on the intrapsychic processes of older adults, two samples (1976, n = 102; 1986, n = 88) of older persons were compared with regard to their Hand Test (HT; Bricklin, Piotrowski, & Wagner, 1962; Wagner, 1983) performance. Relative to those studies investigating cultural effects in personality at the socioadaptational level (Neugarten, 1977), no research to date has examined this issue utilizing projective methods of assessment. Time-lagged analyses of HT scores of these two samples of elderly adults suggested that there appear to be clear age-related variance in HT performance for both content and derived HT variables. Age-related within-sample variability for most HT scores supported this interpretation. These findings are in contrast to those utilizing more standardized, nomothetic measures of personality functioning that suggest stability of personality in adulthood.     

Consciousness of targets during the attentional blink: a gradual or all-or-none dimension?

Models of consciousness differ in whether they predict a gradual change or a discontinuous transition between nonconscious and conscious perception. Sergent and Dehaene (Psychological Science, 15, 720-728, 2004) asked subjects to rate on a continuous scale the subjective visibility of target words presented during an attentional blink. They found that these words were either detected as well as targets outside the attentional-blink period or not detected at all, and interpreted these results as support for a discontinuous transition between nonconscious and conscious processing. We present results from 4 attentional-blink experiments showing that this all-or-none rating pattern disappears with the use of an alternative measure of consciousness (post-decision wagering) and a more difficult identification task. Instead, under these circumstances, subjects used the consciousness rating scales in a continuous fashion. These results are more consistent with models that assume a gradual change between nonconscious and conscious perception during the attentional blink.     

Feature importance in feature generation and typicality rating

Many theoretical models of cognition are based on the assumption that cognitive processes and representations are hierarchically structured. The issue of whether these hierarchies are mere constructs or conceptual tools, or whether they have psychological and neurological reality, is addressed. Theories across a range of cognitive domains are reviewed and four kinds of evidence are considered: behavioural, neuropsychological, ontogenetic, and logical. Logical constraints are identified in relation to operating principles of control, access, economy and analogy. The general characteristics of hierarchical structures and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.     

父母教养方式的潜在类别:潜在剖面分析

采用问卷法,对764名青少年进行测试,首先采用潜在剖面分析模型探索了父母教养方式的潜在类别,然后通过青少年道德脱离、道德同一性的得分差异来确认潜在类别的效度。结果表明,从青少年的角度父母教养方式分为积极型、消极型和混合型三种,其中积极型人数最多、消极型人数最少。此外,青少年道德脱离、道德同一性的得分在这三种潜在类别上存在显著差异,表明本研究得到的三种潜在类别有较好的效度。积极型教养方式下青少年道德脱离的得分显著低于混合型和消极型的得分,混合型教养方式下道德脱离的得分显著高于消极型的得分;积极型教养方式下青少年道德同一性的得分显著高于混合型和消极型的得分,混合型教养方式下道德同一性的得分显著低于消极型的得分。