Paul E. Meehl's contributions to personality assessment

Many of Meehl's interests converged in his work on personality assessment. In empirical research, development of the K scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and various scales of other tests are noteworthy, but his most profound contributions were conceptual and philosophical. Essays on the role of base rates in clinical decision and on construct validity in psychological tests provided vital insights on core issues in assessment. The concept of nomological nets allowed systematic investigation of unobservable theoretical entities, with liberating effects on all natural sciences. An active clinician, Meehl understood deeply the complexities of professional service, but his insistence on empirical validation as the ultimate arbiter of the value of any procedure required all attainable rigor in the scientific foundations of clinical practice.     

Deconstructing, reconstructing, preserving Paul E. Meehl's legacy of construct validity

The question of the status of cause-and-effect explanations of human behavior that posit physically existing causative factors and those that, on the other hand, posit hypothetical entities in the form of "useful fictions" has a long history. The influence of the works of Jeremy Bentham and Hans Vaihinger, as well as the later influence of Francis Galton, is described. Issues of the validity of hypothetical constructs and related problems of measurement and definition as found in psychoanalytic theory construction and in trait theory are examined. The significant and continuing interest generated by the landmark studies of K. MacCorquodale and P. E. Meehl (1948) and L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl (1955) as well as the central importance of P. E. Meehl's thinking are described.     

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY IN A CROSS-CULTURE PERSPECTIVE ——— An interview with Dr. Paul E. Spector

Occupational Health Psychology(OHP)is an interdisciplinary field concerned with psychological factors in employee's health,safety,and well-being,closely related to Industrial/Organizational(I/O)Psychology. Specific areas of concern are accidents,injuries,illness,stress,violence,counterproductive work behavior,and work-family conflict. Based on his research,Dr. Paul E. Spector answered our questions on aspects of Occupational Health Psychology,Cross-cultural Psychology and research/statistical methods in I/O Psychology. His opinions or suggestions about future research in I/O Psychology are informative and inspiring.     

Making a Difference: A Tribute to E. Paul Torrance From the United Kingdom

This article pays tribute to the life and work of Ellis Paul Torrance as an individual, psychologist, and educator. It is written from the perspective of a UK psychologist, teacher, and academic, and it traces sequentially the impact of Torrance's work on the author's research and teaching in the United Kingdom. This includes a large-scale investigation into the views of 1,028 UK teachers and lecturers on creativity, teaching, and learning (Fryer, 1989, 1996; Fryer & Collings 1991a, 1991b); the development of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in applied creativity; and the establishment of a registered charity, The Creativity Centre Educational Trust, of which Torrance was the first honorary member. This article does not attempt to chart Torrance's many achievements (there are others who can do this better). Instead, the emphasis is on his personal qualities, his skill as a psychologist and an educator, and his influence on the author's own work in this field. Attention is drawn to an observation he made shortly before his death about performance on tests of creativity and intelligence and their relation to academic achievement. Torrance's landmark contribution to the understanding and practice of creative education is highlighted, and it is argued that his work is not only relevant to those identified as highly creative but also to education as a whole.     

The Moral Theology of John Paul II: A Response to Charles E. Curran

Over a long career of teaching and writing in the area of moral theology Charles E. Curran has experienced large areas of agreement with John Paul II on issues of social justice even while in other areas of personal and sexual issues the two are in serious disagreement. This phenomenon of agreement/disagreement has suggested to Curran that the pope is guilty of using a double methodology in his moral theological writing. Curran's book, The Moral Theology of Pope John Paul II, seeks to uncover and substantiate the root of their agreements and disagreements. This article seeks to evaluate Curran's theory. This analysis is done in two parts: first, an examination of the evidence that Curran presents to support his charge against the pope, and second, an examination of the alternative possibility that it is Curran who has the double methodology rather than the pope.