The Effect of Female Aggressiveness on Aggressive and Sexual Fantasies

Fifty-five fraternity and sorority members were made angry by a hostile female experimenter to investigate whether the sex of the anger-arousing individual has an effect on a connection between anger and sexuality found in earlier studies. Subjects wrote stories to two male-dominant (MD) and two female-dominant (FD) TAT pictures. Aroused groups responded to an aggressive arousal with increases in sexual motivation which replicates earlier findings. The results are discussed in terms of the cues presented by the experimenter and the possibility of two types of defensiveness: reduction of TAT imagery and increases in defensive scoring.     

The Family Story Technique and Intrafamily Analysis

The Family Story Technique (FST) was devised because of its promising versatility in the assessment among family members of affect, interactional patterns, and outlook on the future. The FST makes use of ten selected TAT cards and a modification of Fine's scoring system. Reliability of scoring in terms of per cent agreement between two scorers was found to range from 67% to 100% for usable categories. Potential usefulness of the FST in family diagnosis and family patterning of interactions is illustrated by a case presentation of family FST scores.     

Fantasy as a medium for the reduction of trait versus state aggression

In the first phase of an experiment reducing hostility through fantasy, 203 first and second-year high school students completed a daydreaming scale, Rotter ISB, and a sociometric scale designed to ascertain which of their peers behave aggressively. The students of the upper and lower quarters of the daydreaming scale were classified as high and low fantasy, and as aggressive or nonaggressive subjects. The second phase, two weeks later, consisted of 94 subjects forming three groups: a trait aggressive group, a nonaggressive control group, and a group of nonaggressive subjects experimentally manipulated for aggression. Half of the subjects composed stories to four high-cue aggressive TAT cards; the other half read neutral stories. All the subjects then again completed the Rotter ISB which was scored for aggression. Analysis of covariance of the scores indicated that a reduction in hostility occurred only for the group experimentally aroused to aggression in the TAT condition. The scores of the trait-aggressive subjects, tested in a before-after analysis, showed an increase in their hostility level. Fantasy capacity did not influence the scores.     

Paranoia and Power Anxiety

Several previous studies of paranoid schizophrenia have provided only scattered support for Freud's notion that homosexual wishes and fears are the root of the difficulty. The present study was designed as a partial test of the broader theory that paranoid schizophrenia in men involves severe anxiety over aggression or assertion. The subjects were men and women in three categories: paranoid schizophrenic, nonparanoid schizophrenic, and people without any history of psychiatric trouble. Using a set of TAT cards portraying various situations of anger and aggression, it was found, as predicted, that paranoid schizophrenic men, and only paranoid schizophrenic men, show a defensive response. These findings are discussed in the context of traditional gender roles and other evidence about the paranoid style.     

Working models of attachment and person perception processes

This study investigated the effects of attachment working models on social perception processes. Participants estimated the number of behavioral instances they would require to confirm and disconfirm hypothetical others’ possession of various traits. The attachment dimension of avoidance was associated with a defensively conservative style of social perception. High scorers on avoidance required more evidence to make a positive judgment and also more evidence to reject a negative judgment. In contrast, the attachment dimension of anxiety was associated with a relatively impulsive and labile perceptional style. High scorers on anxiety tended to require less evidence to make both positive and negative judgments of others. Results are discussed in terms of their concordance with previous findings and their implications for research on attachment and social perception.     

The influence of alexithymia and music on the incidental memory for emotion words

Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality construct which encompasses difficulties in identifying and expressing feelings along with an externally oriented cognitive style. We investigated whether congruent vs. incongruent emotional musical priming (happy and angry music) during encoding would moderate the effects of alexithymia on recognition rates. We found that high alexithymia scorers recognized fewer joy and anger words than low scorers. Angry music decreased recognition rates in high alexithymia scorers compared to low alexithymia scorers. The congruency and incongruency effects between music and words depended on alexithymia level. The anger deficit in high alexithymia scorers and the possible support provided by happiness cues are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional Word Detection and Adolescent Repressive–Defensive Coping Style

This study used a computer-based emotional word-recognition task to assess the emotional processing styles of repressive–defensive youth. A hypothesis was tested proposing that adolescent repressive–defensive coping style is associated with rapid engagement and disengagement of emotional stimuli (negative and positive). Data were collected on a male adolescent sample enrolled in a juvenile diversion program allowing for the comparison of anxious, low-anxious, and repressive–defensive youth. Consistent with prediction, repressive–defensive participants exhibited facilitated responding to emotional relative to neutral word stimuli across valence category (i.e., positive and negative). In contrast, anxious participants exhibited a unique pattern of facilitated responding to positive word stimuli. The current findings represent a first attempt at investigating the processing impairments of repressive–defensive coping style in a nonadult sample. Results are interpreted in light of broader adult and child research findings on emotional processing and affective disturbance.     

Creative style,personality, and artistic endeavor

Research has shown that creative style, as measured by the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI; M. J. Kirton, 1976), is correlated with more than 30 different personality traits. In this article, the author demonstrates that many of these correlations can be understood within the framework of the Five-Factor Model of personality and shows that the predominant correlates of creative style are personality indicators in the domains of the factors Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, and, to a lesser extent, Extraversion. These findings provide a basis for comparing the personality traits associated with creative style and occupational creativity. High scorers on the KAI (innovators) differ from both average and creative scientists but have personality characteristics similar to those of artists. This finding suggests that the artistic personality may be more common than is generally supposed and that common factors might underlie both artistic endeavor and creative style.     

The Interrater Reliability of Elizur's Hostility Systems and Holt's Aggression Variables: A Meta-Analytical Review

TAT performances of mathematicians, creative writers and physicians were compared by means of Pine's (1960) system for rating amount, integration, and directness of drive expression; and also in terms of expression of affect. Writers were most expressive, followed by mathematicians and then physicians. Mathematicians relied relatively heavily upon use of direct, socialized forms of drive content, while physicians emphasized indirect or disguised forms more than other Ss. These emphases appeared to have defensive and integrative functions, as did the physicians' generally suppressive style. The writers showed no comparable emphases on direct or indirect expression. There were no inter-group differences in overall adjustment Pine's scoring system appears to have considerable potential for comparisons of this kind.     

Self-Perceived Effective and Ineffective Problem Solvers' Differential Views of Their Partners' Problem-Solving Styles

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate if self-perceived ineffective problem solvers (SPIPS; high scorers on the Problem Solving Inventory [PSI; Heppner, 1988]) as compared with self-perceived effective problem solvers (SPEPS; low scorers on the PSI) would view their significant others' problem-solving style and level of problem solving more negatively. Participants included 101 SPIPS and SPEPS and their 101 respective partners. Results indicate that SPIPS as compared with SPEPS perceived their partners' problem-solving style more negatively. Likewise, the former compared with the latter and men compared with women rated their partners' level of problem solving as less effective. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

Highs Are to Lows as Experts Are to Novices: Individual Differences in the Representation and Solution of Standardized Figural Analogies

Two experiments compared the strategies used by high and lower scorers on standardized figural analogy tests to represent and solve problems. In Experiment 1, subjects freely sorted completed analogy (A:a::B:b) problems into categories. High scorers categorized problems largely on the basis of well-constrained spatial transformations between problem terms; Low scorers sorted according to perceptual (i.e., shape) similarities among the figures constituting the problems. Experiment 2 compared the two groups' solution strategies in terms of specific patterns of eye movements used in viewing problem and answer terms. High scorers appeared to view problem terms in a more efficient fashion than did lower scorers. The lower scorers focused on noncritical figural relations (mapping figure A onto figure B), and they devoted more resources to processing the answer alternatives than did the high scorers. The pattern of results supports the view that high scorers tend to work in a more forward, or constructive, fashion, whereas lower scorers more often work backwards, using a response-elimination approach. Taken together, these findings converge to suggest specific aptitude-related differences in the representation and solution of standardized figural analogy problems. These differences bear some similarities to expert-novice differences in a number of other problem-solving domains.     

Quantitative studies of responses elicited by selected TAT cards

Quantitative differences in subjects' responses to selected TAT cards were studied. 70 white, female college students wrote stories in response to TAT Cards 1, 2, 3BM, 12M, and 13MF. Stories were scored for several measures of drive intensity, defensive pattern, and object relational pattern. On all measures, the several cards were associated with different patterns of response. The use of the pattern of scores on several cards (as opposed to aggregate measures summing responses to several cards) for exploration of the ebb and flow of various aspects of intrapsychic functioning is discussed.     

The relationship of the Marlowe-Crowne Scale and its components to defensive preferences

Two lines of recent research have interpreted the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS) as a measure of either need to avoid social disapproval or need to protect and maintain vulnerable self-esteem. In addition, it has been suggested that two component (Attribution and Denial) scores derived from the MC-SDS are differentially related to defensiveness. The present study tested several hypotheses regarding the relationship of the MC-SDS and its components to relative preference for five classes of defensive responses, as measured by the Defense Mechanisms Inventory. Results among females best supported a disapproval-avoidance interpretation of the MC-SDS. while no support was found for the proposed differential validity of the attribution, and denial components. Support for such differential validity was, however, obtained among males. Results for this group suggest that high denial component scorers will opt for protecting vulnerable self-esteem even in the face of possible social disapproval, while high attribution scorers are primarily concerned with avoiding such disapproval. Implications for use of the MCSDS and its components as measures of defensiveness are discussed and suggestions for additional research are presented.     

Interventions for inappropriate sexual behavior in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A brief review

Although prevalence rates vary, 6% to 28% of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs) engage in inappropriate sexual behavior (ISB), ranging from public masturbation to sexually aggressive behavior. Along with increased risk for contacting the criminal justice system, people with IDDs who display ISB may encounter negative social consequences, restricted community access and barriers to independence, and a variety of counter-therapeutic outcomes. The purpose of the present review is to highlight recent, efficacious behavior-analytic treatments for ISB in individuals with IDDs. Ethical considerations and areas for future research will be discussed.     

The Relationship of the Marlowe-Crowne Scale and its Components to Defensive Preferences

Two lines of recent research have interpreted the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS) as a measure of either need to avoid social disapproval or need to protect and maintain vulnerable self-esteem. In addition, it has been suggested that two component (Attribution and Denial) scores derived from the MC-SDS are differentially related to defensiveness. The present study tested several hypotheses regarding the relationship of the MC-SDS and its components to relative preference for five classes of defensive responses, as measured by the Defense Mechanisms Inventory. Results among females best supported a disapproval-avoidance interpretation of the MC-SDS. while no support was found for the proposed differential validity of the attribution, and denial components. Support for such differential validity was, however, obtained among males. Results for this group suggest that high denial component scorers will opt for protecting vulnerable self-esteem even in the face of possible social disapproval, while high attribution scorers are primarily concerned with avoiding such disapproval. Implications for use of the MCSDS and its components as measures of defensiveness are discussed and suggestions for additional research are presented.     

Neuroticism and the recall of positive and negative personality information

Recent investigations have shown that high-N scorers preferentially process negative information about themselves. The present experiment investigated: (1) whether this effect is related to, or independent of, the well-established effects of depressed mood on information processing; (2) whether the effect is specific to self-referent information or extends also to information about others; and (3) the mechanism by which the effect occurs. High-N scorers, compared to low-N scorers, recalled more negative information about themselves but not about others, and this effect was independent of depression. In addition, the positive self-referent, but not other-referent, personality information recalled by high-N scorers was more extremely positive than that recalled by low-N scorers. Detailed examination of the data provided evidence that the idiosyncracy in information processing associated with high neuroticism is one of selective attention. The findings are discussed in relation to cognitive vulnerability to depression, certain cognitive-therapy procedures and the effects that a therapeutically-induced change in neuroticism is likely to have on an individual's memory for past emotional experiences.     

Relationships among defensive styles, cognitive styles, processing styles, and attentional styles of normal adolescents

Cognitive and psychodynamic theorists agree that an individual's personality and behavior are determined by both cognitive and dynamic processes. This study examined the relationship among three cognitive approaches--cognitive style, attentional style, and processing style--and examined their relations to defensive style. Adolescents from Grades 11 and 12 (146 boys, 164 girls) were examined in groups for cognitive style (Group Embedded Figures Test), attentional style (Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style), processing style (a sequential/simultaneous processing test battery), and defensive style (Defense Mechanism Inventory). Least squares completely randomized two-way analyses of variance (or analyses of covariance where applicable) were employed to assess the relations among the three cognitive measures and/or between the cognitive measures and defensive style. While most comparisons were nonsignificant, a significant relationship was observed between sequential processing and field-dependence and between simultaneous processing and field-independence. Also, a trend was noted between field-independence and ideational defenses and between field-dependence and repression-based defenses.     

The effect of true and false feedback on blushing in women

The effect of true and false feedback of facial blood flow on blushing and embarrassment was investigated in high (n=24) and low (n=24) scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale. Feedback was given while the participants sang and read aloud. Blushing while singing habituated rapidly in both groups and was not affected by true feedback. Blushing still developed in high scorers when given false-negative feedback of blushing when they first sang, whereas low scorers did not blush. False-positive feedback of blushing while reading aloud increased embarrassment, but facial blood flow decreased. High scorers gave higher ratings for embarrassment and blushing than low scorers during most of the tasks. The findings suggest that people who think that they are prone to blushing feel more self-conscious but generally do not blush more intensely or frequently than people with low blushing propensity scores during clearly embarrassing or innocuous social encounters. However, expecting to blush might actually increase the likelihood of embarrassment and blushing in potentially embarrassing situations.     

A Basic TAT Set

The 10 TAT cards judged most valuable for a basic test set were selected by a total of 170 highly experienced psychologists. The judges' choices, separately determined for adults and children, were very consistent. For example, 86.7% of judges in the adult series and 92.5% of judges in the child series listed Picture 1 (Boy-Violin) within their first 10 choices. Rankings of the 10 most frequently chosen cards were closely parallel in the adult and child series. Utilizing these findings a recommended Basic TAT set of eight cards (Pictures 1, 2, 3BM, 4, 6BM, 7BM, 13MF, 8BM) is proposed to enhance development of the TAT for clinical research and teaching purposes.     

An exploratory study of cognitive style in performance on matched and mismatched tasks

Researchers have suggested that task performance is often dependent upon the congruence of cognitive style and task. To explore this suggestion, 44 female and 4 male undergraduates were administered the Cognitive Style Analysis, the Closure Flexibility, the Composite Gestalt Completion Test, and the Vocabulary subtest from the WAIS. Specifically, four hypotheses were tested: (1) that participants with an analytic style will perform better than those with a wholistic style on the Closure Flexibility; (2) that participants with a wholistic style will perform better than those with an analytic style on the Composite Gestalt Completion Test; (3) that participants with an intermediate style will outperform persons with an analytic style on the Composite Gestalt Completion Test; and (4) that intermediate scorers would perform better than those with a wholistic style on Closure Flexibility. Only the second hypothesis was supported, so results provide only minimal support for the effect of match or mismatch of cognitive style and task performance.