Cognitive tempo in children and their parents.

An adoption study was conducted to determine if cognitive tempo (as characterized by errors and latencies on the Matching Familiar Figures Test) is more similar between parents and their biological children or between parents and their adopted children. Zero-order correlations between parents and children were not significant (regardless of familial relationship), but the results of canonical correlations for mean of parents' scores with those of biological and adopted children respectively were consonant with hypothesized values, suggesting a degree of heritability exists. A slight trend for parents' latency to be consistently related to their biological children's latency was noted, but no such trend was present for errors. The heritability of latency versus errors in cognitive tempo is discussed.     

Conceptual tempo as a moderator variable in predicting first grade achievement test scores

This study examined the utility of a set of tests for predicting the academic achievement of separate samples of impulsive and reflective first graders. The predictor tests were the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale, Wepman's Auditory Discrimination Test, the ITPA Sound Blending Subtest, the WISC Digit Span Subtest, and Kaufman's WISC-R Verbal Comprehension Factor (Comprehension, Information, Similarities, and Vocabulary). The criterion measures were drawn from the Stanford Achievement Test and included scores for Total Auditory, Total Mathematics, Total Reading, Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension. Multiple regression analyses revealed that (a) for three of the five criterion variables, the optimal equations for predicting the achievement test scores differed for impulsives and reflectives, and (b) given the same predictor scores, the predicted achievement of impulsive and reflective children different considerably. It was concluded that conceptual tempo is an important moderator variable in predicting academic performance.     

Color blindness and Rorschach color responsivity

Color vision deficits occur in 10% of the American white male population. Thus, color blindness may invalidate diagnostic hypotheses generated from Rorschach data. The Rorschach protocols of 43 white, college male color-blind subjects were compared to the protocols of normally sighted controls. The color-blind group manifested fewer pure "C" responses. No significant between group differences emerged for any of the other primary Rorschach color variables. Pure "C" responses rarely figure prominently in Rorschach evaluations, and the apparent lowered frequency of these responses by the color-blind is insufficient to warrant modification of current Rorschach practice. The data suggest that color blindness is unlikely to confound Rorschach assessment.     

The Rorschach EA-ep variable as related to persistence in a task frustration situation under feedback conditions

Eighty nonpatients, subdivided into four levels based on the Rorschach EA-ep variable, were randomized into two groups and subjected to a frustrating pursuit rotor task. Extrinsic feedback was provided by a noticeable sound that would occur whenever the tracker was off target. Results indicate that where ep is significantly greater than EA a greater persistence occurred even though the extrinsic feedback signaled no substantial improvement in performance. Two of the three elements contributing to the ep, inanimate movement (m) plus the grey-black and shading answers (T, Y, V, C,), and one variable unrelated to ep, white space (S), account for much of the variance in persistence. The findings are discussed in terms of an overload state that interferes with appropriate processing and mediation in a complex situation.     

A relational interpretation of the Rorschach color determinants

This article presents a contemporary relational interpretation of the Rorschach that is consistent with the empirical features of the Comprehensive System. The specific focus is on color determinants and the FC:CF+C ratio. The approach follows that of Schachtel ( 1959), who argued that how one perceives others reveals the quality of relatedness between oneself and others. Schachtel identified a developmental sequence of relatedness (perceptual-relatedness modes) and linked these levels of perceiving and relating to the Rorschach color determinants. I suggest that this developmental sequence, elaborated in a contemporary context, defines the expected or normative course of relatedness, whether across a lifetime, a particular relationship, or an interpersonal encounter. I further propose that relationships emerge and develop through organized trial-and-error activity, in the sense of Piaget's (1952) trying out (assimilating) and simultaneously modifying (accommodating) one's understanding within a relationship. Relatedness levels and the developmental transitions between them are described in terms of the underlying assimilation and accommodation processes. Within this general approach, the FC:CF+C ratio is defined as reflecting styles of relating to one's interpersonal environment, with each relational style based on normative or on variant relational development. Four fundamental relational styles-healthy, egocentric, veneered egocentric, and defensive-are described and coordinated with the Comprehensive System FC:CF+C potential findings.     

Assessing object representations as a continuous variable: a modification of the concept of the object on the Rorschach scale

Current methods for assessing the quality of internalized object representations have not provided a continuous variable that simultaneously includes both an accuracy and a maturity component. A modification of Blatt, Brooks, Brenneis, and Schimek's (1976) Concept of the Object on the Rorschach scale that would combine the two components by weighting the quality of each response according to its form level was proposed. Initial discriminant and convergent validity of this modification was checked through correlations and multiple regression analyses using behavioral, diagnostic, and demographic data from 84 adolescent inpatients as dependent variables. Results indicate the modified score was directly related to measures of peer relatedness, intelligence, psychological health, and reality testing, and indirectly related to measures of psychosis and hostile, unmanageable behavior. The results support the utility of the modification for providing a continuous score that assesses both developmental maturity and accuracy, the two dimensions on which the concept of object representation is based.     

Rorschach Scores as a Function of Examiner Difference

This study examines the ability of five self-report assessment measures to predict college students' drug use across 12 pharmacological drug categories. Subjects were 125 female and 61 male university undergraduate students. The test battery included the following instruments: (a) the Psychopathic Deviancy (Pd) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI); (b) the MacAndrew Alcoholism scale (MAC), a special scale of the MMPI; (c) the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS); (d) the Millon Alcohol Abuse Scale; and (e) the Millon Drug Abuse Scale. Scores from these instruments were utilized in linear combinations to predict individual drug use outcomes as well as polydrug versus single drug use patterns. The drug categories included in this investigation are coffee, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, tranquilizers, depressants, amphetamines, LSD, other hallucinogens, solvents, narcotics, and cocaine. Results demonstrate significant and meaningful relationships between predictors and drug use levels among college students. Weighted equations derived from linear discriminant function analyses were generally capable of accurately classifying subject's drug use levels across drug categories and in discriminating single drug use from polydrug use patterns. Typically, the Sensation Seeking Scale entered as the most powerful predictor of substance use and abuse.     

The architect as person: a Rorschach image

Analysis of the Rorschachs of 40 eminent male architects collected in 1959 revealed a highly consistent personality profile. The picture that emerges is of a person who appears to be ambitious, highly sensitive, intellectually and emotionally energetic, and reasonably well adjusted socially. His thinking is well oriented in reality. He prefers large scale conceptualizing to mundane 'concerns. There is evidence of conflict, tension, and a concern with emotional control. Feminine and exhibitionistic interests are exceptionally high and sources of inspiration appear to reside in unresolved sexual conflicts. The attitude toward the world is positive. The eminent male American architect at the turn of the Sixties believed in his own ability to create a truly superior environment. His conscious concerns were with creation rather than with self-confrontation.     

Rorschach Aggressive Content (AgC) variable: a study of criterion validity

This study adds to the existing literature on the clinical utility of the Aggressive Content (AgC) variable proposed by Gacono and Meloy (1994). Criterion validity is evaluated by examining the relation between AgC and behavior. Rorschach and clinical chart material taken from psychological assessments were examined for 94 patients in Exner's (1993) psychiatric reference groups. An Aggression Chart Rating Scale (ACRS) was created to score the level of aggressiveness of each patient's diagnostic report. Analyses revealed good interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = .73) for ACRS scores and Aggressive Movement (AG; kappa = .73) and excellent reliability for AgC (kappa =.88) and Morbid Content (MOR: kappa = .79). Pearson's correlation revealed significant relations between AgC and both AG and MOR. All 3 Rorschach variables were significantly related to scores on the ACRS. A stepwise regression analysis utilizing these 3 variables resulted in AgC being the only nonredundant predictor of scores on the ACRS. This suggests that AgC was more strongly related to more aggressive ACRS scores than either AG or MOR. The continued support for the clinical utility of AgC as well as recommendations for the addition of the AgC variable to Exner's (1993) Comprehensive System's list of Special Scores are discussed.