Incremental validity of the Ego Impairment Index: a re-examination of Dawes (1999)

This article examined the incremental validity of the Ego Impairment Index (EII), a Rorschach measure of cognition, perception, and reasoning. R. M. Dawes (1999) borrowed 2 previously published data sets to assess the incremental validity of the EII. Dawes determined that in order for the EII to be considered a valid measure, the overall EII score should "outperform" 2 of the variables that compose the index. Using this approach, Dawes reported that the EII had "deficient" (p = .059) incremental validity. In this study, the incremental validity of the EII was re-examined using 1 of the data sets used by R. M. Dawes (1999). Applying the same strategy as Dawes, the author tested the incremental validity of the EII in predicting positive symptoms of schizophrenia, a more appropriate and clinically relevant criterion measure of impairment. The EII significantly predicted positive symptoms (p < .005) even after the 2 EII variables selected by Dawes and the measure of social competence were 1st entered into the equation. The results suggest that the EII adds meaningful information in the assessment of thought disturbance.     

Analyzing the analysis: a response to Wollert (2000)

In a thoughtful critique in the article preceding this one, many arguments are presented about the veracity of assumptions and conclusions I made in my 1998 publication concerning the sexual recidivism base rates for certain incarcerated sex offenders. This article responds to some of the issues raised. First, the ultimate conclusion of the preceding critique is assessed. Even when assuming the accuracy of all points made in the preceding article, an analysis described herein still demonstrates that the current U.S.A. civil commitment referral procedures "under-predict" sexual recidivism rates. Second, an inference made in the preceding critique, read as a possible implication from my article, is strongly contested. Finally, the remaining discussion responds to various other concerns that were raised. While scientific exploration of issues is typically expected to lead to occasional professional differences, a significant lack of agreement with the preceding critique is found.     

Disentangling substance from rhetoric: a rebuttal to Ekkekakis and Petruzzello (2001)

Background and purpose: Ekkekakis and Petruzzello (Psychology of Sport and Exercise 2 (2001) 1–26) have presented an inaccurate critique of the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (EFI; Gauvin and Rejeski (J. Sport Exercise Psychol. 15 (1993) 403)), a measurement instrument that we developed several years ago. In the current paper, we formulate a threefold rebuttal to the arguments advanced by Ekkekakis and Petruzzello.Methods: First, we identify selected misinterpretations and misconceptions in the critique that, if ignored, could jeopardise future advancements in this area. Next, we review extant research on the EFI and highlight what has been learned from 13 empirical studies with this measure over the past eight years. Finally, we outline a research agenda for overcoming what we perceive to be limitations of the EFI and for advancing knowledge on feeling state outcomes associated with involvement in physical activity.Conclusions: Much of the critique by Ekkekakis and Petruzzello is rhetoric rather than substance. The EFI has been useful in stimulating new research and thinking about the role of physical activity in ameliorating mental health and health-related quality of life.     

Viewing the body as an (almost) ageing thing

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - This paper examines the role of the body in the social and psychological study of ageing. Drawing upon the phenomenological tradition, it argues that the...     

Negate priming and multiple repetition: a reply to Grison and Strayer (2001)

Strayer and colleagues (Grison & Strayer, 2001; Malley & Strayer 1995; Strayer & Grison, 1999) have reported experiments in which negative priming by ignored stimuli occurred onlyfor stimuli that were repeatedly sampledfrom small sets. These results were argued to be inconsistent with episodic/mismatch accounts of negative priming. We show here that a dependence of negative priming on multiple repetition is wholly consistent with such theories. Furthermore, we argue that the inhibitory theory proposed by Strayer and colleagues cannot account for major findings regarding negative priming and that anomalies in the data reported by Grison and Strayer are more parsimoniously explained by episodic/mismatch accounts.     

Affective,but hardly effective: a reply to Gauvin and Rejeski (2001)

Background and purpose: This paper is a reply to Gauvin and Rejeski’s rebuttal (Psychol. Sport Exerc. 2 (2001) 73) of a previously published conceptual and methodological critique (Psychol. Sport Exerc. 2 (2001) 1) of the Exercise-induced Feeling Inventory (EFI; J. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 15 (1993) 403).Methods: Our responses focus on (a) issues regarding scientific debates, (b) the necessity of psychometric scrutiny, (c) the ongoing search for a definition of “exercise-induced feeling states,” (d) concerns regarding the underrepresentation of the intended domain of content of the EFI and its appropriate uses, (e) the implications of inductive and deductive scale development, (f) several methodological issues, (g) the value of a circumplex model for exercise psychology research, and (h) the compatibility of categorical and dimensional models of affect.Results and conclusions: We maintain that the most important issues raised in the original critique of the EFI, such as the definition, the demarcation, and the structure of its intended domain of content, were not addressed in Gauvin and Rejeski’s rejoinder and remain unclear. Researchers are urged to contemplate the theoretical bases and to scrutinize the psychometric data of the available measures before making their selection.     

Happiness is a personal(ity) thing: the genetics of personality and well-being in a representative sample.

Subjective well-being is known to be related to personality traits. However, to date, nobody has examined whether personality and subjective well-being share a common genetic structure. We used a representative sample of 973 twin pairs to test the hypothesis that heritable differences in subjective well-being are entirely accounted for by the genetic architecture of the Five-Factor Model's personality domains. Results supported this model. Subjective well-being was accounted for by unique genetic influences from Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, and by a common genetic factor that influenced all five personality domains in the directions of low Neuroticism and high Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. These findings indicate that subjective well-being is linked to personality by common genes and that personality may form an "affective reserve" relevant to set-point maintenance and changes in set point over time.     

On the necessity of alignment: reply to Costello and Keane (2001)

In their article, "Testing two theories of conceptual combination: Alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts," F. J. Costello and M. T. Keane (2001) evaluate the role of alignment in the interpretation of noun-noun combinations. They found that participants were not strongly biased to prefer and produce interpretations with alignable differences. Instead, participants sometimes preferred and produced interpretations with nonalignable differences. These results are surprising given that most research has found advantages of alignable differences over nonalignable differences. Costello and Keane also found that feature diagnosticity better predicted their results, and they concluded that alignment does not play an important role in conceptual combination. However, drawing on recent work, the author of the present article gives an alternative interpretation of Costello and Keane's results, showing that alignment is crucial in conceptual combination. The author also shows that the dual-process model accounts for their results.     

Biased estimators, biased experts, and the Ivory Tower: a reply to Grove (2001)

This reply responds to W. M. Grove's (2001) critique of H. O. F. Veiel and R. F. Koopman's (2001) article on bias in widely used methods of estimating premorbid IQ. In this reply, the authors show that Grove is misrepresenting part of Veiel and Koopman's arguments, extend them to show that the proposed adjustment to regression estimates of IQ not only is unbiased but also is the maximum-likelihood estimate of the true IQ, and argue that Grove's notion of the acceptability of biased methods in judicial proceedings reflects a fundamental misapprehension of their nature and purpose.     

Re-evaluating evidence for linguistic relativity: reply to Boroditsky (2001)

Six unsuccessful attempts at replicating a key finding in the linguistic relativity literature [Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43, 1-22] are reported. In addition to these empirical issues in replicating the original finding, theoretical issues present in the original report are discussed. In sum, we conclude that Boroditsky (2001) provides no support for the Whorfian hypothesis.     

'Please don't put the whole dang thing out there!': a discursive analysis of internet discussions around infant feeding

The promotion of breastfeeding is an important focus of intervention for professionals working to improve infant health outcomes. Literature in this area focuses largely on 'choices' and 'barriers to breastfeeding'. It is our argument, however, that women's cultural context plays a key role in infant feeding 'choices'. In this article, we explore contested representations of infant feeding and infant feeding choices in public debates conducted on a large British parenting website. To sample dominant representations of infant feeding circulating in UK culture, two threads were chosen from the debating board of a busy online parenting community (105 and 99 individual posts, respectively). Participants on the threads were largely women. A feminist informed Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to deconstruct the intersecting constructions of gender, childhood and motherhood implicit in public discussions about infant feeding choices. We identify dominant constructions of women who breastfeed or bottle feed, social representations of both forms of infant feeding, and explore the relationship between constructions of infant feeding choices and constructions of 'good' or 'bad' motherhood. This analysis functions to trouble the individualist assumptions underpinning the notion of infant feeding 'choices', considering the cultural context within which British mothers 'choose' how to feed their babies.     

Let's Not Talk About It: Commentary on Michael Shoshani (Rosenbaum's) Dare to be Human

As an outsider, I found myself engaged and at times mystified as I wondered about the unasked and the unspoken in Michael Shoshani (Rosenbaum's) portrayal of an analysis in his book Dare to Be Human. While conceding that every therapy and every representation of therapy must touch on some issues and omit others, and that at times intimate experience can be deadened by conversation, I was curious about the ways Shoshani (Rosenbaum) appeared at times to retreat from talking with his patient about certain areas of relatedness, particularly about varieties of possible erotic transferences. While Dr. Shoshani (Rosenbaum) makes a case for the therapeutic value of the unsaid, I wonder whether in this relationship talking about this complex area might have been a means to further joint attention and an opportunity for co-inquiry and collaboration around significant subject/object and subject/subject forms of relatedness. I ask whether talking about experience may enliven and deepen mutual experience rather than deaden it, by limning mutuality and difference, and nurturing curiosity about process and relationship.     

Political goals versus scientific truths: a response to Jackson (2003)

Three fundamental issues separate Jackson's (2003) methodological views from mine. One, whereas he believes an absolute moral view can prevail in a democracy, I assume moral pluralism is an inevitable byproduct of an open society. Two, Jackson feels that psychology can identify a correct moral position, whereas I postulate natural science psychology is only capable of revealing the empirical consequences of competing social policies and their moral implications. Three, Jackson espouses a politically active psychology that from my perspective is antithetical to a democratic and scientific ethic. In sum, Jackson's coupling of science with political advocacy will lead to a mistrust of psychology that will deny a democracy the opportunity to base its social policies on reliable psychological information.     

Let's Nuke the Transpersonalists: A Response to Albert Ellis

In a 1986 article, Albert Ellis proposed to use rational-emotive therapy (RET) to save the world from religious and psychological fanatics and nuclear war. However, Ellis's article was marred by inaccurate, illogical, and absolutist attacks on religion and non-RET psychologies and claims for RET. This article attempts to correct those errors and to provide a more balanced view of religion, RET, non-RET therapies, and the role of psychology in averting nuclear war.     

Saying the right thing at the right time: a view through the lens of the analytic process scales (APS)

Skillful psychoanalytic technique presumably involves knowing what to say, and when and how to say it. Does skillful technique have a positive impact upon the patient? The study described in this article relied on ratings by experienced psychoanalysts using the Analytic Process Scales (APS), a research instrument for assessing recorded psychoanalyses, in order to examine analytic interventions and patient productivity (greater understanding, affective engagement in the analytic process, and so on). In three analytic cases, the authors found significant correlations between core analytic activities (e.g., interpretation of defenses, transference, and conflicts) and patient productivity immediately following the intervention, but only if it had been skillfully carried out. Findings were independently replicated by psychology interns.