The Picture Arrangement subtest of the WAIS as an index of social egocentrism: A comparative study of normal and emotionally disturbed children

This study describes a measure of social egocentrism based on a procedural variation in the Picture Arrangement subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, compares this procedure with other previously proposed measures of egocentricity, and reports an application of this measure in the comparative study of 30 normal and emotionally disturbed children. The results of this comparison indicate that institutionalized children are sharply differentiated from their better adjusted peers in their ability to take roles or perspectives other than their own.Thanks are extended the children and staff of the children's service of the Menninger Foundation for their help and support in the completion of this study.     

Movement-Produced Feedback as a Mechanism For The Temporal Anticipation of Motor Responses

That part of the input hypothesis of motor timing behavior which postulates that movement-produced feedback can serve as a mechanism for the temporal anticipation of motor responses was tested. 32 male college Ss temporally anticipated (no preview) the coincidence of a moving pointer with a stationary one and executed the timing response with his right hand while either a high (HFB) or low (LFB) level of movement-produced feedback was indirectly manipulated in the left arm. The HFB group temporally anticipated with greater accuracy than the LFB group which supported that part of the input hypothesis being tested. Apparently, Ss were relying on proprioceptive feedback about the position of their left arm movement to cue the timing response of their right hand.     

Anticipation of reward omission as a cue for choice behavior

A within-subject partial reinforcement extinction effect was obtained in a conditional discriminative choice task. In choice acquisition, one group had learned a task in which one choice alternative was continuously reinforced (CRF) and the other alternative was partially reinforced (PRF). Most errors in the acquisition phase were the choosing of the CRF lever when the conditional stimulus signaled the PRF lever; in extinction this pattern of choice errors reversed. In extinction, most errors were choosing of the PRF lever when the conditional stimulus signaled the CRF lever. The predictions of frustration theory and sequential theory were compared with the choice data. The results were interpreted as consistent with the anticipatory frustration construct within an associative mediational theory.     

The Muddle of Anticipation

In J. J. Gibson's classic paper “The Problem of Temporal Order in Stimulation and Perception” (1966a Gibson, J. J. (1966a). The problem of temporal order in stimulation and perception. Journal of Psychology, 62, 141–149.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), he referred to the difficulties encountered when attempting a sharp distinction between memory and perception as “the muddle of memory.” Resolution of the muddle by J. J. Gibson proceeded by blurring the distinction itself. We develop the conjugate “muddle of anticipation” similarly by blurring the sharp distinction traditionally drawn between anticipation and perception. The subsequent redefinition of the problem is grounded in strong anticipation equated with anticipating synchronization—that which arises from a system itself via lawful regularities embedded in the system's ordinary mode of function. We identify the fit of strong anticipation's properties to J. J. Gibson's ecological approach and in so doing introduce the possibility of a potentially deep connection between them, namely, that the coordination of perception with surroundings (direct perception) is a special case of strong anticipation.     

The Bernreuter Personality Inventory as a Measure of Student Adjustment

Abstract

In this study salience, importance, and multidimensional aspects of spontaneous social identities were examined. A Social Identity Survey was developed and administered to an ethnically diverse sample of American undergraduate students. Freely generated, social identities were rank ordered for importance and rated along four conceptually-derived dimensions: emotion, evaluation, importance, and stability. Results showed pattern differences among three groups of highly salient social identities: (a) gender, religion, and ethnicity; (b) academic major and student; and (c) hobbies and athletics. Ethnic differences suggest that mainstream Americans attributed less importance to the gender and ethnic identities in comparison with Asians and Hispanics.     

Proprioception as a Basis for the Temporal Anticipation of Motor Responses,

The present study attempted to distinguish between the proprioceptive Decay and proprioceptive Input Hypotheses of motor timing behavior. The hypothesis that an increased level of proprioceptive cues results in more proficient temporal anticipation was also tested. 90 male Ss were required to anticipate (no preview) the coincidence of a moving pointer and a stationary one. The timing response was executed with the right hand while 3 levels of proprioceptive cues were indirectly manipulated in the left arm. While results were unable to distinguish between the hypotheses, support was found for the hypothesis that an increased level of proprioceptive feedback administered during the interval can increase anticipatory response consistency.     

Intelligence as measured by the WAIS and a military draft board group test

Intelligence test scores derived from individual administration of the WAIS and group administration of a military draft board screening test were obtained for a sample of 232 young Danish males. The means on both tests show the sample was somewhat above the Danish average. Despite a more than four-year time interval between the two testings, and procedural and content differences between the tests themselves, the correlation between the two test scores was substantial (0.82). Consequently, we conclude that the group administered draft board test measures the same general intelligence as does the individually administered WAIS and is therefore well suited to large-scale epidemiological and demographic studies of intelligence.     

Unimanual Performance as a Measure of Laterality

The study of unimanual performance as a measure of laterality has ranged from simple concepts such as tests of handedness to highly complex conceptualizations interrelating anthropologic, cultural, genetic, and neurological aspects, including difference between unimanual performance in brain injured versus normal samples. This paper traces measures of unimanual performance through behavioral correlates of natural and unnatural sinistrality as related to cerebral organization, and concludes that unimanual performance represents a robust phenomenon with implications for understanding of neuropsychological correlates of behavior.     

Looking as a Measure of Attraction1

Byrne's reinforcement theory of attraction is almost exclusively based upon studies that use the Interpersonal Judgment Scale (IJS) as their measure of attraction. The present study used Byrne's general experimental procedure but employed an unobtrusive “looking” measure of attraction as well as the more familiar IJS measure. The degree of attitude similarity between women subjects and a female stranger was not significantly related to the IJS measure of attraction but was significantly related to the proportion of looking time measure (p < .01). This was true for both subjects who verbalized and did not verbalize awareness of the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent measures of the study.     

The Anticipation of Death by Violence

ABSTRACT: College students (n = 172) completed Cattell's personality factor questionnaire, Rotter's locus of control scale, Speilberger's trait anxiety measure, and Sabatini and Kastenbaum's self-completed death certificate. Comparison of profiles for subjects anticipating sudden violent death (SVD, n = 59) with those anticipating natural death (ND, n = 113) disclosed that the SVD group was characteristically more anxious and socially isolated. A sex-by-type of death interaction occurred for locus of control, with SVD females being the most external, suggesting that this group was more likely to “give up” in response to stress. The data support Shneidman's concept of subintentioned death in disclosing that several personality factors may be associated with violent death.     

The Validity of Defecation as a Measure of Emotionality in the Rat

The present study employed a free operant discrimination procedure in studying the effects of frontal ablations in rats. Two groups of Ss were trained on a multiple fixed ratio (FR) 3 extinction schedule, and then the experimental group received frontal lesions. Following recovery they were returned to the multiple schedule. It was found that for the experimental group there was a significant loss in discrimination following frontal lesions. These results support a study done by Weiskrantz and Mishkin (8).     

The Qualified Pronoun Count as a Measure of Change in Family Psychotherapy

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the original Multiple Family Psychotherapy group at Georgetown University, Department of Psychiatry. The author, a clinician, used the technique of content analysis of recorded interviews and developed a “change ratio” which is called the “qualified pronoun count.” Although “therapeutic improvement” is not the main goal of the treatment strategy under research here, ordinarily anyone that exhibits the kind of change in differentiation from “family ego mass” ( 1 ) reflected in this study, also experiences diminution or remission of symptoms. Preliminary findings indicate this new system of observing change is useful in determining variations in differentiation, and that these families did change.