Psychojargon in the psycholegal report: Ratings by judges,psychiatrists, and psychologists

Questionnaires designed to measure the perceived value of technical terminology for psycholegal reports were completed by 67 judges, 78 forensic psychiatrists, and 126 forensic psychologists. Judges were asked for ratings of the degree to which each term aids their understanding, and clinicians were asked for ratings of the likelihood that they would use each term in a report for the court. Rank-ordered ratings of the 45 terms were highly correlated among the three respondent groups, suggesting that forensic clinicians are generally aware of the problem of using incomprehensible psychojargon. Empirical ratings can be helpful in distinguishing between comprehensible and incomprehensible psychojargon for psycholegal use.     

Assessment of depression in patients with Alzheimer's disease: concordance among informants.

This study is an investigation of the concordance among different sources of information on ratings of depression in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Informants were 75 outpatients with diagnosed AD (22 with major depressive disorder), their caregivers, and geriatric clinicians. Clinicians rated each patient on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression on the basis of (a) the patient's report, (b) the caregiver's report, and (c) the clinician's evaluation. Overall, patients perceived themselves as less depressed than did caregivers or clinicians; for nondepressed patients, caregivers reported patients less depressed than clinicians reported; for depressed patients, no significant differences were obtained between caregiver or clinician. Certain items were more discrepant among informants and significantly differentiated depressed from nondepressed AD patients. Level of patient dementia did not affect ratings. These findings support the need for comprehensive, accurate assessment of depression in AD patients.     

Person perception through facial photographs: Effects of glasses,hair, and beard on judgments of occupation and personal qualities

Thirty-two photographs of male faces, four for each combination of the presence and absence of glasses, hair, and beard, were rated by 75 judges on 23 scales, assessing the typicality for 15 occupations as well as eight personal qualities. The effects of facial attributes on ratings formed characteristic profiles for the different scales. The pattern of correlations between facial attributes and factor scores from a factor analysis of the ratings indicates that the judges associated wearing glasses with intellectualism and goodness, being bald with idealism, and wearing a beard with unconventionality and goodness. In two further experiments, judges were to identify each of three faces with one of three or four occupations; the results confirmed the operativeness of the profiles from the rating experiment.     

Listener ratings of severity for specific disfluency types in children

This study investigated whether some types of disfluency are perceived as more severe than others and if listener groups differ in their perception of severity for some disfluency types. Three normal speaking children were trained to produce eight types of disfluency and one sample of fluency. The experimental tape, consisting of three examples for each of the eight disfluency types and of fluency, was presented auditorily to 40 judges divided into four groups of 10 each: parents of stutterers, parents of nonstutterers, speech clinicians, and elementary school teachers. The judges rated the disfluency and fluency on a 15-point severity continuum, divided into four nominal categories of Fluent, Normal Disfluency, Mild Stuttering, Moderate Stuttering, and Severe Stuttering. Results showed that although listener groups did not significantly differ in their severity ratings, the specific types of disfluency did differ significantly. The type of disfluency emitted by a speaker is apparently more salient in perceiving and judging disfluency than the type of listener making the judgment.     

PREDICTIVE EFFICIENCY AS A FUNCTION OF AMOUNT OF INFORMATION

The effect of changing the amount of information on judges' predictive efficiency in a clinical prediction task was studied. Thirty judges predicted 30 students' average achievement scores on the basis of different amount of test data. One group of judges had information about the intercorrelations among the tests and the ecologkal validity of the tests. Another group of judges had only informahion about which tests were used. The predictive efficiency was not a monotonically increasing function of amount of test data. The most marked result was that the relative predictive efficiency decreased from four to six tests in both groups.     

Asymmetry in judgments of personality: others are less differentiated than the self

Previous evidence suggests that judges rely more heavily on implicit personality theories when they rate relatively unfamiliar others. One further implication of this evidence is that correlations among traits should be stronger in other ratings than in self-ratings, particularly when (a) judges lack trait relevant information and/or (b) motivational accuracy is low. We tested these predictions by comparing self- versus other ratings on the Big Five in two studies. Study 1 used previously published data to demonstrate clear self/peer differences in the average relations between Big Five dimensions (excluding Extraversion). Study 2 was based on self- versus other ratings in 12 samples. Overall, the intercorrelations among Big Five traits (excluding Extraversion) tended to be significantly stronger in peer ratings than in self-ratings. The most consistent effect involved the relation between Neuroticism and Agreeableness (overall r=-.43 and -.29 in the peer ratings and self-ratings, respectively). In addition, as expected, the degree of relation among traits varied depending upon the type of target being rated (i.e., spouse vs. dating partner vs. friend vs. stranger). Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Integration of information in a clinical judgment task, an empirical comparison of six models.

Six models were compared for their effectiveness in reproducing six clinical psychologists' judgments of 38 patients on intelligence, ability to establish contact, and control of affect and impulses. In two of the models, subjective weights were used in the prediction of a judge's ratings. The judges based their judgments solely on verbal protocols from the Rorschach, a sentence completion test, and the Thematic Apperception test. The stability of the linear aspect of the judgment process was very high but decreased as the depth of interpretation of the rating variable increased. The nonlinear aspect of the judgment process had considerably low stability. In general, a model based on subjective weights was most effective in reproducing the judges' ratings.     

Career Saliency for Teachers and Other Occupational Groups

This study compared the Career Saliency ratings of students planning to enter teaching and those who were considering other occupations. The subjects (68 men and 118 women) were juniors and seniors in college. They were rated by three judges on the basis of information secured through a one-hour structured interview. The ratings were high, medium, and low Career Saliency. Setting up 2 × 2 contingency tables for “high” (high saliency) and “not high” (medium and low saliency) individuals, chi- square values were obtained for teachers and other groups. The chi-square value was not significant for the female sample, but a significant value was obtained for the male sample indicating a significantly lower number of high saliency individuals among prospective men teachers. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

MMPI ratings of suicide risk.

Among past attempts to use MMPI data to predict suicidal behavior, there has been a lack of research on the ability of clinicians to identify MMPI profiles of suicidal persons. In this study, the MMPI profiles of 20 male psychiatric patients who committed suicide and the MMPI profiles of 20 male patients who did not attempt or commit suicide were presented to six clinical psychologists with expertise in MMPI interpretation. The clinicians were asked to classify each MMPI profile as coming from a patient who did or did not later commit suicide, and to rate eight variables thought to be relevant to the assessment of suicide risk. Data analysis revealed that the clinicians could not identify suicide and nonsuicide patients from their MMPI profiles. Furthermore, the ratings of the eight suicide variable did not differentiate suicide and nonsuicide patients.     

Thin slices of behavior as cues of personality and intelligence

Self-reports, peer reports, intelligence tests, and ratings of personality and intelligence from 15 videotaped episodes were collected for 600 participants. The average cross-situational consistency of trait impressions across the 15 episodes was .43. Shared stereotypes related to gender and age were mostly accurate and contributed little to agreement among judges. Agreement was limited mainly by nonshared meaning systems and by nonoverlapping information. Personality inferences from thin slices of behavior were significantly associated with reports by knowledgeable informants. This association became stronger when more episodes were included, but gains in prediction were low beyond 6 episodes. Inferences of intelligence from thin slices of behavior strongly predicted intelligence test scores. A particularly strong single predictor was how persons read short sentences.     

Implicit Personality Theory and the Five-Factor Model

The Big Five have not only been identified in ratings of knowledgeable informants, but also in ratings of strangers, in co-occurrence likelihood ratings of traits, in semantic similarity ratings of trait pairs, and in prototypicality ratings of acts for traits. This article describes the shared and distinctive characteristics of correlations among trait ratings and implicit personality theory and reviews studies that compare the structure of memory-based ratings and of on-line behavior counts. Three hypotheses suggested in the literature to account for these correlations are delineated and discussed: an accurate reflection hypothesis, a distortion hypothesis, and an overlap hypothesis. It is concluded that the distortion hypothesis, has been discredited and that an overlap model best accounts for the available evidence. This implies that traits are real and accurately perceived, provided that the judges have the necessary information.     

Fact and Fiction in Implicit Personality Theory

ABSTRACT This article reports two studies, where the accuracy of implicit personality theory (IPT) was investigated using on-line behavior counts as well as retrospective frequency estimates as standards of comparison Eight discussion groups, each comprising six members, were videotaped Their act frequencies with respect to 16 types of behavior were judged on-line using two coding schemes, each one being applied by two independent raters Five other judges estimated the act frequencies retrospectively Furthermore, judges revealed their IPT by estimating the conditional likelihood of these types of behavior It turned out that (a) retrospective judges perceive different base rates accurately, (b) the correlations among retrospectively estimated and among on-line recorded act frequencies show high correspondences, (c) IPT accurately mirrors the correlations among retrospectively estimated as well as among on-line recorded act frequencies, and (d) judges do not appropriately consider perceived base rates when estimating conditional probabilities It is concluded that IPT is considerably accurate in those respects that are important for the validity and structural fidelity of personality ratings     

A closer look at the ability to predict psychotherapeutic outcome

On the basis of previous findings on the varying ability clinically to predict the outcomes of psychotherapy, this study is focussed on the judgmental processes of good and not-so-good judges. To chart the mechanisms of predictive accuracy, the relations between the ratings of each judge and the criteria have been modelled in terms of structural equations. Further, the predictions of one good and one not-so-good judge have been analysed by multiple regression, with aspects of patient information as independent variables. The analyses suggest that, compared to the not-so-good judge, the good judge utilises more information and has more adequate ideas about its validity but not about its internal correlational structure. While not neglecting secondary process thinking, the good judge still leaves room for intuitive, non formalised judgment and also utilises available information in a more discriminating, or radical, manner. The not-so-good judge appears as an overly conscious and cautious person, neglecting much valid information, not discriminating among the variables, and using negatively valid information positively.     

An ecological study of the reliability of clinical judgment in executive appraisal

This research was a study of the reliability of clinical judgment findings (multitrait) across three different information sources (psychometric tests, structured interview, and psychometric tests and interview). Subjects (N = 74) were middle and senior executives of Western Canadian technical companies; clinicians (N = 3) were trained and experienced industrial psychologists. The study investigated the similarity of clinical evaluation of personological characteristics (based on an 18-factor multitrait paradigm) across the three different information sources. Subjects were independently rated by a single clinician on 18 criterion factors in each of the three information source categories. Test information source categories required the administration of approximately 12 hrs of standardized psychological assessment questionnaires to each of the 74 subjects. Interview source category involved a 1.5-hr structured interview per subject. Combined condition pooled both test and interview conditions. Generalizability of the findings was maximized by the undertaking of the experiment in a natural situation thus increasing ecological validity. Statistical treatments used were designed to assess the similarity of a clinician's evaluation of a subject based on the different category of information available about that client. Convergence (intrarater reliability) indexes range from a high of .64 to a low of .05. Results indicate a varying degree of convergence of multitrait clinical ratings dependent on clinician and trait being rated. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practitioners involved in executive personnel selection.     

Comparability of methods of observation for global ratings of heterosexual social skill and anxiety: A generalizability study

This research examined the degree to which skill and anxiety ratings vary as a function of audio, video, or live rating conditions. The question was addressed through a generalizability analysis which indicated that ratings of skill may generalize across audio, video, or live rating modes and across judges within a mode. However, results for anxiety show that while one can generalize across modes, there is a lack of comparability across judges within modes. This finding indicates the need for more judges in order to obtain acceptable levels of reliability for anxiety. Additional validity analyses suggest that the use of videotapes for ratings of skill maximizes the information obtained from role-play techniques for the assessment of heterosexual social performance.Appreciation is expressed to Jan Wallander, Betsy Firth, Dave Ward, Susan Keane, and Judy Dygdon, without whom this project could not have been completed.     

The effects of various rater training procedures on the perception of social skills and social anxiety

Procedures for the behavioral assessment of social skills typically rely on judges' perceptions of subjects' behavior in several simulated situations. This study examined two methodological variables which could influence the degree of situational specificity perceived by social skill judges. Forth-eight judges were presented videotapes of 15 actors who role played responses to eight simulated social situations. Half of the judges viewed the situations in a sequential fashion and the remaining half viewed the tapes grouped by situations. The second factor of this design included three different expectancy conditions included in an analogue training procedure. Differences in observed variability were examined for both social skill and social anxiety constructs. Order of stimulus presentation had no effect on variability. The expectancy manipulation significantly increased variability among social skill ratings but had no effect on reliability.This study was supported in part by the Veterans Administration.     

Frequency of occurrence and concreteness ratings of homograph meanings

The purpose of this research was to establish norms for the relative frequency of use of the different meaning of common homographs (words that have one spelling but two or more distinctly different meanings) and to present ratings of the concreteness-abstractness of those meanings. A total of 108 subjects wrote a phrase or sentence using each of 120 homographs that were presented at a 15.5-sec rate. For each homograph, norms are provided indicating the relative frequency with which each meaning was used by men and by women. In addition, four judges rated the concreteness-abstractness of each meaning. These ratings are also provided, as are the means of the overall concreteness for each homograph.     

Empathy and the Actor's Emotion’

Summary

Consensus ratings for beauty or attractiveness yielded comparatively low, though mostly positive, correlations with intelligence and educational achievement. Most of the correlations between beauty and intelligence and also between beauty and scholarship were in the neighborhood of +.20. Four groups of college students, two groups of girls and two groups of boys, served as S's. The consensus ratings for beauty were secured from 2 groups of judges, each group composed of 12 boys and 12 girls. These consensus ratings were correlated with ratings for intelligence and scholarship, as determined by intelligence test scores and by grades received in at least three semesters of college work. The ratings for beauty showed a high degree of variability. On the average, individual judgments deviated from the consensus ratings by about four steps. Deviations were greater for the middle group than for those taking a high or low position in the consensus ratings. The judges showed higher variability in rating their own sex than when rating the opposite sex.     

Comparing judgments of stuttering made by students, clinicians, and highly experienced judges

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare judgments of stuttering made by students and clinicians with previously available judgments made by highly experienced judges in stuttering. Method: On two occasions, 41 university students and 31 speech-language pathologists judged the presence or absence of stuttering in each of 216 audiovisually recorded 5-s intervals of the speech of adults who stutter. Intrajudge and interjudge agreement were calculated, and comparisons were made to judgments previously made about the same recordings by 10 highly experienced judges of stuttering. Results: Students and clinicians showed similar and relatively high levels of intrajudge and interjudge agreement, but both students and clinicians identified less than half as much stuttering as the highly experienced judges had identified. Conclusions: These results replicate previous findings of high agreement coexisting with low accuracy in students’ judgments of stuttering, extending those findings to show that similar problems are evident in judgments made by practicing clinicians. Implications include the need for explicit stuttering judgment training programs for both students and practicing clinicians.

Educational objectives: After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) describe different methods for identifying stuttering and possible problems associated with each method; (2) describe two different methods for reporting interjudge reliability; (3) describe how the identification of stuttering differs for student, clinician, and highly experienced judges.