Concept empiricism: a methodological critique

Thanks to Barsalou's, Damasio's, Glenberg's, Prinz' and others' work, neo-empiricism is gaining a deserved recognition in the psychology and philosophy of concepts. I argue, however, that neo-empiricists have underestimated the difficulty of providing evidence against the amodal approach to concepts and higher cognition. I highlight three key problems: the difficulty of sorting out amodal predictions from neo-empiricist predictions, the difficulty of finding experimental tasks that are not best solved by imagery and the difficulty of generalizing findings concerning a given cognitive process in a given context to other cognitive processes or other contexts. Finally, solutions to these three problems are considered.     

Parental,child-centered attributions and outcome: A meta-analytic review with conceptual and methodological implications

Eight empirical studies which bear on the relation between parents' child-centered attributions for children's problems and parental satisfaction or child adjustment were meta-analyzed. The parental attributional dimensions of stability and globality garnered the most support as correlates of parental satisfaction and/or children's adjustment; the dimensions of intent, selfish motivation, and blame received initial support and warrant further study. Important methodological and conceptual issues were identified and improvements are suggested. The need for prospective designs aimed at determining the causal relation, if any, between parental attributions and outcome, thorough assessment of attributions and the events which impinge upon them, detailed measurement of symptom and satisfaction variables, a wider array of child diagnoses, and establishment of parental diagnoses, are emphasized.     

The personality disorders: A review and critique of contemporary assessment strategies

Despite the prevalence of personality disorders, only recently have they become the topic of extensive clinical research. Unfortunately, much of this research suffers from various assessment problems including poor interrater agreement, an overreliance on cross-sectional assessment, and inconsistencies across measures. The present review examines the strategies used to assess personality disorders. Three comprehensive tables are used to provide a quantitative review of existing studies. Although specific measures are examined, the focus remains on general strategies for assessment. Personality disorder assessment may be enhanced through the use of aggregation methods. Aggregating over raters can reduce the subjective biases inherent in any one person's perception. Aggregating data over time reduces the instability of personality assessment, while aggregating data across measures reduces the reliance on any one measure to assess personality disorders accurately. Thus, future research should be able to refine the strategies used to study personality disorders.     

The infant vocal-conditioning literature: a theoretical and methodological critique

Most studies of operant conditioning of infant vocalization do not fully use the experimental-analysis-of-behavior methodology that behavioral researchers have developed to study operant phenomena. This could be a contributing factor in their failure to correctly operationalize the definition of reinforcement, severely limiting the amount of information they can provide about operant learning in infants. Furthermore, single-subject-design studies may be added to supplement or replace group experimental designs in the study of infant vocal conditioning if we are to recognize the different learning processes that affect infant learning. Finally, single-subject experimental designs may be crucial to the development of an effective technology of early language intervention.     

Masculinity,femininity, and androgyny: A methodological and theoretical critique

The three primary purposes of this investigation are: (1) to apply confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to responses from three instruments [Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), Comrey Personality Scale (CPS), and Australian Sex Role Scale (ASRS) developed by Antill and his colleagues] designed to measure masculinity (M) and femininity (F); (2) to determine the correlation between M and F on each instrument and to relate the results to the design of the instrument; and (3) to describe a new theoretical model that posits global M and global F to be multifaceted, higher order constructs. When CFA was used to define one M and one F factor from responses to each instrument, the disattenuated correlations between M and F were +0.58 (BSRI), ?.50 (ASRS), and ?1.0 (CPS). Thus, responses from two instruments supported the separation of M and F, but differed in the direction of the correlation for the two traits, while the third provided remarkably strong support for a bipolar MF continuum. Despite the apparent inconsistency, the observed correlations were explicable in terms of the design of each instrument. While the two-factor model provided a reasonable fit for the BSRI, more complicated models were better able to fit responses to the ASRS and CPS. Results from this investigation and other research were used to formulate a new theoretical model.     

Person, personality, self, and identity: a philosophically informed conceptual analysis

Who is the person, or self, associated with personality disorder and its treatment? How are we to account for a self conceptualized in terms of schemas and representations, that at the same time--as self--scrutinizes these schemas and representations (as in cognitive therapy for personality disorders)? Five approaches to personhood are examined: metaphysical, empirical, transcendental, hermeneutical, and phenomenological. An elementary sense of selfhood is tied to all one's experiences and activities; this sense of self is experientially irreducible and conceptually connected to a primordial form of self-relatedness. After examining these issues, I formulate four provisional conclusions: (a) the separation between person and roles (functions, personality features) is a modern fiction--persons are not neutral bearers of roles and functions; (b) the concept of personality in DSM-IV refers to nonhomogeneous behaviors such as feelings, moods, inclinations, temperaments, and habits, and these behaviors differ with respect to their distance to the core self; (c) there exists an enormous variety of ways of self-relating and this variety may affect the contents of the core self under certain circumstances; and (d) the concept of person may be primitive; that is, irreducible and referring to a background of unity and integrity.     

Social identity theory: A conceptual and empirical critique from the perspective of a behavioural interaction model

After a conceptual and methodological critique of Social Identity Theory (SIT), it is argued, in sharp contrast to SIT but consistent with a Behavioural Interaction Model (BIM), that the allocations in the standard Minimal Group Paradigm (MGP) —which provide the main evidence for SIT— can be best reinterpreted as instrumental, rational behaviour aimed at maximizing the economic self-interests of the subjects rather than efforts on their part to strive for a positive social identity as SIT has claimed. Explicit social categorization appears to be only one of the many unit-forming factors which may affect allocations within and between group boundaries in the MGP. Group polarization effects indicate that groups, guided by their perceived interdependence on the recipients of their allocations seem more rational and effective than their individual members prior to the group discussion in maximizing their economic outcomes. Finally, it is concluded that BIM provides probably a more parsimonious explanation of all the usualfindings obtained by the standard MGP than SIT.     

Nonshared environment: a theoretical, methodological, and quantitative review

When genetic similarity is controlled, siblings often appear no more alike than individuals selected at random from the population. Since R. Plomin and D. Daniels' seminal 1987 review, it has become widely accepted that the source of this dissimilarity is a variance component called nonshared environment. The authors review the conceptual foundations of nonshared environment, with emphasis on distinctions between components of environmental variance and causal properties of environmental events and between the effective and objective aspects of the environment. A statistical model of shared and nonshared environmental variables is developed. A quantitative review shows that measured nonshared environmental variables do not account for a substantial portion of the nonshared variability posited by biometric studies of behavior. Other explanations of the preponderance of nonshared environmental variability are suggested.     

Separated twins and the genetics of personality differences: a critique

This article discusses studies of separated twins, with special emphasis on the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA), to determine whether they support the existence of an important genetic component in behavioral and personality differences. The methods and conclusions of the MISTRA team are discussed in the context of earlier studies of separated identical twins. I argue that volunteer-based studies are biased toward greater twin similarity. In addition, the MISTRA research team did not publish or share raw data and case history information. Reared-together and reared-apart monozygotic twins share important environmental similarities not controlled for by comparing personality correlations. I propose an alternative control group consisting of biologically unrelated pairs of strangers matched on all environmental factors common to pairs of separated monozygotic twins. I conclude that the evidence from studies of twins reared apart does not support the role of genetic factors in personality and behavioral differences.     

Salespeople as knowledge brokers: a review and critique of the challenger sales model

Over the last several years, there has been increasing interest in a new sales training approach – referred to as the Challenger Sales model – to engage customers. This approach, focusing on purposefully generating tension with customers to spark new ways of thinking, has gained traction among leading sales organizations. Although generating tension with customers has received a great deal of interest, researchers have yet to complete a systematic, in-depth examination of the Challenger model. The purpose of this article is to provide a much needed comprehensive review and critique of the approach. By conducting both an empirical and conceptual review of the framework, we offer insight into its novelty, merits and weaknesses.     

The triple response approach to assessment: a conceptual and methodological reappraisal

Despite its positive effects on the increased use of multiple assessments and improved assessment validity, the triple-response concept has led to some conceptual and practical confusion. This is mainly due to two problems: (1) a confounding of the content and method of assessment; and (2) an imprecise and vague use of the 'verbal-subjective mode' which has been expanded to include cognitive elements since the introduction of cognitive-behavioural theories and treatments. A new matrix is proposed that clearly distinguishes content and method of assessment. It also defines a separate cognitive/information-processing content area and introduces affect as an additional content area. Thus, four content areas are suggested: behavioural, physiological, cognitive, and affective, which can be measured in three different ways: by means of self-report, observation, and instruments or technical equipment. We point out the implications of these changes for (1) a more appropriate selection of assessment procedures and outcome measures in clinical research; (2) a more adequate individualization of treatment through matching individual response profiles to specific treatments; and (3) an improved understanding of the interrelationship between behavioural, physiological, cognitive, and affective processes in anxiety and depression. Finally, we suggest that the lack of agreement between measures of physiological, cognitive, behavioural and affective changes in some studies may be as much a reflection of the lack of agreement arising from spurious sources of variance within content areas as it is a reflection of the operation of different processes and systems.