Hand Test personality variables related to automotive moving violations in female drivers

The Hand Test was administered to 170 females ranging in age from 17 to 72 years to determine if specific personality traits would be significantly related to automotive moving violations. Although personality traits derived from the Hand Test were found to be associated with aggressive and directive behavior (direction, acting-out score), the relationships differed as a function of age.     

Validation of two Hand Test indices of aggressive behavior in an institutional setting

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of the Hand Test (Wagner, 1962/1983) in differentiating among mentally retarded adults placed in community housing versus those discharged from an institution due to violent and destructive behavior. Hand Test protocols of 24 mentally retarded adults who were discharged from an institution for violent and destructive behavior were compared with those of 12 mentally retarded adults who were placed in community housing, with regard to the presence of two indices of aggressive behavior (the acting-out score, AOS, and the movement response, ACT-MOV). Results indicated that 20 of the 24 residents discharged for aggressive behavior manifested one or more of the signs, whereas only 3 of the 12 residents discharged to a less restrictive environment exhibited one or more of the signs. The findings further demonstrate the usefulness of the Hand Test in predicting violent and destructive behavior in an institutional setting.     

Validation of Two Hand Test Indices of Aggressive Behavior an Institutional Setting

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of the Hand Test (Wagner, 1962/1983) in differentiating among mentally retarded adults placed in community housing versus those discharged from an institution due to violent and destructive behavior. Hand Test protocols of 24 mentally retarded adults who were discharged from an institution for violent and destructive behavior were compared with those of 12 mentally retarded adults who were placed in community housing, with regard to the presence of two indices of aggressive behavior (the acting-out score, AOS, and the movement response, ACT-MOV). Results indicated that 20 of the 24 residents discharged for aggressive behavior manifested one or more of the signs, whereas only 3 of the 12 residents discharged to a less restrictive environment exhibited one or more of the signs. The findings further demonstrate the usefulness of the Hand Test in predicting violent and destructive behavior in an institutional setting.     

The Hand Test and Other Aggression Indicators in Emotionally Disturbed Children

The Hand Test is a projective technique yielding an Acting Out Score (AOS) which the test authors feel is useful as a predictor of aggressive, acting-out behavior. This study produced data regarding the stability of AOS, the relation of AOS to another projective device used to assess aggressive potential and the ability of AOS to predict teacher ratings of acting-out behavior among emotionally disturbed pre-adolescents. Results indicate that for this sample of Ss the AOS lacks stability as a measurement construct, does not correlate with another projective measure of aggressive potential and is not a useful predictor of acting-out behavior as rated by teachers of emotionally disturbed pre-adolescents.     

Hand test AGG and AOS variables: relation with teacher rating of aggressiveness

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the Hand Test (Wagner, 1983) variables Aggression (AGG) and the Acting Out Score (AOS) were able to differentiate a group of children who were identified as aggressive and referred for psychological assessment by their teachers from a nonreferred, control group. Hand Test scores of 37 children who had consecutive referrals for psychological assessment because of aggressiveness were compared to the Hand Test scores of 37 children, matched on age and sex, from a nonreferred group. Through the use of an analysis of variance, AOS and AGG were found to significantly differentiate between the two groups. Spearman (rho) correlations between AGG and AOS scores with aggressive-referred status were rho = .45, p = .0001, and rho = .32, p = .006, respectively. Also, diagnostic efficiency statistics demonstrated moderate to high overall correct classification rates for AOS > or = 0 and AGG > or = 2 in identifying children in the aggressive-referred group. The results of this study provide support for the validity of the AGG and AOS scores in the assessment of aggressive behavior in children and demonstrate the utility of the Hand Test to identify aggressive tendencies in children.     

Construct validation of the Hand Test with the aged: replication and extension

The Hand Test (HT) was administered to 52 institutionalized elderly adults in an effort to cross-validate previous research dealing with the construct validity of the Hand Test in assessing organic dysfunction as assessed by Mental Status Questionnaire (MSQ) scores. Results suggested that, consistent with previous research, HT scores of Withdrawal and Pathology seem to be valid indicators of cognitive loss, independent of age and length of institutionalization, among elderly persons who reside in long term care facilities. Implications of these data for the care of impaired elderly persons by family and staff are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Use of a text of psychomotor ability in an expanded role

To examine the use of a test of psychomotor ability of disabled persons, a group of 118 persons with permanent impairment of one hand were given the disability rating together with the O'Connor Finger Dexterity Test. Scores showed a substantial correlation of .69 between these two instruments. Scores on the Finger Dexterity Test were strongly correlated to the activities of daily living subscale of the Hand Disability Rating Scale (.88), while rating of disability was not. Age appeared unrelated to either test or disability scores.     

The Paired Hands Test: A Technique for Measuring Friendliness

An adaptation of Wagner's Hand Test, using two hands per photograph, has provided a quickly administered, objectively scorable, projective technique for measuring spontaneous feelings toward other people along the friendliness-hostility dimension. Data supporting the reliability and validity of this technique as a sensitive instrument for its intended purpose are presented.     

An approach to families of acting-out adolescents--a case study.

Certain types of acting-out in the adolescent express the feelings of deprivation of the parental pair in a maladaptive aggressive way. Family therapists have attempted to convert the acting-out behavioral disorders into an effective state, i.e., make the family aware of their feelings of deprivation by focusing on the aggressive component. In many instances, the family becomes depressed and then interrupts or terminates treatment. The authors feel that this is due to the therapist's interpretations which bring about the depressive state via guilt provocation. The family understands the interpretations as meaning "You are bad to have your adolescent offspring behave in such a way". The therapist is thus seen as the family's collective super-ego. In order to prevent premature termination, the therapist should instead help the members of the family to become more conscious of their loving, "welfare" feelings for one another. In this way the self-esteem of the family is increased, which then permits more verbal action of aggressive feelings--thus a decrease in the acting-out, and ultimately an increase in the capacity to mourn. It should be pointed out, however, that in certain families, the technique described is not applicable. In these cases, although there is acting-out, the families are unable to draw on sufficient good experiences together which are necessary to elicit positive feeling for one another. The absence of readily available "welfare" feelings is of diagnostic and prognostic significance and differentiates the disorganized, sociopathic or schizophrenic family from the acting-out of parental deprivation as illustrated in this paper.     

Hand preference in gestures and signs in the deaf and hearing: some notes on early evidence and theory

Research has shown that when persons with normal hearing accompany their speech with gestures, right-handers use more right-hand gestures, and left-handers use more left-hand gestures, although to a lesser extent (D. Kimura, 1973a, 1973b, Neuropsychologia, 11, 45-50, 51-55.). Comparable differences have been found in deaf persons when signing, with the direction of hand dominance for signing in both right- and left-handers corresponding to that for nonlinguistic actions (J. Vaid, D. Schemenauer, U. Bellugi, & H. Poizner, 1984, Hand dominance in a visual-gesture language. Paper presented at BABBLE, March, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada). In this paper, I recount early theories and observational data about hand dominance for gesture and signing, both in the hearing and the deaf. Several of these early theories and observations anticipate current work and also suggest new avenues for investigation.     

Hand Test indices of violent and destructive behavior for institutionalized mental retardates.

The Hand Test (Wagner, 1962) and the maladaptive behavior scale of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS) were administered to 78 institutionalized retardates (46 males and 32 females) in order to investigate the relationship between violent and destructive behavior and two purported indicants of violent and destructive acting-out behavior on the Hand Test, the acting-out-score (AOS and movement-content response (ACT-MOV). Significant correlations between the two Hand Test indices and the number of types of violent and destructive behavior evinced during a three-month period were obtained.     

A comparison of selected Rorschach variables of violent female offenders and female non-offenders

A national sample of incarcerated violent female offenders (N = 45) and a sample of female non-offenders (N = 30) were compared on nine selected Rorschach CS (Exner, 2003) variables and three of the aggression variables of Gacono and Meloy (1994). The results indicate that an avoidant and inconsistent coping style was more characteristic of the offenders than the non-offenders. The offenders were characterized by social immaturity and limited capacities to cope with stress as compared with the non-offenders. No significant differences were found between the two groups in handling intense emotions. Although the aggressive scores revealed no discrimination between the groups, significant correlations were found between the aggressive content score and childhood victimization. An inverse relation was found between the aggressive past score and the emotional intensity of the violent offense. The study indicates that the selected RCS variables related to adaptive resources for coping discriminate between violent offenders and non-offenders, but that the variables related to affective features need further examination.     

The distribution and development of handedness for manual gestures in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

This article describes the distribution and development of handedness for manual gestures in captive chimpanzees. Data on handedness for unimanual gestures were collected in a sample of 227 captive chimpanzees. Handedness for these gestures was compared with handedness for three other measures of hand use: tool use, reaching, and coordinated bimanual actions. Chimpanzees were significantly more right-handed for gestures than for all other measures of hand use. Hand use for simple reaching at 3 to 4 years of age predicted hand use for gestures 10 years later. Use of the right hand for gestures was significantly higher when gestures were accompanied by a vocalization than when they were not. The collective results suggest that left-hemisphere specialization for language may have evolved initially from asymmetries in manual gestures in the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, rather than from hand use associated with other, non-communicative motor actions, including tool use and coordinated bimanual actions, as has been previously suggested in the literature.     

The Hand Test: fifteen years later

The Hand Test, a projective device developed about 15 years ago, has gained rapidly in popularity among clinical and school psychologists. A variety of reliability and validity studies have been conducted with the instrument across a broad spectrum of clients and settings, A considerable amount of developmental work has been conducted on the Hand Test since its inception. Research on this test was reviewed and discussed with the conclusion that the Hand Test has merit in many clinical applications for children, adolescents and adults. The instrument has potential in diverse assessment situations and is used today by a wide spectrum of practitioners. Research points toward the Hand Test as being a valuable quantitative multidimensional instrument which predicts behaviors.     

Validity of Interpretation: A user validity perspective beyond the test score

This paper introduces the concept of user validity and provides a new perspective on the validity of interpretations from tests. Test interpretation is based on outputs such as test scores, profiles, reports, spreadsheets of multiple candidates' scores, etc. The user validity perspective focuses on the interpretations a test user makes given the purpose of the test and the information provided in the test output. This innovative perspective focuses on how user validity can be extended to content, criterion, and to some extent construct‐related validity. It provides a basis for researching the validity of interpretations and an improved understanding of the appropriateness of different approaches to score interpretation, as well as how to design test outputs and assessments that are pragmatic and optimal.     

Validating Hand Test Acting Out Ratios For Overt and Experimentally Induced Aggression

The Hand Test Acting Out Ratio (AOR) was studied with respect to written measures of hostility toward self, task, and experimenter, and was used to test for aggression caused by experimentally induced stress. Wiggin's MMPI Hostility Scale was also compared with the Hand Test AOR. It was found that while the written measure reflected the effects of the experimentally induced stress, the AOR did not; nor did the AOR scores correlate significantly with the content-derived hostility scale. It was concluded that if one wants to find if individuals are angered by frustrating situations, simply asking them is a more effective and accurate method.     

Metaphor explanation attenuates the right-hand preference for depictive co-speech gestures that imitate actions

Differential activation levels of the two hemispheres due to hemispheric specialization for various linguistic processes might determine hand choice for co-speech gestures. To test this hypothesis, we compared hand choices for gesturing in 20 healthy right-handed participants during explanation of metaphorical vs. non-metaphorical meanings, on the assumption that metaphor explanation enhances the right hemisphere contribution to speech production. Hand choices were analyzed separately for: depictive gestures that imitate action ("character viewpoint gestures," [McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind. What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.]), depictive gestures that express motion, relative locations, and shape ("observer viewpoint gestures"), and "abstract deictic gestures." It was found that the right-hand over left-hand preference was significantly weaker in the metaphor condition than in the non-metaphor conditions for depictive gestures that imitated action. Findings suggest that the activation of the right hemisphere in the metaphor condition reduces the likelihood of left hemisphere generation of gestures that imitate action, thus attenuating the right-hand preference.     

Bender-Gestalt emotional indicators and acting-out behavior in young children.

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between 15 emotional indicators on the Bender-Gestalt Test and acting-out behavior in young children. The subjects were 93 children ranging in age from five to 12 years. Each was administered the Bender. A measure of each subject's overt acting-out behavior was then obtained by having teachers rate each student on a Behavioral Rating Scale. Subjects' records were then divided into groups on the basis of both sex and age. Results indicated that neither the total number of Bender indicators nor any of the individual Bender indicators were correlated significantly with total scores on the rating scale. Use of the Bender as a projective device to measure acting-out behavior was seriously questioned.     

Help-agents' views about clinical interactions with acting-out children

A scale to measure nonprofessional child-aides' views about, and practices in, working primarily with acting-out children is described. The scale was used as part of an overall evaluation of a program to teach the aides Ginottian limit-setting approaches for work with such children. A prior study had shown that the training was followed by significantly more favorable treatment outcomes. Compared to 44 nontrained child-aides, the 19 trained aides had significantly higher postprogram scale scores on opinions and beliefs about acting-out children, changes in feeling about working with them, and actual observed changes in their playroom behaviors. Item analysis indicated that, following training, aides felt more comfortable with and had a richer repertoire of techniques for dealing with acting-out children. Specifically, they found it easier to set limits and to deal with overtly aggressive behaviors. Those changes may be key factors in explaining the significantly greater effectiveness of the trained aides working with acting-out children.This study was supported by a grant (MH-11427-02) from the NIMH Experimental and Special Training Branch, for which the authors express sincere appreciation. Thanks also to Mary Boike, Michael A. DeStefano, and Alice B. Wilson for their contributions to the data analyses.     

Internal consistency reliability of the tactual performance test trials

Internal consistency reliabilities were calculated for the Tactual Performance Test Preferred Hand (n=300), Nonpreferred H and (n=302), and Both Hands (n=314) trials, and Total Time. Reliabilities are reported for the total sample and three groups: normal, undiagnosed patients sent for assessment, and alcoholic persons. The reliability coefficients ranged from .59 to .90.