Using “Props” to Enhance Your Counseling

The use of props as counseling aids can add a new dimension to any counselor's current repertoire of skills.     

EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE MMPI FOR EMPLOYEE SCREENING

Psychological screening has become commonplace in a number of occupational groups. With the growing popularity of screening and the relative scarcity of appropriate personality measures, re-screening individuals with the same inventory is frequent. This paper examines the effect of re-screening with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) on contract workers (n = 1,997) from the nuclear power industry. Participants completed the Inventory as a part of a routine screening procedure. Each participant provided several profiles as a result of regular employment cycles. Although the differences are generally small, some scales show large enough mean changes to warrant concern when interpreting the profiles of those who have taken the profile multiple times. Although scale reliabilities tend to increase, the usefulness of the Inventory appears to decrease with an increasing number of administrations. The effect is one of increasing normality of test profiles. One interpretation of the results is that candidates for jobs become "test-wise," and the scores are the result of a combination of responses to the repeated assessment. It becomes increasingly difficult to identify unfit employees with the Inventory. Given these results, further research on retesting effects of the Inventov, as well as other personality measures, is indicated.     

“The Lot of Gifted Ladies Is Hard”: A Study of Harriet Taylor Mill Criticism

The question, “Why has Harriet Taylor MM appeared in the history of philosophy as she has?” has several answers. The answers intertwine the personality and polities of Harriet, the sexism of those who wrote of her (which was a reflection of the overall status of women during the period the commentator wrote), misunderstandings of the means and meaning of her collaboration with John Stuart Mill, and the disturbing challenge of her questioning.     

EXPECTATIONS OF BEHAVIORALLY ANCHORED RATING SCALES

Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) are reviewed from two perspectives. First, the particular BARS methodology is assessed on the basis of its fulfilling three broad categories of "criteria for criteria:" (1) utilization criteria, (2) qualitative criteria, and (3) quantitative or psychometric criteria. These three broad categories are composed of 14 specific criteria by which performance evaluation methodologies can be assessed. The second perspective involves an evaluation of BARS in terms of psychometric criteria but with the literature broken down into studies concerned with (1) development of BARS, (2) utilization of BARS, (3) comparison of BARS to other methods, and (4) rater training in BARS use. Conclusions from these reviews indicate that BARS is no better or worse than other methods when assessed on a quantitative basis whereas it has greater potential when assessed on the utilization and qualitative criteria. Suggestions are offered for extending BARS research to process questions and to domains other than performance appraisal perse     

Idiomatic Communication and Interpersonal Solidarity in Friends’ Relational Cultures

This study examined the relationship of interpersonal solidarity to various aspects of idiomatic communication in friends’ relational cultures. A pilot study determined that the typology of idiom functions used in past investigations of romantic relationships could be extended to friendship. The idioms described functioned to name activities, emotional states, objects, and places; communicate affection; manage confrontations; accomplish greetings and goodbyes; reference the self, partner, or other individuals; issue requests and insults; and denote sexual matters. In the main study, 114 females and 117 males each identified a close same-sex friend, completed the Interpersonal Solidarity Scale, and filled out an idiom report form for each idiom that had emerged in the friendship. The majority of the 1,380 idioms reported were verbal, used in public contexts, and used in more than just the one friendship described. For both sexes, solidarity was positively correlated with five idiom categories: activities, affection, confrontation, nicknames for self, and objects. In addition, solidarity correlated positively with place, requests, nicknames for friend, and sexual references for females and with emotions, greetings/goodbyes, labels for others, and teasing insults for males. For both sexes, solidarity was related to the total number and breadth (diversity) of idioms reported, as well as to other features of friends’ idiomatic codes. A subset of the idiom variables collectively accounted for over one third of the variance in, solidarity. Support was also found for several hypothesized sex differences in the structure and use of idiomatic codes. Associations among idiom function, channel, patterns of use, and relational consequences were also explored.     

Voices,Boxes, and Sources of Messages

Can adults be induced to use social rules distinguishing “self” and “other” to respond to the behaviors of technologies? In a 2×2×2 between-subjects laboratory experiment involving the use of multiple computers with voice output, 88 computer-literate college students used a computer for tutoring and a different computer for testing. The performance of the tutoring session was either praised or criticized (Manipulation 1) in the same voice as the tutoring session or a distinct voice (Manipulation 2) via the computer (box) that performed the tutoring or a distinct computer (box; Manipulation 3). Respondents were shown to use voices but not boxes to distinguish “self” from “other” behavior in applying the social rules “Performance evaluations from others are more accurate than are performance evaluations of self,”“Praise from others is friendlier than praise from self,” and “Criticism from self is friendlier than is criticism from others,” to evaluate the tutoring and evaluation session.     

The Search for Reliable Generalizations About Messages A Comparison of Research Strategies

Two ways of conducting the search for generalizations about messages are considered: Morley's (this volume) proposal that single-message research designs be used, with subsequent meta-analytic summaries, and Jackson and Jacobs's (1983) proposal that multiple-message designs be used, with messages treated as a random factor in the statistical analysis. Jackson and Jacobs's approach is shown to provide a more dependable, efficient, and practical means for gathering the requisite evidence for dependable generalizations. The charge that multiple-message designs suffer from irreparable problems of experimenter bias is refuted. The treatment of messages as a random factor is defended as statistically appropriate and as clearly preferable to the statistical alternatives.