PROJECT A: SPECIFICATION OF THE PREDICTOR DOMAIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SELECTION/ CLASSIFICATION TESTS

A major goal of the Army Selection and Classification Project was to develop an experimental predictor battery that would best supplement the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery for making selection and classification decisions for entry-level enlisted personnel. That is, what predictor measures would best serve the needs of all the jobs in an entire selection/classification system? This paper describes the characteristics of the new test battery and the procedures that were used to develop it. The major steps in the procedure were a structured literature search using a standard protocol, an extensive expert judgment study of expected true validities for a population of predictor variables against a population of performance components, fabrication of modularized software and a special response pedestal for computerized measurement of perceptual and psychomotor abilities, evaluations of experimental measures in three iterative pilot tests and one major field test, and a series of reviews by a panel of scientific advisers. The test battery that resulted from this 2 1/2-year development effort is described. The basic psychometric properties of each measure, as determined in a large concurrent validation sample, are also described.     

MODELING JOB PERFORMANCE IN A POPULATION OF JOBS

The Army Selection and Classification Project has produced a comprehensive examination of job performance in 19 entry-level Army jobs (Military Occupational Specialties) sampled from the existing population of entry-level positions. Multiple methods of job analysis and criterion measurement were utilized in a subsample of nine jobs to generate over 200 performance indicators, which were then used to assess performance in a combined sample of 9,430 job incumbents. An iterative procedure involving a series of content analyses and principal components analyses was used to develop a basic array of up to 32 criterion scores for each job. This basic set of scores formed the starting point of an attempt to model the latent structure of performance in this population of jobs. After alternative models were proposed for the latent structure, the models were submitted to a goodness-of-fit test via LIS-REL VI. After accounting for two components of method variance, a five-factor solution was judged as the best fit. The implications of the results and the modeling procedure for future personnel research are discussed.     

Understanding the language of thought

Conclusions To conclude then, our question was, What determines the content of a thought? This question gets its punch by being set against the background assumption that thoughts are internal physical occurrences. The answer I have proposed is that thoughts can be classified in four importantly different ways. Introspection yields syntactic categories. These are important for cognitive processing, but they do not correspond to contents. A second way of categorizing thoughts is in terms of narrow content. This is determined by the functional role of the thought in rational architecture together with the way in which that rational architecture is tied to the world through input correlations. Narrow contents are indexical, so to get truth bearers we must augment the narrow contents with the values of the indexical parameters. Propositional content can be taken to consist of pairs of narrow contents and values for indexical parameters. Finally, thoughts can be classified in terms of that clauses. This kind of classification does not uniquely determine propositional content, but describes it in a more general way.     

Physiological reactivity in acculturation: a study of female Japanese students

Several investigations have indicated that length of residence can predict acculturation associated with stress. However, there have been no studies from a psychophysiological perspective to assess whether length of residence affects physiological reactivity. The purpose of this study was to compare reactivity to psychological stress in female Japanese students of long- and short-term residence at a large university in northeastern USA, after administering a stress questionnaire to examine stress in adjusting to their US academic lives. 12 subjects were randomly chosen for each group (short- and long-term residence) from an initial population of 90 students. The subjects were presented three stressors (English-reading, stress-imagination, and arithmetic) for 2 min. each, with a 6-min. recovery period following each stressor. A significant interaction appeared for groups over time on heart-rate reactivity. While the long-term group had a linear component in heart rate across time for the tasks, the short-term group did not. Although the short-term group had higher skin temperature than the long-term group, only the short-term group had a tendency to increase skin temperature after the tasks. These data suggest that continued study of physiological reactivity to stress may be useful for developing techniques for coping with acculturative stress.     

Clinical multiplicity of cerebrovascular disorders in childhood

A group of 107 children with vascular diseases of the nervous system aged 3-14 years have been studied. In 100 children of the study group acute disturbances of the brain blood circulation have been found, out of which 37 children were with transitory ischemic attacks; 29 were found to be with brain ischaemia; 22-with haemorrhages (7 cases with subarchnoidal, 9 cases with intracerebral and 6 cases with subarachnoidal-parenchimatose); 5 children had wenous thromboses; 7 children were with spinal strokes. In other 7 children we found the presence of Sturge-Weber syndrome. Congenital vascular malformations have been found in 32 children (30%), out of which 16 children (15%) with loops and stenosis of the extracranial segments of the internal carotid artery, and another 16 children (15%) with AV-malformations. Congenital and acquired heart diseases are found to be primary cause for the strokes in 12 children (11%). Considerable is the rate of the epileptic seizures in the acute stage of the strokes as well as of the residual epileptic syndromes.     

Concentration camp imprisonment and psychological traumatization

The author reports on a Norwegian investigation extending over more than 30 years, which showed that, apart from a few exceptions, all former concentration camp inmates and prisoners in Nazi jails manifest permanent physical and psychic damage. On the basis of these findings the Norwegian government has established a generous statutory compensation program. Unlike its counterpart in the Federal Republic of Germany, this program does not require applicants to demonstrate the cause of illness or its consequences in each case. The method of the investigation is presented in detail.     

Dealing with (bypassing) the difference

The author presents different psychoanalytic conceptualizations of gender difference. She reviews the controversy between Freud and Jones and discusses in detail the views put forward by Montrelay, a student of Lacan, who relates early linguistic development to gender-specific differences in closeness between the child and the "mother's body".     

Psychoses in epilepsy

The heterogenous psychoses in epilepsies, caused by well known conditions, are not rare but associated with regularly a few of seizure-types not with the nature and development of attacks. Polar transitional ranks and converging courses of schizophrenic (accentuated) syndromes in epilepsies and idiopathic schizophrenias are rather frequent. Also (sub-)acute schizophrenic psychoses are corresponding to the complete palette of first and second rank symptoms (K. Schneider) of idiopathic schizophrenias. After manifestations of epilepsy these syndromes can appear at any time. It is given a profile of risks. Progressive avoidance of a. phenylaceturea, b. mixtures of antiepileptics did not put an end to psychotic syndromes: Long-term therapies with 1. Polytherapy, 2. Primidone and Phenytoin (dosedependant) as well as 3. Ethosuximide (-monotherapy) cause a disorder of feed back mechanisms, especially a disturbed regulation of vigilance and sleeping-waking-cycle and their psychological correlates. Carbamazepine and Sodium Valproate are, plasma-level-controlled of preventive antipsychotic effect. Selected neuroleptics of rather slight epileptogenic potency are of going down importance. Benzodiazepines are required mostly in prepsychotic syndromes, Lithium compounds in selected cases. There is no more alternative seizures or psychosis.     

Aspects of family-oriented diagnosis in compulsory legal family expert assessment

In forensic psychology, recommendations that courts request when granting one of the parents the right of child upbringing after a divorce pose a problem for the person who is required to give such expert judgment. The authors describe the difficult situation he faces when having to decide for and, at the same time, against one of the parents. A good knowledge of family psychology and pathopsychology is essential, and for drawing up the expertise and stating his reasons, the expert requires methodical resources. The authors describe four procedures of relational diagnosis and recommend the combined use of these in conjunction with methods that have been employed so far.     

Family satisfaction with medical care after traumatic brain injury

Ratings during acute and follow-up care by 35 families having members with traumatic brain injury showed none of the medical facilities met families' needs though some aspects of patients' care were rated higher in hospitals. Findings suggest comprehensive surveys are needed.