Personality features and characteristics of violent events committed by juvenile offenders

The present study investigated the relationship between characteristics of a violent event, as self-reported by 82 incarcerated juvenile offenders, and personality features measured by the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI). The study predicted that specific personality features that have previously been associated with psychopathy would be associated with the instrumentality, emotional reactivity, and empathy or guilt reported for the incident. Results confirmed that a self-reported pattern of elevated instrumental motivation and reduced empathy or guilt was associated with higher scores on the MACI Forceful, Unruly, Substance Abuse Proneness, Impulsive Propensity, and Family Discord Scales, as well as a recently developed Psychopathy Content Scale. Self-reported elevated instrumental motivation and reduced empathy or guilt was also associated with lower scores on the Submissive, Conforming, Anxious Feelings, and Sexual Discomfort Scales. There were no significant relationships observed between emotional reactivity and personality scales.     

The structure of honesty: Factor analysis of the reid report

The present study conducted principal component factor analyses of the Reid Report honesty test using two large (N=1281, N=3071) samples of applicants for employment. The results, which replicated across samples, strongly supported the existence of four major factors involved in the Reid Report measure of employee honesty. The Self-Punitiveness factor of the Reid Report contains items in which individuals indicate the extent to which they hold themselves to high standards of conduct. The Other-Punitiveness factor involves questions in which individuals indicate whether they are relatively harsh towards other people who commit crimes or act dishonestly. The Self-Projection factor of the Reid Report incorporates items in which individuals admit or deny that they have personal fantasies about dishonest behavior, such as taking company merchandise home with them. Finally, on the Other-Projection factor, respondents indicate the extent to which they see dishonest intentions or behaviors in others. Such results suggest a basis for more detailed assessments of a person's honesty than is provided merely by a single overall honesty score.This study was initiated while Dr. Ash was affiliated with Reid Psychological Systems, and was completed after he moved to London House, Inc. An earlier version of this study was presented by Dr. Ash at the Second Annual Conference of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Atlanta, April, 1987. The authors are grateful for the cooperation of Reid Psychological Systems in providing the data used in the present study, and to David Arnold and Paul Brooks for their comments on an earlier draft.     

Rediscovering the first clear purpose honesty test

Honesty testing for personnel selection is a growing area of research for industrial psychologists. This research note describes the first clear purpose honesty test used for personnel decisions.The authors gratefully acknowledge the review and approval of this article by Dr. Russell Cassel.     

Motivational Interviewing in the Reciprocal Engagement Model of Genetic Counseling: a Method Overview and Case Illustration

Motivational Interviewing is a well-described counseling method that has been applied to a broad range of health behavior encounters. Genetic counseling is an emerging area of utilization for the method of Motivational Interviewing. The relational and technical elements of the MI method are described within the context of genetic counseling encounters. Case excerpts will be used to illustrate incorporation of MI methods into the Reciprocal Engagement Model of the genetic counseling encounter.     

Max Wertheimer's university career in Germany

Summary This paper presents archival and related material bearing on the German university career of Max Wertheimer. It is shown that many factors interacted to shape that career. What drew Wertheimer to psychological science was its potential philosophical relevance, as expounded by his mentors Christian von Ehrenfels and Carl Stumpf. Once his career had begun, however, he faced the challenge of maintaining intellectual independence in a system where patronage counted, and also the problem of producing systematic philosophical work as well as empirical research in psychology at appropriate points in his career. These difficulties, compounded by Wertheimer's highly personal style of thinking and writing, appear to have been at least as inhibiting to Wertheimer's career as was Anti-Semitism. Thanks to unusual circumstances created in part by Kurt Riezler at the University of Frankfurt, Wertheimer became full professor there in 1929 — only to be forced into exile in 1933, on obviously anti-Semitic grounds.Portions of this paper were originally presented in an invited commentary at the symposium documented in this issue. Grateful acknowledgements are due to Professor Viktor Sarris and the other symposium participants for their assistance. Research for the paper was funded in part by NSF grnat No. SES-8511230.     

Roles of instruments in psychological research

What roles have instruments played in psychology and related disciplines? How have instruments affected the dynamics of psychological research, with what possibilities and limits? What is the psychological instrument? This article provides a conceptual foundation for specific case studies concerning such questions. The discussion begins by challenging widely accepted assumptions about the subject and analyzing the general relations between scientific experimentation and the uses of instruments in psychology. Building on this analysis, a deliberately inclusive definition of what constitutes a psychological instrument is proposed. The discussion then takes up the relation between instrumentation and theories and differentiates in greater detail the roles instruments have had over the course of psychology's history. Finally, the authors offer an approach to evaluating the possibilities and limitations of instruments in psychology.