Resource-Allocation Behavior in Complex but Commonplace Tasks

We all face resource-allocation tasks, yet little is known about how people make resource-allocation decisions. Three earlier papers (Langholtz, Gettys, & Foote, 1993, 1994, 1995) established that people can intuitively solve technical two-dimensional resource-allocation problems, where allocations are made on a continuous scale, reaching solutions that approach the optimum solution determined with Linear Programming (LP). In this research we expand our understanding of how people make resource-allocation decisions by examining how people perform complex but commonplace problems using a discrete scale where optimal solutions are determined with Integer Programming. We also contrast performance under conditions where progressively unequal scheduling is required to reach the optimum solution. The data show people can achieve solutions that provide most of the payoffs found with LP, even when they are faced with a complicated three-dimensional problem, but there is a tendency toward equal scheduling under all conditions.     

Book Reviews

G rünbaum , A dolf . Validation in the Clinical Theory of Psychoanalysis: A Study in the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis
H ollis , J ames . The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife
B ertoia , J udi . Drawings from a Dying Child: Insights into Death from a Jungian Perspective
H olt , D avid . The Psychology of Carl Jung: Essays in Application and Deconstruction     

Assisting At-Risk College Students With Attributional Retraining and Effective Teaching1

Attributional retraining appears to be an effective remedial intervention for college students. However, the potential moderating effects of student and classroom characteristics have not yet been investigated systematically. In two studies, attributional retraining was provided to low- and high-risk students, followed by a videotaped lecture presented by either an ineffective or effective instructor. Attributional retraining enhanced achievement on a lecture-based achievement test only when combined with effective teaching, improving the achievement of students who had previously performed poorly (Experiment l), and of low-achieving externals (Experiment 2). The intervention provided no advantage for previously successful students and low-achieving internals. Moreover, attributional retraining induced a more internal attribution profile in students with an external locus, and increased expectations of future success in both externals and internals, but again only when students also received effective instruction. These results suggest that contextual factors related to the classroom, such as quality of instruction, and individual differences have to be considered when developing attributional retraining programs.     

Book Reviews

F ordham , M ichael . The Making of an Analyst: A Memoir
R edfearn , J oseph . The Exploding Self: The Creative and Destructive Nuckus of the Personality
G ordon , R osemary . Bridges: Metaphor for Psychic Processes
J ackson , M urray and W illiams , P aul . Unimaginable Storms: A Search for Meaning in Psychosis
S tevens , anthony . Jung
W eissman , J udith . Of Two Minds: Poets Who Hear Voices     

Life after Trauma: Personality and Daily Life Experiences of Traumatized People

In this study, we explored differences in personality and daily life experiences of traumatized (n= 26) versus nontraumatized (n= 30) college students. Study participants completed a variety of personality measures as well as a 28–day experience sampling study assessing daily activities, emotions, and physical health. Although not differing on general demographics, traumatized individuals reported more trait anxiety and lower self–esteem than nontraumatized individuals. They scored higher on Neuroticism, were more introverted, and were less emotionally stable than nontraumatized participants. Traumatized individuals also reported more cognitive disturbances, emotional blunting, and interpersonal withdrawal. They did not report being more depressed, but did endorse cognitive styles associated with heightened risk for depression. Earlier age of trauma was associated with more pathological outcomes: lower self–esteem and psychological well–being, more anxiety, more pessimism, and emotional constriction of positive mood. We compare this symptom profile to that of posttraumatic stress disorder.     

The listening heart and the chi square: clinical and empirical perceptions in the family therapy of anorexia nervosa

Clinical and empirical methods are commonly considered to be complementary activities. However, many people in the fields of mental health and social welfare espouse a strong adherence to experimental, scientific methods for the evolution of theory and practice and consider only that which has been experimentally tested as‘really true”. Others would propose the clinical method as the main source of useful knowledge and are suspicious of enumeration and quantification as sources of useful information. Formal, empirical methodology is well and extensively described whilst there is less systematic exposition of the clinical method. Family therapy evolved in a context in which activity was visible and the emerging discipline was propelled by a theoretical framework with strongly scientific origins that was critical of the exclusive clinical method of pre-existing psychotherapies. This paper describes some of the clinically based contributions to the family therapy of anorexia nervosa and compares this information with that which comes out of the Maudsley trials of psychotherapies in anorexia nervosa.     

Aesthetic preference and DSM-IIIR personality disorders

This report tested whether those individuals with a cluster B DSM-IIIR personality disorder (narcissistic, borderline, antisocial or histrionic) had higher scores for aesthetic preference for visually complex drawings using the Barron-Welch Art Scale. In a sample of 141 patients and controls, the 56 subjects who met the criteria for one of the cluster B personality disorder diagnoses displayed higher Barron-Welch Art Scale Scores. A multiple regression analysis showed that narcissistic and borderline personality disorder contributed positively, while dependent personality disorder, negatively to preference for complexity. The findings support the notion that aesthetic choices and values reflected through the dimension of openness to experience may contribute to the behavioral manifestations of the personality disorders.     

Multiaxial taxonomy of fibromyalgia syndrome patients

Pain, disability, and depression are present in various degrees in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. Cluster analysis was used in this research to ascertain the existence of subgroups of patients in a fibromyalgia sample based on these variables. Two clusters were defined: one characterized by high levels of pain, disability, and depression (n=51) and another characterized by low levels of pain, disability, and depression (n=67). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) confirmed differences between clusters on these health status factors and a second MANOVA revealed that the subgroup with a poorer health status reported greater passive coping, helplessness, and stress, and less satisfaction with social support, than the subgroup with better health status. Logistic regression indicated that the best discriminator of subgroup membership was helplessness. These results suggest that different approaches to patient management, particularly intervention strategies aimed at reducing helplessness, may be beneficial for patients with high levels of pain, disability, and depression.