Comments on "the Rorschach M response: a return to its roots"

These comments address three interrelated issues posed in Kramer's article concerning Rorschach's definition of the M response and the criteria for M that is applied in the Comprehensive System, the possibility that M may be overscored by the criteria for the Comprehensive System, and the issue of whether the Rorschach is amenable to quantification and empirical scrutiny. Kramer has oversimplified and misconstrued statements by Rorschach, Beck, and Bohm; in reality, the criterion for the scoring of M responses in the Comprehensive System differs very little, if at all, from that suggested by Rorschach. The accumulated history of the test seems to confirm that it is amenable to quantification and empirical scrutiny.     

Tactile-kinesthetic space estimation: The influence of gravity

Summary The capacity to estimate the orientation of an object with respect to gravity was investigated by having Ss rotate a tactile-kinesthetically (tk) perceived bar (under exclusion of all visual cues) to the subjective horizontal. The 1st experiment was conducted to compare tk judgements with the visual judgements obtained by Udo de Haes (1970a,b) about an object's orientation in order to study the underlying mechanism, particularly to show possible vestibular influence, if any. For this purpose Ss were required to orient the tk-perceived bar while subjected to changes in both the magnitude (by centrifugation) and the direction (by tilting the body) of the gravitational force. Great variability of S's adjustments in the nearly inverted body positions (120°, 150°), indicating a low stability of spatial orientation in this range, was common to both tk and visual estimations. The relationship between body tilt and the corresponding judgement about the object's orientation, was however different for the two systems: No linear proportionality to the shear force in the utricles, as was established earlier in the visual experiments of Udo de Haes, was found in the tk settings. Vestibular influence was further studied in the 2nd experiment by comparing bar adjustments of the right hand with those of the left hand. Increasing angles of body tilt produced similar results in the responses of both hands although shifted differently from the true values. Standard deviations of left-hand settings were lower than those of right-hand ones. Reactions to increased gravity differed between hands. In the 3rd experiment the hand-weight alone, not the whole gravitational force, was increased. A direct effect of gravity on the adjusting hand was found. It was concluded that 1) the underlying mechanisms for tk and visual space estimations with respect to gravity are different; 2) with the given tk stimulation vestibular influence is not recognizable; 3) muscle receptors are probably significant, in addition to joint receptors, for this mode of space estimation, and 4) both arms may represent a system to perceive the direction of gravity independent of each other and of the labyrinth.     

But it's only an inkblot

The nature of the Rorschach is discussed using data from three temporal consistency studies with children of different ages, plus two other studies in which the retest reliability question was approached by experimental manipulation. It is postulated that the test response reflects the basic psychological styles or response tendencies that have developed within the personality, plus representations of the more private world of the person. The challenge for interpretation and research is to differentiate which of the test elements reflect each of these features, and to determine how they merge to create the response during a very brief time interval.     

Searching for projection in the Rorschach

The issue of assumptions concerning projection and the Rorschach is discussed in relation to the Rorschach response process and the process of projection. Some data suggest that some minus answers may evolve because of projection, but the limited nature of the findings indicate that these types of projected answers will be difficult to identify in most cases. Findings concerning passive and aggressive movement responses, morbid content responses, and movement answers, coded using a new special score for positive cooperative interaction (COP) in human and animal movement responses, suggest that most projections will manifest in responses that depart from and/or embellish the stimulus field. Caution is recommended about attempting to interpret single answers tht appear to be projections, because most any might be the product of simple stimulus classification.     

Measuring religious attitudes: reliability and validity of the German version of the Systems of Belief Inventory (SBI-15R-D) in a representative sample

Forgiveness is a core value within Christianity and many other religions, but it is unclear whether valuing forgiveness results in individuals being more forgiving. This study examines the effect of Christian religious belief on forgiveness; tests the theoretical speculation that trust fosters forgiveness; explores the effect of cynicism, and examines age effects on forgiveness with a British sample. Christian clergy (N?=?209), general population samples of Christians (N?=?176), and a group with NRA (N?=?65) completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale measuring forgiveness of self, others, and situations, and measures of trust, cynicism, and the importance of forgiveness. The clergy score higher on total forgiveness, forgiveness of self, others, and situations; rate forgiveness as being more important; are more trusting; and are less cynical than the Christian and no religious affiliation (NRA) samples in the general population. While the Christian sample value forgiveness more than the NRA group, they are not more forgiving on any of the measures tested. Age is a significant predictor only for situational forgiveness. Trust is not a positive mediator of forgiveness for any of the participant groups, and neither is cynicism a negative mediator of forgiveness.     

The Effect of Plausible Versus Implausible Balance Scale Feedback on the Expectancies of 3- to 4-Year-Old Children

Previous studies (Case, 1985 Case , R. ( 1985 ). Intellectual development: Birth to adulthood . New York , NY : Academic . [Google Scholar]; Siegler, 1981 Siegler , R. S. ( 1981 ). Developmental sequences within and between concepts . Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development , 46 , 1 – 84 . [Google Scholar]) have shown that children under the age of 5 years have little understanding of balance scales when required to encode the influence of weight or distance from the fulcrum. More recently, however, Halford, Andrews, Dalton, Boag, and Zielinski (2002 Halford , G. S. , Andrews , G. , Dalton , C. , Boag , C. , & Zielinski , T. ( 2002 ). Young children's performance on the balance scale: The influence of relational complexity . Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , 81 , 417 – 445 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) noted that an understanding based on weight alone is present even in 2-year-olds. In all these experiments, weight was varied using multiple objects of the same weight. Consequently, the children's decisions could have been based upon visual features (size, number) without necessarily taking the weight into account. The present study investigated whether young children are able to correctly encode the relevance of weight in influencing the behavior of a balance scale. We studied how well 3- to 4-year-old children learn to use one of two different weights (of equal appearance) to tip the scale. In the plausible condition, the heavy weight produced the desired outcome. In the implausible condition, the light weight caused the scale to tip. Only 4-year-olds' performance differed between conditions by learning more effectively in the plausible than the implausible condition. Our results suggest that children younger than 4 years of age have not yet developed clear expectations of the role of weights on the movements of a balance scale.     

Post-irradiation annealing behaviour of oxide dispersion strengthened Fe-Cr alloys studied by nanoindentation

ABSTRACT

To study the nature of irradiation-induced nanofeatures in oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) Fe-Cr alloys, post-irradiation isochronal thermal annealing up to 600°C was performed for ODS Fe-9%Cr and Fe-14%Cr alloys ion-irradiated at 300°C and 500°C. Nanoindentation indicated hardening for all as-irradiated alloys and complete hardness recovery upon post-irradiation annealing. Cross-sectional TEM indicated an irradiation-induced defect band near peak damage mainly consisting of dislocation loops. Candidate mechanisms of recovery were critically evaluated. Shrinkage of loops via capture of thermal vacancies was found to correctly reflect the annealing behaviour of ODS Fe-9Cr irradiated at 300°C.     

Ambulante Psychotherapie in Deutschland aus Sicht der Patienten

This study analyzed the provision of outpatient psychotherapy services in Germany in typical practice settings. In a representative survey (from June 2008 to September 2009) 1,212 subjects who received outpatient psychotherapy during the past 6 years were questioned about their experiences with outpatient psychotherapy via telephone interviews. Socio-economic data, reasons for seeking treatment, access paths, financial resources and psychosocial support data were collected. Therapeutic settings and modalities and concomitant medication treatment are described. The findings illustrate the problem of multiple psychiatric morbidity in the clinical practice and confirm the urgent need for patient access to professional psychotherapeutic services. Improving access to these services requires close cooperation between care providers.