Applying the Psychology of Science to the Science of Psychology: Can Psychologists Use Psychological Science to Enhance Psychology as a Science?

ABSTRACT— Added to the already tremendous diversity of subdisciplines of psychological science is the psychology of science. Although research on the psychology of science began in 1874, the field has seen a substantial expansion of activity in recent years. One particular subset of this research literature has special importance: namely, inquiries into the psychology of doing great science. These investigations may be assigned into four groups: cognitive, differential, developmental, and social. Each of these deal with critical questions that can, if answered, contribute directly to the improvement of psychology as a science. Potential applications include (a) the identification of scientific talent in psychology, (b) the education of future investigators in psychological science, and (c) the evaluation of psychology's progress as a scientific endeavor.     

Eminence, IQ, Physical and Mental Health, and Achievement Domain: Cox's 282 Geniuses Revisited

ABSTRACT— Catharine Cox published two studies of highly eminent creators and leaders, the first in 1926 as the second volume of Terman's landmark Genetic Studies of Genius and the second in 1936 as a coauthored article. The former publication concentrated on the relation between IQ and achieved eminence, and the latter focused on early physical and mental health. Taking advantage of unpublished data from the second study, we examined, for the first time, the relationships among achieved eminence, IQ, early physical and mental health, and achievement domain. The correlation and regression analyses showed, for these 282 individuals, that eminence is a positive function of IQ and that IQ is a positive function of mental health and a negative function of physical health, implying an indirect effect of physical and mental health on eminence. Furthermore, levels of early physical and mental health vary across 10 specific domains of achievement.     

Psychopathology Following Interpersonal Violence: A Comparison of Risk Factors in Older and Younger Adults

A randomly selected sample of 549 women age 55 years and older and 2,669 women age 18–34 years was interviewed via telephone to determine prevalences of physical and sexual assault, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and depression. Prevalences of sexual and physical assaults were lower in older compared to younger women. In addition, given a trauma, prevalences and proportionate risk of posttraumatic psychopathology and depression were also lower for older, relative to younger women. Specifically, multivariate analyses revealed that sexual assault predicted only PTSD avoidance in older adults, but all forms of PTSD symptomatology and depression in younger adult women. Similarly, physical assault predicted only PTSD re-experiencing symptoms in older women, but all forms of PTSD symptoms and depression in younger women. Self-reported health status was not associated with any increased risk of psychopathology, and low income predicted increased avoidance and depression only in younger women.     

Managing anger for teamwork in Hong Kong: goal interdependence and open–mindedness

Anger is part of working in a team, as is dealing with its frustrations and conflicts. The cooperative–competitive approach to conflict suggests that how open–mindedly the anger incident is discussed impacts on its dynamics and outcomes. Results from critical incident interviews of organization members in Hong Kong clarify how team members can manage their anger. Structural equation and other analyses suggest that open–minded discussion of the anger–inducing incident promotes productivity and strengthens relationships; thereby developing commitment and a belief that team members are resourceful. These constructive dynamics and outcomes were found to occur when team members had co–operative but not competitive nor independent goals. Results were interpreted as suggesting that even in a society where collectivist and conflict–negative values are influential, anger can be managed constructively through an open–minded discussion of the incident.     

Social Interdependence and Orientation Toward Life and Work1

The relationship between social interdependence and orientation toward life and work was investigated in this study. Participants were 135 dyads of Chinese employees from 4 companies. Cooperativeness was significantly related to positive indexes of orientation toward life and work, competitiveness was related to a positive orientation toward life, and a predisposition to act individualistically was related to general measures but very few of the work‐specific measures. Coworkers' ratings indicate that cooperators were perceived as being very positive and productive employees, while competitors and individualists were perceived negatively in terms of work productivity and relationships with others. The discrepancy between self‐perceptions and perceptions of coworkers indicate that competitors especially may have a self‐beneficial delusion about the effectiveness of their behavior.     

Introduction to the Special Series: Clinical Applications of the Inhibitory Learning Model

Exposure therapies (ETs) are treatments of choice for a number of mental health disorders, particularly anxiety and associated conditions, and problems due to avoidance. Exposure has received broad empirical support as a primary intervention. Recent efforts have focused on improving the efficacy and acceptability of exposure-based treatments. As proposed by Craske etal. (2014), strategies to improve ETs based on the inhibitory learning model have shown notable promise. However, surveys suggest that clinicians continue to avoid ETs, or implement them in a manner that interrupts their efficacy. In this special series, articles focus on specific inhibitory learning strategies in exposure, and their adaptation to multiple patient populations. The aim of the special series is to critically assess the research support for inhibitory learning approaches to exposure, and provide guidance for clinicians to implement these strategies in everyday practice.     

A method to optimize the response range while maintaining Rorschach Comprehensive System validity

Brief and lengthy Rorschach records have been identified as common problems in protocol administration. Clinicians have debated how to prevent overly short and long records, but they have been reluctant to alter standardized administration for fear of introducing bias. The present study examines a nonintrusive method for constraining responses by prompting for an extra response when only one is offered per card and by removing the card after four responses are given. Among patients who typically produce brief records, consisting of a residential sample of civil and forensic patients with a range of disordered thinking, the alternative administration method demonstrated improved Comprehensive System validity in assessing thought disorder and eliminated the need to readminister the test due to fewer than 14 responses. The findings have clinical implications for protocol administration with thought-disordered populations that typically produce brief records.