Idiothetic inquiry and the toil of Sisyphus

In response to the article by Lamiell and Trierweiler (this issue), we examine the stated epistemological origins of idiothetic proposals for theory and research in personality We argue that the justification for those proposals as advanced by Lamiell and his colleagues is wholely insufficient in view of prior research on the consistency of behavior This assertion together with our identification of problems in scaling personality and personality consistencies lead us to conclude that the pursuit of the idiothetic method is both unwarranted and ineffectual     

An evaluation of the family adaptability and cohesion evaluation scales and the circumplex model

Two basic assumptions of the Circumplex Model of family systems were evaluated: (1) Healthy families evidence balanced degrees of cohesion and adaptability, whereas problem families evidence extreme degrees, and (2) families with balanced degrees of cohesion and adaptability possess more positive communication skills than families with extreme degrees. Subjects were 58 mother-son dyads from father-absent families. In 29 of the families the adolescent was a juvenile offender, while in the remaining families there was no history of arrest or psychiatric referral. The dyads completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales (FACES) and an unrevealed differences interaction task. FACES was highly proficient at differentiating delinquent from nondelinquent families. Moreover, in families with balanced degrees of cohesion and adaptability, the mothers' communication was significantly more supportive and explicit, and the dyads evidenced significantly greater warmth and affection than dyads with extreme degrees.This research was supported by funding to the Department of Psychology at Memphis State University granted through the Centers of Excellence Program of the State of Tennessee. We thank the staff of the Memphis-Metro Youth Diversion Project for their consideration and assistance.     

Criminal profiling from crime scene analysis

Since the 1970s, investigative profilers at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (now part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime) have been assisting local, state, and federal agencies in narrowing investigations by providing criminal personality profiles. An attempt is now being made to describe this criminal-profile-generating process. A series of five overlapping stages lead to the sixth stage, or the goal of apprehension of the offender: (1) profiling inputs, (2) decision-process models, (3) crime assessment, (4) the criminal profile, (5) investigation, and (6) apprehension. Two key feedback filters in the process are: (a) achieving congruence with the evidence, with decision models, and with investigation recommendations, and (b) the addition of new evidence.     

Apple II assembly language routines for digital data acquisition and contingency control

Modifications and corrections to Rayfield’s (1982) assembly language routines for data acquisition and experimental control using the Apple II computer are described. The modified routines, together with an optoisolated hardware interface, provide a reliable, accurate, and easy to use microcomputer system for experimental control and data acquisition.     

Concepts underlying the development of modules

The need for common pedagogical and design features in courseware is discussed. A particularly useful feature would allow use of courseware in either of two “modes”: as an “electronic chalkboard” for the instructor who wishes to take advantage of the computer in a traditional lecture setting, or as an “electronic study guide” in which students interact individually with the programs. Development of programs using these two modes can be facilitated using Author-Assist, a set of routines and a program skeleton being developed by CONDUIT (1983). Author-Assist provides procedures for use of several types of automatic menu generation, automatic text formatting in “text ports,” mixed text and graphics, protected input routines, lowercase characters in text, automatic scaling of graphic displays using “graphports,” on-screen calculator functions, and a variety of other features.     

Death and dying in medicine: What questions are still worth asking?

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

Pictorial rehearsal

Subjects were presented with a sequence of picture-word items. The pictures were line drawings of common objects, and the words were the names of the objects. Half of the items were followed quickly by the next item, and the other half by a 15-sec “rehearsal interval.” The subjects were told to use these intervals to rehearse the item just presented, either by saying the word over and over to themselves or by maintaining the picture before the mind’s eye. There followed a test in which each item from the study list was cued with a fragment of either the picture or the name. Consistent with previous findings, identification was more probable for fragments of items that had been followed by a rehearsal interval. In addition, this advantage was found to be greater when the type of cue matched the mode of rehearsal that the subject had been instructed to adopt; there was in fact little, if any, advantage of rehearsal when cue and mode of rehearsal mismatched. This pattern of results suggests functionally distinct pictorial and verbal modes of rehearsal that serve not only to maintain information in conscious mind but also to build up memory proper.     

Agreement between observers when the categories are not specified in advance

To test the agreement between two observers who categorize a number of objects when the categories have not been specified in advance, Brennan & Light (1974) developed a statistic A′ and suggested a normal approximation for its distribution. In this paper it is shown that this approximation is inadequate particularly when one, or both, of the observers place a fairly equal number of objects in all of their categories. A chi-squared approximation to the distribution of A′ is developed and is shown to work well in a variety of situations. The relative powers of A′ and the ordinary X² test for association are dependent on the type of ‘agreement between the observers’ that is assumed. However a simulation for a fairly general type of agreement indicates that the X² test is more powerful. As the X² test is also much easier to apply, it would seem preferable in most situations.