The inequivalence of self-reports of Type A behavior: Differential relationships of the Jenkins Activity Survey and the Framingham cale with affect,stress, and control

The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and the Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS) have been found to have different psychological correlates. The JAS is typically unrelated to anxiety, while the FTAS is consistently correlated with trait anxiety. The present study of 200 male and female college students clarifies further the psychological heterogeneity of these measures. Enhanced motivation to control the environment has been suggested as an underlying psychological component of Type A behavior (Glass, 1977). Dysphoric emotions and the perception of more environmental stresses, on the other hand, are typical of neuroticism or negative affectivity (Watson & Clark, 1984). Although the results indicate that the JAS and FTAS are highly correlated, the JAS is more closely related to control motivation than is the FTAS. Further, compared to the JAS, the FTAS is more closely correlated with dysphoric emotions and perceived daily stresses. Thus, the results indicate that the JAS is closely correlated with core psychological components of the Type A pattern, while the FTAS has a relatively unique association with general emotional distress. Such differences may account for the fact that these measures are related to different disease end points.     

Changes in self-stimulatory behaviors with treatment

For four of six autistic children who underwent intensive behavioral treatment, the nature of their self-stimulatory behavior changed from initial lowlevel motor behaviors (such as rocking, spinning, twirling) to differing kinds of higher-level behaviors (such as lining of objects, echolalic speech, and preoccupation with spelling and numerical values). The children who changed to the highest levels of self-stimulatory behavior also showed the largest gains in treatment (as determined by IQ scores, school placement, etc.). The changes in self-stimulatory behaviors were attributed to the intense teaching of appropriate social behaviors and the explicit therapeutic suppression of low-level, self-stimulatory behaviors. The long-term therapeutic effects of changing from lower-to higher-level forms of self-stimulatory behavior were discussed.This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (grant MH 11440). We want to express our thanks to the parents who allowed us to study their children. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Maria Audero with the design of the weighted measure, and Tracee Parker with the collection of the data.     

Conceptual models and functions of meditation in psychotherapy

Although meditation is increasingly being employed as an adjunct in psychotherapy, there has been practically no comprehensive evaluation of its usefulness in this respect. This paper seeks to address this issue through conceptual models of the meditation experience. It is concluded that meditation practice may be associated with the acquisition of some useful skills (e.g., focused attention), that practice may be physiologically relaxing, that meditation may decrease anxiety, insomnia and drug usage, while enhancing hypnotic induction and self-actualization. There is still no compelling evidence, however, that meditation practice is associated with unique state effects compared with other relaxational procedures. Those who appear to benefit most from meditation appear to be those who present with milder disorders. The clinical value of meditation, therefore, appears to be limited. Furthermore, the long-term objectives of meditation are not in general congruent with those of mainstream psychotherapy, as they go beyond therapeutic gain in the clinical sense.     

Toward the more efficient use of assessment center technology in personnel selection

Empirical research has consistently supported the validity and business utility of the assessment center method as a selection instrument. Nonetheless, the method as typically applied may be unnecessarily costly and inflexible. This paper begins by describing how the model for assessment center design that is widely used today came to be accepted as a standard. Then modifications in design and operation are discussed. These suggested modifications are intended to enhance the utility and flexibility of assessment centers, while at the same time maintaining, or even increasing, the validity of the process.Seymour Adler is Associate Professor of Applied Psychology at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, and Vice President of Assessment Systems Incorporated, a New York-based consulting firm.     

The impact of pre-employment integrity testing on employee turnover and inventory shrinkage losses

A major home improvement chain located primarily in the western United States initiated the use of thePersonnel Selection Inventory, a written integrity test, as part of its pre-employment hiring process. For two years only, those job applicants who passed this test and other pre-employment criteria were hired by the chain. Following the introduction of the inventory, there was: (1) a 50% reduction in the number of employee terminations for theft, illegal drug use, and violence over a five year period and (2) a savings in shrinkage losses that amounted to over two million dollars over a two year period.     

The Social Relations Model: An integrative method for personality research

As outlined by Snyder and Ickes (1985), the study of personality can be undertaken using one of three research approaches dispositional, situational, and interactive We show how the Social Relations Model provides an integrative method to estimate simultaneously dispositional, situational, and interactive effects Reviewed are component approaches to the study of personality The Social Relations Model is shown to be a component model (a special case of generalizability theory) applied in a social interaction context In the model, dispositional, situational, and interactive effects are termed actor, partner, and relationship effects, respectively The Social Relations Model can be used to answer a number of important issues in personality research The model can be used to assess reliability, measure the validity of self-ratings, and validate self-report inventories The model requires special designs in winch each person interacts with multiple partners Empirical examples are presented in which social anxiety, sex role inventories, and self-disclosure are studied     

Visual and auditory attention performance in hyperactive children: Competence or compliance

The effect of self-control and compliance on the attentional performance of hyperactive children was assessed. Visual and auditory attention tasks were presented in conditions in which the experimenter was either absent and therefore not imposing external control, or present and therefore imposing some degree of control. There was no difference in performance between hyperactives and controls when the experimenter was present, but the hyperactives' performance showed a greater deterioration than controls when the experimenter was absent. The amount of movement displayed during the tasks was greater for hyperactives and increased more for this group during experimenter-absent conditions. The results support the contention that noncompliance is a major contributor to the poor performance of hyperactive children, which can be seen as an application deficit rather than an ability deficit. These findings have relevance for the current debate on the association between hyperactivity and conduct disorder, and from an applied perspective they serve to stress the importance of situational contributors to the problem behaviors of hyperactive children.