Masculinity and femininity predict optimal mental health: a belated test of the androgyny hypothesis

In this study, we examined the relationship between psychological androgyny and optimal mental health in a sample of adults seeking career consultation (N = 154). Most earlier research on the subject employed self-report measures of well-being or adjustment. In this study, we employed an "observer-by-proxy" measure of optimal mental health that, although based on self report data, provides an empirically based estimate of ratings that clinicians would make using the California Q-set (Block, 1961/1978). High levels of both masculinity and femininity are associated with higher levels of optimal mental health. These findings represent a rare example of support for the additive androgyny hypothesis and argue for its further study. We also discuss the construct validity of the masculinity and femininity scales we used, and we argue for further study of our mental health measure.     

Temporal differences in trait self-ascription: when the self is seen as an other

Seven studies exploring people's tendency to make observer-like attributions about their past and future selves are presented. Studies 1 and 2 showed temporal differences in trait assessments that paralleled the classic actor-observer difference. Study 3 provided evidence against a motivational account of these differences. Studies 4-7 explored underlying mechanisms involving differences in the focus of attention of the sort linked to the classic actor-observer difference. In Study 4, people perceived past and future selves from a more observer-like perspective than present selves. In Studies 5 and 6, manipulating attention to internal states (vs. observable behavior) of past and future selves led people to ascribe fewer traits to those selves. Study 7 showed an inverse relationship for past and present selves between observer-like visual focus and salience of internal information.     

Manic thinking: independent effects of thought speed and thought content on mood

This experiment found that the speed of thought affects mood. Thought speed was manipulated via participants' paced reading of statements designed to induce either an elated or a depressed mood. Participants not only experienced more positive mood in response to elation than in response to depression statements, but also experienced an independent increase in positive mood when they had been thinking fast rather than slow--for both elation and depression statements. This effect of thought speed extended beyond mood to other experiences often associated with mania (i.e., feelings of power, feelings of creativity, a heightened sense of energy, and inflated self-esteem or grandiosity).     

Taking the task seriously: reflections on measures of color acquisition

The experiments described in the lead articles by Kowalski and Zimiles and by O'Hanlon and Roberson examine factors that lead to color term acquisition. These experiments touch on the debate regarding the relative contributions of language and concepts in word learning. In this reflection, we examine how conclusions concerning the debate depend deeply on the particular task presented to children, and we propose an alternative approach to studying color term acquisition.     

Masked and unmasked priming in schizophrenia

Dehaene et al. (2003) showed an absence of conscious, but not masked, conflict effects when patients with schizophrenia performed a number-categorisation priming task. We aimed to replicate these influential results using a different word-categorisation priming task. Counter to Dehaene et al.’s findings, 21 patients and 20 healthy controls showed similar congruence effects for both masked and visible primes. Within patients, a reduced congruence effect for visible primes associated with longer duration of illness and more severe behavioural disorganisation. Patients, unlike controls, were no slower to respond to targets that followed visible compared to masked primes. Conscious conflict effects on priming tasks are not universally reduced in schizophrenia but may associate with chronicity and behavioural disorganisation. That patients were no slower when the preceding primes were clearly visible accords with evidence elsewhere that information processing in schizophrenia is driven more by immediate conscious experience and constrained less by prior events.     

Clinicians’ Attitudes Toward Therapeutic Alliance in E-Therapy

Although therapeutic alliance is a crucial factor in face-to-face therapies, no data exist on clinicians’ attitudes towards alliance in E-therapy. The study explored clinicians’ perceived importance of alliance in E-therapy, clinicians’ confidence in their skills to develop alliance in E-therapy, and whether attitudes towards alliance in E-therapy are associated with intended E-therapy practice. Clinicians (n = 106) responded to an online survey. The majority of clinicians considered alliance to be extremely important in both face-to-face therapy and E-therapy. However, clinicians’ ratings of the importance of alliance in face-to-face therapies were significantly higher than their ratings of the importance of alliance in E-therapy. Clinicians reported less confidence in their skills to develop alliance in E-therapy than in face-to-face therapy. Intended E-therapy practice correlated with confidence in one's ability to develop alliance in E-therapy and with previous E-therapy practice.     

Book Reviews

Dan Olweus. Prediction of Aggression (On the Basis of a Projective Test). Stockholm: Scandinavian Test Corporation, 1969. Reviewed by A. I. Rabin

F. D. Naylor. Personality and Educational Achievement. New York: Wiley, 1972, 162 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Frank H. Farley

Hendrik M. Ruitenbeek (Ed.) The Analytic Situation: How Patient and Therapist Communicate. Chicago: Aldine, 1973, 222 pages, $8.50. Reviewed by Emanuel Berman