Common items and reliability in personality measurement

Most psychological tests and inventories, particularly in personality and attitude measurement, contain common items, that is, various subscales of the test or inventory may share one or more items in common. Surprisingly, the role of common items in such a fundamental personality test attribute as reliability is not known. The present report specifically considered common-item contributions to test internal consistency reliability using extant data from the California Psychological Inventory. No negative contribution of item overlap was found. To the contrary, it was concluded that the use of common items is an economical technique for increasing the total number of items in the scales, thus increasing scale internal reliabilities without increasing the overall number of items in the inventory.     

Regional cerebral blood flow response to recognition memory versus semantic classification tasks

Two randomly assigned groups, N = 7 each, of neurologically normal patients were composed. One group, RM, had regional cerebral blood flow measurements during a recognition memory probe test; the other group, SC, had rCBF measurements during a semantic classification task, using the same stimulus and response features as the RM task. Thus, the groups differed only in the cognitive instruction they were executing. The RM group showed a significantly lower change from resting baseline to activation, in mean left hemisphere initial slope index, than did the SC group. The RM group, but not the SC group, showed a significant inverse correlation between occipital flow and accuracy of memory performance as indicated by d′. Correlations between age and hemispheric initial slope index, and between homologous left and right hemisphere sites, were also described. The results are considered to support an anatomical basis for the distinction between episodic and semantic memory and to suggest that occipital flow may diminish with accurate memory performance because of an upstream demand of blood in the medial temporal lobes.     

An information processing system for the psychiatric emergency room

An information processing system for a psychiatric emergency room is described. Several studies are presented that show the utility of the system. In the first study, variables involved in diagnosis are explicated. The second study attempts to determine the characteristics that distinguish recidivists from nonrecidivists at an emergency room. The third study attempts to find patient variables related to success in short-term treatment programs. The final study is aimed at discovering whether there are psychopathological effects related to the use of inhalants. Together, these studies show the potential of a mental health information system for learning more about the nature of mental disorders and their treatment.     

Age and cohort effects on personality factor scores across sexes and racial/ethnic groups

Substantial differences exist across ethnic groups and sexes in generational changes in status among groups residing in Hawaii. Despite these generational differences across groups, age differences in personality are remarkably consistent across sexes and racial/ethnic groups, and the few Sex x Age, Ethnicity x Age or Sex x Ethnicity x Age interactions account for little variance in scores. It is concluded that age/generational differences in personality factor scores in these populations result from age and not, to any major degree, from cohort effects.     

On methods of reporting clinical material.

The members of the Committee on Scientific Activities of the American Psychoanalytic Association are concerned about the paucity of clinical data in psychoanalytic reports and by the quality of what does exist. We have proposed a few standards for clinical reports that we believe will be reliable and clear and will have enduring usefulness. We recognize the need for maintaining confidentiality and, at times, for disguise; we also recognize the need to balance these requirements against the dangers of misleading the reader (or listener). These conflicting requirements have resulted in our concentrating on some general principles for clinical reporting. We have appended a tentative form, and examples, to be considered for that purpose.     

FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT,CURRICULAR REVISION,AND SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

An adolescent female with multiple handicaps and a long history of severely disruptive behavior participated in a functional assessment linked directly to specific revisions in her school curriculum. During Phase 1, reversal designs were used to test hypotheses pertaining to antecedent and auricular influences on problem behavior. During Phase 2, a multiple baseline across afternoon and morning time periods demonstrated that the auricular revisions were effective in eliminating severely disruptive behavior and increasing on-task responding. Data also showed that inappropriate “psychotic” speech was reduced and appropriate social interactions were increased. Follow-up results showed that the changes were maintained throughout the school year. Questionnaire data provided social validation of the procedures and outcomes. The findings are discussed in relation to their implications for functional assessment, individualized curricula, and positive programming for students with disabilities and serious behavior problems.     

Research on the clinical usefulness of the Rorschach: 2. The assessment of cerebral dysfunction

A review of research on the use of the Rorschach in the assessment of cerebral dysfunction indicated that the Rorschachs of patients with cerebral dysfunction do not manifest any characteristic response in terms of percentages, ratios, or any unique response to any one of the stimulus determinants of the blots (color, shading, the stimulus for movement). The patient with cerebral dysfunction does manifest a unique style of thinking; responses tend to be concrete, perseverative, and stereotypic. This finding is similar to that found with schizophrenics where research, summarized by Frank in 1990, also indicated no uniquely 'objective' response style but reflected a unique cognitive style. These two reviews taken together suggest that the better way to use Rorschach data in clinical work is as an opportunity to assess patients' thinking as opposed to the Rorschach being used as a psychometric device, yielding 'numbers.'