MMPI-2 assessment of malingered emotional distress related to a workplace injury: a mixed group validation

In this study, we examined the capacity of MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 2001) validity indexes to identify malingered depression associated with a workplace injury. We compared 27 graduate students simulating depression with archival records of 33 inpatients diagnosed with major depressive disorder. We employed a mixed-group validation design to generate true positive rates (TPR) and false positive rates (FPR) for the various MMPI-2 validity scales [F, FB, F(p), FBS, F - K, Ds2] while we accounted for base rates of malingering in each sample. The Fake Bad scale (FBS) was the only validity measure that produced acceptable TPR and FPR or a significant correlation with malingering status.     

Applying principles of development to help at-risk preschoolers develop numeracy

In a yoked control design, multicultural Head Start 4-year-olds played numerous games involving either numeracy or the oddity principle and insertions into series. Children showed better mastery of oddity and insertions after playing games directed at those two concepts. Numeracy scores on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (D. McCarthy, 1972) were equivalent for children who played numeracy games and children who played oddity and insertion games. These results are consistent with other research indicating that the understanding of oddity relations and that of insertions are key transitional thinking abilities that support numeracy at the preschool-kindergarten interface.     

Do rotation coordinates provide the substrate for a mental protractor?

In previous studies, we have found that the accuracy in judging collinearity of lines or dots varies considerably from one subject to another as a function of the relative angle of the stimulus elements. A model of errors generally shows large excursions across several subranges of angular position. These do not appear to be motor errors, at least not ones that are well separated from perceptual mechanisms. The errors are most likely generated at primary visual cortex, or beyond. We examined and modeled accuracy in judging collinearity of dot pairs, varying the angular position of the dots through 360 degrees, the distance between the dots (stimulus span), and the distance at which the subject was required to respond (response span). Subjects manifested idiosyncratic profiles of error across angular positions, as reported previously. But across the tested range of spans, from 4 to 8 deg, the errors tended to be the same, irrespective of stimulus or response span. This suggests that the judgments are based on a radial (angular) measure of spatial position. We discuss these results in the context of proposals that the brain maps spatial position using rotation coordinates. These new data are consistent with the hypothesis that subjects use the z-axis coordinates as a mental protractor for judging angular position and collinearity.     

Reinforcing capabilities of television distortion

The effectiveness of television distortion as a negative reinforcer was analyzed. Contingency arrangements involving television distortion were found to be capable of (a) accelerating the work rate of a naive, mildly retarded subject on a simulated production-line task involving card-sorting, and (b) reducing gross hyperactivity of a mildly retarded subject. An escape-avoidance contingency was arranged for the production-line behavior of the first subject and a punishment contingency for the hyperactive behavior of the second subject. Television distortion appears to be an effective and practical negative reinforcer for use in behavior modification.     

Syntactic form and semantic function

The experiments reported here were designed to investigate the effects on linguistic performance of varying the interaction between the syntactic form of sentences and their semantic function. The experimental task required subjects to decide whether pairs of sentences had the same or a different meaning. The results of Experiment I confirmed the prediction that the times taken to decide about pairs of affirmative and negative sentences would be shorter when the negative was performing its natural function of signalling a change of meaning. To a lesser extent, performance on pairs of active and passive sentences was facilitated when the two sentences meant the same thing. These results were found both with “meaningful” sentence material and with abstract x-y sentences. A second experiment provided a control for the possibility that the results were due to syntactic derivational factors rather than to the semantic function interaction.     

A study of drop-outs from a minor seminary

Conclusions No valid conclusions can be drawn from a short study of six seminarians.The study seems to indicate the need for a more thorough screening of candidates.The mode of reaction to sexual drives is apparently an important factor in the pursuit of a celibate career.     

Secondary attachments and adolescent self concept

This study examined the popular notion that crushes or secondary attachments to celebrity figures are an important aspect of self-concept development during adolescence. In a repeated measures design, 79 male and female 5th, 8th, and 11th graders and college sophomores completed a set of personality scales, first describing themselves and later, describing the favorite celebrity. Repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) analysis of self-object congruence revealed no significant main or interaction effects for the type of attachment, gender, or age of subject. Significant within subject effects were obtained for the repeated measures factor (self-object congruence). Overall, students perceived their attachment objects to be more agentic, yet less expressive and emotionally vulnerable than themselves. MANOVA analyses indicated that males and older students perceived their attachment objects to be higher in agency than expressivity, whereas females and younger students perceived their attachment objects to be higher in expressivity than agency. These data indicate that the function served by secondary attachments in the development of self-concept may be quite similar for adolescent males and females.     

Patterns of affectivity in the transition to adolescence

The present paper reports the findings of a factor analytic investigation of adolescent affect in a cross-sectional sample of 483 male and female fifth through ninth graders. Following the ESM method, adolescents carried electronic pagers and self-report booklets for one week. Students were paged seven times daily and completed self-report forms after each signal describing their moods and feelings. Principal components analysis yielded two internally consistent factors which were virtually identical to the positive and negative affect dimensions described in the literature on adult emotion. Contrary to findings reported in the developmental literature, arousal did not emerge as a dimension of adolescent affect. Further, the bipolar structure obtained for the entire sample, positive and negative affect, consistently emerged in separate analyses of adolescent gender and school groups. MANOVA analysis of estimated positive and negative affect scores indicated that while the underlying dimensions of adolescent affect were comparable to those observed for adults, variation along those dimensions may have been related to the social transitions (e.g., schooling) which punctuate adolescence.