State vs trait anxiety: A case study in confirmatory factor analysis

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger et al., 1970) originally divided anxiety into two factors: state anxiety, reflecting how an individual currently feels, and trait anxiety, reflecting how an individual generally feels. Recently, however, Spielberger revised his position to separate the presence and absence of anxiety symptoms within state and trait factors, yielding a hypothetical correlated 4-factor structure (Spielberger et al., 1980). Endler and Magnusson (1965) and Endler et al. (1976) have challenged the state vs trait distinction based upon their own factor analytical results. Since both sets of investigations used exploratory approaches, which do not postulate a particular factor structure, these studies do not provide an explicit test of the state vs trait distinction. A confirmatory factor analytic approach was used in the present study to evaluate Spielberger's 4-factor hypothesis. The subjects were large samples of male air force trainees and high school students for whom STAI data were available. The results of these confirmatory analyses indicated that the factors identified in exploratory analysis by Spielberger and his colleagues accounted for the data quite well.     

Temporal ordering deficits following anterior temporal lobectomy

Subjects were required to report the pitch sequence of two 10-msec tones of different frequency presented monaurally while the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the two tones was varied. The value of the SOA at which the subjects achieved an 80% correct sequence report was determined by an adaptive procedure without feedback. This measure was compared in the right and left ears, on subjects with a right or left anterior temporal lobectomy and on a normal control group. The results reveal an elevated threshold for performing temporal order judgments in the ear contralateral to the surgical lesion.     

An on-line laboratory in cognition and perception

The design of a computer-based laboratory system requires the coordination of pedagogical and technical goals. The development of our on-line laboratory in cognition and perception is described. The laboratory consists of 11 on-line experiments in which the student participates as both experimenter and subject. The software was designed for maximum transportability: Programs were written in a low-level BASIC, with thorough documentation; flexibility is provided both within and across experiments to suit local constraints; and the experiments are supported by a student manual, instructor’s manual, and implementation notes. Criteria for selecting experiments, implementation of the experiments, and preliminary evaluation of the laboratory are discussed.     

Observations on some aspects of current psychoanalytic theories

The competing theories in the psychoanalytic marketplace today should be judged on their merits, not on the basis of the authority of whoever first proposed them. What is valid in each theory should be included in any formulation of a psychoanalytic theory of mental development and functioning. Since psychoanalysis, as part of psychology, is a branch of natural science, pluralism in theory is to be avoided in psychoanalysis as in every branch of science. The psychoanalytic method is a valid one of studying a particular aspect of brain functioning. The method and the theories based upon it are as "organic" as is the case with any of the other neurosciences. Any valid psychoanalytic theory of mental functioning and development should include the following conclusions: (1) Unconscious mental processes are omnipresent and of great importance in mental functioning; (2) Thoughts are as causally related to one another as are other events in the universe; (3) Mental functioning is a developmental phenomenon with describable, sequential features; and (4) A major role in mental functioning and development is played by conflicts over the sexual and aggressive wishes that characterize mental life during the period from three to six years of age, and by the compromise formations that result from those conflicts. The last of these conclusions, though disputed by many, is abundantly supported by evidence that is not dependent on the use of the psychoanalytic method, as well as by evidence furnished by the use of the psychoanalytic method. There is also much evidence to support the assertion that any psychoanalytic theory that attributes language-dependent thoughts to a child whose brain is not yet mature enough to be capable of language is to be considered invalid, as are any observations made by the psychoanalytic method (= clinical observations) that are influenced by such an invalid theory. In psychoanalysis, as in every other branch of science, an observer--no matter how astute and how experienced--who subscribes to an invalid theory will be led astray by that theory, sooner or later, in one way or another.