ABSTRACTS OF LITERATURE

A discussion of family therapy emphasizing the indications for and the goals of this type of treatment. Differences between family and group therapy are presented with the suggestion that group treatments exists for individual improvement and growth and family treatment for improvement of relationships and growth of the family unit.     

Psychojargon in the psycholegal report: Ratings by judges,psychiatrists, and psychologists

Questionnaires designed to measure the perceived value of technical terminology for psycholegal reports were completed by 67 judges, 78 forensic psychiatrists, and 126 forensic psychologists. Judges were asked for ratings of the degree to which each term aids their understanding, and clinicians were asked for ratings of the likelihood that they would use each term in a report for the court. Rank-ordered ratings of the 45 terms were highly correlated among the three respondent groups, suggesting that forensic clinicians are generally aware of the problem of using incomprehensible psychojargon. Empirical ratings can be helpful in distinguishing between comprehensible and incomprehensible psychojargon for psycholegal use.     

An investigation of parental modeling in the etiology of diabetic illness behavior

The role of vicarious processes in the etiology of behavioral reactions to medical illness was examined in a preliminary investigation. Twenty-seven diabetics without chronically ill parents were assigned to an avoidant-model (i.e. parent reported to have generally avoided work and chores when ill) or non-avoidant-model group. Subjects subsequently provided retrospective and current information concerning their illness behavior experiences. Pathophysiology ratings by a blind rater and glycosylated hemoglobin measures were taken. The results indicated that diabetics with an avoidant model terminated work, chores etc. when ill significantly more than non-avoidant-model group subjects. Diabetics with an avoidant model reported significantly higher medical utilization rates, days ill and poorer quality of life. No group differences were observed on pathophysiology rating and glycosylated hemoglobin measures. The results suggest that individual differences in behavioral reactions to similar degree and type of medical pathology may be related to prior learning experiences such as modeling. The need for a reliable and valid assessment methodology to be used in future related research is emphasized.     

A family therapist in the People's Republic of China

The author, a psychiatrist, recently visited the People's Republic of China, and reports some impressions about the status of the Chinese family, Chinese psychiatry, and the current use of the family model.     

An optimal property of least squares weights in prediction models

In predicting scores fromp > 1 observed scores in a sample of sizeñ, the optimal strategy (minimum expected loss), under certain assumptions, is shown to be based upon the least squares regression weights computed from a previous sample. Letting represent the correlation between and the predicted values , and letting represent the correlation between and a different set of predicted values , where w is any weighting system which is not a function of , it is shown that the probability of being less than cannot exceed .50. The relationship of this result to previous research and practical implications are discussed.     

Cross- vs. within-racial judgments of attractiveness

Subjects from two pairs of ethnic groups (Chinese and White in Experiment 1, Black and White in Experiment 2) judged the attractiveness of faces in yearbook pictures of persons that belonged to their own or to the other ethnic group. This was to see whether: (1) a given group would perceive more variation in the attractiveness of faces belonging to its own vs. the other ethnic group, as suggested by the cross-racial literature, for example, Malpass and Kravitz (1969), and (2) the two groups would use the same or different rules to define attractiveness. There were essentially no differences in perceived variation for cross- vs. within-racial judgments, but there were differences in the criteria used to define attractiveness. As expected, Black and White aesthetic criteria were more like one another than were Chinese and White criteria. Discussion centered around reconciling these findings with the recognition literature.     

Concurrent processes: The affect-cognition relationship within the context of the “mere exposure” phenomenon

The affect-cognition relationship and Zajonc’s (1968) “mere exposure” hypothesis were examined in two studies that involved ratings of: (1) preference and familiarity for geometric forms previously scaled for complexity and (2) preference or height and familiarity for male yearbook pictures previously scaled for attractiveness or height. Two exceptions to his hypothesis were noted: simple geometric forms and unattractive faces showed satiation, and faces seen once before were rated more attractive than both novel faces and faces seen twice before. Moreover, mere exposure effects were noted with a nonaffective dimension (height). The major finding was that presentation frequency generally manifested independent relations to affect and rated familiarity, as well as to height and rated familiarity, therefore evoking a concurrent response process Eriksen, 1960).