A validational note on the revised Socialization Scale of the California Psychological Inventory

The revised (1987) Socialization Scale of the California Psychological Inventory was studied in a sample of 121 delinquent and nondelinquent males to determine if the revised scale, compared to the original version of the scale (1957), could differentiate among a group of nonoffenders and a comprehensive typology of offenders. Results of an ANOVA and product-moment correlations provided significant and considerable support for the discriminability of the revised So Scale. Obtained results indicate that the revised instrument can differentiate offenders from nonoffenders to about the same, or a greater, degree than the original scale.     

Informal Drunk Driving Intervention: Psychosocial Correlates Among Young Adult Women and Men1

Based on experimental research on helping and survey findings on drunk driving intervention, we selected 28 variables for study that might relate to informal intervention in a drunk driving situation. We tested six hypotheses by categorizing the 28 variables into personal (12), relationship (4), situational (5), and individual response (7) aspects. Bivariate correlations and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed between these 28 predictor variables and intervention for 303 college students (192 females and 111 males). Three personal, one relationship, three situational, and four individual responses in situation variables were correlated significantly with intervention. Four significant predictors emerged in the stepwise logistic regression equation: knowing the driver well; having a conversation that encouraged the respondent to intervene; perceiving the driver as needing help; and the respondent's feeling able to intervene. All hypotheses received at least some confirmation in these results, but noteworthy discrepancies from expectations emphasize the need to appreciate differences between studies of helping behavior in the laboratory and this natural form of helping behavior.     

Silent Virtues: Patience,Curiosity, Privacy,Intimacy, Humility,and Dignity,by Salman Akhtar,Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2019, 192 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Why psychology needs conceptual analysts: Wachtel's “discontents” revisited

Commenting on Wachtel's “Investigation and its Discontents” [Wachtel, P. L. (1980). Investigation and its discontents: Some constraints on progress in psychological research. American Psychologist, 35, 399–408], I agree that lack of support for a career path of conceptual analysis and critique is a serious problem. Psychology requires a strong conceptual component because it is subject to unusual distortions and self-deceptions in theory formation and evidential evaluation due to issues of power, self-esteem, and social ideology. I agree with Wachtel that pressures for quantity of publication are detrimental to scientific quality, but dispute his suggestion that excessive focus on quantity in assessing productivity can be addressed by having tenure and promotion candidates submit only their three best papers. Such reviews must be based on the entire record, so improvements must involve journals’ acceptance standards. Regarding Wachtel's concern about the influence of grants on reviews, I argue that grants should be relevant only to the extent they bear on the candidate's scholarly goals.     

The effects of errorless learning and backward chaining on the acquisition of Internet skills in adults with developmental disabilities

An important area in the learning and development of individuals with disabilities is the acquisition of independent, age-appropriate leisure skills. Three adults with autism and mental retardation were taught to access specific Internet sites using backward chaining and most-to-least intrusive prompting. The number of independent steps completed in the task analysis increased following training.     

Discrepancy detection in the retrieval-enhanced suggestibility paradigm

Retrieval-enhanced suggestibility (RES) refers to the finding that immediately recalling the details of a witnessed event can increase susceptibility to later misinformation. In three experiments, we sought to gain a deeper understanding of the role that retrieval plays in the RES paradigm. Consistent with past research, initial testing did increase susceptibility to misinformation – but only for those who failed to detect discrepancies between the original event and the post-event misinformation. In all three experiments, subjects who retrospectively detected discrepancies in the post-event narratives were more resistant to misinformation than those who did not. In Experiments 2 and 3, having subjects concurrently assess the consistency of the misinformation narratives negated the RES effect. Interestingly, in Experiments 2 and 3, subjects who had retrieval practice and detected discrepancies were more likely to endorse misinformation than control subjects who detected discrepancies. These results call attention to limiting conditions of the RES effect and highlight the complex relationship between retrieval practice, discrepancy detection, and misinformation endorsement.