Current status of the Rorschach Inkblot Method

The current scientific, clinical, and professional status of the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM) is reviewed with respect to its psychometric properties, the applied purposes it can be expected to serve, the extent of its use, and the nature of prevailing attitudes toward it. Available evidence indicates that the RIM is a psychometrically sound measuring instrument that provides valid assessments of personality characteristics and can facilitate differential diagnosis and treatment planning and evaluation. The RIM continues as in the past to be widely used by both clinicians and researchers. However, the esteem in which it is held by practitioners, who are generally agreed that clinical psychologists should be competent in Rorschach assessment, is not universally shared by academicians, many of whom presently question the future place of Rorschach training in graduate education.     

Finding the Locus of Semantic Satiation: An Electrophysiological Attempt

The present study examined the effect of massed repetition of an initial category name upon the subsequent semantic categorization of a target word by means of an electrophysiological measure of semantic processing: the N400. Results showed the classic N400 effect, whereby evoked potentials were more negative for targets that were not members of the repeated category than for member targets. Moreover, repetition of the category name led to an increased and sustained positivity. The N400 effect was not modified, however, by repetition. Hence, insomuch as the N400 reflects meaning integration processes, these results do not support the hypothesis that massed repetition exerts its influence at the level of meaning integration.     

Adaptiveness: A moderator of the adverse impact of hassles?

Adaptiveness constitutes coping consistently with Stressors so to reduce distress or, at worst, not aggravate it. Accordingly, it should moderate the adverse impact of hassles. Undergraduate volunteers (N = 200) responded to measures of hassles, adaptiveness, and the criteria of subjective distress, psychiatric symptomatology and minor physical ailments. In all three regression analyses, hassles made a substantial positive contribution and adaptiveness a small negative contribution to adverse outcome. The interaction between hassles and adaptiveness was non-significant in all three cases. Alternative interpretations were identified to guide further research.     

Is it emotion or is it stress? Gender stereotypes and the perception of subjective experience

Two studies of college undergraduates (ns = 95 and 92, primarily non-Hispanic whites and Asian Americans) investigated gender stereotypes of stress and emotion, as well as variables that influence the perception of gender-related differences. Study 1 assessed how gender stereotypes differ from the self-reports of men and women. When asked to choose a label for the subjective experience of the average man and the average woman in a series of problematic hypothetical situations, participants generally tended to believe that the average female would feel ‘emotional,” but that the average male would feel “stressed.” By contrast, the label participants chose to describe their own subjective experience was not significantly affected by their gender. In addition, participants believed the average woman and man differed more in the intensity of their emotions than in the intensity of their stress, a belief contradicted by their own self-reports. Results of Study 2 indicated that gender-related differences in estimations of stress and emotion for the self were reduced or eliminated when specific information about experience-eliciting situations was provided. We would like to thank Matthew Dank for his help in preparing the stimulus materials.     

Positive and Negative Hypothesis Testing by Cooperative Groups

In a rule induction problem positive hypothesis tests select evidence that the tester expects to be an example of the correct rule if the hypothesis is correct, whereas negative hypothesis tests select evidence that the tester expects to be a nonexample if the hypothesis is correct. Previous research indicates the general effectiveness of a positive test strategy for individuals, but there has been very little research with cooperative groups. We extend the analysis of Klayman and Ha (Psychological Review, 1987) of ambiguous verification or conclusive falsification of five possible types of hypotheses by positive and negative tests by emphasizing the importance of further examples following hypothesis tests. In two experiments four-person cooperative groups solved rule induction problems by proposing a hypothesis and selecting evidence to test the hypothesis on each of four arrays on each trial. In different conditions the groups were instructed to use different combinations of positive and negative tests on the four arrays. Positive tests were more likely to lead to further examples than negative tests, and the proportion of correct hypotheses corresponded to the proportion of positive tests, in both experiments. We suggest that positive tests are more effective than negative hypothesis tests in generating further evidence, and thus in inducing the correct rule, in experimental rule induction tasks with a criterion of certainty imposed by the researcher.     

Relationship Satisfaction: Impact and Consequences for Women's Emotional Health and Treatment

This study uses feminist theory to examine the variables of relationship length and relationship satisfaction as predicators of both self-esteem and emotional functioning for women. Using a national sample of data gathered from 1,257 female survey respondents this study found significant relationships between emotional functioning, self-esteem, and self-reported relationship satisfaction which was supported by regression testing and path analysis. In addition, a significant negative relationship was noted between a woman's self-esteem and her with-holding of verbalized displeasure or disagreement with her partner. Implications for women in therapy were discussed.