Toward a further understanding of the intuitive personologists: Some critical evidence on the diabolical quality of subjective psychometrics

Despite significant advances over the past three decades in our understanding of the implicit dangers in ad hoc psychometric procedures, some important questions remain, particularly as regards the nature of the underlying reasoning process by which subjectively meaningful theoretical impressions are formulated and expressed. The present article seeks to address this issue, with particular attention being given to the distinction between demonstrative and dialectical reasoning. Evidence is offered to show that, at least under certain conditions, intuitive psychometricians formulate and express theoretical impressions on the basis of a reasoning process that is essentially dialectical in nature. Some major implications of this point of view for the study of personality theory are discussed. The limitations of the evidence presented, and the need for further research, are forgone.     

Sociolinguistic contexts of the preschool

Two studies were conducted to determined the effects of specific learning centers on preschoolers' functional uses of language. In Study 1, preschoolers in three separate same-age classrooms (2-, 3-, and 5-year-olds) were observed on a time sampling scheduling during their free play periods for four weeks. Preschoolers' individual utterances were coded as serving one or more than one function; functions were defined following Halliday. The housekeeping and block centers tended to elicit the most individual and multifunctional utterances. The fantasy play and social interaction among children in these centers were thought to be responsible for this mature use of language.In Study 2, same-age and same-sex dyads from two age groups (4- and 5-year-olds) were observed in experimental settings playing with blocks alone and with dramatic props alone. Both contexts elicited a predominance of imaginative language, though the dramatic context elicited more imaginative language than the blocks. With age, children generated more individual functions and multifunctional utterances.     

Cognitive performance deficits induced by exposure to response-independent positive outcomes

Private secondary school students differing in achievement motivation took part in a learned helplessness experiment using a triadic design and noncontingent rewards. A clear learned helplessness effect was observed in both high and low achievement motivation groups. The findings confirmed those from an earlier study using younger subjects drawn from a lower socioeconomic background. However, the results of both experiments were quite different from those of another recently reported investigation using university students that found facilitation as well as an interaction between achievement motivation level and treatment (Jardine & Winefield, 1981). It is concluded that the development of learned helplessness probably depends on the kind of environment in which noncontingent outcomes are experienced.     

Women in families: feminist therapy and family systems*

Current family therapy has as its basis the concept of the family as a system. Systems theory has developed a set of explanations that are frequently functional in nature; they are often applied as though they assume that within a system a common goal is worked towards as in biological systems. For example, the concept of homeostasis is used in much the same way as Cannon (1929) used it to describe the mechanisms of stability within biological systems such as body temperature regulation. Here all the components of the system co-operate to maintain body temperature within certain limits. This functional assumption of a common aim amongst components of a system to achieve balance should be compared with a pluralist systems analysis which does not assume such commonality of goals. For example, a pluralist analysis could highlight the conflict inherent amongst different subsystems when one subsystem has more power than the other. At a theoretical level it can be seen that family systems theory has restricted itself to a limited set of assumptions about the explanatory concepts it uses. An analysis of women's psychology which has emerged through the developments of feminist therapy can enrich the theory and practice of family therapists.     

A Test of the Consensus and Distinctiveness Attribution Principles in Victims of Disaster1

The present research was designed to test the hypothesis that perceptions of consensus about the collective experience of psychological problems, as well as the distinctive presence of a community disaster, would affect attributions of externality about such problems. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (1) higher levels of consensus would be associated with greater external attributions of causality, (2) attributions would be more external if the problem began after the disaster (high distinctiveness) than before the disaster, and (3) the occurrence of the disaster would magnify the positive relationship between high consensus and external causality attributions, because of the presence of a distinctive and salient external event. These hypotheses were tested with victims of a flash flood. Results supported the interaction prediction (Hypothesis 3) for the problem of depression, but not for anxiety. In addition, for depression and anxiety, greater consensus was indirectly associated with greater externality, regardless of distinctiveness (Hypothesis 1). However, for somatization, none of the hypotheses were supported. The results are discussed in terms of the applied implications for postdisaster intervention programs to reduce psychopathology.     

Analysis of the elements of attention: A neuropsychological approach

A model for conceptualizing the components or elements of attention is presented. The model substitutes for the diffuse and global concept of attention a group of four processes and links them to a putative system of cerebral structures. Data in support of the model are presented; they are derived from neuropsychological test scores obtained from two samples, the first consisting of 203 adult neuropsychiatric patients and normal control subjects, and the second, an epidemiologically-based sample of 435 elementary school children. Principal components analyses of test scores from these two populations yielded similar results: a set of independent elements of attention that are assayed by different tests. This work presents a heuristic for clinical research in which the measurement of attention is essential.