MMPI-2 profile code types and measurement error

We studied simulated MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) code type stability and change expected with measurement error for 12 MMPI-2 well-defined mean code type profiles. Profile scores for the 2 scales defining the code type were systematically varied to represent target code type profiles at 9 different levels of T-score profile definition. We randomly generated samples of 50 simulated, estimated true score profiles at each level of profile definition for each code type around the estimated true scores for each scale at each level of profile definition. Two sets of simulated profiles were developed. The first simulation was based on the reported means, test-retest reliabilities, and the standard errors of measurement for the MMPI-2 normative group. The second simulation was based on the means, standard deviations, and estimated retest stability for a clinical group of psychiatric patients. We calculated frequencies and percentages of simulated profiles with the highest estimated true scores on the same 2 scales as the original code type profile. Percentages of simulated profiles with the same 2 highest scales as the original code type profiles increased from 27% to 37% for the 3-point level of definition, 37% to 49% for the 5-point definition, 46% to 61% for 7-point definition, 63% to 78% for 10-point definition, 78% to 89% for 13-point definition, 83% to 93% for 15-point definition, and greater than 90% for profile definition greater than 15 points.     

Personality assessment without borders: adaptation of the MMPI-2 across cultures

In contemporary psychology, personality assessment knows few national or cultural boundaries. Psychological tests developed in one country are often translated and adapted into cultures that might appear to be greatly different from the country of origin. In this article, I address the factors that are important to international test adaptation and examine problems that can adversely affect cross-cultural test research programs. I address qualities important for verifying the accuracy and adequacy of cross-cultural assessment. I review the extensive adaptation of the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1940) and MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989), the most frequently used personality measure. I highlight several contemporary research trends in international personality assessment.     

Reasoning from inconsistency to consistency

This article presents a theory of how individuals reason from inconsistency to consistency. The theory is based on 3 main principles. First, individuals try to construct a single mental model of a possibility that satisfies a current set of propositions, and if the task is impossible, they infer that the set is inconsistent. Second, when an inconsistency arises from an incontrovertible fact, they retract any singularly dubious proposition or any proposition that is inconsistent with the fact; otherwise, they retract whichever proposition mismatches the fact. A mismatch can arise from a proposition that has only mental models that conflict with the fact or fail to represent it. Third, individuals use their causal knowledge-in the form of models of possibilities-to create explanations of what led to the inconsistency. A computer program implements the theory, and experimental results support each of its principles.     

Quality of life assessment in Turkish patients with schizophrenia and their relatives

Quality of life of first-degree relatives living in the same household with patients having schizophrenia has not been sufficiently explored. 30 patients with schizophrenia (16 women, 14 men), diagnosed using DSM-IV criteria, 31 of their relatives (15 women, 16 men), and 34 control subjects (21 women, 13 men) were included in the study. The mean age of the patients, their relatives, and the control subects were 39.8 +/- 10.9, 58.1 +/- 12.5 and 37.3 +/- 17.0, respectively. The World Health Oranization Quality of Life-Brief Form was administered to all subjects. Quality of life was worse for the patient group than for their relatives and control subjects, but relatives of the patients and control subjects were not significantly different on Quality of life. Quality of life was negatively correlated with the severity of psychopathology and extrapyramidal side effects induced by antipsychotic drugs in the patients.     

Holography does not account for goodness: a critique of van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1996)

P. A. van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (1996) outlined a holographic account of figural goodness of a perceptual stimulus. The theory is mathematically precise and can be applied to a broad spectrum of empirical data. The authors argue, however, that the account is inadequate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. The theoretical difficulties concern the internal consistency of the account and its reliance on unspecified auxiliary assumptions. The account also makes counterintuitive empirical predictions, which do not fit past data or the results of a series of new experimental studies.     

Bimanual coordination dynamics in poststroke hemiparetics

Poststroke hemiparetic individuals (n = 9) and a control group (n = 9) completed a frequency-scaled circle-drawing task in unimanual and bimanual conditions. Measures of intralimb spatial and temporal task accuracy and interlimb coordination parameters were analyzed. Significant reductions in task performance were seen in both limbs of the patients and controls with the introduction of bimanual movement. Spatial performance parameters suggested that the 2 groups focused on different hands during bimanual conditions. In the controls, interlimb coordination variables indicated predictable hand dominance effects, whereas in the patient group, dominance was influenced by the side of impairment and prior handedness of the individual. Therefore, in this particular bimanual task, performance improvements in the hemiplegic side could not be elicited. Intrinsic coupling asymmetries between the hands can be altered by unilateral motor deficits.     

Prepared movements are elicited early by startle

A startle stimulus has been shown to elicit a ballistic response in a reaction time (RT) task at very short latencies without involvement of the cerebral cortex (J. Valls-Sole, J. C. Rothwell, F. Gooulard, G. Cossu, & E. Munoz, 1999). The present authors examined the nature of the startle response. A simple RT task was used in which 8 participants performed arm extension movements to 3 target distances (20 degrees, 40 degrees, and 60 degrees ) in a blocked design. An unpredictable startling acoustic stimulus (124 dB) replaced the imperative stimulus in certain trials. The authors verified the presence of a startle response independent from the prepared response by observing electromyographic (EMG) activity in sternocleidomastoid and orbicularis oculi muscles. Findings indicated that when the participant was startled, the intended voluntary response was produced at significantly shorter response latencies. Furthermore, the kinematic variables of the observed response during startle trials for all 3 target distances were mostly unchanged. The EMG characteristics of the responses were not modified, indicating that the response produced was indeed the prepared and intended response.     

When remembering is not enough: reflecting on self-defining memories in late adolescence

This study examined which kinds of self-defining memories show spontaneous references to larger meanings, and listener responses to two kinds of meaning-lessons and insights. Narratives of three self-defining memories and episodes of telling the memories to others were collected from each of 168 late adolescents (M age=19). Narratives were coded for event type (relationship, mortality, achievement, and leisure) and for references to tension and to meaning (lesson or insight). Narratives of memorable episodes of having told the memories to others were coded for listener response (positive or negative). References to meaning emerged in one-fourth of the memory narratives, and meaning was more common for self-defining memory narratives that contained references to tension. Memories that reportedly had not been told to others in the past showed the same proportion of meaning as did memories that had been told to others (23%), with insights more prevalent than lessons. For memories that had been told to others, insights were more likely to be accepted by listeners than lessons. Implications were discussed for understanding the development of meaning in self-defining memories and the collaborative construction of identity.     

Effect of upcoming reward type when rats press a lever for ethanol

Rats' operant responding for sucrose rewards in the 1st half of a session can vary directly with the conditions of reward in the 2nd half. The authors investigated whether that induction effect represented an animal model of emotive states. Rats pressed a lever for either ethanol or sucrose rewards in the 1st half of a 40-min session. The reward in the 2nd half of the session was, across conditions, 1% sucrose, a food pellet, or the same reinforcer delivered in the 1st half. When subjects responded for sucrose, upcoming reward type had little influence on responding in the 1st half of the session. However, when subjects responded for ethanol, upcoming 1% sucrose and food-pellet reinforcement both produced increases in responding. The results suggest that the procedure produced different emotive states, but further work is needed to support such a model. The results also have potential applied implications.     

Young children's sensitivity to probabilistic phonotactics in the developing lexicon

A series of three experiments examined children's sensitivity to probabilistic phonotactic structure as reflected in the relative frequencies with which speech sounds occur and co-occur in American English. Children, ages 212 and 312 years, participated in a nonword repetition task that examined their sensitivity to the frequency of individual phonetic segments and to the frequency of combinations of segments. After partialling out ease of articulation and lexical variables, both groups of children repeated higher phonotactic frequency nonwords more accurately than they did low phonotactic frequency nonwords, suggesting sensitivity to phoneme frequency. In addition, sensitivity to individual phonetic segments increased with age. Finally, older children, but not younger children, were sensitive to the frequency of larger (diphone) units. These results suggest not only that young children are sensitive to fine-grained acoustic-phonetic information in the developing lexicon but also that sensitivity to all aspects of the sound structure increases over development. Implications for the acoustic nature of both developing and mature lexical representations are discussed.