Regional Differences in Junior Colleges

This study examines the geographical distribution of various junior college characteristics. Scores for 6 factors or categories of college characteristics, identified in earlier ACT research, were computed for each of 581 accredited junior colleges. When these junior colleges were classified and analyzed by geographical region, significant differences were found among regions on all 6 factors—Cultural Affluence (or Private Control), Technological Specialization, Size, Age (or Conventionalism), Transfer Emphasis, and Business Orientation (or High Cost). The regional differences are discussed and implications are suggested for research and counseling as well as for junior college planning.     

The role of phenomenal displacement on the perception of the visual upright

Tilt invariably involves the factor of displacement. A clockwise rotation of a rod, for example, results in the top being displaced to the right and the bottom to the left. The question was raised as to which is primary, displacement or tilt. Through a series of experiments, apparent tilt was found to be the perceptual outcome of phenomenal displacement. In addition, gravity seemed to play no significant role in determining the visual upright. Therefore, the conventionally accepted field theory of apparent verticality was rejected and the visual upright was interpreted according to principles which govern the perception of motion and radial direction.     

The use of extreme groups to test for the presence of a relationship

Experimenters in psychology frequently investigate the relationship between two variables by selecting extreme groups on the first measure and comparing their mean scores on the second. This paper considers the efficacy of this procedure from the criterion of the power of the statistical tests. Optimal cutting points for the extreme groups are defined, and the power of the difference approach is compared to that of significance tests for the productmoment correlation coefficient.     

A comparison of two psychophysical methods using animals

A discrimination box containing two levers with a light above each was used to train eight rats to press beneath the brighter light for a milk reinforcer. The brighter light was held constant and the comparison light was varied to produce 12 brightness differences. The animals were run under two experimental methods: the block method in which each brightness level comparison was presented for a block of 11 contiguous trials, and the staircase method in which the sequence of brightness comparisons was determined by the correctness of the response on the preceding comparison. The block method produced a smaller differential brightness threshold and a larger change in discrimination performance for stimulus magnitude changes than did the staircase method.     

Murder in the family: An analysis of two Poe short stories

Learning to be possessed has been described elsewhere by the writer as a form of pathogenic relating begun when children are taught by adults that they will receive a lesser penalty for misbehavior if they can show they were not responsible, such as if it were caused by an evil agent or the Devil. It was suggested that learning to be possessed can be an underlying cause of psychopathology, the delusion of persecution in particular. Two short stories by the distinguished American writer Edgar Allan Poe are examined to develop the formulation of learning to be possessed, especially when it has passed to a delusion of persecution. Two propositions are offered: (1) Where it appears that a family member is murdered by a delusional assailant by accident, it is not an accident; and (2) the delusion of persecution entails a memory loss so that the murderer not only can claim lack of personal responsibility for the act, but also spares himself the guilt of having broken a fundamental taboo. Further comparison is made between learning to be possessed as a cause of delusion, and the psychoanalytic theory in which the defense mechanism of projection is central. In the latter theory, interpretation of the delusion is critical; whereas in the former, interpretation is counterproductive because it merely reinforces the delusion.Probably a note of appreciation is due the writer's daughter Cary, who at age 14 is an expert at badgering her father for help with homework assignments. For several weeks the writer was alternatively pestered and cajoled to help Cary with her Poe Project for high school English which required an essay analyzing the work of a great American writer denigrated by the author as weird by his recollection formed decades earlier. Cary's persistence required the author to consider Poe anew, to recognize his unwarranted earlier prejudice, and to recognize that Poe offered him a gift of understanding regarding a topic about which the author had been thinking for several years, namely that form of pathogenic relating named learning to be possessed.     

Improvisational therapy: Evolving one's own clinical style

This article offers an invitation to develop one's own unique clinical style, relying less on institutionalized schools of therapy and more on the therapist's own natural resources. An emphasis is placed upon understanding therapy as art, trusting one's imagination, and maintaining a healthy irreverence for professional politics.     

Limiting the role of the family in discontinuation of life sustaining treatment

In matters of discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment, traditional role of the family to speak on behalf of the incompetent patient is questionable. We explore the reasons why physicians perceive patient autonomy to be transferrable to family members. Principle of patient autonomy may not suffice when futile treatment is demanded and may serve to erode the ethical integrity of medical profession. An enhanced role for bioethics committees is proposed when physicians propose to discontinue life-sustaining treatment against the wishes of the patient or their families.     

Family coping strategies and the rural Appalachian working poor

Naturalistic research methods were used in this study to collect the voices, ideas, and opinions of rural, working poor, Appalachian families from Southeast Ohio about the stress of poverty in family life and family coping in the face of poverty. This data should be of interest to the professional family therapist who practices with the working poor.