The social sources of alienation

As a key concept in the social sciences, alienation refers to various mental states, often identified by such terms as ‘powerlessness’, ‘meaninglessness’, ‘anomic’, etc. Recent advances in sociological theory permit us to indicate systematically the social conditions linked to these states. A simple though exhaustive typology of the social sources of alienation’ is here presented. To illustrate the typology, examples of alienation are drawn from the writings of classical and contemporary social theorists.     

A Multitrait Multimethod Measurement Approach to the Traits (or States) of Anxiety,Depression and Hostility

This study tested the convergent and discriminant validities of various psychological techniques used for the measurement of the affects of anxiety, depression and hostility. The subjects were 29 psychiatric patients and 25 normal controls, all males. Subjects were interviewed and rated for the three affects and given an extensive battery of tests. Anxiety and depression measures from ratings, checklists, and questionnaires demonstrated good convergent validity but poor discriminant validity. The projective methods did not demonstrate much convergent validity. Hostility was separable from anxiety and depression but the tests showed poor convergent validity for hostility. In the normals, fantasy hostility (TAT) and admitted hostility (Multiple Affect Adjective Check List) showed some convergence, but in the patients there was no congruence between these two levels.     

Ego Impairment and Ego Adaptation in Schizophrenia

Recent clinical theory and evidence from research converge in describing schizophrenia as a pattern of cognitive defect. In this article the defect was described as an impairment in those psychological processes that integrate and organize mental functioning into a holistic pattern at a given moment, give it continuity over time, and inter-relate the unified complex to external phenomena. Psychological test material (the Rorschachs of two people) was examined to elicit cognitive or perceptual patterns in contradistinction to analyses of conflicts, defenses, or interpersonal vectors. This structural emphasis brings into perspective the fluctuation of mental organization in schizophrenics and relates the fluctuation to degree of impairment, degree of strain imposed by the environment, and capacity for adaptive compensation.     

Alice in Rorschachland

Misconceptions and misuse of the Rorschach technique are parodied in this Alice in Wonderland story. Alice falls down a rabbit Whole and journeys through the Rorschach Plates until she is tried at an Inquiry on Card X. The story can be interpreted as critical of Rorschach practitioners who: search only for pathology, not health; ignore the free associative instructions to the client of test procedures; and restructure reality along Rorschach dimensions of personality and terminology.     

Human Figure Drawings as Predictors of Admission to a Psychiatric Hospital

Blind predictions were made as to admission or non-admission as an overall rating and as to degree of pathology in eight areas of personality, based only on human figure drawings. These drawings were obtained from a sample of 105 individuals presenting for psychiatric hospital admission. The judgments were all in the predicted direction and significant for admission-non-admission, impulsivity, and severity of pathology. Cues utilized in the successful judgments were categorized as structural or content and scaled by degree of pathology. Structural cues predominated. We conclude that HFD's are a useful screening device for clinical judgment of degree of psychopathology. The basis of such judgments can be specified in terms of structural deviations rather than from symbolic content.     

Detecting Faking on the Rorschach: Computer Versus Expert Clinical Judgment: A Reply to Cohen

Cohen's contributions (this issue) to the dialogue through his critique of our study (Kahn, Fox, & Rhode, 1988) is confusing and Tends to cloud, rather than clarify the issues, The main problem with his analysis is that it is based on several inaccurate representations of what is stated in our study, resulting in spurious conclusions.     

Guns,Impulsive Angry Behavior,and Mental Disorders: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)

Analyses from the National Comorbidity Study Replication provide the first nationally representative estimates of the co-occurrence of impulsive angry behavior and possessing or carrying a gun among adults with and without certain mental disorders and demographic characteristics. The study found that a large number of individuals in the United States self-report patterns of impulsive angry behavior and also possess firearms at home (8.9%) or carry guns outside the home (1.5%). These data document associations of numerous common mental disorders and combinations of angry behavior with gun access. Because only a small proportion of persons with this risky combination have ever been involuntarily hospitalized for a mental health problem, most will not be subject to existing mental health-related legal restrictions on firearms resulting from a history of involuntary commitment. Excluding a large proportion of the general population from gun possession is also not likely to be feasible. Behavioral risk-based approaches to firearms restriction, such as expanding the definition of gun-prohibited persons to include those with violent misdemeanor convictions and multiple DUI convictions, could be a more effective public health policy to prevent gun violence in the population. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Differing Measuring Methods on the Relationship of Motives

Over the past 30 years, few approaches to the study of motivation have generated the volume of research as have studies of the need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power. Yet few studies have been concerned with the interdependency of these motives. The goals of the present paper were to determine whether these motives are interdependent, and to compare two different measures of these needs. Ninety men and women from introductory psychology classes served as the subjects. They were administered the TAT and the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule test to determine the strength of these motives. The findings suggest that these psychogenic needs are not independent of each other. While the present results show no significant correlation between these needs among men, a significant one emerges for women. There were also significant correlations between the two techniques of measuring the motives, a test involving fantasy materials and a “self report” questionnaire.