Personality Dimensions in Two Types of Learning-Disabled Children: A Rorschach Study

Children referred for psychoeducational assessment of learning disabilities (LDs) commonly receive the Rorschach test. Yet little is known about the impact of LD on Rorschach response patterns. This study investigated Rorschach response patterns in two groups of 9- to 12-year-old children (n = 41) classified by their respective intellectual abilities. Another group of 9- to 12-year-olds (n = 143) served as a nonclinical comparison group. Rorschach variables indicative of personality dimensions failed to discriminate between the two LD groups. Compared to the nonclinical group, the LD group exhibited several Rorschach characteristics—including problems in perceptual accuracy, inefficient visual scanning and problem-soving strategies, and avoidance of affect-laden stimuli—having implications for successful socioemotional adaptation.     

Effects of Aggressive and Nonaggressive Rock Songs on Projective and Structured Tests

The differences between hostility scores on projective and objective tests as a function of listening to aggressive or nonaggressive rock music were studied. While taking the Thematic Apperception Test (Cards 1, 3BM, 4, 9BM, and 10) and the Buss-Durkee (1957) Hostility Scale, subjects (N = 90) randomly assigned to one of three groups listened to a rock song with (a) nonaggressive music and non-aggressive lyrics, (b) aggressive music and nonaggressive lyrics, or (c) aggressive music and aggressive lyrics. TAT stories were scored for aggressive content according to Hafner and Kaplan's (1960) hostility rating scale. Hostility scores did not differ between groups. The findings are congruent with other investigators' reports that subjects do not pay attention to rock lyrics. Previous findings that music affects the emotional quality of TAT stories and hostility scores on the Buss-Durkee scale were not supported.     

Critical Issues in Causation and Treatment of Autism: Why Fads Continue to Flourish

The increasing incidence of autism and the lack of specific answers regarding causation have given rise to unproven educational interventions and medical treatments. Parents of a newly diagnosed child can easily fall prey to interventions that promise cures. These interventions may be harmful and, thus, pose one of the critical issues in special education today. This article will discuss some of the suspect interventions that have been popularized through the media (i.e., celebrities, journalists, and professional organizations). The authors argue that using the scientific method is clearly the antidote for pseudoscience; the need for accurate research-based decision making is apparent.     

Book Reviews

The Psychobiology of gene expression: Neuroscience and neurogenesis in hypnosis and the healing arts. 2002. By Ernest L. Rossi. New York: W.W. NORTON.

Terror, violence and the impulse to destroy. 2003. edited by John Beebe. San

Terror, Violence and the Impulse to Destroy. 2003. Edited by John Beebe. SAN Francisco: Daimon Verlag

Knowledge of the Afterlife. 2003. By Theodor Abt and Erik Hornung. Zurich: living human heritage Publications.

Animal guides in life, myth and dreams: An analyst's notebook. 2002. By Neil Russack. Toronto: Inner city Books.

That man: An insider's portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 2003. By Robert H. Jackson. Edited and Introduced by John Q. Barrett. New York: Oxford University Press.     

Perceptions of Gender Stereotypic Behavior: An Exploratory Study of Women in Selling

This study explores sales managers' perceptions of the relationship between saleswomen's stereotypic behavior and their functional effectiveness in selling. The results show that sales managers do perceive negative stereotypic behavior to have some deleterious associations with performance. Moreover, sales managers' knowledge of the sex role identities of saleswomen is helpful to them in recognizing those saleswomen who are least likely to be perceived stereotypically.     

Ethical Perceptions of Field Sales Personnel: An Empirical Assessment

Much research attention has been directed over the past twenty-five years to ethical issues in marketing. One area of marketing that is gaining research interest is the selling arena. Despite the extant literature on selling ethics, few studies have focused on identifying situations that pose ethical problems for field sales personnel. This paper reports results of an investigation that examined salespeople's perceptions concerning what selling situations or practices are ethical questions, what situations are presently addressed by company policies, and what situations should be addressed by company policies. Findings reveal that salespersons seemingly are desirous of receiving more management guidance than they currently are receiving regarding their ethical concerns. Implications for managers and researchers are provided.     

Perceptions of Motivational Components: Salesmen and Saleswomen Revisited

Although empirical work has examined differences between salesmen and saleswomen on various aspects, no comprehensive study has examined gender-based distinctions in salespeople's work motivation. The paucity of research attention on this topic is surprising given the plethora of literature in organizational behavior. This paper reports the results of an investigation that explored male and female salespeople's perceptions of expectancies, instrumentalities, and valence for rewards. Findings reveal minimal contrast between the two groups. Implications for practitioners and researchers are provided.     

Perceptual constraints on implicit learning of spatial context

If perspective views of an object in two orientations are displayed in alternation, observers will experience the object rotating back and forth in three-dimensional space. Rotational motion is perceived even though only two views are displayed and each view is two-dimensional. The results of 5 experiments converge on the conclusion that the perception of apparent rotational motion produces representations in visual memory corresponding to the spatial structure of the object along its arc of rotation. These representations are view-dependent, preserving information about spatial structure from particular perspectives, but do not preserve low-level perceptual details of the stimulus.