Use of local norms to improve configural reproducibility of an MMPI short form

Short forms of the MMPI have been criticized due to their inability to adequately reproduce the profiles of the full length version of the MMPI Oftentimes these short forms are used with subject populations dissimilar to the population upon which the short form was originally standardized. This study evaluates the effect of using local norms with one of these short forms (the FAM) upon the concordance rates of profile code-types with the original full-length MMPI profile. Single point, first 2 high-point and first 3 high-point code-types were found to have higher concordance rates when using local norms. Use of local norms for short MMPI forms may compensate, in part, for information lost in the shortening.     

An organizational typology for self-help groups

Conclusion Several continuing obstacles have hindered the compilation of a research-based body of literature on self-help groups. Among them are the diversity of the groups and the need for appropriate research methodology. The validated typology described above was designed to address some of these problems. It provides a means of recognizing the diversity of the groups and sorting them into broad types without stating that one is better or more productive than another. It supplies a framework for examining the organizational features of a group in order to facilitate comparison with other groups. It recognizes the potential effects of time, change, and leadership on the small local units of self-help organizations. It has implications for making research more compatible with self-help groups. The use of this typology might eliminate some of the ambiguity and conflicts currently found in the literature and thereby help people — professionals and self-helpers — to more clearly understand the nature and functioning of self-help groups.     

Responding to negative social identity: a taxonomy of identity management strategies

Taken from literature on social identity theory and social comparison theory, 12 strategies of identity management were identified as possible responses to negative social identity. A taxonomy with two orthogonal axes is proposed as theoretical organization of these diverse strategies. While the first axis considers responses as being either individual or collective, the second axis refers to the distinction between behaviours and cognitions. It is assumed that the German unification process implied a lower status position of East Germans relative to West Germans on relevant comparison dimensions, and that East Germans have to deal with this threat to their identity. Hence, data of an East German sample are used to empirically systematize identity management strategies, and, thus, to test the proposed taxonomy. Results support the expected four-factor solution only for those strategies taken from social identity theory, while the responses derived from social comparison research build a fifth factor. In addition, the empirical assignments of strategies to cells of the taxonomy are only partly in line with the expected pattern. The empirical findings suggest some clarification and modifications of the proposed response taxonomy. The most important refers to a re-interpretation of the taxonomy's first axis, which now differentiates between responses according to the specific changes of the comparison parameters they imply. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reliability estimates for the immediate and delayed memory tasks

The Immediate and Delayed Memory Tasks are variations of the Continuous Performance Test. While previous research with the tasks has focused on group performance across multiple blocks and sessions, reliability estimates have not been established. We estimated reliability (1) between blocks of a single testing session (N=106), (2) across four sessions within a single testing day (N=20), and (3) across sessions on four consecutive testing days (N=20). Analyses indicated that the primary variable of interest, i.e., commission of errors, showed acceptable reliability within and across testing periods.     

Temporal stability of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in a chronic traumatic brain injury sample

The aim of the present study was to investigate the temporal stability of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in a clinical population with documented brain pathology, stable cognitive deficits, and for whom repeated testing is common: chronic severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants were 34 patients at least 1 year post severe TBI living at a large residential rehabilitation facility. The WCST was administered in standard fashion with both the standard and 64-card versions scored. All derived scores with norms were examined. Results indicated acceptable temporal stability of most scores for both the standard and short WCST, although the stability of the WCST-64 was poorer than for the standard WCST. Three sets of significant change indices are provided for clinical use.     

What We Owe to the Global Poor

This essay defends an account of the duties to the global poor that is informed by the empirical question of what makes countries rich or poor, and that tends to be broadly in agreement with John Rawlss account in The Law of Peoples. I begin by introducing the debate about the sources of growth and explore its implications for duties towards the poor. Next I explore whether (and deny that) there are any further-reaching duties towards the poor. Finally, I ask about the moral foundations for the duties to the poor of the sort that earlier parts argue there are.     

High in the hierarchy: How vertical location and judgments of leaders’ power are interrelated

Leadership implies power. We argue, from a social embodiment perspective, that thinking about power involves mental simulation of vertical location. Three studies tested whether judgments of leaders’ power and information on a vertical location are interrelated. In Studies 1a–1c, participants judged a leader’s power after being presented with, among other information, an organization chart containing either a long or a short vertical line. A longer vertical line increased judged power. Study 2 showed that this effect persists when longer (vs. shorter) vertical lines are presented in an independent priming task and not in an organization chart, and that horizontal lines do not have the same effect. Finally, Studies 3a and 3b showed the reverse causal effect: information about a leader’s power influenced participants’ vertical positioning of a leader’s box in an organization chart and of a leader picture into a team picture. Implications for leadership communication are discussed.     

Rare targets are rarely missed in correctable search

Failing to find a tumor in an x-ray scan or a gun in an airport baggage screening can have dire consequences, making it fundamentally important to elucidate the mechanisms that hinder performance in such visual searches. Recent laboratory work has indicated that low target prevalence can lead to disturbingly high miss rates in visual search. Here, however, we demonstrate that misses in low-prevalence searches can be readily abated. When targets are rarely present, observers adapt by responding more quickly, and miss rates are high. Critically, though, these misses are often due to response-execution errors, not perceptual or identification errors: Observers know a target was present, but just respond too quickly. When provided an opportunity to correct their last response, observers can catch their mistakes. Thus, low target prevalence may not be a generalizable cause of high miss rates in visual search.     

Visual attention as a predictor of on-road driving performance of older drivers

With increasing numbers of older drivers on Australian roads, it is important to determine the functional abilities most closely related to driving ability among older adults. To this end, 90 drivers aged from 60 to 91 completed a battery of psychological, visual, physical and cognitive tests, and a standardised on-road driving test. A computerised test of visual attention, devised specifically for the study, was the best predictor of on-road driving performance. Other abilities that made independent contributions to the prediction of driving performance were contrast sensitivity and visuospatial memory. These functional abilities provided a better prediction of driving performance than chronological age, reinforcing the argument that drivers should only have their driving tested when their functional abilities decline, rather than when they reach a particular age.