Molly and Mahler

A symphony of Gustav Mahler becomes a cathartic experience following the death of a beloved goat.     

VSearch: Macintosh software for experiments in visual search

In this paper, we describe software that turns a Macintosh computer into an off-the-shelf tool for experiments on visual search. Our design goals included portability (between members of the Macintosh computer family and between various research settings), user-friendliness (equivalent to Macintosh programming standards), flexibility (to allow replication and extension of important experiments on visual search), and adaptability (very short design-to-data and data-to-analysis turnaround times). We describe how the software meets these goals in three major phases of an experiment: stimulus construction, experimental control, and statistical analysis. We then list several landmark studies of visual search that can be easily designed and extended with the software. Finally, we outline plans for expanding the experimental variations that will be supported in future versions of the software.     

A COMPARISON OF GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS

The experiences of 44 group sexual assault victims (multiple offenders, one victim) were compared with 44 individual sexual assault victims (one offender, one victim). Sexual assaults included various degrees of sexual victimization ranging from verbal coercion to rape. Participants were located from among a national sample of 3,187 college women. Group sexual assaults, compared to individual sexual assaults, were in general more violent, involved greater resistance from the victims, and were more likely to be perpetrated by strangers or relatives and to involve an experience which met the legal definition of rape. Group sexual assaults were less likely to involve multiple episodes by the same offender(s). Group sexual assault victims were more likely than individual sexual assault victims to seek police and crisis services, to have contemplated suicide, and to have sought therapy postassault. Despite these differences, the two groups were similar in the amount of drinking and drug use during the assault and their scores on standardized measures of psychological symptoms.     

SCALING PERFORMANCE UTILITY TO ENHANCE SELECTION/CLASSIFICATION DECISIONS

For purposes of selection and classification there are two general reasons for scaling the mean and variance of the utility of performance across jobs. First, if differential utility across jobs does exist, then the payoff from a selection and classification system will be enhanced to the extent that accurate utility values are incorporated in the assignment system. Second, a valid utility metric would permit a more meaningful comparison of the gains achieved by alternative selection and classification procedures. It is argued in this paper that the Army context, and perhaps others, precludes using the dollar metric and estimates of SD_y in dollars. Consequently, Project A conducted a relatively long series of exploratory workshops with Army personnel to (a) define the utility issue, (b) pilot test a wide variety of possible scaling methods, and (c) evaluate the methods that seemed most appropriate. On the basis of exploratory analysis, a combined procedure incorporating both an interval estimation and a ratio estimation method was used to estimate the utility of five different performance levels for each of 276 jobs (MOS) in the enlisted personnel system. The psychometric properties of the resulting scale values are analyzed and discussed.     

The role of compliance in hypnotic and nonhypnotic analgesia

We modified the standard procedure for administering finger pressure pain in order to assess the extent to which subjects biased their reports of pain reduction when exposed to compliance-inducing instructions. Experiment 1 used only highly hypnotizable subjects and found that compliance-induced reductions in reported pain were about half as large as the reported reductions produced by hypnotic analgesia suggestions. Experiment 2 used low as well as high hypnotizables and administered hypnotic or nonhypnotic analgesia instructions and compliance instructions to the same subjects on separate pain trials. Reported pain reductions produced by hypnotic and nonhypnotic analgesia suggestions and those produced by compliance instructions were substantially and significantly correlated. Furthermore, hypnotizability correlated with compliance-induced reported pain reductions as highly as it correlated with the reported reductions produced by hypnotic analgesia suggestions. Among high hypnotizables (but not low hypnotizables) compliant responding was predicted by social desirability. The findings of both studies indicate that compliance strongly influences the reports of hypnotic and nonhypnotic analgesia proffered by high hypnotizables. The role of compliance in the pain reductions reported by low hypnotizables is less clear-cut.     

Reflections on uncomplemented philosophies,integrated curriculums and words that bind and separate in counseling and clinical psychology

Should counseling psychology remain a distinct specialty or should it merge with clinical psychology? Recently, a growing amount of attention has been directed toward the increasing similarities between the counseling and clinical specialties, and musings about integrating them into a generic training model have emerged. This position paper considers some problems with the current divisions existing between counseling and clinical psychology. Three basic points are examined: (a) the effects of language systems on the counseling and clinical specialties; (b) the normal-abnormal dimension of behavior as a weak justification for distinct specialties; and (c) the fostering of distorted views of human behavior through counseling and clinical training programs.     

Adolescent Attachment,Identity, and Adjustment to College: Implications for the Continuity of Adaptation Hypothesis

We examined the concurrent relationship between late adolescent attachment to parents and peers and two broad indices of adolescent adaptation—personal and social identity and adjustment to college. Participants included 130 college freshmen and 123 upperclassmen. Although freshmen were disadvantaged relative to upperclassmen with respect to social and personal-emotional adjustment, there were no group differences on the attachment measures, on the measures of academic adjustment and goal commitment, and on the measure of social identity. Freshmen scored higher on personal identity than did upperclassmen. Women reported less alienation from peers, had more trust and better communication with peers, and had higher scores on personal and social idenitity than men. The attachment variables were significant predictors of personal and social identity. Pervasive relations were also found between attachment and adjustment to college, particularly for the upperclassmen sample.