Adult Age and Gender Differences in Perceptions of Facial Attractiveness: Beauty is in the Eye of the Older Beholder

The authors examined ratings of facial attractiveness, rankings of faces, and reasons given by young, middle-aged, and older men and women for young, middle-aged, and older male and female face attractiveness. No support for predictions derived from similarity, interest, and cohort hypotheses was obtained. In support of the expertise hypothesis, young and middle-aged adults rated younger faces as more attractive than old faces, whereas older adults rated all aged faces equally. In support of the crone hypothesis, older female faces were rated the lowest of all faces. Theoretical implications and real-world applications are discussed.     

Learning Under Conditions of Action Information Feedback

Methodological and empirical issues in research on action information feedback (AIF) are discussed, with particular reference to the procedures and results of Annett (1970). Positioning responses practiced under conditions of AIF training are learned, though generally less well than under terminal IF conditions. Effects obtained as a result of AIF training may be subject to variations in movement extent required, gain and other transformations, frequency, temporal locus, and mode of augmentation, many aspects of which remain to be systematically studied.     

The Rorschach Concept Evaluation Technique

The Back Pain Classification Scale (BPCS). identifies patients whose low back pain reflects a primary psychological disturbance. BPCS scores were related to the MMPI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, and Social Readjustment Rating Scale scores; to distribution, intensity, and activities affecting pain; and to social characteristics of t 16 patients. High scores on the BPCS (psychological disturbance) are associated with elevated MMPI profiles, and with more widely distributed and more intense pain. Stepwise multiple regression solutions indicate that the MMPI Hypochondriasis (Hs) scale accounts for 15.5% of the variance. No other variable accounts for as much as 3% of the variance. Scores on Hs relate primarily to words in the BPCS psychologically disturbed pole, supplying convergent validity to the BPCS. BPCS scores are unrelated to social characteristics, implying usefulness with the variety of patients seen for evaluation of low back pain.     

Stability of the MCMI Among Depressed Psychiatric Outpatients

The Milton Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) is a promising, yet somewhat unproven psychometric inventory developed to identify clinical syndromes and personality traits consonant with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. [DSM-III]; American Psychiatric Association, 1980). The stability of its measures for both the theoretically more stable personality characteristics and the clinical syndromes was investigated in a group of depressed psychiatric outpatients. In this test-retest design with a 3-month interval between tests, clinical syndrome scales of relevance changed significantly as expected. However, many of the personality scales also changed significantly. Only four of the personality scales met a two-fold test of stability. Findings are discussed in terms of characteristics of self-report inventories such as the MCMI, the uniqueness of the depressed population, and characteristics of personality disorders.     

The Clinical Inference Process and the Role of Theory

Perhaps the most challenging and creative aspect of clinical testing is the clinical inference process, the sequential steps the examiner takes in transforming the raw test data into a clinically relevant testing report. Unfortunately, this part of the testing process has received little attention in the testing literature. In this article, the specific steps in the inferential process are outlined. In addition, the ways in which theory enter into the inferential process are also discussed.     

A Semantic Differential Investigation of Color on the Holtzman

This study was an attempt to find evidence of subjective color disturbance on the Holtzman Inkblot Test. Two tests of anxiety and one of neuroticism were administered to 129 male undergraduates. Those Ss scoring in the extreme ranges on each instrument were classified as high and low groups.

Eight entirely chromatic cards from the Holtzman and their achromatic photographic reproductions served as experimental stimuli while 15 cards (15 mixed chromatic-achromatic cards) served as buffers. The degree of subjective disturbance elicited by each card was determined by means of a semantic differential composed of 16 pairs of bi-polar adjectives.

It was found by means of X² analyses that no significant differences appeared between the two groups of Ss when either the chromatic or achromatic stimuli were rated separately. When a difference measure between the two types of stimuli was employed, both groups rated the chromatic cards in more favorable terms. In the discussion, it was suggested that “novelty shock” might be a more appropriate term than color shock and that traditional color shock indices may be artifacts inherent in Rorschach stimuli and administration. Some suggestions for clarifying the possible interrelationship between neurotic symptomatology and emotional reactions to chromatic stimuli through empirical approaches were advanced.     

Heroin Addicts' Views of Commonly Abused Drugs: A Semantic Differential Approach

52 heroin addicts were given a form of the Semantic Differential asking for their perceptions of heroin, methadone, LSD, amphetamines and marijuana. Marijuana was viewed most favorably, heroin least favorably. Views of heroin and marijuana were positively correlated; but not so heroin and methadone. There was a positive relationship between length of time on methadone maintenance and the potency score for heroin.     

A Comparison of Normals and Schizophrenics on a New Scale of the Rorschach CET

A new scale for scoring the number of correct responses on the Rorschach Concept Evaluation Technique was developed, based on the responses of 250 normal subjects. Using this scale the scores of 125 hospitalized schizophrenics were compared with the normals. The two groups we're differentiated at better than the .001 level.     

On the Attention — Demand Value of Rorschach Stimuli

The attention-demand value of the Rorschach stimuli was investigated by measuring free looking time elicited by each card. Reports of content were not given by Ss. There were significant differences between cards in amount of looking which they elicited. This was closely related to judged complexity of the cards (r = .78) and response productivity of the cards under normal administration of the Rorschach test (r = .72). A comparison of looking times under two instructions, non-defensive and defensive, showed that the instructional variable tended to produce greater differences in looking time for some cards than for others. Cards low in complexity showed relatively longer looking times under the defensive conditions.