Rorschach-profile in panic disorder

The Rorschach test was applied to four groups: 41 Panic Disorder (PD), 14 Major Depression (MD), 11 Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and 18 normal subjects. The aims were to describe the test profile of PD patients and to discuss implications for cognitive processing ability and personality structure. A hypothesis of a borderline personality structure in PD patients, based on psychodynamic literature, was tested, but was not unambiguously supported. A "loose", borderline-like personality structure and disturbances in processing abilities, however, characterized PD-patients. The normal subjects surprisingly provided many Fabulized Combinations, a response type, considered suspect of borderline pathology, but also showed more signs of integrative and synthesizing abilities than the other groups.     

Personality and developmental psychology

Research on personality and developmental psychology in Scandinavia in the seventies is presented according to what are considered important and significant research interests. Such interests are defined primarily from the viewpoint of general trends in society, e.g. research on infancy and preschool children and research on old age. Other interests are defined from an almost purely theoretical viewpoint. This applies to research from an interactional perspective. Future research in this branch of psychology seems to place priority on a methodological approach based upon external validity and the use of multidimensional models. As to the theoretical frame of reference, future research points to conceptualizations of the influence of society on structure, process and development of personality.     

The Logical Levels of Complementary,Symmetrical, and Parallel Interaction Classes in Family Dyads

It was postulated that the parallel interaction class is a higher logical order than complementary and symmetrical interaction, which appear to be of the same logical type. Father-mother, father-child, and mother-child dyads of 48 families were categorized into complementary, symmetrical, and parallel classes using the Relationship Styles Inventory. Each of the dyads in these three categories was then randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions in which they jointly resolved a moral dilemma. In one condition, the dyads were asked to follow complementary rules, while in the second condition they were instructed to follow symmetrical rules. Results indicated that parallel dyads adjusted to both the complementary and symmetrical conditions, whereas symmetrical and complementary dyads did not successfully accommodate rules outside their own class. The implications in terms of therapeutic intervention and further research are discussed.     

Classification of art into style periods; a factor-analytical approach

Abstract.— An attempt was made to determine, primarily, along what dimensions a classification takes place, and secondarily whether the same dimensions appear in different style periods: renaissance, baroque, and rococo, when paintings and pieces of music were judged by the "semantic differential" technique. The factor-analysis produced six factors, which were interpreted as follows: I Aesthetic-qualitative evaluation, II Emotional tone, III Symbolism, IV Dynamics, V Clarity, and VI Stillness. Factors I, II, and III occurred in all style periods, both in painting and in music.