An Evaluation of Water Responses in the Rorschachs of Alcoholics

Traditional Rorschach theory has consistently overlooked the linguistic aspect of the response process. Most conceptualizations focus on the perceptual and cognitive aspects of the process, never examining the subject's need to find a linguistic representation for the inner, perceptual process. This review examines the traditional formulations and suggests that new research from information-processing, neuropsychological, and dual-coding memory theory paradigms offer new possibilities for Rorschach research that would incorporate an appreciation of the unique cognitive demand of the test-the linking of percept with language.     

A Rorschach Journey With Bruno Klopfer: Clinical Application and Teaching

Much of personality is interpersonal, and what is interpersonal can be elegantly organized through the crossing of 2 fundamental dimensions of personality: agency and communion. The interpersonal circumplex has enriched substantially what is known about personality and in particular personality disorder, emphasizing to clinicians the importance of considering maladaptive interpersonal functioning when conducting clinical assessments. The purpose of this article is to provide a commentary on 5 articles concerning the interpersonal perspective on personality assessment. The contributions of these 5 studies are also understood relative to the proposed revisions to the American Psychiatric Association's personality disorder nomenclature, as the proposed revisions will be cutting out half of the interpersonal circumplex from further recognition.     

The undesired selves of repressors

Previous research has shown that prototypes of familiar categories are preferred over novel exemplars of familiar and unfamiliar categories. The present research demonstrates a reversal of this effect by simply inducing an exploratory mindset. Specifically, participants were asked to judge the attractiveness of dot patterns that represented prototypes of familiar categories, exemplars of familiar categories, or exemplars of novel categories. An exploratory mindset was manipulated by asking participants to imagine the stimuli as stars (versus as peas). Results show that participants in the exploration condition preferred exemplars of novel categories (thereby reversing the classical prototypicality effect), whereas participants in the control condition preferred prototypes. The role of mindsets and familiarity in attractiveness ratings is discussed.     

Autobiographical memory specificity and the persistence of depressive symptoms in HIV-positive patients: Rumination and social problem-solving skills as mediators

Individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at elevated risk for depressive conditions, which in turn can negatively impact health-related behaviours and the course of illness. The present study tested the role of autobiographical memory specificity and its interaction with perceived stress in the persistence of depressive symptoms among dysphoric HIV-positive individuals. Additionally, we examined whether rumination and social problem solving mediated these effects. Results indicated that memory specificity moderated the impact of perceived stress, such that perceived stress was more strongly associated with follow-up depressive symptoms among those with greater memory specificity. Rumination, but not social problem solving, mediated this effect. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Character Strengths: Stability and change from a military college education

A service academy military education seeks to develop character. Twenty-four character strengths measured by the Values in Action – Individual Strengths instrument are examined longitudinally to determine effects on character from a service academy education. Significant growth equations were obtained for Citizenship-Teamwork, Hope-Optimism, Fairness, Capacity to Love and be Loved, Appreciation of Beauty, Industry-Perseverance, Zest-Enthusiasm, Spirituality, Creativity, Leadership, Humor-Playfulness, Judgment, and Love of Learning from a mixed models analysis (overall Type 1 error set at .05). Based upon differences expected from a cross-sectional national sample it was inferred that the military college education differentially affected all character strengths except Gratitude, Citizenship-Teamwork, Creativity, Hope-Optimism, Capacity to Love and be Loved, Humor-Playfulness, Perspective, Modesty-Humility, Appreciation of Beauty, and Judgment.     

Factors of Empowerment for Women in Recovery from Substance Use

Empowerment is an interdisciplinary construct heavily grounded in the theories of community psychology. Although empowerment has a strong theoretical foundation, few context-specific quantitative measures have been designed to evaluate empowerment for specific populations. The present study explored the factor structure of a modified empowerment scale with a cross-sectional sample of 296 women in recovery from substance use who lived in recovery homes located throughout the United States. Results from an exploratory factor analysis identified three factors of psychological empowerment which were closely related to previous conceptualizations of psychological empowerment: self-perception, resource knowledge and participation. Further analyses demonstrated a hierarchical relationship among the three factors, with resource knowledge predicting participation when controlling for self-perception. Finally, a correlational analysis demonstrated the initial construct validity of each factor, as each factor of empowerment was significantly and positively related to self-esteem. Implications for the application of psychological empowerment theory and research are discussed.     

A Measurement Framework to Determine the Construct Validity of ADHD/ODD Rating Scales: Additional Evaluations of the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory

A multiple group confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the invariance of an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-inattention, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder toward adults, academic and social competence five-factor model across of independent groups of Thai adolescents with the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory (CADBI). Mothers and fathers’ ratings on 872 adolescents were compared to mothers and fathers’ ratings on a different group of 983 adolescents. The design allowed four invariance analyses (i.e., mothers’ ratings of the first group compared to mothers’ ratings of the second group; fathers’ ratings of first group compared to fathers’ ratings of the second group; mothers’ ratings of first group compared to fathers’ ratings of the second group; and fathers’ ratings of first group compared to mothers’ ratings of second group). Support was found for the invariance of like-symptom loadings and symptom intercepts as well as like-factor variances, covariances, and factor means across the four invariance analyses. The findings further expand the construct validity of the CADBI. The paper also introduces a multiple indicators by multiple traits by multiple methods by multiple sources by multiple occasions by multiple groups’ measurement matrix to guide the evaluation of the construct validity of ADHD/ODD rating scales.     

Reduced Reliance on Optimal Facial Information for Identity Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Previous research into face processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has revealed atypical biases toward particular facial information during identity recognition. Specifically, a focus on features (or high spatial frequencies [HSFs]) has been reported for both face and nonface processing in ASD. The current study investigated the development of spatial frequency biases in face recognition in children and adolescents with and without ASD, using nonverbal mental age to assess changes in biases over developmental time. Using this measure, the control group showed a gradual specialization over time toward middle spatial frequencies (MSFs), which are thought to provide the optimal information for face recognition in adults. By contrast, individuals with ASD did not show a bias to one spatial frequency band at any stage of development. These data suggest that the “midband bias” emerges through increasing face-specific experience and that atypical face recognition performance may be related to reduced specialization toward optimal spatial frequencies in ASD.     

Fear response to dissociation challenge

Abstract

Participants (N = 101) scoring high or low on a new scale for assessing fear of dissociative sensations (Dissociation Sensitivity Index) underwent an audio/visual sensory challenge using a device called the D.A.V.I.D. Participants' report of subjective fear and level of dissociation were measured before and after completing the audio/visual sensory challenge. Consistent with prediction, participants scoring high on the DSI responded to the challenge with significantly greater increases in subjective fear and dissociative symptoms relative to those scoring low on the DSI. Contrary to prediction, the DSI performed poorer than the Anxiety Sensitivity Index in predicting participants' response to the audio/visual sensory challenge. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.