PROJECT A: SPECIFICATION OF THE PREDICTOR DOMAIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SELECTION/ CLASSIFICATION TESTS

A major goal of the Army Selection and Classification Project was to develop an experimental predictor battery that would best supplement the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery for making selection and classification decisions for entry-level enlisted personnel. That is, what predictor measures would best serve the needs of all the jobs in an entire selection/classification system? This paper describes the characteristics of the new test battery and the procedures that were used to develop it. The major steps in the procedure were a structured literature search using a standard protocol, an extensive expert judgment study of expected true validities for a population of predictor variables against a population of performance components, fabrication of modularized software and a special response pedestal for computerized measurement of perceptual and psychomotor abilities, evaluations of experimental measures in three iterative pilot tests and one major field test, and a series of reviews by a panel of scientific advisers. The test battery that resulted from this 2 1/2-year development effort is described. The basic psychometric properties of each measure, as determined in a large concurrent validation sample, are also described.     

Behavior at 10 and 13 years of age for children with low birth weight

This study was based on data from a longitudinal research program. The cohort consisted of 874 normal children in an entire school grade in a Swedish community. The aim of the study was to investigate the relation between birth weight and behavior at school, for all children and for each sex separately. The results identified specific aspects of behaviour disorder significantly related to low birth weight (LBW) for children at the age of 10 but not at the age of 13. When the sexes were separated, there were no relations between birth weight and deviant behaviour for boys of low birth weight as compared to boys of normal birth weight, while girls of low birth weight showed specific behavioural disorders at age 10 as compared to girls of normal birth weight. For girls reared in families of low parental socioeconomic status, aggressiveness and motor restlessness at age 10 but not at age 13 was also present. Further analyses showed that girls born small-for-gestational age showed lack of school motivation and concentration difficulties both at age 10 and age 13.     

Dealing with (bypassing) the difference

The author presents different psychoanalytic conceptualizations of gender difference. She reviews the controversy between Freud and Jones and discusses in detail the views put forward by Montrelay, a student of Lacan, who relates early linguistic development to gender-specific differences in closeness between the child and the "mother's body".     

The psychoanalytic process: the developmental and the integrative

Psychoanalysis is a treatment that focuses on intrapsychic events and activates integrative tendencies to promote-insights. Almost from the time it originated, however, it was also promoted as a therapy informed by the interpersonal, inducing change through experiences generated within the psychoanalytic situation. In recent years the interpersonal or object relations approach has come to be categorized as "developmental," a term that fosters no end of ambiguities. The resulting confusion compromises the study of the actual developmental process on the one hand and the structure-enhancing features of transactions on the other. This encumbers research on the psychoanalytic process. The author distinguishes the intrapsychic from the interpersonal, the integrative from the developmental, and the two very different realms of psychological activities currently advanced as "developmental."     

Aspects of family-oriented diagnosis in compulsory legal family expert assessment

In forensic psychology, recommendations that courts request when granting one of the parents the right of child upbringing after a divorce pose a problem for the person who is required to give such expert judgment. The authors describe the difficult situation he faces when having to decide for and, at the same time, against one of the parents. A good knowledge of family psychology and pathopsychology is essential, and for drawing up the expertise and stating his reasons, the expert requires methodical resources. The authors describe four procedures of relational diagnosis and recommend the combined use of these in conjunction with methods that have been employed so far.     

Relationships among defensive styles, cognitive styles, processing styles, and attentional styles of normal adolescents

Cognitive and psychodynamic theorists agree that an individual's personality and behavior are determined by both cognitive and dynamic processes. This study examined the relationship among three cognitive approaches--cognitive style, attentional style, and processing style--and examined their relations to defensive style. Adolescents from Grades 11 and 12 (146 boys, 164 girls) were examined in groups for cognitive style (Group Embedded Figures Test), attentional style (Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style), processing style (a sequential/simultaneous processing test battery), and defensive style (Defense Mechanism Inventory). Least squares completely randomized two-way analyses of variance (or analyses of covariance where applicable) were employed to assess the relations among the three cognitive measures and/or between the cognitive measures and defensive style. While most comparisons were nonsignificant, a significant relationship was observed between sequential processing and field-dependence and between simultaneous processing and field-independence. Also, a trend was noted between field-independence and ideational defenses and between field-dependence and repression-based defenses.     

Structure of learning environment variables under two instructional conditions

The present study investigated the congruence between the factor structures of the learning environment and cognitive variables for mathematics and English courses in Grade 10. Three common factors were obtained in each course. Procedural characteristics and cognitive factors in mathematics were highly similar to the corresponding factors in English. However, the formative characteristics factor identified in mathematics was not congruent to the corresponding factor in English. Learning environment variables produced two factors. These factors resembled the congruent factor properties for the two courses when the learning environment and cognitive variables were factor analyzed together. Implications for learning and instructional research are mentioned.     

The number of active sweat glands (PSI, palmar sweat index) in stress caused by blood donation

The number of active sweat glands (PSI), heart rate, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were assessed every 2 minutes in 109 male blood donors. Three measurements were taken at the beginning (adaptation phase), three later but before blood donation (baseline), one during the venous puncture (phase 3), three thereafter but still during donation (phase 4), and four after removal of the cannula (phase 5). Analysis of variance yielded significant differences between phases; PSI and SBP behaved similarly, decreasing from adaptation to baseline, rising during puncture, and decreasing again thereafter. Mean within-subject correlations between variables were significantly above 0. Between-subjects correlations were significantly negative for PSI and DBP. This is best explained by the influence of age on both variables. Correlations of PSI values as determined by three raters had a mean of 0.90. The study shows that the PSI is a very sensitive indicator of stress that is easily accessible also in field studies.     

A feature model of immediate memory

A feature model of immediate memory is presented, and simulations are described. List items are characterized as multiattribute vectors that can be selectively overwritten by subsequent external events and by the ongoing stream of internal activity. Degraded primary memory vectors are compared with intact secondary memory vectors, and retrieval likelihood is computed as the ratio of similarities. The model is shown to account for the major modality-based phenomena of the immediate serial recall literature, including modality-based temporal grouping effects and the negative effects of phonological similarity.