Suggestions for an Improved M-Limits Technique

Abstract

Bennett, Edward. Personality Assessment and Diagnosis. New York: Ronald Press, 1961 Reviewed by Theodore H. Blau

Honkavaara, Sylvia, The psychology of expression, Cambridge University Press, 1961; British Journal of Psychology, Monograph XXXII, pp. 96. $4.50 Reviewed by Hal M. Wells

Sherman, M. H. (ed.) A Rorschach Reader. New York: International Universities Press, 1960. $7.50. Reviewed by Melvin A. Gravitz, Ph.D.     

The Role of the Object in Drive Cathexis and Psychosexual Development

Alternate axes are explored in the orthodox formulation of drive cathexis and psychosexual development, with implications for corresponding object relation modes engendered by these processes. Somatic and defensive aspects are shown to impact on the function of the “other” as the individual matures. The separation/individuation process is subsumed into this overall developmental continuum, and the centrality of the object as a focus in cathexis and drive delineation is critically evaluated. The homeostatic notion of equilibration is appealed to in synthesizing the factors emerging from the analysis.     

A multitrait–multimethod study of assessment instruments for complex problem solving

Recently published studies on Complex Problem Solving (CPS) suggest that assessments of CPS using multiple complex systems are only moderately related to tests of classical cognitive abilities. Further, CPS assessments show incremental validity beyond tests of other cognitive abilities when predicting relevant outcomes. However, these empirical accounts have relied on single CPS assessment instruments. We do not know whether these findings will generalize to the construct level across different CPS assessment instruments. To answer this question, we tested a sample of N = 339 German university students who completed three CPS assessment instruments based on multiple complex systems (MicroDYN, the Genetics Lab, and MicroFIN) and the matrices subtest of the Intelligence Structure Test as measure of reasoning. Students further reported their school grades. Analyses including latent multitrait–multimethod models provided support for the conceptualization of CPS as a complex cognitive ability. Results indicated that different CPS assessment instruments showed sufficient convergent validity (with a consistency mostly between .50 and .60). In addition, we found evidence for the divergent validity of CPS from reasoning (reasoning predicted two CPS facets, knowledge and control, β_KNOW = .49 and β_CON = .53, respectively). In the prediction of academic achievement, CPS explained variance in natural science grades after we controlled for reasoning (β_CPS = .22), whereas social science grades were not predicted. Our findings suggest that the validity of CPS generalizes across different measurement instruments.     

Phase field modeling of elasto-plastic deformation induced by diffusion controlled growth of a misfitting spherical precipitate

A phase field model accounting for plasticity has been developed using an homogenization scheme for interpolating the constitutive laws within the diffuse interface. The influence of plasticity on the growth of a misfitting spherical precipitate, controlled by solute diffusion has been investigated: plasticity in the matrix slows down the transformation. Moreover, an excellent agreement with the corresponding analytical sharp interface solutions has been achieved.     

Interpersonal constructs and communicative ability in a police environment: A preliminary investigation

Abstract

This study investigates the relation between indexes of the development of interpersonal construct systems and the qualities of messages generated in response to persuasive tasks within the context of an urban police force. Hypotheses assuming that length of service as a line officer would predict less developed construct systems, and that more developed construct systems would predict message strategies that acknowledge the unique qualities of receivers found general support. In addition, the possibility of further relations between length of service and message variables was explored, but no substantial evidence was found for such effects. These results show the importance of environmental influences on construct development, and suggest that interpersonal perception and message behavior functionally adapt to the needs of organizational participation.     

The values of psychoanalytic psychotherapists at two points in time (1979 vs. 1993): A cross-over comparative study

Our purpose in this study is to view theories of psychotherapy from a general social-political context, especially insofar as they pertain to values. Beginning with Weisskopf-Joelson’s (1980) thesis that theories of psychotherapy may be “perceptual houses” with their own unique value structures, we studied the values of psychoanalytic psychotherapists within the framework of Rokeach’s ( 1968) system. Through the Rokeach Value Survey, we examined the values held by a group of psychoanalytic trainees in 1979 and those held by a group of practicing psychoanalysts in 1993. Because neither group of subjects can be regarded as randomly representative of the universe of psychoanalysts, we regard the resultant data as evocative and informative rather than definitive. Nonetheless, we examined the extent to which value profiles for the psychoanalytic trainees of 1979 were similar or dissimilar to those of practicing psychoanalysts in 1993. Such comparisons at the least provide some general indication as to whether values have shifted in the universe within this time period. Findings are presented about specific patterns of values, and implications are discussed. There appears to be more consistency than difference in values among the psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapists we studied, lending support to this discipline’s designation of a “perceptual house” insofar as its values are concerned.     

Personality Types and Vocational Choice: A Test of Holland's Theory

In order to test the adequacy of Holland's theory of vocational choice with reference to a broad segment of entering college students, a sample of the freshman class entering the Pennsylvania State University evaluated themselves in terms of the six personality styles of Holland's theory. Relationships between the personality styles and vocational choices were studied for groups of Decided, Tentative, and Undecided students. While several inversions in the data are evident, the data possess sufficient consistency to indicate that the personality identifications these students made in Holland's frame of reference were related to their initial vocational choices.     

Adaptation is automatic

Two experiments were used to test whether selective adaptation for speech occurs automatically or instead requires attentional resources. A control condition demonstrated the usual large identification shifts caused by repeatedly presenting an adapting sound (/wa/, with listeners identifying members of a /ba/-/wa/ test series). Two types of distractor tasks were used: (1) Subjects did a rapid series of arithmetic problems during the adaptation periods (Experiments 1 and 2), or (2) they made a series of rhyming judgments, requiring phonetic coding (Experiment 2). A control experiment (Experiment 3) demonstrated that these tasks normally impose a heavy attentional cost on phonetic processing. Despite this, for both experimental conditions, the observed adaptation effect was just as large as in the control condition. This result indicates that adaptation is automatic, operating at an early, preattentive level. The implications of these results for current models of speech perception are discussed.