Discriminating between alcoholic and nonalcoholic blacks and whites on the MMPI

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of race (black, white) on the MMPI performance of alcoholic and nonalcoholic inpatients. Subjects were 73 (27 black, 46 white) male alcoholic inpatients and 73 (27 black, 46 white) male nonalcoholic psychiatric inpatients. While black and white alcoholics failed to differ on the MMPI, white alcoholics presented as less disturbed and black alcoholics as less defensive and distressed, compared to their respective nonalcoholic counterparts. Furthermore, only white alcoholics were accurately identified by the MMPI 2-4/4-2 high-point pair combination and only white alcoholics achieved more high-point pairs containing Scale 4 relative to nonalcoholic controls.     

Children's expectations of sex differences in parents' responses to sons and daughters encountering interpersonal problems

The present study examined 8-12-year-old children's perceptions of parents' responses to sons and daughters experiencing interpersonal conflicts. In general, the children expected parents to respond in a manner consistent with traditional instrumental-expressive sex-role stereotypes. The implication of these findings for inadequacies in the socialization of interpersonal problem-solving styles in boys and girls is discussed.     

Process and content in an outpatient schizophrenic group

Process and content issues were evaluated during the first six months of an outpatient schizophrenic group. Compared with groups composed of neurotic and characterological patients, the schizophrenic group scored higher in the Avoiding dimension of the Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ-S). There was more cohesion and less interpersonal conflict as time went on. Although topics related to engagement and differentiation were discussed, there was no obvious GCQ-S evidence of these first two stages of group development. However, the data supported the presence of stage 3 (individuation) during sessions 20–26. Interpersonal topics dominated the group discussions, followed by issues involving reality-testing, expression of emotions, and advice-giving.The authors wish to thank Dr. K. Roy MacKenzie for his helpful comments on a draft of this paper.     

Social science involvement in voir dire: Preliminary data on the effectiveness of “scientific jury selection”

The validity of what has been termed “scientific” or “systematic” jury selection (SJS) techniques is addressed using data from two actual cases; one criminal and one civil. Data from the highly publicized Joan Little trial indicated that where validity data were available for the survey approach and in-court rating of authoritarianism, these techniques measured what they purported to measure. Validation data were not available for a third technique—in-court rating of nonverbal communication. Data from the civil case indicated that the survey approach could successfully predict verdicts of mock jurors. It is concluded that while these data are suggestive of the validity of two of the techniques used in SJS, more rigorous tests are essential before conclusions can be drawn.     

Differential specialization of the cerebral hemispheres for the perception of sameness and difference

The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 Pairs of letters were presented 4 deg left or right of fixation, and Ss were asked to indicate as quickly as possible whether the letters in a pair were the same or different. Reaction times for “different” responses were faster when stimuli were in the left visual field than in the right, but reaction times for “same” responses were faster when stimuli were in the right visual field than in the left. These results may indicate that the right hemisphere is better specialized for difference detection, while the left hemisphere is better specialized for sameness detection.     

Internal consistency and reliability of alternate short forms of the college women's assertion sample: Clinical and research implications

Assertive behavior is most often assessed with self-report or role-play measures. The latter modality is preferred because it provides for the sampling of the structure of behavior and for the consideration of the situational context. MacDonald (1978) has developed such an assessment device but it is limited by the length of time for administration and scoring. Two studies were conducted to reconstruct reliable alternate short forms. The first study describes the selection of items and demonstrates the internal consistency of the alternate forms. The second study demonstrates the alternate form and retest reliability and provides normative statistics. We conclude that reliable alternate short forms have been constructed to be used in research in clinical applications.This research was supported by the Marie Wilson Howells Fund.Alternate short forms of the CWAS may be obtained from the first author.     

Hypermnesia in free recall and cued recall

In three experiments, categorized lists and both free recall and cued recall tests were used to examine hypermnesia. In Experiment 1, materials were drawn from obvious and nonobvious categories in an attempt to vary the amount of relational processing at encoding. The study materials in Experiment 2 consisted of a long word list that comprised several exemplars from each of a number of common categories. In Experiment 3, a single exemplar was drawn from each of 45 categories. In each experiment, similar magnitudes of hypermnesia were obtained on free and cued recall tests. Examination of the specific items recalled across tests indicated that similar processes underlie the hypermnesic effect for both test conditions. Implications of the results for extant accounts of the hypermnesic effect are discussed. It is concluded that the dynamics of retrieval processes change in a systematic fashion across repeated tests and the retention interval following study and that an adequate account of the nature of these changes in retrieval dynamics is essential to our understanding of hypermnesia and related phenomena.     

Concurrent Use of Cigarettes,Alcohol, and Coffee1

The interrelationships between cigarette, alcohol, and coffee use were examined in 307 U.S. army trainees and 304 U.S. enlisted army personnel. Usage patterns indicated distinct gender differences in this occupational setting. Among women, cigarette use and alcohol consumption were positively correlated; whereas for men, cigarette and coffee use were positively related. For both males and females, alcohol and coffee use were only weakly correlated. As demonstrated in other studies, nonsmokers showed a consistent pattern of abstention from coffee and alcohol or moderate alcohol use.     

IN VIVO VERSUS SIMULATION TRAINING: AN INTERACTIONAL ANALYSIS OF RANGE AND TYPE OF TRAINING EXEMPLARS

We analyzed the role of the range of variation in training exemplars as a contextual variable influencing the effects of in vivo versus simulation training in producing generalized responding. Four mentally retarded adults received single case instruction, followed by general case instruction, on washing machine and dryer use; one task was taught using actual appliances (in vivo) and the other using simulation. In vivo and simulation training were counterbalanced across the two tasks for the 2 subject pairs, using a within-subjects Latin square design. With both paradigms, more errors were made after single case than after general case instruction during probe sessions with untrained washing machines and dryers. These results suggest that generalization errors were affected by the range of training exemplars and not by the use of simulated versus natural training stimuli. Although both general case simulation and general case in vivo training facilitated generalized performance of laundry skills, an analysis of training time and costs indicated that the former approach was more efficient. The study illustrates a methodology for studying complex interactions and guiding decisions on the optimal use of instructional alternatives.