SME Committee vs. Field Job Analysis Ratings: Convergence, Cautions, and a Call

This investigation examined the agreement between job analysis ratings completed by a small committee of subject matter experts (SMEs) and ratings made by a larger sample of field respondents. The results indicated there were very high levels of agreement across six commonly used job analysis rating indices. These findings converge with those in prior studies suggesting that for purposes of obtaining task and KSA ratings, a small committee of SMEs may provide empirical results that agree with those obtained from a larger sample of field respondents. However, cautions are presented for applying a committee only strategy in job analysis. Given convergence in conclusions across studies such as the current one thus far, a call for future research which addresses more specific issues is presented.     

Clinical approaches to the out-of-body experience

The author reviews aspects of the out-of-body experience (OBE) related to psychic experiences and personality traits, and describes a continuum of experiences of altered mind/body perception, from the prototypical OBE on the healthy end to schizophrenia and organic brain syndromes on the other end. The impact of the OBE on the individual's life is described, with suggestions for a psychoeducational approach to the clinical management of the patient with and OBE to allow maximum growth from the consciouness-expanding effects of the experience.Dr. Twemlow is in the private practice of psychiatry in Topeka, and is on the faculty of the Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis, the Menninger Foundation, and is clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City and Wichita.     

Visual processing deficits in dyslexia: receptors or neural mechanisms?

In 1989 and 1990 Grosser and Spafford attributed abnormalities in the peripheral vision of dyslexic subjects to an anomalous distribution of rods and cones. We argue that at the light levels used in these experiments cone responses should dominate both central and peripheral vision. A more likely explanation of their findings is that there is a postreceptoral deficit in the transient visual channel. This hypothesis is supported by independent anatomical, physiological, and psychophysical evidence.     

History-containing Systems

This contribution summarizes two papers about transgenerational issues published twenty years ago. The ideas and practices which remain useful and unmodified are distinguished from those which have been changed or discarded over the ensuing decades. The helpfulness of the anthropological concept of sociality in integrating narrative therapy and social construction with transgenerational concepts is also discussed.     

An experiment in social engineering in serving the families of predelinquents

One hundred and two predelinquent adolescents were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: an experimental condition in which behavioral contracting services were offered both at home and in school or a control condition in which clients were told that they could not be accommodated by project therapists and were informed about the possibility of their receiving treatment in other programs in the community. Most of those who were assigned to the control condition did not avail themselves of services in these other programs. Results indicate that, relative to the controls, the behaviorally treated youth scored small but statistically significant improvement relative to the controls on five measures: ratings of school behavior by the person who originally referred them for service, by their teachers, by their mothers, and by their fathers, and ratings of their parent—child interactions as measured by their mothers. Gains were also reported in mothers' ratings of their children's behavior at home. The failure of significant gains to be made in two measures of school performance grades and attendance is explained by the failure o f the treatment techniques to over-come an age-related deterioration in these areas found among most children in the participating schools. The failure of fathers to find significant improvement in their relationships with the referred adolescents is viewed as a consequence of unanticipated changes in the intrafamilial balance of power resulting from contracting services. Finally, a subsidiary analysis showed that the contracting service appeared to offer the greatest gain to the demographically defined sub-groups of youths who are among the population-at-risk in many juvenile courts.This study was supported by Grant R01-MH21452 from the Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency, National Institute of Mental Health. The authors wish to thank L. Nilles, who served as general administrator of this project, and C. Faller, S. Iman, P. Ippel, L. Lott, J. Marsh, C. Stephenson, J. Tanter, D. Virtue, and R. Welter, who served as therapists.     

Stimulus dimensionality and temporal repetition

Two experiments involving temporal repetition of tachistoscopically presented visual stnnuh are reported. Experiment I employed an alphabet of four straight lines presented one, two, or four times. Experiment II employed three stimulus sets, such that the stimuli varied in size, brightness, or both, with the forms being presented either once or four times. The Ss made four-choice identification responses. Results indicate that multidomensionality is not a necessary condition for better Identification performance with multiple observations, and that this differential in favor of multiple observations persists after many, many experimental sessions.     

A Bayesian prediction of multiple-look identification performance from one-look data: The effect of unequal prior probabilities

Bayes’s theorem had accurately predicted multiple-look visual identification performance from one-look data in two previous studies when the prior probabilities of the visual stimuli were equal. In this study, prior probabilities were manipulated to determine whether these values were important in determining agreement between man and statistical man. The prior probabilities of the stimuli, four gap orientations in Landolt rings, were .7, .1, .1, and .1 for four Ss and .3, .3, .3, and .1 for three Ss. One-look data were used to predict two-look and four-look performance. In the 7-1-1-1 condition, the empirical percent correct increased as a function of repeated observations for the rare stimuli, but not for the high-probability stimuli. In the 3-3-3-1 condition, Ss improved over repeated observations for both types of stimuli. Predictions of multiple-look performance under unequal prior probability conditions in this study were less accurate than those under equal prior probability conditions in previous studies. Three possible determinants of this difference were discussed.     

Visual detection as a function of attentional demand and perceptual system error

Attentional demands were varied in a two-alternative, forced-choice detection experiment. A bar indicator designated the target form in one condition and occurred in random locations in a second condition. Exposure durations necessary for predetermined single-form display HRs were determined for each of eight Ss to measure performance at different levels of perceptual system error. Forms differed in only a single feature. Detection was superior when the bar indicator designated the target form, and differences increased with increased display size. Evidence for interference in detection due to the presence of nontarget forms apart from noting requirements of such forms was found. Estimates of number of perceptual channels noted did not clearly differentiate serial from parallel processing models. It was concluded that display interference error and spatial selectivity influences are important determinants of detection accuracy.