Self-image disparity, repression-sensitization, and extraversion-introversion: a unitary dimension?

To determination (1) whether self-image disparity, repression-sensitization, and extraversion-introversion intercorrelated to a degree indicative of a unitary personality dimension and, (2) whether the interrelationships among these variables was accounted for by cognitive developmental variance, Byrne's Revised Repression-Sensitization Scale, Giedt and Downing's Extraversion-Introversion Scale, and two measures of self-image disparity were administered to 20 male college freshmen and 20 male seniors. All the correlations among the four measures were significant, but none correlated significantly with cognitive development, as measured by SATs. Factor analysis yielded a clearcut personality factor and a clearcut cognitive factor, indicating that the personality measures reflect a unitary dimension, even after cognitive developmental variance is extracted.     

Computer signal detection by monitoring auditory evoked potentials

A digital computer, using a simple decision algorithm, attempted to determine when an acoustical signal had been presented to a cat by monitoring the amplitude of the evoked potentials (EP) at brainstem auditory nuclei. The signal-to-noise level at threshold and the shape and range of the decision model “psychometric functions” were similar to those obtained from humans in the same task. In addition, the detection performance obeys Weber’s law, the mean amplitude of the EP increases monotmonically with signal level, the variance of the amplitude is independent of both signal and noise level, and both the mean latency and the variance of the latency of the peaks decrease with increasing signal level. These findings suggest that the synchronization in firing of a population of single units plays a part in determining the amplitude of the EP. Interaural effects in detection performance were found at the inferior colliculus and, to a lesser extent, at the superior olive.     

A device for rapid recording of positioning responses in two dimensions

A device for rapid recording of positioning responses is described. It utilizes an extremely simple, low-cost position transducer and two digital voltmeters or their equivalent. The device has the advantages of rapid, accurate measurement, reliability, ease of reading, and the potential for automatic recording of positional data in two dimensions.     

Dream symbolization in light of analytic and experiential thinking

This paper compares the analytic and experiential approaches to dreams in order to illuminate the intrinsic and necessary relationships between the two understandings. It describes how dream work reflects the bimodalness of symbolism, thought and ultimately human consciousness. An extended example of dream work reflecting both analytic and experiential modalities is presented.     

Disability and employment – overview and highlights

Due to the expected decline in the working-age population, especially in European countries, people with disabilities are now more often recognized as a valuable resource in the workforce and research into disability and employment is more important than ever. This paper outlines the state of affairs of research on disability and employment. We thereby focus on one particular group of people with disabilities, that is to say people with mental disabilities. We define disability according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization, by that recognizing that disability results from the interaction of person and environment. Key issues, including the complexity of defining disability, the legal situation in Europe and North America concerning disability at work, and barriers and enablers to employment, are discussed. For each of the topics we show important findings in the existing literature and indicate where more in-depth research is needed. We finalize with a concrete research agenda on disability and employment and provide recommendations for practice.     

Fitting multilevel models with ordinal outcomes: performance of alternative specifications and methods of estimation

Previous research has compared methods of estimation for fitting multilevel models to binary data, but there are reasons to believe that the results will not always generalize to the ordinal case. This article thus evaluates (a) whether and when fitting multilevel linear models to ordinal outcome data is justified and (b) which estimator to employ when instead fitting multilevel cumulative logit models to ordinal data, maximum likelihood (ML), or penalized quasi-likelihood (PQL). ML and PQL are compared across variations in sample size, magnitude of variance components, number of outcome categories, and distribution shape. Fitting a multilevel linear model to ordinal outcomes is shown to be inferior in virtually all circumstances. PQL performance improves markedly with the number of ordinal categories, regardless of distribution shape. In contrast to binary data, PQL often performs as well as ML when used with ordinal data. Further, the performance of PQL is typically superior to ML when the data include a small to moderate number of clusters (i.e., ≤ 50 clusters).     

Personal growth in adults' stories of life transitions

Abstract This study identified four themes of personal growth (integrative, intrinsic, agentic, and communal) in adults' stories of life transitions in careers and religions. Specific themes were expected to relate differentially to two forms of personality development (social-cognitive maturity and social-emotional well-being) and to transition satisfaction. Integrative themes correlated primarily with social-cognitive maturity (ego development; Loevinger, 1976), whereas intrinsic themes correlated primarily with social-emotional well-being. Agentic-growth themes correlated primarily with transition satisfaction, whereas communal-growth themes correlated primarily with global well-being. Themes of agentic and communal growth also differentiated the two types of transitions studied-changes in careers and changes in religions-in ways that both supported and contradicted traditional notions of those transitions. We discuss these findings in terms of narrative meaning making, the mature and happy person, and intentional self-development via life transitions.