MMPI taxonomies of child sexual and nonsexual offenders: a cross-validation and extension.

In a court clinic sample of 107 child sexual and nonsexual offenders, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles did not differ as a function of arrests for sexual versus nonsexual offending. However, a three-group cluster-analytic solution was generated. Two of these clusters replicated those derived by Hall, Graham, and Shepherd (1991). The first cluster was unelevated, with Scales 4 and 9 as high points. The second cluster had MMPI Scales 4, 8, 2, and 7 as the highest scales. The third cluster was even more elevated than the other two clusters, characterized by extreme elevations on MMPI Scales F, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8. The somewhat different results of this study versus previous studies (e.g., Hall et al., 1991) may be a function of the different populations sampled. The results provide evidence of within-group heterogeneity among sexual and nonsexual offenders that may be as important as between-group differences.     

The Effects of Decision Outcome Dispersion Upon Organizational Decision Making

The effects of varying decision outcome dispersion on organizational decision making were investigated under individual and group decision making conditions. Thirty-six female and pg]36 male subjects made decisions for organizational decision scenarios in which outcomes affected primarily the decision maker, people other than the decision maker, or a group of which the decision maker was a member. Subjects rated their levels of perceived risk and confidence in their decisions and made decisions within a simulated context of either a small or a large organization. Results indicated that subjects perceived significantly less risk and more confidence in their decisions when outcomes affected primarily themselves rather than others regardless of whether the decisions were made individually or by a group. Males perceived their decisions as significantly more risky than females. Induced organizational size did not significantly influence decision making.

     

Validity of the Threat Index.

The validity of the Threat Index was examined in a study of 42 students and 15 HIV+ clients. When completing the Threat Index, subjects rate the self and death on 30 bipolar adjectives. A count is made of the number of times the same adjective poles are used to describe the self and death. Uses of the same poles are called matches, while uses of different poles are called splits. The Threat Index is based on the assumption that splits indicate threat. Analysis showed that neither splits nor matches were usually threatening and that neither was necessary or sufficient for the experience of threat. These results did not support the validity of the Threat Index.     

Reliability of Budner's intolerance of ambiguity scale in medical students.

Intolerance of ambiguity is the perception of ambiguous situations as threatening. It has often been measured using Budner's 1962 intolerance of ambiguity scale in studies of medical students and physicians. To examine the test-retest reliability of the scale among that population, we administered it to all 171 entering medical students at one medical school immediately prior to beginning classes and readministered it to them six to nine weeks later with an 81% follow-up rate. The Pearson correlation between the first and second administrations was .64, showing moderate reliability during this stressful period in medical socialization. The internal reliability of the scale remained constant; the alpha was .64 at the first administration and .63 at follow-up. These data indicate moderate reliability of Budner's intolerance of ambiguity scale when respondents are medical students.     

Beliefs about how to reduce anger.

To learn more about people's beliefs about how to reduce anger, 416 college students were asked what they thought would be the effects of various responses to feeling angry. In general, they thought that behaving aggressively would make them feel worse and that distracting themselves and doing something nice for another would make them feel better. However, males, younger subjects, and those who had behaved more aggressively in the past were more likely to feel that behaving aggressively would elevate their mood. These observations are consistent with theories emphasizing the importance of cognitive variables in the experiences of anger and aggression.     

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome in India: two cases.

Two cases of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome from India are presented. The symptomatology of Tourette syndrome is the same as that documented in western populations which suggests biological factors in the aetiology of the syndrome.     

Using three different types of assessment data for diagnostic purposes.

This study investigated the performance of 38 learning disabled and 16 emotionally impaired children and youth on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised, Wide Range Achievement Test--Revised, and Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test--Revised. The ages of the children ranged from 8.4 to 16.7 years (M = 12.4, SD = 3.6). The findings suggest that discriminate functional analysis may be useful in the differential diagnosis process. Implications for clinicians are discussed.     

Psychological compensation: a theoretical framework.

The 2 main objectives of this article are to review a variety of literatures in which the concept of compensation is used and to integrate the results of this review into a general framework of compensation. The review focuses on 4 domains of psychological inquiry: compensation for sensory handicaps, cognitive deficits, interpersonal losses, and brain injury. In the proposed framework, underlying dimensions and 4 basic steps in the progression of compensatory behavior are distinguished. The latter include origins, mechanisms, forms, and consequences. Finally, we describe ways in which researchers in particular domains can benefit from the global, process-oriented framework we propose. For most of the areas of compensation research reviewed, investigators can profit from a consideration of a broader selection of dimensions, additional steps in the process, alternative outcomes, and both objective and subjective assessment procedures.     

The role of fathers in child and adolescent psychopathology: make room for daddy.

This review summarizes research concerning the relation between paternal factors and child and adolescent psychopathology. When compared with mothers, fathers continue to be dramatically underrepresented in developmental research on psychopathology. However, findings from studies of children of clinically referred fathers and nonreferred samples of children and their fathers indicate that there is substantial association between paternal characteristics and child and adolescent psychopathology. Findings from studies of fathers of clinically referred children are stronger for fathers' effects on children's externalizing than internalizing problems. In most cases the degree of risk associated with paternal psychopathology is comparable to that associated with maternal psychopathology. Evidence indicates that the presence of paternal psychopathology is a sufficient but not necessary condition for child or adolescent psychopathology.     

Lies,lies, and more lies: A plea for propositions

To resolve putative liar paradoxes it is sufficient to attend to the distinction between liar-sentences and the propositions they would express, and to exercise the option of turning would-be deductions of paradox (of contradictions) into reductios of the existence of those propositions. Defending the coherence of particular resolutions along these lines, leads to recognition of the non-extensionality of some liarsentences. In particular, it turns out that exchanges of terms for identicals in the open-sentence — does not expression a true proposition are not invariably truth-preserving because they are not invariably proposition-expression preserving. All of this recommends propositions as fruitful subjects of interesting renewed research.