EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE MMPI FOR EMPLOYEE SCREENING

Psychological screening has become commonplace in a number of occupational groups. With the growing popularity of screening and the relative scarcity of appropriate personality measures, re-screening individuals with the same inventory is frequent. This paper examines the effect of re-screening with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) on contract workers (n = 1,997) from the nuclear power industry. Participants completed the Inventory as a part of a routine screening procedure. Each participant provided several profiles as a result of regular employment cycles. Although the differences are generally small, some scales show large enough mean changes to warrant concern when interpreting the profiles of those who have taken the profile multiple times. Although scale reliabilities tend to increase, the usefulness of the Inventory appears to decrease with an increasing number of administrations. The effect is one of increasing normality of test profiles. One interpretation of the results is that candidates for jobs become "test-wise," and the scores are the result of a combination of responses to the repeated assessment. It becomes increasingly difficult to identify unfit employees with the Inventory. Given these results, further research on retesting effects of the Inventov, as well as other personality measures, is indicated.     

Attachment,partner choice,and perception of romantic partners: An experimental test of the attachment-security hypothesis

We propose that the primary attachment process that influences partner choice is a normative one, the desire to form a secure attachment bond, and that a potential partner's attractiveness is, in part, a function of the degree to which the partner can offer the opportunity to form a secure attachment bond. An experimental test of the attachment-security hypothesis was conducted with male and female (N= 282) heterosexual college students in the southeastern United States who had previously been classified as having one of four attachment styles: secure, preoccupied, fearful, or dismissive. Participants read scenarios (derived from Pietromonaco & Carnelley, 1994) that depicted a relationship with an opposite-sex partner who displayed one of the four attachment styles, rated their reactions to the relationship, and assessed the imaginary partner on 20 personality traits. Results provided support for the attachment-security hypothesis in two ways: (a) secure partners elicited more positive and less negative emotions than all other partners, followed by preoccupied partners, who elicited more positive emotions than either avoidant type, and (b) for the explicit choice of romantic partners, secure partners were preferred to all insecure types, who did not differ from each other. Both preoccupied and dismissive participants saw partners similar to themselves as more secure than did the other participants.     

PEIRCE'S "ARCHITECTURE OF THEORIES" AND THE PROBLEM OF PRAGMATISM

The paper begins as a response to Tom Rockmore's thesis that contemporary pragmatism is a healthy “confusion” of disparate views. While Rockmore sees the need of some of today's pragmatists to provide a motivation for what he calls “epistemic optimism,” I contend that the crucial question of pragmatism, the problem of pragmatism, is the ontological status of pragmatic meaning. Thus rather than a mere “epistemic optimism,” I call upon pragmatists to assert a fallible yet unabashedly metaphysical optimism. The argument supporting this claim is made in the context of Peirce's “The Architecture of Theories.” In “The Architecture of Theories” Peirce opens the door to a pragmatic metaphysics while at the same time committing the error of subordinating truths and reality to “the long run of inquiry.” Rockmore suggest that the solution may lie in a return to Kant's notion of the “powers of the mind.” However, it is my contention that a solution to this problem cannot be found within Kant at all. I shall argue here that until contemporary pragmatism decisively extracts itself from the Kantian paradigm, the pragmatic philosophic value of pragmatic meaning will always be qualified, conditional and ontologically subordinated, having the same effect upon the standing of pragmatism as a philosophy as well. Moreover, I shall endeavor to show that when the Kantian paradigm is finally abandoned, pragmatism's classic difficulties with realism and what Peircc called “the long run” of scientific inquiry can also be resolved. Kantian “powers of the mind” and constructivist “epistemological optimism” would then be transformed into what I shall call unrestricted pragmatism. On the other hand if the Kantian impediment is not overcome, these difficulties will continue to form the basis of a more sceptical and traditionally restricted pragmatism, one which lacks the confidence desired by both Rockmore and myself.     

ROLE-TAKING AND ROLE-PLAYING IN HUMAN COMMUNICATION

The work of George Herbert Mead and Jean Piaget is stimulating interest among the social sciences in role-taking behavior as an intervening variable affecting human communication. This paper clarifies the concept of role-taking and distinguishes role-taking from related constructs with which it has been confused. It is shown, however, that clarification of role-taking requires serious consideration of the related concept of role-playing. The product of these considerations is a discussion of some implications for communication theory and research suggested by the conceptualizations and distinctions developed in this paper.     

Understanding Marital Satisfaction and Couple Type as Functions of Relational Expectations

The present study examined the role played by relational expectations in determining marital satisfaction and in discriminating between married couple types. The discrepancy between one's expectations for his or her spouse's relational behavior and one's perceptions of his or her spouse's actual behavior significantly predicted marital satisfaction. Discrepancy scores for the relational dimensions of intimacy, distance, equality/ trust, dominance, and noncomposure/arousal appear to be most central in predicting satisfaction. While agreement between spouses on relational expectations significantly predicted satisfaction, expectation/perception discrepancies were revealed to be stronger predictors than agreement scores. There were no differences in relational expectations when compared across couple type; however, intimacy and noncomposure/arousal displayed significant differences when compared across wives’ individual marital type. Overall, intimacy, noncomposure/arousal, and equality/trust played central roles in understanding marital satisfaction.     

The Nature of Arousal and Nonverbal Indices

The current monograph asserts that nonverbal behaviors can serve as useful overt indices of experienced arousal. Various conceptualizations of arousal and factors eliciting arousal in communication situations are examined. It is proposed that, from a communication standpoint, indices of arousal and arousal change are best classified along two dimensions of arousal intensity and arousal valence. Diverse bodies of literature on nonverbal concamitants of arousal are reviewed. As a first test of whether separate profiles exist for negatively, as opposed to positively or neutrally, valenced arousal, data are analyzed from a mock-interview experiment in which, following a baseline interview, participants (N=52) were subjected by an interviewer to either increased or decreased involvement. The involvement changes were expected to elevate arousal intensity for all participants and induce positively or negatively valenced arousal in the two respective conditions. Polynomial regressions and z-test comparisons of correlations revealed that 16 composites, comprising a total of 47 nonverbal variables, showed significant associations with changes in arousal.