Forecasting “friends forever”: A longitudinal investigation of sustained closeness between best friends

Using data collected across 19 years, the chief goal of this study was to discover predictors of continued relational closeness between best friends. Participants were same‐sex and cross‐sex best friend pairs recruited from a small Midwestern college. In 1983, participants completed several tests and activities designed to assess facets of intimacy, with follow‐up studies in 1987 and 2002 measuring relational closeness. Regression analysis indicates that both manifest similarity and months of closeness in 1983 are associated with relational closeness in 2002. These results suggest that the investment of resources in the friendship and similarity between friends facilitate friendship longevity and that Kelley et al.’s (1983) conceptualization of closeness as related to interdependence is empirically robust.     

Teaching inference in personality test interpretation: verbal abstract reasoning and the TAT

Instructors of personality assessment are challenged with teaching students how to execute the tacit thinking skills necessary to make sound test interpretations. The author provides a concrete tool for teaching students how to make interpretive inferences from verbal personality test data utilizing the construct of verbal abstract reasoning. Applied specifically to Thematic Apperception Test interpretation, the author discusses how the construct of verbal abstract reasoning can be utilized: as a model for providing explicit instruction on the implicit process of drawing inferences in test interpretation; for grounding students in data when constructing interpretations and avoiding making overpersonalized interpretations; as a means of basing interpretations on a convergence of data; as a means of gauging the level of confidence one can place in interpretations; and for understanding inferences drawn from other tests, such as the Rorschach.     

Construct representation and definitions in psychopathology: the case of delusion

Background  

Delusion is one of the most intriguing psychopathological phenomena and its conceptualization remains the subject of genuine debate. Claims that it is ill-defined, however, are typically grounded on essentialist expectations that a given definition should capture the core of every instance acknowledged as delusion in the clinical setting.