Construct Validity and Reliability of Hartman's Color Code Personality Profile1

The three reliability and two construct validity studies presented here represent the first psychometric research on the commercially successful and popular Hartman Color Code Personality Profile. The reliability studies found high reliability after 3 and 6 weeks. The construct validity studies substantiated that the Color Code assesses some personality traits. The magnitude of the error variance suggests caution, however, in using the Color Code classifications at the individual level.     

Randomized controlled trial of an intervention to prevent adherence failure among HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Compare the efficacy of a multicomponent social support intervention to standard-of-care counseling on medication adherence among HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. Generalized estimating equations tested for differences in the percentage of participants achieving 90% adherence. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pill-taking, electronically monitored over 6 consecutive months; plasma viral load (VL), assessed at 3 and 6 months following initiation of therapy. RESULTS: Of 226 participants who were randomized and began the trial, 87 (38%) were lost to the study by 6 months. The proportion of adherent participants declined steadily over time, with no time by group interaction. Sustained adherence was associated with increased odds of achieving an undetectable VL (OR=1.78; 95% CI=1.01, 3.13). In intention-to-treat analyses, a larger proportion of the intervention group than the control group was adherent (40.15% vs. 27.59%, p=.02) and achieved an undetectable VL p=.04). However, the majority of participants who remained on study experienced some reduction in VL (>or=1-log drop or undetectable), regardless of experimental condition. CONCLUSION: The multicomponent social support intervention significantly improved medication adherence over standard-of-care counseling; evidence for improved virologic outcomes was inconsistent. Early discontinuation of care and treatment may be a greater threat to the health of HIV patients than imperfect medication-taking.     

Is there a ‘psychosomatogenic’ family?*

Review of the literature revealed two family theories of psychosomatic illness: the ‘enmeshed’ family of Minuchin and the family with affect disturbances. We interviewed twelve families, each containing a child with eczema. Most, but not all, of the families do fit in with one or other or both of the proposed interactional patterns, but the theory of a single family type, the ‘psychosomatogenic family’, is not supported. This complements the studies of individuals where specificity hypotheses have proved oversimplified.     

The Luscher Color Test: An Investigation of Validity and Underlying Assumptions

This experiment investigated several underlying assumptions and one aspect of the validity of the Luscher Color Test, a projective test developed in Europe and relatively unknown in the United States. It was predicted that Ss would report increases in “negative” feelings to the color red, while blue would have the opposite effect, and yellow would produce an increase in “positive” feelings. Twenty-three male and 23 female Ss rated their immediate reactions to the LCT colors on seven mood adjectives, following which they were given the short version LCT and the IPAT Anxiety Scale. The results supported the hypotheses regarding blue and yellow, but not those regarding red nor the validity of the LCT as an anxiety measuring instrument.     

Women and men in conversation: a consideration of therapists' interruptions in therapeutic discourse

Studies of day-to-day conversation have shown that interrupting can be used as a gendered means of determining both conversational topic and speaker. This paper explores the nature of interruptions in therapeutic conversations in this light. Drawing upon two recent studies of therapists' interruptions, the author offers some preliminary ideas for consideration by therapists, clinical supervisors and researchers.     

When Traits Are Behaviors: The Relationship Between Behavioral Responses and Trait-Based Overall Assessment Center Ratings

Federal and state court cases were reviewed to determine the legality of banding. Banding specifies a range of test scores that are considered equivalent for selection purposes, which allows the use of other job-related or diversity factors to select among candidates within a particular band. Although the Supreme Court has not ruled on the legality of banding, state, district, and appellate courts have upheld different types of banding (e.g., fixed, sliding, random) under the 14th Amendment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. However, the case review indicated that banding is less likely to survive legal scrutiny when minority preference is the only factor used to choose among candidates within a band. Implications for organizations using or considering banding are discussed.     

GORGIAS' DEFENSE: PLATO AND HIS OPPONENTS ON RHETORIC AND THE GOOD

This paper explores in detail Gorgias' defense of rhetoric in Plato's Gorgias (456c–7c), noting its connections to earlier and later texts such as Aristophanes' Clouds, Gorgias' Helen, Isocrates' Nicocles and Antidosis, and Aristotle's Rhetoric. The defense as Plato presents it is transparently inadequate; it reveals a deep inconsistency in Gorgias' conception of rhetoric and functions as a satirical precursor to his refutation by Socrates. Yet Gorgias' defense is appropriated, in a streamlined form, by later defenders of rhetoric such as Isocrates and Aristotle. They present it as an effective reductio against a critique of rhetoric that depends on the “harm criterion.” This is puzzling, since Plato's own critique of rhetoric does not depend on the harm criterion. On the other hand, Plato does seem to embrace the harm criterion as a more general principle—as if pre‐emptively embracing the reductio—in his arguments about the good in the Meno and Euthydemus. Nonetheless, Isocrates and Aristotle seem to be deliberately misreading Plato on rhetoric: where he intends to criticize its intrinsic nature, they respond as if he were merely complaining about its contingent effects.     

Comprehensive Trail Making Test performance in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury

The sensitivity of the Trail Making Test to brain damage has been well-established over many years, making it one of the most commonly used tests in clinical neuropsychological evaluations. The current study examined the validity of scores from a newer version of the Trail Making Test, the Comprehensive Trail Making Test (CTMT), in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants included 242 children and adolescents, 121 with sustained TBI and 121 normal control participants, who were matched to the individuals with TBI on age and sex. Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that the CTMT composite index provided the best overall classification, with a correct classification rate of 79%. Differences between the TBI and control groups remained stable across age. These findings indicate that the CTMT is sensitive to TBI and overall demonstrates classification rates that are comparable with some other versions of the Trail Making Test. Whether the CTMT will exhibit similar classification accuracy in adults with TBI and for other neurological disorders awaits further investigation.     

Perception and Perceptual-Motor Processes in Children with Down's Syndrome

Some controversy exists regarding visual discrimination of form and its execution. The hypothesis that an inability to reproduce a display is not necessarily an indication that the display has been incorrectly perceived was examined in 34 mongol children (15 male, 19 female, mean CA 11.9 years) matched for MA with a control group of 25 normal children (10 male, 15 female, mean CA 4.2 years). Fifteen mongol children (six male and nine female) were identified who revealed perceptual deficits on block construction tests, and experimental work was conducted to determine the extent and nature of this impairment. The construction tests consisted of various displays made from five equal sized blocks. This was followed by an identification test consisting of two dimensional representations of the block designs printed on cards. All 15 mongol children were able to recognize and identify correctly a display from a selection which corresponded to a stimulus display, and 11 were able to go further and recognize a two dimensional representation of the stimulus. There was no significant difference between males and females. The experimental work reported here supports the hypothesis.