Reply to Levy and to Zaidel.

Responds to J. Levy's (see record 1984-07813-001) and E. Zaidel's (see record 1984-07231-001) comments on the present author's (see record 1984-07149-001) review of right-hemisphere language in split-brain patients. The present author replies to Levy's issues-oriented criticisms in which Levy contended that Gazzaniga characterized the right hemisphere as passive and subhuman; Gazzaniga denies this. The present author then responds to Zaidel's comments by reiterating his belief that there is no right-hemisphere profile for natural language. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on "Anxiety and Behavior Scientists' Behavior".

Comments on the article by L. Levy (see record 1962-03110-001) regarding anxiety and behavior scientists' behavior. Levy attempts to demonstrate a relationship between the publication of two instruments for the measurement of anxiety (Taylor's Manifest Anxiety scale, MA, and the Children's Form of the Manifest Anxiety scale, CMA) and a subsequent rise in published research dealing with anxiety. However, the current author argues that a casual glance at Levy's graph showing year-by-year changes in the percentage of papers listed under "anxiety" in Psychological Abstracts reveals that the trend toward greater interest in anxiety precedes the publication of Taylor's original paper in 1951. In addition a perusal of the biochemical or pharmacological literature shows this same increasing trend toward anxiety as a focus of interest anteceding the MA. The current author suggests that we should not be alarmed if the development of these two anxiety measures has indeed stimulated interest in the problem of anxiety and it would seem reasonable to hypothesize that they have to some extent. What is objected to is not Levy's hypothesis but the feast of non sequiturs he cites in support of it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diversity for Clinical Training Programs.

Comments on the L. H. Levy article (see record 1963-04084-001) which discusses publication statistics among a group of 781 clinical psychologists. Levy's finding that that close to 30% of the 1948-53 graduates of studied clinical psychology programs have yet to publish suggested to Levy that a redefinition of clinical psychology is in order. The definition ostensibly accepted by Levy is one selected from a report in 1947 of the APA Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology, i.e., a clinical psychologist is a "research-oriented professional person." Interpretations of this thesis are discussed, and it is noted that there is a strategy which might be implied in Levy's article, and which is clearly championed by many faculty members of training universities. This is the basic research strategy. In essence, it is proposed that university psychology departments should contribute to the mental health field only by doing research and by training researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task-relevant information, social reinforcement, and race as factors affecting performance: A re-appraisal.

In a recent study, J. Tedeschi and T. Levy (see record 1971-28825-001) related responsiveness to social reinforcement in chance vs. skill tasks to previous findings of external control in lower-class blacks and internal control in middle-class whites. In the present article, P. Burgess examines the rationale behind Tedeschi and Levy's predictions, questions the validity of their experimental paradigm, and suggests that their results do not provide adequate support for their conclusions. In a separate article, Tedeschi & Levy reply to Burgess's criticisms. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choosing excellence.

Responds J. A. Plucker and J. J. Levy's (see record 2002-15384-003) comments on D. Lubinski and C. P. Benbow's (see record 2000-13324-013) discussion of individual differences and optimal development of exceptional talent. Lubinski and Benbow note that Plucker and Levy were correct in pointing out that intellectual precocity comes with unique challenges. Lubinski and Benbow view the development of extraordinary expertise as a choice involving trade-offs, and indeed, choosing to achieve genuine excellence has costs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Got a minute? Attentional limits revisited.

Responds to comments by R. C. Tees (see record 1991-03035-001), J. G. Adair (see record 1991-03013-001), J. E. Grusec (see record 1991-03021-001), K. Danziger (see record 1991-03016-001), L. P. Mos (see record 1991-03027-001), H. J. Stam (see record 1991-03033-001), and V. Vikis-Freilbergs (see record 1991-03039-001) on W. Thorngate's (see record 1991-03036-001) contention that the overproduction of psychological literature will lead to fragmentation of the discipline. As the works of psychologists proliterate, their scientific truth may capture less attention than their practical importance or personal interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some remarks on Gati's theory of career decision-making models.

I. Gati's (see record 1987-05798-001) theory of models of career decision making is discussed in reference to C. Taylor's (1985) theory of evaluation modes. It is suggested that there exist at least 3 basic orientations for making career decisions: optimalizing, questing and instant choice. It is argued that these orientations do not simply represent alternative algorithms for acquiring and processing information related to career decisions, a la Gati, but instead speak to the phenomenologically moral nature of the career decision-making situation in a way that Gati's models do not. Implications for career counseling are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply from Sommer and Sommer.

Responds to comments by H. L. Garber (see record 1985-24145-001), E. Furchtgott (see record 1985-24143-001), G. S. Bernstein (see record 1985-24133-001), K. Heskin (see record 1985-24148-001), and K. B. Carsrud (see record 1985-24136-001) on issues raised by the authors (see record 1984-10654-001) on the validity of research findings reported in textbooks. The hazards of unquestioning acceptance of appealing preliminary results and the need to exercise professional judgment in interpreting results are stressed. It is argued that textbooks in such core areas as developmental and abnormal psychology should be conservative in the facts they publish. The use of replication as a means of establishing validity is advocated. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Revealed, concealed, congealed, curdled: A reply to Pomichalek, Lamb, and Denner.

Replies to M. Pomichalek's (see record 1992-19269-001), S. Lamb's (see record 1992-19263-001), and B. Denner's (see record 1992-19257-001) remarks on P. Cushman's comments (see record 1991-17982-001) on D. Stern's (1985) study. Cushman defends constructionist research by maintaining that it can acknowledge and interpret ideology and thereby the moral framework in which the study is embedded. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postmodern psychology: Resonance and reflection.

K. J. Gergen comments on the reactions to his exchange (see record 1994-37275-001) with M. B. Smith (see record 1994-37277-001) from R. L. Russell and M. D. Gaubatz (see record 1995-36714-001); B. Denner (see record 1995-36711-001); D. Mente (see record 1995-36713-001); and D. White and A. Wang (see record 1995-36716-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Comments on three recent subliminal psychodynamic activation investigations": Rejoinder to Oliver and Burkham and to Porterfield.

Considers the replies of A. L. Porterfield (see record 1986-11991-001) and J. M. Oliver and R. Burkham (see record 1986-11985-001) to the critique of the present author (see record 1986-12007-001). The original criticisms are seen as valid. A critical deficiency in the design of Porterfield and S. L. Golding's (see record 1986-11992-001) study is viewed as disqualifying it as a fair attempt at replication. It is suggested that although Oliver and Burkham's (see record 1983-01571-001) study was well-designed, statements made in their write-up are unwarranted. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

About postmodernism: Reply to Gergen and others.

In his reply, M. B. Smith comments on the issues between K. J. Gergen (see record 1994-37275-001) and himself (see record 1994-37277-001) and replies to comments by R. L. Russell and M. D. Gaubatz (see record 1995-36714-001); B. Denner (see record 1995-36711-001); D. Mente (see record 1995-36713-001); and D. White and A. Wang (see record 1995-36716-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is free will a process or a content: Both? Neither? Are we free to affirm a position on this question?

Comments on the views on free will (FW) offered by B. D. Slife (see record 1995-13451-001), M. Gergen (see record 1995-14294-001), R. N. Williams (see record 1995-12851-001), M. S. Richardson (see record 1995-14311-001), and G. S. Howard (see record 1995-13446-001) in light of the classical definition of FW as being capable of doing otherwise. It is argued that FW interpretations differ markedly depending on whether they are viewed as due to a process or to contents within some process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Primate research, family politics, and social policy: Transforming 'cads' into 'dads' ": Reply.

Responds to the comments of S. Sperling (see record 1994-17265-001), J. Belsky (see record 1994-17245-001), V. Phares (see record 1994-17261-001), and M. E. Lamb (see record 1994-17257-001) on the work of L. B. Silverstein (see record 1994-17264-001) on evolutionary biology and human paternal behavior, father involvement, father absence, and biological determinism. Silverstein asserts that her overriding goal was to dramatize how extrascientific factors (e.g., political ideology) shape the construction of scientific knowledge. It is argued that the experience of nurturing and caring for young children has the power to change the cultural construction of masculinity into something less coercive and oppressive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamics.

W. S. Taylor's ("Psychoanalysis revised or psychodynamics developed?" American Psychologist, 1962, 17, 784-788, see record 1963-05882-001) polemic may be assessed against the background provided by Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions as conveniently reviewed by Gillispie (1962) in a recent issue of Science. The present author comments that Taylor fails to see that psychoanalysis is a relatively coherent system of theories rather than an accumulation of the various theories that Taylor says had been put forward by others, sometimes centuries earlier. A major part of his misapprehension is his overlooking the fact that psychoanalysis is primarily a method of research rather than the body of theories that happen, at the present time, to be based on following that method (for a recent discussion of psychoanalysis as a scientific method, see Ramzy, 1962). More important, however, he adopts an either-or attitude, "Psychoanalysis Revised or Psychodynamics Developed," that is quite unnecessary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply to comments on the child-care debate.

Responds to comments by W. B. Johnson and D. Hayes (see record 1993-41125-001), J. E. Maddux (see record 1993-41129-001), K. McCarthey et al (see record 1993-41130-001), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Network (see record 1993-41132-001), and N. Shpancer (see record 1993-41138-001) on L. B. Silverstein's (see record 1992-05293-001) original article on child care and maternal employment, noting that the comments go a long way toward expanding the child-care debate, if not transforming it. Silverstein focuses on the role of psychology in policymaking and the responsibility of government in the lives of individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The possibility of possibility.

Comments that B. D. Slife (see record 1995-13451-001), M. Gergen (see record 1995-14294-001), R. N. Williams (see record 1995-12851-001), and M. S. Richardson (see record 1995-14311-001) all seem to suggest that the contextless nature of the traditional conception of free will is problematic. Although each author attempts to contextualize this traditional conception, many of their explanations reveal that the underlying problem remains. It is suggested that a radically new assumption of time, such as Heidegger's temporality, is necessary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encounter research.

Refers readers interested in the article by D. Hartley et al (see record 1977-01609-001) to 4 articles on encounter research by M. J. Diamond and J. L. Shapiro (see record 1976-05062-001), J. Rowan (see record 1976-02670-001), W. Schutz (see record 1976-02672-001), and P. B. Smith (see record 1976-02673-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

'The structure of phenotypic personality traits": Author's reactions to the six comments.

L. R. Goldberg replies to the comments by R. O. Kroger and L. A. Wood (see record 1994-17497-001), S. Guastello (see record 1994-17488-001), D. R. Comer (see record 1994-17481-001), H. J. Eysenck (see record 1994-17486-001), W. D. Shadel and D. Cervone (see record 1994-17520-001), and H. E. Cattell (see record 1994-17479-001) on Goldberg's (PA, Vol 80:17546) article on the Big Five personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)