Review of Social psychology(4th ed.).

Reviews the book, Social Psychology (4th ed.) by Robert C. Williamson, Paul G. Swingle, and S. Stansfeld Sargent (1982). In an area where there are too many textbooks, the social psychology text by Williamson, Swingle, and Sargent contributes an important alternative to the mass look-a-like introductions to the field. What makes this book different is that it is an integrated work of a sociologist (Williamson) and two psychologists which presents the major concepts and issues in social psychology from both a sociological and a psychological perspective. Most introductions to social psychology are either psychological social psychology or sociological social psychology. The Williamson et al. book, which is in its fourth edition, continues to be an exception to such an insular and incomplete view of social psychology. The book is divided into four parts: the first section presents a discussion of culture and the development of the individual; part two deals with fundamental psychological processes; part three presents basic group processes; and part four is an application of social psychology to a number of social issues. In general, the book provides a good overview of topics, emphasizing the major theories, principles, and research studies on each of the topics. Because of the special nature of this book, it will appeal most to those instructors who wish to present a more balanced introduction to the interdisciplinary field of social psychology, including the developments from both psychology and sociology. It is particularly appropriate for courses which include both sociology and psychology students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Principles of industrial psychology.

Reviews the book, Principles of Industrial Psychology (see record 1955-01700-000). Although "the book is designed as an introductory survey of the entire field of industrial psychology," the reviewer notes that the authors omit many topics. The book presents in substantial fashion those aspects of industrial psychology as the authors perceive it to be. The style of presentation is characterized by critically evaluating research studies reported in the literature and emphasizing the necessary statistical concepts and techniques related to selection of employees. The heavy statistical involvement may make this book a little too difficult for the typical undergraduate student who is not a psychology or statistics major. The reviewer concludes that Principles of Industrial Psychology is an interesting book for a sophisticated audience. It may be misunderstood by typical undergraduates and it may not be too appealing to the man in industry who wishes to apply some principles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The need for a "psychoanalytic psychology" in the cognitive science field.

Cognitive science has incorporated seminal concepts of psychoanalysis without acknowledging this influence. This article covers psychoanalytic ideas already incorporated—implicitly or explicitly—in modern cognitive psychology, as well as ideas whose inclusion would benefit the cognitive field. These include the emphasis on mental models, mind–body interaction, unconscious processes, dual processes of thought, and naturalistic research milieus. The article discusses reasons why the psychoanalytic roots of these ideas have not been acknowledged and shows how the theories of multiple coding and the referential process provide a basis for bridging the psychoanalytic and cognitive science fields. Finally, it is argued that scientific psychology requires a subfield of psychoanalytic psychology that covers the integration of information-processing functions, including somatic and emotional processes, in the context of an individual's overall goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Giving Psychology Away Is Expensive.

Comment on "Does Psychology make a significant difference in our lives?" by P. Zimbardo (see record 2004-16479-003). We deeply appreciate the documentation and inspiration provided by Zimbardo on how psychology is reaching out to the public by "giving psychology away" (p. 340). We totally agree that psychology has much, much more to offer that could be used to improve human lives. We believe that in addition to a sincere desire to give psychology away, there needs to be a recognition of the realities of living in a capitalist society. In a market-driven economy, it is the value of intellectual property in the form of revenue generated that will determine whether psychological knowledge is widely disseminated and used. Zimbardo made a very good case for using the media to obtain free advertising; however, we believe a more radical approach is needed. The authors go on to discuss their views. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Letter to the Editor": Reply.

Responds to the comments by D. E. Berlyne (see record 2007-02140-027) on the original article by P. O. Davidson (see record 2007-02137-003) on "Graduate training and research funding for clinical psychology in Canada." Dr. Berlyne's general point is well taken. The intention of Dr. Davidson was to provoke not to offend and he apparently missed the 'fine line distinction' in the paragraph to which Dr. Berlyne refers. The word 'hobby' need not be considered as pejorative term in the 'hobby-horse' sense. In using this term Davidson was indicating that while studies ABOUT the rat may be a favorite (and valuable) research subject for some researchers he was not prepared to assume that it is the main business of psychology. Davidson agrees completely with Dr. Berlyne that much of this research can be justified as both necessary and valuable but given our limited research resources these days and increasing governmental involvement in directions of research spending, such justification must be given and too often is not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an emancipatory psychology.

Responds to comments by W. Mieder (see record 1991-03996-001), K. L. Dion (see record 1991-03991-001), and K. J. Gergen (see record 1991-03993-001) on T. B. Rogers's (see record 1991-03999-001) examination of the role of proverbs in psychology. It is argued that theory is important for the critical social functions it serves, rather than just for the quest for truth. Also, consideration of an emancipatory psychology is recommended, in which psychology is viewed as a socially embedded discipline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separating group supervision from group therapy: Avoiding epistemological confusion.

Comments on M. T. Riva and J. A. Erickson's (see record 1996-09446-001) article examining group supervision practices in psychology predoctoral internships. The author argues that extant research in the area of group supervision has already provided evidence that suggests therapy-based group supervision environments or processes are likely not effective approaches to use with trainees. It is concluded that approaching group supervision primarily as a process of learning that is best informed by pedagogy, rather than as an activity similar to group therapy in its processes and goals, may assist supervisors and researchers in finding effective and ethical methods to train psychology students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le défrichement: Recherche qualitative en psychologie chez les anglophones canadiens.

This is a French version of the article that originally appeared in Canadian Psychology, 2002(August), Vol 43(3), p. 139-140. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2002-17756-001). Qualitative research (QR) occupies a middle ground between the sciences and the humanities, which goes against established research practice in psychology and most related social and health science disciplines. At present, QR in Canadian psychology is beginning to take root in some universities and research organizations. Most of the contributors to this special issue reflect this development in Anglophone Canadian psychology. This article briefly introduces the contributions to this special issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strengthening the scientific foundations of professional psychology: Time for the next steps.

The field of professional psychology has been tremendously successful, although it has also been characterized by many competing preparadigmatic theoretical orientations, which have led to a great deal of contention as well as conflicting views regarding psychological development, functioning, and behavior change. There is now widespread agreement regarding scientific explanations of many psychological processes, however, and, consequently, it is time to update the basic conceptual frameworks used for professional psychology education and practice. Replacing the traditional reliance on an array of theoretical orientations with a science-based biopsychosocial framework would resolve many of the contradictions and conflicts that characterized the preparadigmatic era and would also provide a common perspective for unifying psychologists around a shared approach to practice, research, and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Cambridge handbook of forensic psychology.

Reviews the book, The Cambridge handbook of forensic psychology edited by Jennifer M. Brown and Elizabeth A. Campbell (see record 2010-18536-000). The Cambridge handbook of forensic psychology is a comprehensive reference book that covers a wide range of topics within the field of forensic psychology. The chapters are well-written and clearly organized, with each providing a review of key issues and suggestions for further readings. The latter is particularly useful since none of the students interested in the fields of forensic psychology, criminology, legal studies, sociology, and law. Furthermore, individuals already involved directly with the criminal justice and court systems may also find information in this textbook informative to their professional practice. It is noteworthy that the editors include a major section on research practice, and this material will be instructive to students but also researchers in the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Action-Project Method in Counseling Psychology.

The qualitative action-project method is described as an appropriate and heuristic qualitative research method for use in counseling psychology. Action theory, which addresses human intentional, goal-directed action, project, and career, provides the conceptual framework for the method. Data gathering and analysis involve multiple procedures to access information from 3 perspectives: manifest behavior, internal processes, and social meaning. The method has a number of advantages, including its conceptualization, which is close to human experience; its systematic data gathering and analysis procedures; its usefulness in describing processes of interest to counseling psychologists; and its uniqueness among qualitative research methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Journal Impact Factors and Self-Citations: Implications for Psychology Journals.

Comments on the study by J. G. Adair and N. Vohra (see record 2003-02034-002) of changes in the number of references and citations in psychology journals as a consequence of the current knowledge explosion. They made a striking observation of the sometimes excessive number of self-citations in psychology journals. However, after this illustration, no further attention was paid to the issue of self-citation. Therefore, an important underexplored question is to what extent impact factors of psychology journals are artificially inflated or deflated by self-citations. For the present article, the authors used the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) databases Web of Science (WoS) and Journal Citation Reports (JCR) as the basis of our analyses. From each article (including empirical articles and literature reviews) in five high-, five middle-, and five low-ranked journals in psychology published in 1998 and 1999, they collected the number of self-citations and other-citations in 2000 from the WoS. Data analyses show that, compared with low- and middle-impact psychology journals, the true citation counts of high-impact psychology journals are actually underestimated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is psychological research really as good as medical research? Effect size comparisons between psychology and medicine.

Researchers have looked at comparisons between medical epidemiological research and psychological research using effect size r in an effort to compare relative effects. Often the outcomes of such efforts have demonstrated comparatively low effects for medical epidemiology research in comparison with effect sizes seen in psychology. The conclusion has often been that relatively small effects seen in psychology research are as strong as those found in important epidemiological medical research. The author suggests that many of the calculated effect sizes from medical epidemiological research on which this conclusion has been based are flawed. Specifically, rather than calculating effect sizes for treatment, many results have been for a Treatment Effect × Disease Effect interaction that was irrelevant to the main study hypothesis. A technique for developing a “hypothesis-relevant” effect size r is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A history of psychology: Original sources and contemporary research, 3rd edition.

Reviews the book, A history of psychology: Original sources and contemporary research, 3rd edition by Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. (see record 2008-08540-000). This book joins recent scholarship in the history of psychology with an assortment of classic articles and texts in the field. Published primarily as a reader or companion text, it offers a collection of 44 articles, 20 of which are primary source material; the remainder are more recent secondary sources from well-established authors in the area. In this third edition, Benjamin has made some editorial changes from previous versions of this popular text. For example, the number of chapters has been reduced from 16 to 11 in order to make it a more suitable companion to a traditional textbook on the history of psychology. While there are some wonderful articles here, the reviewer notes a general lack of critical perspective in both Benjamin’s narratives and his choice of secondary sources which prevents him from giving this review the glow that one would normally associate with such esteemed authors and scholarship. His main concerns are that, first, the epistemic and ontological perspectives offered are largely those of professional psychologists rather than those of historians, reflecting a field where researchers already struggle with the notions of interpretation and context, all set within a self-imposed framework of empirical science and objectivity. Second, as a result of this, the future of the history of psychology course is in peril because of its own popularity as a capstone course, where it seems to serve, by and large, the ceremonial and disciplinary function of codifying psychology’s scientific identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The integration of behavior.

Reviews the book, The integration of behavior by Thomas M. French (1952). In this fundamental contribution to Ego psychology French undertakes to elucidate the workings of integrative mechanisms, using as illustrative material the record of the analysis of an asthmatic patient. The first volume--Basic Postulates (see record 1952-05902-000) presnts, in a first approximation, the conceptual framework evolved by French, exemplifying the "basic postulates" by instances taken from everyday normal behavior and from some of the patient's dreams. In the second volume--The Integrative Process in Dreams (see record 1954-05671-000) the author brings detailed analyses of several sequences of the patient's dreams, elaborating the integrative processes and the system of personal patterns reflected in these dreams. French's undertaking can be considered as one of the most valuable among the current attempts to evolve a systematic "ego psychology," centering it on the successfully integrated behavior, on constructive, rather than defensive, functions of the psychic organization. Through a judicious selection of concepts and theories that have both a high explanatory power and a close fit to facts, he tries to "bring into resonance" not only the rational and irrational behavior, but also many other dichotomous areas and approaches of the personality study. Personality psychologists will certainly welcome this attempt at overcoming the segregation of various approaches to the study of human behavior, even if one may disagree with the specific selections French makes, and regret the fact that the inclusion of so many theories and speculations tends to obliterate the main outlines of the work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new vision of personality...and of personality theory: Reply.

Replies to comments by Maddi (see record 2006-05893-007) on "A Tale of Two Visions: Can a New View of Personality Help Integrate Psychology?" (see record 2005-05480-001). In the original article, the current author proposed a new fieldwide framework for the discipline of personality psychology; in essence, it is a new outline to organize contemporary theory and research in the field. Maddi raised two interrelated objections to that proposed framework. First, he believes that there is a better way to organize the discipline of personality psychology than the one the current author proposed. His method involves comparing and analyzing the grand theories of personality and using the results of his analyses to guide research in the discipline. Maddi's (1968) meta-theory usefully organizes the statements of the grand theories of the early-to-mid-20th century, but the current author is not sure it is sufficient to organize the field. Second, he was concerned that the current author wants to de-emphasize the grand theories of the field. Maddi (2006) believes that disagreements among the grand theories are a fruitful source of research ideas. Although that may be true, there is more to personality psychology than the grand theories alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Practicing Participatory Action Research.

This article provides an overview of several core theoretical and practical aspects of participatory action research (PAR). An effort is made to define PAR and the types of work that fall under that rubric. Historical underpinnings, roles of the individuals involved, contexts, methods, and the challenges and benefits of this mode of inquiry are discussed. The authors argue that the approach and mindset of the researcher, referred to here as a type of "attitude," are key in the development of a successful and genuine participatory process. The authors situate PAR methodology within psychology and, more specifically, propose it as an approach to knowing that has the potential to make significant contributions in areas relevant to counseling psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Future Psychologists: Scientist and Teacher.

Comments on Stuart W. Cook's (Amer. Psychologist, 1958, 13, 635- 644) discussion of psychology in the future, noting that Cook ignores the teaching of psychology as a rightful professional endeavor. Van Liere argues that many excellent researchers are poor teachers, and many excellent teachers have no wish to research or publish. He concludes that the teaching of psychology is important to advancing the profession, so excellent teachers should be considered important and held in as high esteem as researchers who publish but cannot teach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Logic and human reasoning: An assessment of the deduction paradigm.

The study of deductive reasoning has been a major paradigm in psychology for approximately the past 40 years. Research has shown that people make many logical errors on such tasks and are strongly influenced by problem content and context. It is argued that this paradigm was developed in a context of logicist thinking that is now outmoded. Few reasoning researchers still believe that logic is an appropriate normative system for most human reasoning, let alone a model for describing the process of human reasoning, and many use the paradigm principally to study pragmatic and probabilistic processes. It is suggested that the methods used for studying reasoning be reviewed, especially the instructional context, which necessarily defines pragmatic influences as biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimating and testing mediation and moderation in within-subject designs.

Analyses designed to detect mediation and moderation of treatment effects are increasingly prevalent in research in psychology. The mediation question concerns the processes that produce a treatment effect. The moderation question concerns factors that affect the magnitude of that effect. Although analytic procedures have been reasonably well worked out in the case in which the treatment varies between participants, no systematic procedures for examining mediation and moderation have been developed in the case in which the treatment varies within participants. The authors present an analytic approach to these issues using ordinary least squares estimation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)