Noblesse oblige effect: The interpretation of Rorschach responses as a function of ascribed social class.

Presented fabricated Rorschach responses and a case history suggesting lower- or middle-class status of the patient to 41 clinical psychology students and PhD psychologists. Ss rated the patient on 22 personality scales, indicated diagnosis and prognosis, and wrote a short summary of their impressions. Neither the clinician's sex nor experience affected the ratings, but the ascribed social class of the S did. Unexpectedly, the lower-class protocol was rated less severely than the middle-class protocol (p     

Rorschach interpretation in a multidisciplinary hospital setting.

Presents a case study that illustrates the use of the Rorschach to provide information used in resolving an acute behavioral conflict between an 18-yr-old Black male patient and medical personnel in a hospital setting. The S was perceived as "obnoxious" rather than as emotionally dysfunctional because of a clash between his style of responding to an illness and the pattern of medical care administered. Rorschach interpretation was used to reorient the medical staff about the nature of their medical care and to provide a more accurate understanding of the S's psychological distress. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of member status differences and task type on group consensus and member position change.

Investigated how status differences among discussants, together with the type of task, influenced the social-decision schemes that guide consensus and group performance among 345 male undergraduates. Members of 3-person groups received feedback from a test of decision-making ability that created 1 of 3 task-relevant status distributions (conditional, 2-3-4; outstanding, 2-2-5; and equal, 3-3-3 [larger values indicate higher status]) and reached consensus decisions on 1 intellective task (a mystery problem) and 2 judgmental tasks (personnel selection and allocation of resources). The latter 2 tasks had no correct answers and were particularly susceptible to normative factors. The particular social-decision scheme model (reformulated to allow for individual differences) that successfully predicted group decisions emphasized both task and status distribution: Intellective problem responses were predicted by a truth-wins model in the equal and conditional power conditions and a power-wins model in the outstanding power condition. Discussion-induced personal change (individual preferences before–after discussion) was highly dependent on status level, except for the intellective task, for which change was independent of status, but greater in overall magnitude than for the other 2 tasks. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problems of organizational control in microcosm: Group performance and group member satisfaction as a function of differences in control structure.

Studied 2 aspects of organizational control structure-amount of control possessed by all organizational members and distribution of this control-in 64 3-person groups of undergraduates using role-playing techniques. 2 hypotheses were tested and found significant (p     

Diagnostic concordance for schizophrenia as a function of sex.

Examined both pairwise and cumulative concordance as a function of sex using 6 diagnostic systems (e.g., Research Diagnostic Criteria, and the New Haven Schizophrenia Index) on 387 inpatients with severe psychopathology. Pairwise concordance was significantly more often higher for men than for women; cumulative concordance distributions also differed significantly between the sexes, with men manifesting greater concordance. Differences in diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and their role in sex differences are discussed. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interpretation of opinion statements as a function of recipient attitude.

Judgments of attitudes of others were investigated in the light of the apparently contradictory findings of Festinger vs. Hovland & Sherif. The present results were interpreted as supporting the conclusions of the latter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence and leadership as a function of group structure.

"In a group decision situation, influence and perceived leadership were studied as a function of an individual's position in the communication network of his group. The hypotheses were advanced that, regardless of the network he is in, a group member (a) will be influenced less as his group reaches a decision, and (b) will be perceived as the group leader more often when his position in the communication network is more central… . On an overall basis, both hypotheses were confirmed… . The hypothesis concerning influence was tenable only in the case of one kind of network." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conformity to groups as a function of group success.

"Three person groups were given different degrees of success and failure in a collaborative group task. Following this, individuals twice judged the number of flickers of a light, receiving a purported average judgment prior to the second estimate." Persons in groups given all successes showed significantly more movement of the second judgment in the direction of the purported group average than did members of all failure groups or persons having no group experience. Persons in groups having partial success were intermediate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality profile similarity as a function of group membership.

Students in 3 universities were compared in an investigation of the question as to whether personality similarity between Ss paired at random would increase as the homogeneity of the group from which they were drawn increased. Homogeneity was defined in terms of race, sex, social class, and field of study. The results failed to confirm the expectation but they furnished convincing evidence of the existence of a low, positive, and significant average profile similarity among Ss paired at random. Regardless of its source, this phenomenon of interperson profile similarity should be taken into account in future studies utilizing personality similarity as a variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinforcing effects of nicotine as a function of smoking status.

The authors compared acute nicotine self-administration among 4 groups varying in current or past dependence: dependent smokers, nondependent smokers, ex-smokers who had quit at least I year ago, and nonsmokers. Nicotine (0 vs. 12 μg/kg/8 sprays) available by nasal spray was self-administered with a choice procedure. Self-administration also was related to participant characteristics (sex, alcohol and caffeine intake, sensation-seeking score) and to subjective responses to initial nicotine spray exposure. Nicotine self-administration was similar between dependent and nondependent smokers but was greater in those groups than in ex-smokers and nonsmokers, who did not differ from each other. Self-administration was unrelated to most other participant characteristics. In nonsmokers, self-administration was related directly to pleasurable effects but inversely to aversive effects. Few effects were related to self-administration in the other groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the Rorschach test as a diagnostic criterion.

In his American Psychologist article, Joseph Lerner (see record 1964-01189-001) kindly ascribed to me words which properly belong to Samuel J. Beck. Beck does refer to my Perceptanalysis (Piotrowski & Lewis, 1957), but not on the same page. His words express my past belief. At present my attitude is more complex. It changed after I checked some "blind" Rorschach diagnoses and clinical psychiatric diagnoses on the same patients (Piotrowski, 1950, p. 363), and read published reviews of the reliability and validity of clinical psychiatric diagnoses. These revealed that a considerable percentage of first admission patients, discharged as psychoneurotics, are rediagnosed as schizophrenics after a re-examination several years later. In fact, some schizophrenic conditions escape detection through clinical observations for as long as 10 years, despite intermittent clinical examinations. The Rorschach test definitely is highly sensitive to schizophrenia even though at times some remitted or much improved schizophrenics produce test records failing to give any indication of the psychosis, let alone of the past acute psychotic episodes Lerner stated that "the Rorschach alone is of little assistance unless it is an integral part of the total evaluation." Well, if the Rorschach is never used as an independent diagnostic criterion, we shall never know how good or bad a diagnostic criterion it is. Using it as a part source of information, is to contaminate it (that is why "blind" diagnoses are important). The second point is: It seems advisable to follow the rule that if clinical observations or the Rorschach test--or both--suggest schizophrenia, this diagnosis is likely to be valid. This rule is compatible with Lerner's conclusion that an evaluation based on all available sources of information is better than one which utilizes only one diagnostic criterion, be it test, anamnesis, or clinical examination. To be certain that the Rorschach test is a dependable diagnostic criterion in neuropsychiatry we must have first highly reliable diagnostic test procedures. A digital computer program of Rorschach interpretation, including numerous diagnostic formulae, has been written to achieve objective and perfectly reliable application of the diagnostic test rules to individual cases. The computer program will be submitted to a stringent test of validity. We shall then be in possession of a test which will yield independent and uncontaminated diagnoses. These, in turn, will be available for use independently or as part of a "total evaluation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in group problem-solving behavior and effectiveness as a function of abstractness.

Classes of undergraduates and classes of graduate management students who were experienced managers were administered the O'Connor Abstractness Orientation Scale, a structural cognitive style measure. The 5 highest and lowest scorers in each of 20 class sections were assigned to abstract and concrete problem-solving groups, respectively. Concrete groups required almost twice as long as abstract groups to complete the assigned task (p?≤?.001). Compared to concrete groups, abstract group Ss interacted at a faster pace and demonstrated better cue utilization (p?≤?.001). No differences were found between undergraduate and graduate groups. Results are consistent with findings from prior research on concreteness–abstractness or cognitive complexity. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interpretation of praise and criticism as a function of their social context.

The effect of the interaction of praise and punishment with relative social status (superordinate, subordinate, peer) was studied by exposing college students to events occurring in different social contexts (family, occupation, military). It was assumed that the context would define the frame of reference in which the praise and punishment and social status would be evaluated. The data demonstrated that praise is reacted to more favorably than criticism regardless of context, but that context determines the relative effect of evaluative statements. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GE91D. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions of a psychotherapy group to ambiguous circumstances surrounding the death of a group member.

Describes the reactions of group-therapy patients on a psychiatric ward of a general hospital to the death of a group member who died in the hospital the day before the session in question took place. The circumstances of this patient's death were ambiguous as to whether the death was due to suicide or accident. In view of the ambiguity of the situation, some members of the treatment team felt that group discussion would generate more emotional disturbance among the Ss than it would reduce. It was concluded that discussion of death and open consideration of the feelings of guilt, anxiety, and hostility involved can be therapeutic in a group as well as in an individual setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in representation of body image as a function of menarcheal status.

Investigated the significance of menarche for girls' body image and sexual identification by assessing human figure drawings produced by 87 adolescent girls on 2 occasions, 6 mo apart. Three groups of Ss were studied: girls who were premenarcheal on both test occasions, girls who were postmenarcheal on both test occasions, and girls who changed menarcheal status between the 2 test administrations. Parallel results were obtained from both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons of pre- vs postmenarcheal girls. Postmenarcheal girls produced more sexually differentiated human figure drawings and more frequently drew their own sex first when asked to draw a person. Postmenarcheal, as compared to premenarcheal, girls indicated greater satisfaction with "female" body parts on a modified body-cathexis scale. These data confirm clinical speculations that menarche is a pivotal event for reorganization of the adolescent girl's body image and sexual identity. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attractiveness of group as function of self-esteem and acceptance by group.

"Persons made to feel well accepted in a group found the group more attractive than did those made to feel poorly accepted. But this difference was significantly greater among persons with low self-esteem… low self-esteem being taken as an indication of strong need for acceptance. Some support was given to the additional predictions that attractiveness of membership in a group varies directly with need for acceptance when a group is accepting and inversely when a group is non-accepting." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A conflict-theory interpretation of attitude change in forced compliance situations.

Attitude change following forced compliance was studied in a 4 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design. Using one of four predesignated issues under two levels of incentive, subjects who had previously expressed either high or low interest in the issue, were invited to make a counter-attitudinal tape-recording. Half of the groups originated their own arguments while half read prepared arguments. Half of the subjects actually engaged in the role playing while half simply committed themselves to the task before answering a post-test questionnaire. It was found that the origins of the argument, role-playing performance, and high incentive levels were potent forces in promoting attitude change. High-interest subjects generally showed more attitude change than low-interest subjects. Both positive and negative relations between magnitude of incentive and attitude change were obtained. These results were found to be consistent with a conflict theory interpretation which relegates cognitive dissonance phenomena to a "special case" interpretation. Some theoretical implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interpretation of opinion statements as a function of recipient attitude and source prestige.

The effect on attitudes was assessed when communication was supposed to be from individuals with positions of either low or high prestige. As hypothesized, messages from high prestige. As hypothesized, messages from high prestige sources had greater influence on the formation of opinions and the perception of the attitudes as expressed than from low prestige sources. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD82M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interpretation of opinion statements as a function of message ambiguity and recipient attitude.

The purpose of this study was to replicate an earlier one by the author (Manis, 1960) to determine the validity that the interpretation of ambiguous statements permits of greater interpretation in the light of personal opinions than nonambiguous statements. College Ss having 3 opinions towards fraternity (positive, negative, neutral) were presented with statements regarding fraternities. Half the Ss were presented with nonambiguous statements, half with the same statements with every other word omitted (ambiguous). In general, the results supported the hypothesis. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD76M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgements of discrimination as a function of group experience and contextual cues.

The personal/group discrimination discrepancy (PGDD) refers to the tendency to report more discrimination against one's group than oneself. The authors demonstrated that the magnitude of both personal and group discrimination judgments depend on group experience and cue availability in the judgment context, using college students as Ss. For men, who have relatively little experience with gender discrimination, the addition of contextual cues that highlighted workplace discrimination produced lower estimates of both personal and group discrimination. For women, who are familiar with discrimination in general and workplace discrimination in particular, contextual cues produced higher estimates of group discrimination, but lower estimates of personal discrimination. The authors contend that these differences reflect realistic assessments by participants of their group's experiences with discrimination. Implications for conceptualizing the PGDD are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)