Toward a universal psychological structure of human values.

We constructed a theory of the universal types of values as criteria by viewing values as cognitive representations of three universal requirements: (a) biological needs, (b) interactional requirements for interpersonal coordination, and (c) societal demands for group welfare and survival. From these requirements, we have derived and presented conceptual and operational definitions for eight motivational domains of values: enjoyment, security, social power, achievement, self-direction, prosocial, restrictive conformity, and maturity. In addition, we have mapped values according to the interests they serve (individualistic vs. collectivist) and the type of goal to which they refer (terminal vs. instrumental). We postulated that the structural organization of value systems reflects the degree to which giving high priority simultaneously to different values is motivationally and practically feasible. To test our theory, we performed smallest space analyses on ratings given by subjects from Israel (N?=?455) and Germany (N?=?331) of the importance of 36 Rokeach values as guiding principles in their lives. Partitioning of the obtained multidimensional space into regions revealed that people discriminate among values according to our a priori specifications of goal types, interests served, and motivational domains in both societies. Moreover, the motivational domains of values are organized dynamically in relation to one another in both societies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transdiaphragmatic pericardial window: a new approach

A new transdiaphragmatic laparoscope technique is proposed which provides a large window for drainage that is rapid, safe and eliminates the need for one lung ventilation, drainage tubes, and painful incisions.     

The window on psychology's literature: A history of psychological abstracts.

With the rapid expansion of scientific information at the end of the 19th century, disciplines sought ways to keep their members abreast of the relevant research. Those pressures were felt in the science of psychology in the United States, where psychologists developed a bibliographic aid, The Psychological Index, in 1895 only a little more than a decade after G. Stanley Hall opened America's first psychology laboratory. The Index was useful but was only a listing of titles. More information was needed, which led to the development of a journal of abstracts, first published in 1927. This article traces the history of Psychological Abstracts from its origins in the Index to the evolution of the American Psychological Association's electronic information system known as PsycINFO, of which Psychological Abstracts has become an outmoded part. Nevertheless, for most of its 80 years, Psychological Abstracts was psychology's window on the world of research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The standard problem: Meaning and values in measurement and evaluation.

Discusses the concepts of construct and content validity, the requirements of convergent and discriminant evidence, norm and criterion-referenced interpretations, values in measurement and the uses of counterhypotheses, and the identification of bias. The importance of construct-referencing all measurement is noted. The need for a dialectical evaluation where a particular thesis is confronted with its antithetical elements is stressed. This approach should help uncover assumptions and ideologies implicit in many measurement and evaluation activities. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The measurement of psychological androgyny.

Describes the development of a new sex-role inventory that treats masculinity and femininity as 2 independent dimensions, thereby making it possible to characterize a person as masculine, feminine, or "androgynous" as a function of the difference between his or her endorsement of masculine and feminine personality characteristics. Normative data, provided by 561 male and 356 female college and junior college students, are presented, as well as the results of various psychometric analyses. Findings indicate that: (a) The dimensions of masculinity and femininity are empirically and logically independent. (b) The concept of psychological androgyny is a reliable one. (c) Highly sex-typed scores do not reflect a general tendency to respond in a socially desirable direction, but rather a specific tendency to describe oneself in accordance with sex-typed standards of desirable behavior for men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constructs and their vicissitudes in educational and psychological measurement.

Examines implications for educational and psychological measurement of 3 ontological perspectives on the nature of mediating variables underlying consistencies in test and nontest behaviors: (a) intervening variables operationally tied to real causal entities, such as personality traits or environmental contingencies; (b) hypothetical constructs that organize and summarize behavioral consistencies but have no reality outside the theoretical system; and (c) manifestations of real entities that are understood only in terms of constructs that summarize their empirical properties in relation to a theoretical network. All 3 apply to personality traits, situational forces, and their interactions; the summary of power of constructs that led to the predominance of construct validity principles in trait measurement implies that these principles should hold with equal cogency for situational and interactive measurement. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Designs, participants, and measurement methods in psychological research.

Critical reviews of psychological scholarship suggest that self-report questionnaires, experimental designs, and college students dominate psychological research. Although researchers within specific subfields of psychology have the requisite knowledge to assess the generality of these concerns, novices of psychological research do not. To provide such knowledge, we surveyed a random sample of 200 journal articles in the PsycINFO database coding for psychological content area, research design, measurement method, and participant type. Results indicate self-report questionnaires, experimental designs, and college students each appeared in a minority of studies and these study characteristics often varied significantly by content area. Results also suggest no single dominant "typical" study in psychological research but rather that the characteristics of such research exhibit remarkable diversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit self-esteem: Nature, measurement, and a new way forward.

Gaining insight into the nature and consequences of people's global self-evaluations (i.e., their self-esteem) has been fraught with difficulty. Nearly 2 decades ago, researchers suggested that such difficulties might be addressed by the development of a new class of measures designed to uncover implicit self-esteem. In this article, we evaluate the construct validity of the 2 most common measures of implicit self-esteem, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Name–Letter Test (NLT). Our review indicates that the research literature has not provided strong or consistent support for the validity of either measure. We conclude that both tests are impoverished measures of self-esteem that are better understood as measures of either generalized implicit affect (IAT) or implicit egotism (NLT). However, we suggest that there surely are aspects of self-esteem that people are unwilling or unable to report and suggest a general approach that may allow researchers to tap these unspoken aspects of self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new inter-disciplinary dimension in graduate psychological research training: Dentistry.

The general-experimental curriculum in psychology at the University of Houston is outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biases in the quantitative measurement of values for public decisions.

Measurement of personal values in terms of money or utility can promote efficient public decisions about environmental and risk regulation, health care, and so forth. Current measures are subject to several biases. Quantitative judgments of value are often based on a concept of importance that ignores the quantity of the good being valued. They are sensitive to irrelevant factors, such as cost of the good (vs. its benefit) and whether it has been reduced by human action or nature. Some judgments are based on moral opinions about actions rather than on the value of consequences. Some of these problems seem solvable by methods that remove irrelevant information or force attention to relevant information. Other problems are less tractable. Their solution should be a high priority for research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on developments in psychological measurement and assessment.

This introduction to the special issue on developments in psychological measurement and assessment sets the special issue within a larger scientific and professional context and provides summaries of the 8 articles that make up the issue. The articles address (a) self-report personality and psychopathology assessment; (b) intensive, repeated, self-report measures used in naturalistic settings; (c) implicit measures of personality; (d) personality assessment and faking in personnel selection; (e) performance appraisals; (f) risk assessments; (g) intelligence and the assessment of intelligence; and (h) neuropsychological assessment. Together, these articles demonstrate the substantial progress being made in the research on psychological measurement and assessment and the solid foundation that this work provides for both psychological science and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The fate of old-country values in a new land: A cross-national study of child rearing.

Compared the values of young parents from 4 groups of recent immigrants to North America (Italian-Canadians, Greek-Canadians, Japanese-Canadians, and Portuguese-Americans) with the values of comparable social-class groups of parents residing in each of the old countries and with comparable groups of established Canadian or American parents. For each group, 40 pairs of parents were interviewed, 20 from middle-class and 20 from working class backgrounds. The value domain was child rearing; all Ss in the study were parents of a 6-yr-old child. Results show that socioeconomic status (SES) had a much more powerful effect on parental values than ethnicity or cultural background. Findings also elucidate the process of value adjustment for a variety of immigrant groups, how each group accommodates its pattern of values to North American norms, and how each group also maintains particular old-country values. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental toxins and behavioral development: A new role for psychological research.

Presents a new multiple-effects model that emphasizes subtle behavioral alteration as an early sign of toxicity and as evidence that a particular chemical agent may produce long-term impairment in susceptible individuals. The permeability of the placenta to a variety of chemical agents and the special sensitivity of the fetus to some of these agents draws attention to prenatal exposure and the need for prospective longitudinal studies of affective, social, and cognitive development in exposed individuals. The multiple-effects model provides a role for the psychologist in teratological diagnosis and research since the measurement of behavioral variation has developed primarily in psychology. Limitations inherent in both experimental animal research and correlational human studies of toxic effects make it necessary for these methodologies to be used in a complementary fashion. The implications of behavioral teratology for the study of human development and the design of protective social policies are discussed. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transforming psychological practice and society: Policies that reflect the new paradigm.

As people with disabilities challenge psychology to acknowledge the sociopolitical foundations of their margialization, they urge psychologists to help improve disability policy within and beyond the borders of the discipline. Understanding disability through a social paradigm offers opportunities to reframe the way psychologists define problems related to disability, to develop more collaborative relationships between psychologists and people with disabilities, and to adopt new professional responsibilities with respect to the disability community. The authors address the impact of the social paradigm on policies within psychology that guide consulting, advocacy, and training. The impact of national policy decisions, such as those associated with reimbursement, on practice and training is also discussed. Highlighted throughout are points of controversy prompted by new disability frameworks that remain open to illumination from the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The measurement of psychological androgyny: an extended replication

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), the recently developed measure for psychological androgyny, was administered to 344 middle-Tennessee high school and university students. The BSRS's reliability coefficients and mean scores were very similar to those reported earlier for California junior college and university students, respectively. The present scoring patterns for the BSRI remained unchanged with the introduction of the four "familial context" variables of sex of Ss' siblings, sex of Ss' nearest-in-age sibling, parent whom the Ss considered emotionally warmest, and parent whom the Ss would most prefer to be like. Contrary to Bem's original findings, the present results with the BSRI suggested that Ss' responses to the measure may be affected by the social desirability phenomenon. Moreover, scores on the BSRI did not correlate consistently or highly with those presently obtained with a symbolic sex-role measure and a verbal sex-role scale. This lack of construct validity has been reported previously in at least two other studies. Though apparently reliable, the validity of the BSI remains problematic.