Toward a resolution of the Rorschach controversy.

Comments are made about the articles comprising the first round of the Special Series on the Rorschach. G. Stricker and J. R. Gold (see record 1999-11130-002) and D. J. Viglione (see record 199911130-003) praised the Rorschach, but they consistently failed to cite negative findings. R. M. Dawes (see record 1999-11130-006) obtained results that provide modest support for the Rorschach, but one of his data sets is flawed. J. B. Hiller et al (see record 1999-11130-005) reported the results of a meta-analysis, but, among other problems, their coders were not blind to the results of all the studies. J. Hunsley and J. M. Bailey (see record 1999-11130-004) made a strong case for concluding that there is no scientific basis for using the Rorschach. Recommendations are made for resolving the Rorschach controversy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Picture perception: Toward a theoretical model.

Describes J. J. Gibson's new theory of picture perception and a program of research within his framework. An analysis of pictorial information is proposed in which a systematic investigation of the structural components of pictures and their varying effects on perception is seen as preliminary to the postulation of hypothetical pick-up mechanisms. The basic components of pictures are described, and literature is reviewed in the problem areas of distorted and impoverished information, observation from the wrong station point, coexisting flatness and depth information, and the ambiguity of the source of a single projection. The feasibility of the Gibsonian enterprise is demonstrated, and further avenues for research into a structural analysis of pictorial information are noted. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Rorschach: Facts, fictions, and future.

A large body of empirical evidence supports the reliability, validity, and utility of the Rorschach. This same evidence reveals that the recent criticisms of the Rorschach are largely without merit. This article systematically addresses several significant Rorschach components: interrater and temporal consistency reliability, normative data and diversity, methodological issues, specific applications in the evaluation of thought disorder and suicide, meta-analyses, incremental validity, clinician judgment, patterns of use, and clinical utility. Strengths and weaknesses of the test are addressed, and research recommendations are made. This information should give the reader both an appreciation for the substantial, but often overlooked, research basis for the Rorschach and an appreciation of the challenges that lie ahead. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and self-disclosure: Toward a motivational model.

The self-disclosures of socially anxious and nonanxious Ss were compared within the framework of R. M. Arkin's (1981) motivational theory of social anxiety. Ss (N?=?84 women) were paired with a confederate who disclosed at either a high or a low level of intimacy (i.e., the classic reciprocity paradigm). Consistent with Arkin's theory, anxious Ss were concerned with self-protection during the task and disclosed at a moderate level of intimacy regardless of their partner's behavior. In addition, anxious Ss did not reciprocate their partners' disclosures as well as did nonanxious Ss. The self-protective behaviors of the anxious Ss were associated with less liking and more discomfort on the part of their partners. This suggests that the adoption of self-protective strategies may elicit negative interpersonal reactions that maintain self-defeating interpersonal patterns in socially anxious people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model.

Using data from 4 waves of an Australian panel study, this study offers a dynamic account of relations between personality, life events, and subjective well-being (SWB). Members of the Victorian Quality of Life panel study were interviewed in 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1987. The initial sample size was 942; 649 respondents remain. The study shows that very stable personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience) predispose people to experience moderately stable levels of favorable and adverse life events and moderately stable levels of SWB. However, contrary to previous research (P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, 1984) life events influence SWB over and above the effects of personality. A dynamic equilibrium (DE) model is outlined, in which each person is regarded as having "normal" equilibrium levels of life events and SWB, predictable on the basis of age and personality. Only when events deviate from their equilibrium levels does SWB change. The DE model is compared with 3 alternatives: personality models, adaptation level models, and models that treat life events as being wholly exogenous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a participatory model of psychotherapy.

A pervasive model of the psychotherapeutic relationship has assumed that patient welfare is best served by the therapist's exercise of control over and responsibility for methods, goals, and decisions in treatment. However, increased sensitivity to ethical dilemmas in the routine conduct of therapy and more vocal demands by the users of mental health services are likely to lead to a restructuring of the psychotherapeutic relationship. A mutual participatory model of therapy is advocated that would give a central place to active, skeptical efforts by the patient to be informed and to share responsibility for therapeutic decisions. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Styles of crisis intervention: Toward a convergent model.

Comments that crisis intervention is now an accepted form of brief therapy that has become the treatment of choice for many individuals seeking to cope more effectively with life stresses. Recently, there has been an evolution of several disparate styles of crisis intervention in the direction of one convergent model. The screening/assessment style of crisis intervention, rooted in the medical model, and the problem-solving style, derived from the alternate services, are now converging. This evolution reflects a more uniformly accepted framework of concepts and principles on which to base the practice of crisis intervention. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a model of positive health.

This article proposes a model of positive health based on a human-system framework. Such a framework is comprehensive in that (a) it encompasses all of the human system's behavioral subsystems (biochemical, physiological, perceptual, cognitive, and interpersonal), and (b) it permits a higher asymptote of health conceptualization and measurement than that afforded by Western biomedical theory. The article sets forth the conceptual basis of the model and reviews empirical studies that support the model. Finally, the article explores implications of the model for health research, for programs of health enhancement, and for the role of the behavioral sciences in health theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a model for test prediction.

Presents an analogy between the learning theorist and the test-theorist, suggesting that present models for test prediction do not provide for generalizability of test results fron 1 situation to another or for explaining failures of tests to predict. It is proposed that future models include motivational variables. As a 1st step, it is proposed that Hull's model of learning be adapted for test prediction. The new model would be as follows: P = A * M * L, where P = performance; A = some weighted sum of aptitude, knowledge, and skills; M = some weighted sum of internal and external motivations; and L = situational variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Skyjacking, airline security, and passenger reactions: Toward a complex model for prediction.

To determine passenger reactions to skyjacking and related airline and governmental security measures, attitude questionnaires were administered to a random sample of 102 passengers at a large midwestern airport. Results indicate (a) 3 response dimensions failed to differentially relate passenger attitudes to 7 proposed security procedures; (b) a general construct, "overall concern for security," did not adequately account for passenger reactions to specific security measures; and (c) 8 orthogonal factors represented different attitude constructs for specific passenger subgroups. It is concluded that there is no typical airline passenger exhibiting an overall concern for security against skyjacking. Rather, a complex model of passenger attitudes and their behavioral correlates must be constructed in order to account adequately for passenger reactions to security programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change.

Offers transtheoretical therapy as one alternative when seeking a synthesis for the increasing proliferation of therapeutic systems. From a comparative analysis of 18 leading systems, 5 basic processes of change were identified by the present 1st author (1979). They are consciousness raising (feedback, education), conditional stimuli (counterconditioning, stimulus control), catharsis (corrective emotional experiences, dramatic relief), choosing (self-liberation, social liberation), and contingency control (reevaluation, contingency management). Each process can be applied at the level of either the individual's experience or environment. The present authors (see record 1982-31158-001) have identified the following stages of change: contemplation, termination, action, and maintenance. The verbal processes of change—consciousness raising, catharsis, and choosing—are most important during the 1st 2 stages, while behavior therapies (conditional stimuli and contingency control) are needed once a commitment is made. It is suggested that in the transtheoretical model, cognitive restructuring is seen as the result of the individual effectively applying the appropriate processes of change during each of the appropriate stages of change. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making law modern: Toward a contextual model of justice.

Contemporary psychological and legal models of behavior are still fundamentally at odds, and the impending paradigm clash may have profound, long-term consequences for our 21st-century legal doctrines and institutions. The 19th-century "formative era" of American law coincided with the dominance of psychological individualism in the nation's collective view of human nature and resulted in the institutionalization of a now antiquated model of human behavior. As we enter the new millennium, a "New Legal Realism" based on a view of human nature more consistent with contemporary psychological thinking is urged, along with a series of interlocking legal changes intended to both incorporate a more contextual view of human nature into law and improve the quality of justice our system currently dispenses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a conceptual model of organizational regression.

This article presents an elaborated model of organizational regression suggesting that, within the framework of general systems and catastrophe theory, organizational units and whole enterprises can be viewed as struggling to attain a state of super-resilience that enables them to cope effectively with a large number of regressive forces. The model comprises 6 phases of organizational regression that occur either in a 10-stage process or in a chaotically unpredictable but behaviorally understandable and orderly sequence. Internal and external regressive forces that constantly pressure an organization toward less effective performance and more primitive behavior are identified. Organizational barriers and balancing forces that counter the regressive pressures are also described, along with the consequences of regression for individuals and enterprises. Several brief case illustrations (e.g., Montgomery Ward, Apple Computer, and General Electric Corporation) are provided to highlight aspects of this conceptual approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a motivational model of couple happiness.

The present study had 2 major objectives. The 1st was to investigate the validity of a motivational model of couple happiness based on self-determination theory. The 2nd objective was to test the postulated simplex structure and the generalizability of the 6 forms of motivation proposed by this theory. Both members of 63 couples individually completed the Couple Motivation Questionnaire as well as measures of perceived couples' adaptive behaviors and of dyadic happiness. Results revealed that the proposed model of couple happiness was supported through significant path analyses explaining 61% and 55% of the variance of men's and women's relationship happiness, respectively. Empirical support was also provided for the postulated simplex structure. Results highlight the importance of autonomy-driven processes as opposed to controlling and amotivated processes in the development and maintenance of the quality of couples' relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a general model of small group productivity.

Proposes a general model of small group performance that is designed to encompass a wide variety of models of group performance extant in the psychological literature. These existing models are shown to be special cases of the more general model proposed here, and in fact, this model is developed from a foundation of these more restricted models. In developing the general model, distinctions are made between single and multiple resources and between unique and redundant resources. The relationship between problem-solving tasks and decision-making tasks is demonstrated with the model. Some examples of the model's usefulness for the understanding of group processes, leadership, and social decision schemes are presented. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in math achievement: Toward a model of academic choice.

Competence in mathematics has long been identified as a critical skill directly related to educational and occupational choices. Yet compared with men, fewer women elect to take advanced level mathematics courses and to enter mathematically-oriented careers. The present article summarizes the common explanations of this problem and then integrates this research into a theoretical model first proposed by J. E. Parsons et al (in press) for studying students' academic choices and decisions. Drawing on concepts used in decision-making, achievement, and attribution research, this psychological model links academic choice to expectations of success and the subjective value of a particular course. In addition, the model specifies the relations among a set of other variables that are believed to mediate individual differences in both students' expectations of success and their perceptions of the relative value of various academic options. The utility of the model for increasing understanding of course enrollment patterns and career decisions and for designing appropriate intervention strategies is discussed. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The meaning of shame: Toward a self-affirming identity.

Considers that shame becomes inevitably bound up with the process of identity formation which underlies man's striving for self, for valuing, and for meaning. The experience of shame is a fundamental sense of being defective as a person, accompanied by fear of exposure and self-protective rage. The shame-inducing process involves one significant person breaking the interpersonal bridge with another. Original shame inducement occurs prior to language development; it is precipitated by parental failure to respond appropriately to a child's needs and by parental anger toward the child. The process of restoring the severed interpersonal bridge enables one to transcend shame and begin to develop a self-affirming identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a model of neuropsychological activity

The main purpose of this research was to establish the intercorrelations existing among different psychological and neuropsychological test scores in a normal and homogeneous population. A second purpose was to attempt further step in the component analysis of cognitive activity measured by means of neuropsychological tests. A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was assembled and individually administered to a 300-subject sample, aged 17-25 year-old. All of them were right-handed male university students. The battery included some basic neuropsychological tests directed to assess language, calculation abilities, spatial cognition, praxic abilities, memory, perceptual abilities, and executive functions. In addition, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale was administered. Forty-one different scores were calculated. Correlations among the different test scores were analyzed. It was found that some of the tests presented a quite complex intecorrelation system, whereas other tests presented few or no significant correlations. Mathematical ability tests and orthography knowledge represented the best predictors of Full Scale IQ. A factor analysis with varimax rotation disclosed five factors (verbal, visuoperceptual, executive function, fine movements, and memory) accounting for 63.6% of the total variance. Implications of these results for a neuropsychological model about brain organization of cognition were analyzed.