Review of Personality: Current Theory and Research.

Reviews the book, Personality: Current Theory and Research by Janet Beavin Bavelas (1978). Personality is not the easiest topic to teach well. Even the question of what content to include and emphasize is problematic. The majority of introductory texts adopt a stance whereby the study of personality largely becomes identified with the study of personality theories. A problem with the theory based approach to personality is that many such theories are of declining importance in contemporary psychology. In this text, Janet Bavelas adopts a theory oriented perspective. However, she is not content merely to describe and evaluate the various theories selected for inclusion. She places the theories within a historical context and attempts to show how critical and empirical appraisal led to the decline of one class of theory and the elevation of another class. The book possesses many positive features. Introductory students find personality theories interesting and the historical context adds to the interest. The coverage is broad and zeros in on many central issues that preoccupy the present generation of personologists. Whether or not to adopt the Bavelas book for an introductory personality course would depend on the orientation of the instructor. For those who teach a traditional course, which emphasizes balanced evaluation and/or comparative analysis of the major theories, other texts might serve better. But for instructors concerned primarily with developments on the level of metatheory, the text probably has no equal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Interviewing in Social Research.

Reviews the book Interviewing in social research by H. H. Hyman et al. (1954). This volume is a scholarly but freeflowing treatise on sources of error and potentialities for their control in the survey interview. The book is divided into seven rather lengthy chapters. Chapter I, entitled "A Frame of Reference for the Study of Interviewer Effects," reviews the widespread application of interviewing as a fallible method of scientific inquiry, and cautiously suggests the possibilities for generalization about other kinds of interviewing from studies of the survey interview. Chapter II, "The Definition of the Interview Situation," is devoted to the formulation of hypotheses about factors affecting interviewing from "phenomenological" case studies based largely on intensive interviews with interviewers and respondents. The third chapter presents an analysis of "Sources of Effect Deriving from the Interviewer." Chapter IV, "Respondent Reaction in the Interview Situation," reviews the contradictory evidence on personal interviewing vs. self-administered questionnaires. The "Situational Determinants of Interviewer Effects" are examined in Chapter V. Chapter VI is an attempt to evaluate the magnitude of "Interviewer Effects under Normal Operating Conditions." The final chapter is devoted to consideration of the relative merits of various methods for "Reduction and Control of Error." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research.

Reviews the book, Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research by John P. Zubek (Editor) (1969). Zubek traces the beginning of sensory deprivation studies to McGill University in the early 1950's and presents a comprehensive and critical review of the field since then. Problems deserving further investigation are identified. The idea for the book grows out of a 1964 APA symposium. There are eight distinguished contributors and 13 chapters in all. The level of the book is rather mature and most suitable for senior research students and established researchers. Extensive bibliographic material is provided (750 cited and 450 supplemental reference). The presentation is on the whole comprehensive and exhaustive in respect to the experimental literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phenomenological Research Methods for Counseling Psychology.

This article familiarizes counseling psychologists with qualitative research methods in psychology developed in the tradition of European phenomenology. A brief history includes some of Edmund Husserl's basic methods and concepts, the adoption of existential-phenomenology among psychologists, and the development and formalization of qualitative research procedures in North America. The choice points and alternatives in phenomenological research in psychology are delineated. The approach is illustrated by a study of a recovery program for persons repeatedly hospitalized for chronic mental illness. Phenomenological research is compared with other qualitative methods, and some of its benefits for counseling psychology are identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral sciences.

Reviews the book, The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral sciences by Neil Mck. Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke (see record 2007-07794-000). This book is an attempt to introduce a student or beginning researcher to the concepts and methods associated with doing good research in the behavioural sciences. The book is divided into six major parts, dealing in turn with the nature of science and observation; experimental methods; survey, archival and developmental methods; statistics; report writing and ethics; and theory building. The book is well produced and well organized. Specific exemplars of topics under consideration are included in boxes which give typical case reports, experimental designs, sample findings, and so forth. These boxed materials are good illustrations of and extrapolations from the material which the main body of the chapter tends to deal with. The writing style is clear and generally concise. Occasionally there are sparks of fantasy and humour which help to enliven long methodological passages. Overall, this is a well written and useful text. It is a difficult task to sustain interest and continuity in a book which deals almost completely with methodological and statistical issues. The authors have done a remarkably good job in this regard, and I would probably rate this as one of the better books in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Qualitative Research Methods for Psychologists: Introduction through Empirical Studies.

Reviews the book, Qualitative Research Methods for Psychologists: Introduction through Empirical Studies edited by Constance T. Fischer (2006). This book is intended as an introductory textbook for psychology students and psychologists who have been trained in traditional psychological research methods with the goal of providing an orientation to qualitative research frameworks and how they are applied to the many research questions that might be considered by psychologists. The book begins with a useful introductory chapter by the editor that provides a historical overview of the emergence of psychology as a science concerned primarily with determining causal relationships. There are 13 chapters in the body of the book and they are gathered into three parts: Clinical Practices, Affective and Cognitive Processes, and Life Situations. The book ends with a Question and Responses chapter by the editor that covers many of the questions novice qualitative researchers often have about qualitative research. The last section is a detailed Glossary of terms that are significant in understanding qualitative research. There is much in this book to recommend it as an introductory book on qualitative research for graduate students and beginning qualitative researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Alterations of Consciousness: An Empirical Analysis for Social Scientists.

Reviews the book by Baruss (see record 2003-02669-000), which reviews the experimental and phenomenological research on alterations of consciousness, ranging from sleep and dreaming to mystical and near-death experience. The reviewer suggests there is a clear agenda announced by the book's subtitle, "An Empirical Analysis for Social Scientists." In the view of Baruss, all too often in states of consciousness research a preoccupation with theory has kept investigators from full engagement with the actual data. The book provides readable and at times appropriately controversial discussions of empirical literature on dreaming and lucid dreams, daydreaming and fantasy proneness, hypnosis, dissociative identity disorder, shamanism and possession states, psychedelic drug research, parapsychology, trance-chanelling and mediumship, the alien abduction syndrome, classical mystical experience, out-of-body and near-death experiences, and recent attempts by MacDonald and others to assess individual differences in spirituality through multifactor questionnaires. However, the reviewer believes that the breadth of coverage of both recent and past research is too often highly selective, and that the author's rejection of theory is both questionable in itself and more illusion than reality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Foundations of Experimental Research.

Reviews the book, Foundations of Experimental Research by Robert Plutchik (1968). The reviewer was impressed with the scope, aim, and concept of this book. The author appears to have synthesized, in many cases, the best of what is found in McGuigan's "Experimental Psychology", Underwood's second edition of "Experimental Psychology" and the more advanced text, "Introduction to Psychological Research", by Scott and Wertheimer. In comparison with other books of its level in the field, the book by Plutchik would be certainly recommended. It has failings, but far fewer than most other books that are competitive with it. It is short enough so that where these weaknesses are found, supplementary material can be used in the course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition and Dream Research.

This book is a reprint of Vol. 7, No. 2 and No. 3 of the Journal of Mind and Behavior. It provide a survey of the complex, bewildering state of current experimental dream research. This area is apparently divided into a number of different approaches that have little or nothing to do with each other. Editor Haskell attempts to sort out the field. He suggests that the growing awareness of the multiplicity of factors that are somehow involved in dreams makes more carefully controlled experiments possible in future research, and may eventually make replication and testing possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral and social sciences, seventh edition.

Reviews the book, The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral and social sciences, seventh edition by Neil McKinnon Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke (2007). In 1969, Neil Agnew and Sandra Pyke published the first edition of The Science Game, a 182-page survey of the major components of what they call the game of sciencing, a game, they claim, that like all other games of consequence, is a mixture of art, enterprise, and invention held loosely together by man-made rules. Using the same quirky but engaging style as in the original, in the seventh and latest edition, Agnew and Pyke dedicate a full 471 pages to the task, tackling a host of topics bearing on the activities of science, ranging from the strengths and weaknesses of humans' cognitive capacity for problem solving to debates in the philosophy of science regarding the nature of knowledge. Although this most recent edition elaborates on many of the same themes presented in earlier versions, it is much grander in scope and includes a number of new features, including the introduction of a central theme and memory aid throughout the book (i.e., a puzzle-solving theme), the inclusion of statements of chapter goals, and chapter-end summaries and self-test quizzes. The Science Game provides a fairly comprehensive set of sound bites pertaining to the techniques, procedures, and conventions adopted by social science researchers and is accessible to either students encountering these topics for the first time or more advanced students in need of a refresher. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cross-cultural research methods in psychology.

Reviews the book, Cross-cultural research methods in psychology edited by David Matsumoto and Fons J. R. Van de Vijver (see record 2010-22491-000). The purpose of this book is to further the potential of cross-cultural psychology by helping researchers to understand the unique difficulties inherent in the field and the current methodologies used to advance quality research. Matsumoto and van de Vijver have compiled a comprehensive yet simply organized volume that speaks to the theoretical and analytic issues met by graduate students and advanced researchers alike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Understanding psychological research: An introduction to methods.

Reviews the book, Understanding psychological research: An introduction to methods by Richard St. Jean (2001). Richard St. Jean's book has the stated goal to be a brief text that presents essential concepts in a concise but interesting format. In this the author succeeds admirably. The nine short chapters and three appendices present the basic content that any method course needs to cover. The chapters are centred around lively research examples, often from the author's own work. Each chapter is followed by a brief summary and a glossary of key terms. The examples are used to introduce the methodological question and to illustrate various solutions. If the book suffers from a drawback, it is that it is too good at what it wants to be: an easily accessible, succinct introduction. The author visibly aims to make the issues as clear and understandable as possible, even if this implies glossing over details and leaving out more difficult aspects. The book does not want to be, nor is it, a manual for people who actual want to do research. In sum, this book will be most useful for those who teach introductory methods courses aimed at students who want to "consume" research rather than pursue it themselves. For these students, the book will be a valuable resource to better understand pertinent issues and to be alert towards methodological problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Science Game: An Introduction To Research In The Behavioral Sciences.

Reviews the book, The Science Game: An Introduction To Research In The Behavioral Sciences by Neil M. Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke (1982). This revised volume by Agnew and Pyke is a delightfully written, ambitious book that strives for a wide inclusion of topics on research methodology rather than concentrating on the small set of issues and methods that many consider fundamental. Moreover, it endeavors this task in the relatively brief span of 260 pages (not counting references and indexes). The strength of such an inclusive approach is that it introduces the student to the reality of the entire enterprise of psychological research. The book is divided into five parts. Part 1 is "Science and Nonscience"; Part 2 is entitled "Sieves of Science"; Part 3 is "From Laboratory to Life"; Part 4 is "The Magic of Numbers"; and Part 5 is entitled "Being Clear and Being Good". Altogether, reading The Science Game was fun, and that in itself is a heady comment about a methodology text. Further, despite some flaws, which are mostly of an order-of-presentation sort, I think that students will enjoy the book and come away from it with some answers and with better questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Existential—phenomenological perspectives in psychology.

Reviews the book, Existential — phenomenological perspectives in psychology edited by Ronald S. Valle and Steen Hailing (1989). This collection shows careful selection and editing by the two editors. Each of the articles is well-written, admirably clear, and articulate. The authors have succeeded in making the tenants of phenomenology accessible to those who do not have prior knowledge, however, the content is also of interest to people who are already familiar with the basics, but who wish to see phenomenological research in action. As such, the book could well serve as a text for an undergraduate or graduate level course entitled "existential-phenomenological perspectives in psychology", or as an adjunct text for a course which looks more broadly at various theoretical and methodological positions within the discipline. The editors have thoughtfully compiled the index with a view to the use of the book as a reference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Converging methods for understanding reading and dyslexia.

Reviews the book, Converging methods for understanding reading and dyslexia edited by Raymond M. Klein and Patricia A. McMullen (see record 2000-07104-000). In the preface to this volume, the editors Raymond Klein and Patricia McMullen promise a book that will "illustrate different approaches used by scientists to understand the complex skill of reading and its breakdown" (p. xi). As long as readers of this volume understand that Klein and McMullen are referring to "the reading of single words" (p. 1), and not the reading of sentences or paragraphs or whole texts, they will not be disappointed by this book. Indeed, Klein and McMullen have put together an impressive collection of state-of-the-art chapters by scientists who address the issue of single-word reading from a variety of standpoints and disciplines. The coverage is both extensive and intensive, and the quality of the contributions is uniformly high. Klein and McMullen have lived up to their promise of delivering a book that illustrates different approaches to understanding single-word reading and its breakdown. But have they succeeded in putting together a volume "to stimulate thought about how converging evidence from these approaches can lead to new insights and advances" (p. xi)? Of course, it is too early to tell whether researchers will be able to draw on the converging evidence in a positive way. However, I think the editors could have done more to facilitate such a process. Most readers will be struck by the fact that the volume reveals as many divergences of evidence and opinion as it does convergences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Mental disorder in Canada: An epidemiological perspective.

Reviews the book, Mental disorder in Canada: An epidemiological perspective edited by John Cairney and David L . Streiner (see record 2010-14072-000). This book includes 20 chapters organized into six sections. In short, it reviews and summarizes Canadian population level research on mental disorders. While it is obvious the topic is important, a book focused on epidemiological research seemed like it would be more of a valuable resource than a stimulating read. In their introduction, some of the editors’ comments are consistent with the reviewers initial speculation, but there is also passion in their writing and they clearly state a more ambitious goal of showcasing Canadian contributions to psychiatric epidemiology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Panic: Psychological perspectives.

Reviews the book, Panic: Psychological perspectives edited by S. Rachman and Jack D. Maser (see record 1988-97293-000). This volume's forerunner (1985) was the excellent compilation Anxiety and the Anxiety Disorders, edited by Tuma and Maser, which contained facts and theories from all standpoints. The current volume exemplifies the workings of history's pendulum. Although the 1985 volume enabled "psychological and cognitive investigators to present their points of view in many areas of anxiety research, the topic of panic was still dominated by biological studies." The editors have done much the rational reader would look forward to: develop an area at the cutting edge of science, demand thoughtful reviews, expose the reviews to the hurly burly of a meeting, and finally publish the revised papers. Rachman and Maser have produced a useful volume that exceeds most multiauthored edited publications. However, it could have been even better if it had included more directly critical reviews from those who consider the data analyses and theories presented often weak or tendentious and sometimes just beside the point. The advice to the reader interested in this area is to read this book, but recognize its partiality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Research methods in social relations, with especial reference to prejudice; Vol. I: Basic processes; Vol. II: Selected techniques.

Reviews the book, "Research methods in social relations, with especial reference to prejudice; Vol. I: Basic processes; Vol. II: Selected techniques," by Marie Jahoda, Morton Deutsch, and Stuart W. Cook (see record 1953-02637-000). The reviewer notes that the two volumes show the impacts of their sponsorship, and of the many hands which have been laid upon them. There is a sense of urgency in the book's treatment of problems of social intolerance and discrimination, and an implication of mild, but persistent, exhortation to the reader to take constructive steps in combating these evils. For the scientific reader the proper course is to be found in "action research" (participative research directed toward the solution of tangible problems), and for the social practitioner the recommended course is cooperation with the scientific investigator. In spite of the instances of apparent over-earnestness and occasional naiveness which occur in the book, it still remains a useful and informative document. It would be an excellent source book for nonspecialists, and for students who wish to gain a brief, but competent and comprehensive overview of this field of research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)