Psychological Bulletin's top 10 "hit parade."

Examined the 10 most cited articles published in the Psychological Bulletin over the past 4 decades. Seven of the 10 articles were methodologically oriented. A survey of the authors revealed that highly cited articles have an important message that goes beyond momentary fads, are broad in topic and intended audience, accessible, and well written. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Rubinstein's "paradoxes."

Considers factors contributing to the force and vehemence of student protest, with reference to a discussion by E. A. Rubenstein (see record 1969-10303-001). From a Freudian perspective, college youth could be viewed as engaging in the traditional conflict of the generations in an attempt to demolish a too-entrenched establishment. This, coupled with permissive upbringing, cultural-maturational lag, a tendency to immediate gratification, and weak internal ego controls, provides an explanation and a direction for remedial action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Dawes' "bootstrapping."

R. M. Dawes (see record 1971-25701-001) presented evidence of "bootstrapping" in a model designed to simulate decisions of a graduate psychology program admissions committee. However, the evidence appears to support an actuarial or ecological model rather than a bootstrapping procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On "Learning theory."

Comments on the view of P. E. Freedman et al (see record 1974-24406-001) that the behavior of people in the laboratory depends on the expectancies people bring to the lab as well as on what happens to them thereafter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Campbell's "admissions policies."

Critiques D. P. Campbell's (see record 1972-11560-001) article on admissions policies, focusing on the assumptions that (1) every young person should be able to go to a high quality college and (2) diversity is an absolute good. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On "Obedience to authority."

Comments on the major themes of S. Milgram's (1974) research, which showed obedience that was total. The author states that such an experimental result was very important, although the vital lessons about human conduct are really not influenced by research psychologists. The lessons reach the people through their parents, teachers, the police, and the other "real" people who set the rules and the consequences for breaking them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Mariner's "lay analyst."

Comments on A. S. Mariner's (see record 1967-08073-001) article about professional education in the mental health field and argues against Mariner's use of the term "lay analyst" to refer to nonmedical analysts. Mariner also underestimated the numerical strength and the vigor of such analysts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Silverman's "expert witness."

Refers to H. Silverman's (see record 1969-08897-001) discussion of the role of the psychologist as expert witness and suggests that psychological experts have a role in the court's decision making following conviction. Similar to the process in the juvenile justice system, behavioral experts could provide a predictive assessment of the response of the accused to a range of rehabilitative options. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Hilgard's "pain puzzle."

With regard to E. Hilgard's (see record 1969-09295-001) pain puzzle, a laboratory study attempted to mimic pain's clinical characteristics. The mean pain threshold of 9 Ss was lower when the experimenter had control than when the S had control of the pain source. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bring Back Gratis Reprints.

Argues that cutting out free reprints or reasonable charges on reprints drives scholars to mimeograph their papers for private distribution. The costs of mimeographing are hidden, but the waste to society and the scholarly community is fantastic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On "Salvation and its vicissitudes."

Comments on an article on clinical psychology and political values in which B. Beit-Hallahmi (see record 1974-25754-001) challenges the assumptions of clinical psychology. Kahoe questions how the definition of the psychologist would be changed by a shift in focus to social systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the "right to reply."

Proposes that an "automatic right to reply" to a critical commentary should become editorial policy for all American Psychological Association journals. This would remove the possibility of bias influencing the editor or consultants and would promote dialog between the authors of the article and the commentary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On "Paradoxes of student protests."

Suggests that the paper by E. A. Rubinstein (see record 1969-10303-001) concerning paradoxes of student protests has contributed little to the comprehension of student activism. He has obscured the issues on which student action is based and cloaked his own conservative views in the guise of scientific and clinical research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Lipe and the "population problem."

Argues that D. Lipe's (see record 1972-10723-001) article on population control makes the common mistake of stating the "problem" and its approaches without broadly discussing population changes and their causes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the phenomena of "opposite speech."

"It is the purpose of this paper to consider 'opposite speech' within the categories of a theory of the development of cognition—a theory concerned with general, formal properties of cognitive activity, obtaining in phylogenesis, ontogenesis, cultural evolution, psychopathology, etc. The fundamental principle of this comparative developmental approach to cognition is that wherever development occurs, it proceeds from a relatively global and undifferentiated state to one of increasing differentiation, articulation, and integration… ." Several lines of evidence are cited. Two relevant experiments are discussed. They suggest "that the processes underlying 'opposite speech' occur not only in a few schizophrenics employing a strange means to avoid anxiety or to express hostility, but may be found in any individual, characteristically or momentarily operating under conditions conducive to a primitivization of the level of symbolic articulation and organization of experience." 28 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Cartwright's "Determinants of scientific progress."

Asserts that some investigations (e.g., M. Chapko, 1972; S. Rettig, 1966) on the nature of ethical risk taking did not enjoy the rise and fall in popularity of D. Cartwright's (see record 1973-31210-001) conventional risky shift. The ethical risk shift is facilitated by the dominant stress of the gain function in the group, as opposed to the dominant stress of the loss function in the individual situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retain the Original Data! Comment.

Comments on how few authors of APA journal articles retain their original data. Some authors have suggested that the APA journals take steps to insure that authors store their data for future reference. The commentator provides specific reasons for the retention of original data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commentary on "Publishing opinions: A note on the usefulness of commentaries."

Comments on J. J. Christensen-Szalanski and L. R. Beach's (see record 1984-21471-001) conclusion that the attention given to commentaries and replies to articles did not justify the extra space. The author indicates that a 40% increase in space was associated with a 91% increase in citations; data do not argue against the use of commentaries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regarding Lynn's Observations "On Being 'Clinical' With Colleagues."

In this column I comment on the letter by David Lynn (American Psychologist, May, 1956). On first reading Lynn's observations, I was humorously reminded of many incidents in my own experience wherein I would agree with his feelings that harm resulted from analyzing colleagues. However, on further reflection I disagree with his statement that this practice "seems destructive wherever it is found." It seems that he postulates a group of antagonistic analyzers and naive recipients of his "clinical approach." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)