The role of closed-circuit television in university resident instruction.

"It is now obvious that we can link any number of classrooms together, put one or more TV receivers in each, and let one good professor lecture over the television system to multiple groups of students." Experiments "… or demonstrations could be performed and televised… ." Initial cost, installation and maintenance, operation, flexibility and pictures are discussed. "… TV exists as an aid to, and not a replacement for, the instructor… ." Faculties should "… begin now to coolly appraise TV for its strengths and its weaknesses, and to determine in what ways and under what conditions TV can make a contribution to resident university instruction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Courses for credit.

"No course should be offered for credit by TV which has not been approved for inclusion in the college catalog, TV students should meet course standards to which residence students are held, and TV students should ordinarily come to the campus to take their examinations… ." For faculty load accounting, "it is recommended that a one-term television course (three 30-minute programs a week) should equal one-half of a normal full-time teaching load… ." Courses for credit via TV "… can be accomplished with no sacrifice of standards." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retention of classroom and television learning.

Comparison of retention three years after instruction was made for four conditions of learning introductory psychology: An off-campus television group (n = 40), a traditional classroom group (n = 22), a TV-in-studio class (n = 11), and a kinescope class (n = 10). The original-test-retention-test differences were not significant, nor was the test x group interaction. "The results… indicate that… long-term retention of… material learned by television… is as good as that learned by traditional means… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality factors in motor learning and reminiscence.

"… introverts and… extraverts… were given 5-min. continuous work on a pursuit rotor prior to rest periods… . Over the original learning period introverts had a significantly higher performance trend than extraverts. There were no significant differences in reminiscence between the introvert and extravert groups. No relationships were found between neuroticism scores (on the Maudsley Personality Inventory) and either original learning or reminiscence." The results were discussed in terms of Eysenck's postulates regarding neurotic reactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some thoughts on television as an educational tool.

"A major conclusion warranted by all of the research findings is: TV can teach." The authors state that "… the relatively little research available, its character and findings, do not warrant the marked enthusiasm and overoptimism about educational television evidenced in many quarters." "In our view, TV at present should be regarded merely as one other communication channel for teaching purposes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of aversive stimuli on reaction time in schizophrenia.

"… the experiment was to assess the motivational role of aversive stimuli in modifying the performance of normal and… schizophrenic… males… [on] a visual reaction time task… . During… [one] series Ss responded under… experimental conditions… [part of which] involved the use of intense noise as an aversive stimulus. None of the experimental conditions appreciably altered the performance of normal Ss. However, schizophrenic Ss performing under… [conditions involving noise] displayed greater improvement than control Ss." 22 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological research using television.

Psychologists "… along with other behavioral scientists, have both personal and professional responsibilities for research related to telecommunications." Three main barriers to research using television and related media are (1) the lack of adequate, continuing financial aid and of available facilities, (2) the lack of highly competent research men "… motivated to investigate the complex processes of communication… ", and (3) the lack of a sound research tradition for experimental psychologists in the field of the mass media and telecommunications. "Now is the time for research and development work before the flood of students reaches our colleges and universities." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The planning and implementation of a psychology series on a noncommercial education television station.

"With the beginning of operations of the nation's first noncommercial educational television station, KUHT-TV (Very High Frequency), at the University of Houston in June, 1953, it became possible to examine some of the possibilities inherent in educational television, and the author was requested to prepare and present the first course to be offered for college credit over the station, elementary psychology." An "… informal lecture combined with skillful use of the blackboard may be a preferred method of TV presentation." A discussion of the general problems encountered, the techniques of presentation, and an evaluation of responses to the TV series is included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new road to the abundant life: a survey of educational television.

Perhaps "… we have within our grasp a means of bringing to millions of people what only thousands could have had before television came." A brief history of the development of television for education is presented. A wide variety of subjects relating to home life, travel, recreation, child care, reading, playing, the art of conversation, the arts of acquired skills in music, photography, design, the dance, etc. can be presented realistically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI: Professional use by professional people.

Aletter in answer to Mr. R., who inquired about the use of items relating to religion in the MMPI and pointed out that there are laws against inquiry about religious affiliation, is reproduced. "There is a well-recognized pattern of psychological distortion to which we apply the term "religiosity." There are also "frankly stated items on sex,… on body functions,… on certain occupations… " etc. Respondents "may omit any item they do not wish to answer for whatever purpose." Separate scores are derived on groups of items in the MMPI called scales; via machine scoring standard scores are derived which are "remote from the particular items that make up a scale. The MMPI is an experimentally derived instrument." If an item counts on a scale, it is on the basis of responses with well defined groups of maladjusted or mentally ill persons. "Tests are not offensive elements; the offensive elements, if any, come with the misuse of tests." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Value orientations: An ethical dilemma.

"The psychologist as a scientist limits himself to what is; his choice of field of inquiry in his quest for truth involves values which are purely personal. But as a practitioner, the psychologist must be concerned with what should be… . The point of view of this article is that the involvement of the psychologist's own values in the applied field creates an ethical dilemma… . As we present the controversy over values, we will assemble them into four main orientations: naturalism, culturalism, humanism, and theism." Each of these orientations is discussed. A "start in untieing the ethical knot" has been made "by suggesting that value orientations be removed from under the proverbial bushel and, once out in the open, be dealt with as objectively as possible." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between psychology and psychiatry: the hidden issues.

The "… underlying bases of friction between professions of psychology and psychiatry" are explored. Friction emanating from psychiatry stems from the medical pretense of omniscience, an elevated regard for the M.D. degree, and the psychiatrist's position as "… low man on the medical totem pole." Activities of psychologists entering private practice represent "… an economic threat to psychiatrists." The "psychiatrist's theoretical dogmatism… can be attributed to lack of training and sophistication in the content and methods of psychology." Friction emanating from psychology stems from a claim to omniscience, an elevated regard for the degree in psychology, and psychologists trained in areas other than clinical becoming clinical psychologists "… by fiat alone… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Report of the executive Officer: 1961.

Psychologists "must continue to speak to college students, and with greater effectiveness than may be true at present." American Council on Education evidence "suggests that psychology, against the index year of 1955, may be losing ground proportionately as an undergraduate major field… . If we fail in creating an adequate perception of psychology among college students, we may mortgage our future beyond redemption." In governmental affairs "psychology's voice… is not as clear nor its message as self-assured as the voices of other scientists and scholars." The factors influencing processes in which the APA Central Office becomes involved are considered briefly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A matter of degree.

That "… .social sciences are observational in nature whereas the natural sciences are experimental" and that "… one can measure precisely in the natural sciences and cannot do so in the social sciences" are incorrect criteria for distinguishing between the natural and social sciences. "The real difference between these two great branches of science lies in the fact that social sciences deal with the performance of human beings." While social sciences "… are making great progress… " in insisting upon rigor "… there is still a real difference in the way in which the natural scientist and the social scientist proceed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The school as a psychological laboratory.

"Current training opportunities leading the graduate student of psychology to real understanding of children are… extremely limited… . Perhaps as good an explanation for the profession's neglect of such an important aspect of its field [child psychology] is to be found in the swings of academic fashion." To date, the public schools as settings for practicum experiences and internships have not been much exploited. Large city school systems present exciting possibilities. Courses of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago have used the Chicago public schools since the 1930s. Typical research studies in which the Chicago schools have made facilities and subjects available are enumerated. "On the employment side, the positions for school psychologists in the Chicago schools jumped from 66 in 1957 to 90 in 1958." Psychological work in the schools requires thoughtful preparation. "Psychology must sell its wares to skeptical, if not openly hostile, teachers and administrators." Psychologists "must drop their supercilious attitude toward some of the basic tasks of school psychology… . The tremendous potential of the schools as a laboratory for research and training in almost all phases of psychological study must be more fully realized." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting army leadership ability by modified leaderless group discussion.

"Basic training graduates… (n = 459)… assigned to the Fort Knox, Kentucky, leadership school participated in a leaderless group discussion experiment (designed to substitute peer ratings for observer ratings). The status in the leaderless discussion group… (a forced distribution peer rating)… for each subject correlated… (.44)… with final leadership performance in the school… prior acquaintance with LGD members… was found to be influential in improving the predictive ability of the LGD method." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internships vs. field training for industrial psychologists.

It "… is better to take advantage of opportunities for training that now exist in industry than to sell industry on the merits of internship programs." Practical difficulties of organizing, developing, and maintaining psychological internships in industry are indicated. The merits of a work-centered program are discussed. Twenty-five years of "experience… (with a great variety of college graduates including psychologists) indicates that internships for industrial psychologists are unnecessary." "An internship can be described as a weaning period… . Few industrial employers are interested in weanlings." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Let's reduce statistical drudgery. III.

SETAR (serial event timer and recorder) "… is based on techniques used in electronic digital computers" and is employed "… to reduce the drudgery of record reading and computation." SETAR "… can be thought of as doing the same work as a polygraph with eight electromagnetically operated pens, some or all of which could be connected to the apparatus of the task being studied." Utility of the apparatus is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A terminal course for psychology majors.

A special course for senior psychology majors "… in which one step has been taken in the direction away from the conservative tradition of lecturing and examining" is described. The students' first assignment is to list "… the ten most persistent and pressing problems of personal and social living… " and the second is to "… select the ten concepts, laws, or principles which you believe to be the most significant… ." From these the "… subject matter of the rest of the term is established." There is "… frequent and favorable reaction from students… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)