Rejoinder to "A reply to Weinstock."

Replies to D. Ehrenfreund's (see PA, Vol. 51:Issue 5) remarks questioning the appropriateness of the adjusted percentage maintenance schedule recommended by Weinstock in a review of deprivation schedules. The previous recommendation is reaffirmed. (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)     

A reply to "Relationship between EEG and test intelligence: A commentary."

Ellingson's conclusions that no substantial evidence exists of a relationship between EEG and IQ are discussed and held to be unwarranted. (1 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A response to Sprott's "Use of chi square."

Issue is taken with Sprott's criticisms of the use of chi square in birth-order studies, including the author's recent paper on alcoholism, birth order, and family size. Sprott's argument that the chi-square test is inapproprite is discussed, but further statistical tests not involving chi square yielded the same conclusion, i.e, no birth-order effect. Also, interactions between birth-order effects and family sizes are unimportant for the alcoholism data and difficult to evaluate in any birth-order study where an overall test is required. The corrected family-size analyses are defended as the best available. Sprott's suggested changes in the family-size analyses do not affect the conclusion that persons from large families are over-represented among alcoholics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response to Rogers' "Challenges."

A radio broadcaster with a show on psychology responds to C. R. Rogers's (see record 1974-00033-001) article on challenges facing the field. Focus is on psychologists' dealings with the public. (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)     

A "science of complex judgment."

Psychologists tend to neglect the study of complex judgment. "Never before in history have so many been faced with so many complex decisions." Thus, "… it should be the concern of psychologists as an organization to consider effective means for increasing our contributions in the realm of complex decision-making." The concept of scope which "… is defined as the relative omnipotence which observations, measures, or statistics possess in the total decision complex of which they are a part" is proposed and discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on measuring "understandability."

A measure of understandability is proposed as a supplement to reading ease measures such as the Flesch. In one application 9 sets of standard psychological test directions, for which Reading Ease scores were computed, were rated by groups of Navy Aviation Cadets. It would appear that RE scores and understandability ratings were not measuring the same thing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism and reactions to "sputniks."

"This study investigated the relationship between authoritarianism, as measured by an F scale, and changing or retaining predictions following a natural influence event. Following Sputnik I, college Ss made forced-choice predictions… about which nation is most likely to get to the moon first. The same prediction was again elicited following Sputnik II. Among Ss who initially favored the U. S., those who did not change their prediction… received significantly higher scores on the F scale than did those who changed their initial predictions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reply to "Critique of 'Treatment of insomnia by relaxation training': Relaxation training, Rogerian therapy, or demand characteristics."

A reply to R. Eisenman's critique (see record 1970-14777-001) considers the demand characteristics bias in behavior therapy outcome measures and examines the advantages and limitations of several commonly proposed methods of dealing with such bias. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cattell replies to Becker's "comments."

A reply to comments made by Becker (see record 1962-03097-001) regarding R. B. Cattel's original article (see record 1962-03095-001). The positive conceptual and experimental contributions of my paper appearing since his comments, he either misses or ignores, since they show: (a) that it was impossible for him to reach any intelligible conclusion on the theory without recognizing and developing the necessary corrections for attenuation and perturbation, and (b) that the facts which he says I must and do recognize are those chosen by Becker from experiments with older techniques. Science moves on, and the new facts which I present from technically more advanced designs show that the same factor simultaneously loads on the hypothesized markers for both the rating and the questionnaire factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quick reaction to "Executive dilemmas."

This brief article is a reaction to Kilburg and Levinson's (2008; see record 2008-03845-003) important article on the coaching and professional perspectives of Harry Levinson. Levinson's 50 years of seminal psychoanalytic thinking in business and organizations has shone a bright light in some very dark corners of work environments and executive suites. However, capturing, summarizing, and reprising the breadth and depth of his intellectual journey is a difficult task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critique of "Fears as attitudes."

Contends that in a recent study by R. M. Suinn, et al (see record 1972-09128-001) on the proposition that "fears are attitudes," data analysis was inadequate and incorrect and unjustified conclusions were drawn from the results. It is further shown that the converse of their proposition, that attitudes are like fears, has more heuristic value and several important implications for social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply to Silverman's "Defense of simplicity."

Replies to criticisms of autoinstructional techniques previously described by K. R. Stafford and C. F. Combs (1967) and discusses these techniques in terms of stimulus–response models. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some comments on "A behavioral approach to nitrogen narcosis."

In a previous article, R. D. Jennings (see record 1968-08598-001) argued that almost no attention has been paid to the behavioral aspects of nitrogen narcosis, and that the problem has been approached only from the physiological and medical viewpoint. The present paper reviews a number of behavioral studies of nitrogen narcosis not covered by Jennings and notes certain inaccuracies in his paper. It is concluded that considerable attention has been paid to the behavioral aspects of nitrogen narcosis involving skilled performance, but that there is now a need to apply new analytic approaches to this problem. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Dear Psychologists."

This is a letter addressing the need and importance of the psychological essay. Arguments for and against the psychological essay are discussed, and the author asks that any reader of the American Psychologist who may be interested in reading or contributing psychological essays write to him. He suggests that if there is sufficient interest expressed, some inexpensive form of publication could be developed for an annual or biannual collection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on "A note on projection."

In this paper, the author replies to the comments of Chase (see 35: 6476). From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1HL87M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some comments on "Congenital insensitivity to pain: A critique."

A note on the paper by R. A. Sternbach (see record 1963-07503-001) to correct the statement attributed to this author (S. F. Schneider) that the latter considers the syndrome of indifference to pain a defense mechanism, which, in fact, was not the case. A distinction is made between syndrome and defense. A summary of the neuropathologic findings on one of Schneider's cases is presented. Since these findings were equivocal in pathologic significance and thus inconclusive, an explanation of the anomaly on the basis of neural deficit remains as hypothetical as those based upon psychological factors. Sternbach's concluding generalization that pain is not a necessary component in normal personality development is felt to be premature, since the evidence is hardly adequate at this time to describe how the absence of pain may effect personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on "Dogmatism and Learning."

In a study of dogmatism and learning with a sample of 166 students in an introductory psychology course, no confirmation was found of Ehrlich's findings (see 36: 3KB48E) that the Dogmatism Scale predicts classroom learning. There was positive support, however, for previous findings for the independence of aptitude and dogmatism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A quick solution to the psychologist's problem of defining "psychological maltreatment."

Comments that the definition of psychological maltreatment is not an appropriate task for psychologists as scientists or researchers. Psychologists should leave the determination of benefit and harm to the fields of law, ethics, and religion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)