Review of Decision processes.

A summer seminar in 1952 brought together economists, mathematicians, psychologists, and a few representatives of other fields, all concerned with some aspect of choice behavior. Each participant communicated the ideas in his field which he regarded as likely to benefit the others, and some of them were stimulated by the interchange to start new research. The 19 heterogeneous papers comprising Decision Processes were prepared during the subsequent year. The book makes evident the difficulties in this area and discourages any expectation of early pay-off for the psychologist. This volume seems more a memorandum among the participants than a presentation for other readers. These reports do not represent substantial, consolidated advances, as all concerned recognize. There is much use of the single-case experiment, or of the tentative mathematical formulation involving assumptions unsatisfactory to the author. The papers are difficult to read, as mathematics and as English. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of From Perceiving to Performing: An Aspect of Cognitive Growth.

Reviews the book, From Perceiving to Performing: An Aspect of Cognitive Growth by D. R. Olson and Susan M. Pagliuso (Eds.) (1968). As recently as 1960 Miller, Galanter, and Pribram (1960) were able to say that there exists a "theoretical vacuum between cognition and action" and in their book, they made an attempt to fill in that vacuum. Since then, many other psychologists have also concerned themselves with this theoretical vacuum and have made valiant attempts to fill it. Not all psychologists, of course, agreed that a vacuum existed or that if it did, it required filling. The monograph edited by Olson and Pagliuso is concerned with this theoretical vacuum with a special emphasis on the relationship between perceiving and performing. The core of the monograph is four papers plus a discussion presented at an American Psychological Association symposium in 1967. To this has been added a book review and a reprint of an article. Generally speaking, the reviewer regards this monograph as a collection of interesting and stimulating papers concerned with an old and important problem in psychology. It is well worth reading, but the reader should not expect any major theoretical advances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The human person, an approach to an integral theory of personality.

Reviews the book, The human person, an approach to an integral theory of personality by Magda B. Arnold and John A. Gasson (see record 1954-08273-000). Most of the chapters of this book were originally given as papers at the Barat College Workshop in Personality in 1951. Nine are by various Catholic psychologists; the remaining ten by the authors supplement and extend the series. The entire volume represents an approach to personality based on certain underlying religious and philosophical assumptions concerning the nature of man. The authors suggest this volume may be used as a primary text for courses in personality. It is doubtful whether it would be accepted in the usual secular college or university. However, the specifically Catholic emphasis is not great; if the factual material usually found in a text were supplied from some other source, religious institutions of other kinds, e.g. theological seminaries, schools of divinity, might find it useful, congenial, and challenging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Applications of personal construct theory.

Reviews the book, Applications of personal construct theory edited by Jack Adams-Webber and James C. Mancuso (1983). Jack Adams-Webber and James Mancuso have edited a book well worth studying. Almost any psychologist will derive some benefit from the research methods used and the results reported. Most psychologists will also be encouraged to discover that there is renewed hope for a successful experimental approach to a number of research questions in personality and abnormal psychology. Applications of personal construct theory is a collection of papers presented at the Fourth International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology held at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, in the summer of 1981. For this volume the editors have chosen all five invited addresses and nineteen selected papers from the more than eighty items of the complete Congress programme. The selection that they have made is varied and contains some excellent chapters. The book's title is somewhat misleading, however, in that there are chapters dealing with theoretical questions and historical material, as well as those that can properly be regarded as applications of personal construct theory. Apart from its general interest, this book would be a possible text for a senior undergraduate course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editorial introduction.

This is a Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychology devoted to research utilizing human evoked potentials. It is a technique that is increasingly relevant to the interests of psychologists working in traditional areas of human experimental psychology - perception, attention, and memory. The selection of papers in this issue represents current thinking on both fronts, and although far from exhaustive, it should give the reader a basis for judging the current status of work in this field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Discussion and Group Methods: Theory and Practice.

Reviews the book, Discussion and Group Methods: Theory and Practice by Ernest G. Bormann (see record 1970-06652-000). The author, a Professor at the University of Minnesota, in an attempt to deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of group discussion, has adequately explored the task dimension and the social dimension of small-group communication (discussion). This book is divided into two distinct sections. Part 1, The Techniques of Group Discussion, deals with the know-how of evolving, participating in, and moderating various types of discussions. Part II, Group Methods, is concerned with the small-group theory that is necessary if one is to apply group methods to discussion. The author' obviously wrote this book as a text to be used in university courses dealing primarily with small task-oriented groups. Despite the apparent lack of newness, the book is not just another accumulation of the findings of others. Many of the familiar key concepts dealing with group discussion are given new meaning as they are explained and verified in light of the observations of the author as he conducted the Small Groups Communication Seminar over the last eight years at the University of Minnesota. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive neuroscience: A field with increasing interest to school psychologists.

Reviews the book, Cognitive neuroscience: The biology of the mind by M. Gazzaniga, R. B. Ivry, and G. R. Mangun (1998). This excellent book on cognitive neuroscience provides an exposition of the key areas concerned in cognitive neuroscience for the advanced student in adult neuropsychology and/or biological psychiatry. The authors' aim to balance theory with neuropsychology utilizing neuroscientific evidence to support a theoretical basis is a major contribution of this text. In this book there has been a concerted effort to provide a theoretical basis for cognitive neuroscience in addition to a list of empirical evidence. Such an effort provides a backdrop for future research as well as linking various cognitive functions into an understandable whole. This volume provides an excellent overview of brain anatomy and function. The book is highly readable and provides excellent illustrations of complex material. The main weakness of this volume for school psychologists is the emphasis on adult disorders with no real discussion of the most common childhood disorders. Although the text assumes some familiarity with neuroanatomy, it is useful for practitioners who desire more up-to-date information in this exciting field. This volume would be an excellent textbook for courses in biological bases of behavior for doctoral-level school psychologists, provided there is accompanying information on child neuropsychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Progress in Self Psychology, Volume 2.

Similar to the 1st volume of Progress in Self Psychology, this 2nd volume is a collection of invited papers and papers from national conferences devoted to this area of psychoanalysis. According to Goldberg, these volumes are intended, perhaps temporarily, to serve as a substitute for a journal in self-psychology. Loosely divided into sections on theory, clinical problems, development, and applied psychoanalysis, the collection serves as a sampler of contemporary issues, but does not provide a unified structure for theory and practice that some readers may expect of want from a cutting-edge book. The one issue that rings clearly throughout the book is how self psychology compares and contrasts to classical psychoanalysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory and philosophy in social psychology.

Social psychologists are generally very empirical, and their research is usually theoretically oriented. However, what passes for theory is often no more than a couple of vague statements. Nevertheless, coming from the tradition of Kurt Lewin, we tend to reject papers that do not test a "theory". On the other hand, we pay no attention to theories lacking experimental support. Clinical observations are not enough. There is very little concern with philosophical issues. Ken Gergen of Swarthmore College is a notable exception and is often on convention programs. His comments about "historicism" in social psychology have caused some published rebuttals, but our members are largely not very concerned with this or with Gergen's more recent forays in "social re-constructionism". (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond expected utility: Rethinking behavioral decision research.

Much research in psychology has evaluated the quality of people's decisions by comparisons with subjective expected utility (SEU) theory. This article suggests that typical arguments made for the status of utility theory as normative do not justify its use by psychologists as a standard by which to evaluate decision quality. It is argued that to evaluate decision quality, researchers need to identify those decision processes that tend to lead to desirable outcomes. It is contended that a good decision-making process must be concerned with how (and whether) decision makers evaluate potential consequences of decisions, the extent to which they accurately identify all relevant consequences, and the way in which they make final choices. Research that bears on these issues is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Historical Roots of Contemporary Psychology.

Reviews the book, Historical Roots of Contemporary Psychology, edited by Benjamin B. Wolman (see record 1968-35019-000). This volume consists of 16 original essays divided into three general headings: Part One--Association, animal psychology, and conditioning; Part Two--Free association and psychoanalysis; and Part Three--Kant, personalism, and the cultural approach. The subject matter of the papers is primarily concerned with the nineteenth century and includes such names as Herbart, Sechenov, McDougall, Pavlov, James, Janet, Kant, Bretano, Wundt, Bradley, Ward, Stout, Stern, and Vygotskii. The reviewer notes a number of problems with this book: no uniformity in presentation; no explanation of why the particular topics or authors were chosen, or what the authors' qualifications are; no editing for spelling, punctuation, and grammar; and no effort to provide an adequate index. All of the criticisms aside, the reviewer notes that many of the individual papers are quite valuable, and thus recommends the papers, if not the book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Alcohol and the family: Research and clinical perspectives.

Reviews the book, Alcohol and the family: Research and clinical perspectives, edited by R. Lorraine Collins, Kenneth E. Leonard, and John Searles (see record 1990-97558-000). Alcohol and the family is divided into three parts. Part I describes the research on genetic influences that may determine whether someone develops a problem with alcohol. Part II focuses on family processes as they influence drinking behavior. Part III discusses various aspects of family-oriented treatment. Although this book does not purport to be a clinician's handbook, parts II and III provide a well-written, concise, and helpful discussion both of the role of family processes in the development and maintenance of drinking problems and of family approaches to their treatment. This book is "intended for both researchers and clinicians who have an interest in alcoholism and/or family related issues. [The editors] hope that the issues raised in the chapters in this volume will stimulate further developments in research and clinical endeavors on alcohol and the family." Indeed they will. This is a book worth reading by those with such interests, despite a few minor shortcomings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advancing the practice of online psychotherapy: An application of Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory.

With the advancements of technology and its increasing use in all spheres of life, clinicians too are faced with the decision of whether to adopt or refrain from adopting certain innovations in their practice. This article discusses the process of adopting clinical innovations within a theoretical framework, namely diffusion of innovations theory (DIT; Rogers, 2003). DIT constructs are applied to the example of online therapy adoption into clinical practice. Nine adoption barriers are identified, including issues of dehumanizing the therapeutic environment, start-up cost and reimbursement, infrastructure and training, licensure and jurisdiction concerns, ethical guidelines, both client and clinician suitability factors, and professional reputation and acceptance within the field. The authors conclude with a theory-based discussion of activities that may help to accelerate the adoption of online therapy among professional psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Current theory and research in motivation: a symposium.

Reviews "Current theory and research in motivation: a symposium," by Judson S. Brown et al (see record 1954-05574-000). This small volume is a collection of six prepared papers and the comments to them generated among the participants of a two-part symposium on motivation held early in 1953 at the University of Nebraska. Although the papers tend to be uneven in quality and variable in the degree to which theoretical formulations and experimental data are emphasized, they are by and large stimulating, informative, and provocative. The comments on these papers add considerably to their value and give the reader a feeling of being witness to a scholarly free-for-all, in which each participant seems to wield his cudgels with an open and objective mind, firmly convinced of the correctness of his own position. This volume should prove valuable reading to all psychologists and students interested in problems of motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of René A. Spitz: Dialogues from Infancy--Selected Papers.

These selected writings of René Spitz (1887-1974) about "dialogue" from infancy may serve comprehensively to encompass the major new trends in clinical psychoanalysis and developmental theory. This volume includes Spitz's papers from 1945-1972. Most famous are his early studies on deprivation and mothering; his later formulations, beyond both traditional object relations theory and primary narcissism, yield a fresh perspective and a possible framework for the current polarization of psychoanalytic concerns. His final hypotheses address the nature-nurture controversy and the question of an original self, a human soul. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Applications of personal construct theory.

Reviews the book, Applications of personal construct theory edited by J. Adams-Webber and J. C. Mancuso (1983). The 24 chapters of this volume are a selection from papers presented at the Fourth International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) held in 1981. The title of the volume is perhaps misleading, as there are three discernible motifs in this varied assortment of offerings. These can be identified as those papers dealing primarily with theoretical issues, those concerned with the history of the theory and the man who developed it (George Kelly), and those that focus on applications of the theory. It is clear that ten chapters are theoretical, including the first nine and Bannister's concluding chapter on the self. If I were to assume that these efforts are representative of the development of PCP, my judgment would be that little important change in Kelly's ideas has occurred over the years. It is not easy to say why this is so, although the fact that Kelly died before he might have revised aspects of his theory has to be considered. Overall, however, the conceptual advances have a pallid quality and the occasional adulatory echoing of the master is disconcerting. Of the 11 or so empirical and applied chapters, a number point in useful and interesting directions. Several papers deal with PCP in relation to schizophrenic thought disorder, depression, chronic illness, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive neurosis. Neimeyer's chapter on sociohistorical influences in the development of PCP affords an opportunity to reflect upon the past, present, and future of Kelly's ideas--including the trend toward integration with other schools of thought despite Kelly's well-known resistance to direct comparison with other kindred theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Principles for the discussion of life and death options with terminally ill clients with HIV.

Professional psychologists will increasingly have a role in discussing life-and-death options for terminally ill patients. Under certain circumstances, the desire to hasten one's death may be viewed as legitimate. The authors suggest principles for clinical discussion with terminally ill clients with HIV and outline a decision process to assist in determining whether a client's wish to die is well reasoned and that all alternatives have been considered. The authors describe a collaborative decision-making model for use in discussing life-and-death decisions and lay out a series of principles to guide therapist–client discussion of this very difficult decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Community Psychology: In Pursuit of Liberation and Well-being.

Reviews the book Community Psychology: In Pursuit of Liberation and Well-being, edited by Geoffrey Nelson and Isaac Prilleltensky (2005). As their subtitle suggests, the authors are concerned with many matters beyond a mental health focus. Although they modestly describe themselves as "editors," Nelson and Prilleltensky actually wrote most of the book, with only Parts 5 and 6 devoted to the work of others. In Part I, the authors introduce their project for community psychology, offering "issues, values, and tools for liberation and well-being." In Part II, "Values, Principles, and Conceptual Tools," the authors talk about sources of values and the way values are chosen to inform research and action. Part III, "Tools for Action," is devoted to interventions at various levels: social, organizational, small group, and individual. In Part IV, the authors present "Tools for Research." Part V presents diverse topics that include marginalization; globalization, poverty, and social justice; colonization and racism; immigration, adaptation, and the challenges of cultural diversity. Part VI, a final "look toward the future," talks about the new aims and definitions of community psychology presented by this text. This books is one of those rare texts that fully meets the twin purposes of providing ideas for the mature community psychologist as well as working as a text for advanced students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues of Legal Process.

Comments on 3 articles in the November 1964 issue of the American Psychologist which deal with issues of legal process. The articles are: "Psychology and the legal process: Testimonial privileged communications" (see record 1965-06324-001) by R. L. Geiser and P. D. Rheingold, "The psychologist as an expert witness on the issue of insanity" (see record 1965-06327-001) by R. Jeffery and "The psychiatrist and tests of criminal responsibility" (see record 1965-06329-001) by R. Leifer. The commenter notes that of the three, only Jeffery's paper gives the reader a concrete look at samples of what is currently done in the legal system. Jeffery presents samples of testimony as actually presented by psychologists in open court, that allows the reader a glimpse at what is, and provides the reader the opportunity to formulate alternative approaches to the problems. Leifer's (1964) discussion on criminal responsibility, while enlightened to a certain degree by Szasz' new look at psychiatric mythology, but the commenter notes two blind spots. Geiser and Rheingold (1964), in their discussion on privileged communication, manage to be informative to an audience of psychologists and, at the same time, add proposals that stem fro'm their own view points. However, the commenter questions their blanket assumption that psychological services that go beyond the classical dimensions of psychotherapy or psychodiagnostics should not be covered by privileged communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Applied Cross-cultural Psychology: Selected papers from the Second International Conference: International Association for Cross-cultural Psychology.

Reviews the book, Applied Cross-cultural Psychology: Selected papers from the Second International Conference: International Association for Cross-cultural Psychology edited by J. W. Berry adn W. J. Lonner (1975). This volume consists of a series of selected papers from the Second International Conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology held at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, during August 1974. The editors note that many of the conference presentations concerned applied social questions and the papers selected for the present volume were chosen to reflect and comment on applications of "social science in cultural areas where cross-cultural psychologists may be of some assistance." The book is divided into the following seven sections: Psychology and National Development, Psychology and Social Change, Cross-Cultural Orientation, Culture and Mental Health, Social Issues, Education Applications, and Comparative Approaches to the Study of Behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)