Personality adjustment and the study of abnormal psychology.

Rorschach story-completion test and autobiographical data were obtained from 21 students in an abnormal psychology class and 22 students in a history class, both at the beginning and the end of the semester. Comparisons of the pre- and post-test data "support the belief that, (a) as a group, students studying abnormal psychology differ in personality from those not enrolled in the course, and (b) while the study of abnormal psychology has little immediate effect on personality ad ustment, measurable changes occur which appear to be related to course experience." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and the realization of creative potential.

Rank has written of 3 phases "in man's winning his own individuality and in realizing his own creative potential." Sometimes Rank wrote of these as 3 types of persons—the adapted type, the neurotic type, and the creative type. 3 samples of architects were studied: I. Highly Creative Architects. II. Architects with "at least 2 yr. of work experience and association" with one of the architects qualified for sample I. III. Architects, none of whom had ever worked with any of the nominated highly creative architects. The mean creativity ratings for the 3 groups are 5.46, 4.25, and 3.54 respectively. "The differences are in the expected direction and are statistically highly significant." Rank's ideas about the constructive formation of personality and creative development are discussed. What is "most impressive about Architects I is the degree to which they have actualized their creative potentialities. Architects III… appear to have incorporated into their egos, and into their images… the more conventional standards of society and of their profession. Arichitects II, by and large less creative than Architects I but more creative than Architects III, show an overlapping of traits with both of the other groups." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of autonomous problem-solving activities in learning to program.

Variation in high school students' achievement in Pascal programming courses was examined as a function of individual differences in self-reported engagement in autonomous problem-solving activities and of differences in course characteristics. Also examined were relationships between course characteristics and extent of engagement in different problem-solving activities. A total of 107 students in eight introductory courses and 79 students in seven Advanced Placement (AP) courses completed questionnaires about their problem-solving activities and about characteristics of their courses as well as a criterion test requiring the reformulation of code in an existing program. Results of regression analyses indicated that student differences in problem-solving activities account for variance in criterion performance, especially in AP courses. In addition, overall, certain course characteristics were related to differences in engagement in selected problem-solving activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Undergraduate grades and the Miller Analogies Test as predictors of graduate success.

Ss were "124 students who entered the graduate program at the University of Michigan during the years 1951 through 1955… . Information available on each applicant at the time of entrance included the following measures": total undergraduate grade point average (GPA), undergraduate GPA in science and mathematics, undergraduate GPA in psychology courses, MAT score, objective comprehensive examination in psychology. Measures of "success" included: GPA in graduate courses, marks on doctoral preliminary examinations, faculty ratings of potential professional contribution and potential scientific contribution. 6 tables of results are presented. The best predictor of marks in graduate courses was undergraduate GPA in science courses; it also best predicted preliminary examination grades. "The MAT significantly predicted graduate course grades and was the best predictor of potential scientific contribution of the student." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homogeneity and variation in measuring personality.

"The measurement of personality variables is in a highly unsatisfactory state at the present time." Models for measuring personality traits, kinds of variance in test response data, difficulties in personality measurement, and some courses of action for meeting these problems are discussed. "The cumulative homogeneity model should be given a more intensive trial. It is appropriate not only for standard inventories but also for the perceptual and cognitive tests." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving appraisal, self-reported study habits, and performance of academically at-risk college students.

We examined the relations among problem-solving appraisal, self-reported study habits, and academic performance for 63 college students enrolled in a developmental course for academically unprepared students. The participants completed measures of self-appraised problem-solving ability and study habits. Indexes of academic ability and performance were also collected. Regression analyses revealed that problem-solving appraisal was significantly predictive of study habits and semester grade-point average. The results indicate that problem-solving appraisal is related to study habits and academic performance among academically at-risk students, and they suggest that problem-solving appraisal encompasses more than social skill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Richardson Creativity Award: 1969.

At the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association in 1969, the APA announced the recipient of the Richardson Creativity Award given for "the most outstanding contribution during the preceding year or recent years toward improving creative and innovative talents or developing or utilizing such talents." The 1969 recipient was Frank Barron. Barron received this citation, "For his insightful studies of the creative person and the creative process. For his conceptualization of several significant variables of personality, for his development and standardization of tests to measure these dimensions of personality, and for his researches which have demonstrated their functional role in the creative person: the disposition to originality, preference for complexity, independence of judgment, esthetic sensitivity, ego-strength, and psychological health. For his contribution to our understanding of the psychology of imagination, of the needs for order and disorder as motives in creativity, and of the role of diffusion, integration, and enduring attention in the creative process, especially as these have been revealed in the creative writer. And for the elegance and grace with which he has reported his findings and discussed their implications for the nurturing of creative talent." The article also includes a short professional biography of Barron, listing his accomplishments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consistency of the adult personality.

Data "… concerning consistency of selected personality variables in the adult personality" were studied in a sample originally composed of 300 engaged couples. "Each of these 600 individuals was assessed with an elaborate battery of techniques including anthropometric measures, blood groupings, a battery of psychological tests, and a 36-variable personality rating scale." Retesting occurred after a lapse of 16 to 18 years. "Our findings indicate that significant changes in the human personality may continue to occur during the years of adulthood. Such changes… are potentially of sufficient magnitude to offer a basis of fact for those who hope for continued psychological growth during the adult years." 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homogeneity of member personality and its effect on group problem-solving.

The capacity to solve problems was studied in 2 groups, one composed of Ss with similar personalities (as measured by the Guilford-Zimmerman Tempermant Survey), the "homogenous" group, and a "nonhomogenous" group. Several aspects of the solution were studied with the result that "The degree of homogeneity of personality of the members of the groups used in this study was seen to have a direct bearing on the effectiveness of the groups in producing solutions to problems," and "The results imply that a multiplicity of perceptions of a problem are productive of creative solutions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement of attitudes toward alcohol and their relation to personality variables.

2 10-item alcohol attitude scales were developed from an available item pool. 1 scale measures favorability of attitude toward "social drinking" while the other taps attitude toward "alcoholism and the alcoholic." Scores on the scales were consistent with ratings of attitudes and of drinking behavior made from interview reports obtained from 2 college student samples participating in a longitudinal study, 92 students at Stanford University and 102 at the University of California, Berkeley. Alcohol attitudes of these groups were correlated with scores on 2 personality variables, "social maturity" and "impulse expression." Differences between the 2 samples, and between the sexes, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Miss, Mrs., Ms., or none of the above.

Two experiments with 90 undergraduates and 160 high school seniors examined whether negativity would be apparent in Ss' expectations and evaluations of course offerings when no title or the titles "Miss," "Mrs.," "Ms.," or "Mr." were used with the instructor's name. When course content was nontechnical, women called by traditional titles were at a disadvantage in the popularity of the course and in the expectation of intellectual challenge. All courses taught by Ms. instructors were rated comparably to those taught by Mr. or No Title instructors. Only courses ascribed to Miss or Mrs. instructors were the object of more negative judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An abilities conception of personality: Some implications for personality measurement.

Most "psychologists have tended to regard the domains of personality and ability as separate. This unfortunate separation has resulted in a necessary confounding of 2 important response properties in personality research, i.e., response predisposition and response capability… . In the measurement of abilities, attempts are made to elicit indices of maximal performance under optimal conditions of measurement." On the other hand, personality tests based on "psychoanalytic notions of projection would imply the more ambiguity the better." Predisposition conceptions of personality "can lead to operations which are clearly at odds with those demanded by an abilities conception." From an abilities conception, "the usefulness of any measuring instrument would decrease as ambiguity in the measuring instrument is increased." The choice, to search for man "as he really is" or in terms of those things "of which he is capable" is of utmost importance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ratings of leadership potential at the U. S. Naval Academy and subsequent officer performance.

For 324 graduates of the class of 1951, fitness report ratings were correlated with a variety of undergraduate performance measures, including aptitude-for-service ratings, class standings in various courses, and Officer Classification Battery Test Scores. "It is concluded that the aptitude-for-service ratings reflect significant correlates of successful officer performance following graduation." The other measures were found to bear an insignificant or much lower relationship to post graduation performance measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual rigidity as measured by aniseikonic lenses.

"The general hypothesis that the time delay and degree of distortion with aniseikonic lenses are meaningfully related to other measures of perceptual and personality rigidity is supported by the data." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor and client personality as determinants of counselor expectancy effects.

78 students enrolled in summer-session college courses were randomly assigned to serve either as counselors or as clients for a 20-min, role-played peer counseling session. Ss completed a battery of standardized personality measures, including the Personality Research Form. Each counselor interacted with 2 clients. Prior to the sessions, the counselor was led to believe that one of the clients was especially introverted and that the other client was especially extraverted. Dependent measures were based on clients' change scores on a mood adjective rating scale administered before and after the peer counseling sessions. Analyses showed that counselors who were more successful at biasing their clients in the direction of their expectancies (a) scored higher on measures of dogmatism, nurturance, and social recognition; (b) scored lower on impulsivity; and (c) were more likely to be female. Clients who were more susceptible to counselor bias scored higher on the Self-Monitoring Scale, its Other-Directedness subscale, and social recognition. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students, groups, and teaching methods.

"One of the most exciting, and frustrating areas of applied research is research on college teaching—and particularly on the teaching of psychology." In a research on teaching general psychology in authoritarian, democratic, and laissez faire group climates, "As compared to discussion and tutorial methods, the more autocratic recitation method proved not only to produce superior performance on the final examination, but also to produce greater interest in psychology, as measured by the election of advanced courses in psychology. Furthermore, students liked it better than the other methods." Other researches are discussed concerning the type of personality which succeeds in group-centered classes, relationships between anxiety and test performance, and the effect of meprobamate on test performance. Women students apparently are more detrimentally affected by stress situations. "It is not surprising that we find that sex is an important variable, since biological and cultural factors interact in differentiating men from women in consistent ways. Like other researchers, we find that women are more highly motivated, achieve more nearly up to their abilities, and are more greatly affected by changes in the classroom situation than are men." 19 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: Daniel J. Levinson (1920–1994).

Memoralizes the life of D. Levinson as the originator of the theory of individual life structure. His dissertation on the measurement of ethnocentrism was followed by his book, The Authoritarian Personality which was the most widely acclaimed social science work of its time. Levinson follwowed up his authoritarian studies with further research on personality, shifting his attention to the role of personality and organizational contexts. During the final era of Levinson's academic career he made a radical change in research direction to the study of the adult portion of the life cycle. His Seasons of a Man's Life became the scholarly anchor of a new preoccupation in western societies with problems of creative work and creative loving after youth. Immediately following this publication, he began a companion study of women documented in The Seasons of a Woman's Life (in press). Despite Levinson's wide range of interests and his influence, there is a consistent focus to his work: that of "person-in-world." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teacher personality traits and student instructional ratings in six types of university courses.

Colleague ratings of 29 personality traits were studied in relation to student ratings of teaching effectiveness in a sample of 46 psychology teachers. Instructors were evaluated in six different types of university courses, ranging from freshman lecture classes to graduate research seminars. Major findings were as follows: (1) Rated teaching effectiveness varied substantially across different types of courses for a given instructor; (2) teaching effectiveness in each type of course could be predicted with considerable accuracy from colleague ratings of personality; and (3) the specific personality traits contributing to effective teaching differed markedly for different course types. It was concluded that psychology instructors tend to be differentially suited to different types of courses and furthermore that the compatibility of instructors to courses is determined in part by personality characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)