From the editors.

Introduces the articles appearing in this issue of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Of particular interest in this issue are the breadth and the rigor of the methodology that underlie the substantive and theoretical issues addressed in the work. The issue begins with an article from Dean Keith Simonton, who looks at the idea of what success in film is and how different indicators of success (critical, box office, etc.) are related to one another over the life of a film. Paul Silvia, James C. Kaufman, and Jean Pretz then address the question of the domain specificity of creativity. The third article shifts to the field of music and looks at the relationship between personality characteristics and how people use music in their lives. The next article reports the results of an experimental design that looked at recognition of objects in cubist paintings and pupil dilation after having made a classification of an object. The next article looks at differences in the motivations and personality characteristics of individuals who visit modern art museums versus ancient art museums. Next, Patricia Stokes uses the problem-solving approaches of Reitman and Simon in a case study examining the sculpture of Richard Serra. The issue concludes with an analysis of the idea of “lived experience” as it relates to the psychology of aesthetics and art making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the editors.

The editors introduce the articles in the current issue of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Topics covered by these articles include (1) social comparison and the creation of works of art, (2) what makes something confusing, (3) why found objects are intriguing, (4) a possible explanation of artists' drawing ability, (5) cultural differences in aspects of creativity, and (6) the concept of the Golden Section and individual differences in preferences for rectangles. Also included are reviews of two books on the topics of everyday creativity and gifted counseling through autoethnographic poetry and essay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the editors.

Presents a brief synopsis of each of the articles in the current issue of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the editor.

Elliot Jurist, in beginning his third year as editor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, offers a few reflections on the field of psychoanalytic psychology, particularly in relation to the wider field of mental health. He introduces an interview that he conducted with Peter Fonagy, discusses the importance of Psychoanalytic Psychology remaining a scholarly journal, and notes that contributions to the journal are invited that discuss the place of psychoanalytic psychology in relation to the field of clinical psychology and the wider realm of mental health professions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the editors.

We continue to be impressed by the imagination, ingenuity, and rigor of the submissions to Psychology of aesthetics, creativity and the arts. Once again, our authors bring to you the vibrancy, diversity, and depth of our field. We think it’s a great issue and we hope that you will think so as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the editor.

Presents an editorial to an issue of the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. The editor shows his appreciation of hundreds of scholars for his predecessor's efforts and accomplishments. It was Brent Slife who transformed a divisional newsletter into a journal, and then into one worthy of the loyal and growing patronage it now enjoys. The most a successor can promise is to preserve the gains and strive to build on them. Readers will notice that a new board of Associate Editors has been assembled, complemented by a board of Consulting Editors. The Consulting Editors have chief responsibility for reviewing essays submitted for consideration and advising on their worthiness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the editor….

Presents an editorial from an issue of Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. This edition of the Journal features essays presented at the recently concluded annual APA Convention; the Division-24 Presidential Address, the two student-papers selected for the Division-24 Student Award, and a set of symposium papers on the controversial topic of "recovered memories". The "recovered memories" issue is but the latest chapter in a text filled with a complacent indifference to criticism and with quasi-theories once or twice removed from the events they are supposed to explain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory and philosophy in the psychology of the arts.

Philosophy, historically at least, has played a large role in aesthetics, for philosophical aesthetics dates back to Aristotle's Poetics, and has attracted the attention of such notable thinkers as Kant, Dewey, Santayana, and Croce. Nonetheless, if I had to identify the philosophical foundation of most empirical astheticians, hedonism emerges as the clear winner. That is, researchers who study why people appreciate art subscribe to the pleasure theory of aesthetics. On the theoretical side, psychology of the arts is also richly endowed. Great names from psychology's past, such as Fechner, Wundt, and Freud—all have expressed views about the foundations of the aesthetic experience. Many of these early traditions survive in some form in current empirical research. At this point, the enthusiasm for cognitive science in general psychology has yet to filter down to empirical aesthetics in any conspicuous fashion, albeit some researchers (e.g., Martin Lindauer) would consider themselves cognitive psychologists. Perhaps the aesthetic experience is too innovative to fit readily in a cognitive framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From H = log sn to conceptual framework: A short history of information.

"Information" has become a widely used term in psychology, especially within cognitive psychology. However, despite its status as a technical term, the word now rarely receives explicit definition. By contrast, when information entered the vocabulary of psychologists in the late 1940s, it had an explicit mathematical definition largely derived from developments in information theory. This article examines how information entered psychology, how its meaning changed, and how it remained a technical term in the vocabulary of psychologists in the second part of the 20th century. "Information" became a term that was required to speak to ever more diverse theoretical concerns and its earliest definitions in psychology could not sustain such uses. As a consequence, "information" became a term whose technical uses became increasingly difficult to differentiate from its everyday meanings. I argue that this has not necessarily made "information" a worthless term but one whose lack of specificity may now be unsettling to some psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the ground up: Building a psychology of women internship track.

Where can a graduate student interested in a specialty track in the psychology of women apply for internship? Until recently, there was no American Psychological Association (APA)-approved internship site in the United States offering such an experience. In addition to the generalist training that typifies APA internships, the internship year also presents an opportunity for specialization. If internship sites are to produce psychologists well equipped to address women's unique mental health needs, then it is vital to create opportunities for trainees to specialize in the psychology of women while on internship. This article describes the development of a Psychology of Women Track as part of a predoctoral internship program, including the context of the track, the specific training experiences included in the track, and a conceptual model of psychology of women training that can be used at other internship sites. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From hypothesis-testing psychology to procedure-testing psychologic.

Psychologists do not analyze the conceptual relations between their independent and dependent variables. Hence, they fail to recognize that the plausibility of their hypotheses stems from the conceptual relatedness of the variables. The outcome is research that appears to test hypotheses but really tests only procedures, because the hypotheses involve conceptually related variables and are necessarily true. Domains in which this has been demonstrated are discussed. Psychologic is an axiomatic system intended to formulate the psychologically relevant conceptual relationships embedded in language and is an instrument for describing, explaining, predicting, and controlling intrapersonal and interpersonal processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training the Trainee as Well as the Trainer: Lessons to be Learned From Clinical Psychology.

The training literature in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology has benefited from empirical research in experimental psychology on such subject matter as massed vs distributive practice, knowledge of results (KOR), and the transfer of learning from the training setting to the workplace. The purpose of the present paper is to argue that further advances in the field of training will occur when there is a shift in research emphasis from reliance on findings from experimental psychology to building on extant training techniques in clinical psychology, particularly cognitive behavioral psychology. Further advances in the field of training may also occur when there is a shift in emphasis from the recipient of training, namely, the trainee, to the administrator of training, namely the trainer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Writing Styles: A Survey of Psychology Journal Editors.

When the author of a behavioral science article refers to his or her own beliefs, conjectures, or actions, should a first-person or third-person writing style be used? The Publication Manual (1974) of the American Psychological Association gives no definite preference. Is there a general preference for either first or third person among today's psychologists? This study was designed to assess the current editorial preferences of editors of behavioral science journals and their reasons for those preferences. Questionnaires were sent to the senior editors of the top 100 psychology journals, as determined by a survey of APA members reported by Koulack and Keselman (1975). The results show that some editors have a very strong preference for either first-person or third-person writing styles. Some mentioned that they regularly edit authors' statements of self-reference to match their own or the journal's policy. Some editors implied that their editorial preference for either first or third person helps establish the journal's image with respect to formality/informality or scientific orthodoxy/heterodoxy. Fifty percent of the entire sample, however, prefer first or third person mildly, and many others expressed no preference, suggesting that there is a great deal of flexibility among a large number of editors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From the President...

The author expresses his opinions concerning the relationship between research and teaching in psychology. Most psychologists spend a portion of their time in teaching. For many it is their most important activity in terms of the amount of time spent and the proportion of income received. Most psychologists think of themselves as scientists and spend a portion of time in planning and carrying out research. Many psychologists who are employed primarily as teachers elect to be in the laboratory during any time which can be spared from teaching. Almost all teaching psychologists, therefore, have two basic functions--one as a teacher and the other as a scientist. On the surface it may seem that the two roles are completely compatible but a more careful look reveals that there are inconsistencies between the behavior of the psychologist when he functions as a teacher and his behavior when he functions as a scientist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to cognitive science.

Reviews the book, A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to cognitive science by George Mandler (see record 2007-05052-000). George Mandler, a longtime researcher in the area of memory and cognition, has gathered together his notes and selected bits from previous publications to assemble a new book cast as a brief history of the emergence of cognitive psychology. Mandler draws us to the positive impact Behaviourism had on the development of Cognitive Psychology. Mandler's book stands as an outline of the past, not a history. Its value rests with the perspective that comes from someone who has been thinking, researching and writing about topics central to Cognitive Psychology for over 40 years. He has been a witness to change, someone who has even participated in them, so his insights are valuable and directive. I would have enjoyed Mandler's book to a greater extent if, rather than chronologically reporting events, he had attempted to provide a gestalt of the emergence of cognitive psychology, one that would have located the articulate in the inarticulate of research practise and concept development in societies caught in the rift of redefinition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological information center to solve our publication problems.

It is universally accepted that originality should be the first editorial criterion for contributions to a scientific journal. This means that the article should be a real extension of knowledge or at least a significant attempt to solve some of our problems. Many items now published in the psychological journals are very far from meeting this condition. Too many articles printed today contribute little to objective knowledge. As parts of dissertations they arc useful as training aids, both conceptually and in the techniques of research. These ends are important, but such research exercises seldom yield lasting contributions. These studies usually introduce some variations in other people's experiments, and the number of such variations is limitless. Must all be published? These sorts of studies simply corroborate more basic works and add relatively insignificant details. A better way to record such material might be to gather them in a Psychological Information Center. Research projects in all branches of psychology could be registered with the Center, and all reports of work done could be gathered there. They could be recorded and evaluated; and parts that contain original contributions could be included in Psychological Abstracts. Only studies of wider importance or definite contributive value would be published in toto by regular journals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)