The Boulder Model: History, rationale, and critique.

Although the current philosophy of education in clinical psychology allows for the existence of a program of training clinical psychologists who primarily want to be practitioners in conjunction with the more traditional scientist-practitioner (Boulder model) program, the controversy over the value of the 2 types of program continues. The criticism of the Boulder model is that the rationale for requiring clinical psychology students to learn to do research as well as train to be clinicians was spurious; the Boulder model trains students as researchers, a role that is incompatible with their interests and abilities. The history of the development of the Boulder model is reviewed together with data regarding the personality traits, interests, and abilities of people interested in research as opposed to service work. Findings indicate that the objections of the critics are well founded. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Substance versus style: A new look at social desirability in motivating contexts.

Although there is an emerging consensus that social desirability does not meaningfully affect criterion-related validity, several researchers have reaffirmed the argument that social desirability degrades the construct validity of personality measures. Yet, most research demonstrating the adverse consequences of faking for construct validity uses a fake-good instruction set. The consequence of such a manipulation is to exacerbate the effects of response distortion beyond what would be expected under realistic circumstances (e.g., an applicant setting). The research reported in this article was designed to assess these issues by using real-world contexts not influenced by artificial instructions. Results suggest that response distortion has little impact on the construct validity of personality measures used in selection contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In the Eye of the Storm: Race and Genomics in Research and Practice.

The difficulties of operationalizing race in research and practice for social, behavioral, and genetic researchers and practitioners are neither new nor related to recent genetic knowledge. For geneticists, the bases for understanding groups are clines, observed traits that gradually change in frequency between geographic regions without distinct identifiable population boundaries and population histories that carry information about the distribution of genetic variants. For psychologists, race may not exist or be a social and cultural construct associated with fluid social inferences. Because definitions of populations and race can be socially and biologically incongruent, the authors suggest that geneticists and social and behavioral scientists and clinicians attend to external validity issues by operationalizing population and racial categories and avoiding race proxies for other biological, social, and cultural constructs in research designs, data analyses, and clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple personality disorder: Etiology, treatment, and treatment techniques from a psychodynamic perspective.

Academic psychologists have moved away from psychoanalytic and psychodynamic explanations of human functioning and pathology and have instead embraced neuropsychology and cognitive science. This trend has kept many psychologists and researchers from more fully understanding some of the important phenomena they chose to investigate. One area about which psychologists can learn in the psychodynamic literature is multiple personality disorder (MPD). A thorough knowledge of the psychodynamic perspective with regards to MPD is important to all those in psychology who deal with MPD patients or who study the phenomenon. By understanding the abuse most of these patients suffered and the resulting impact this has had on their personality development, psychologists can begin to create effective and promising assessment tools and intervention programs. In this article, I review MPD and its treatment from a psychodynamic perspective in hopes that those in psychology (researchers and clinicians alike) may benefit from such a discussion and will utilize this information in their attempts to understand MPD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work flexibility or nonwork support? Theoretical and empirical distinctions for work–life initiatives.

Although scholars and practitioners tout the merits of various work–life initiatives, little research has been conducted to determine (a) whether broad categories of initiatives exist, and (b) whether these categories are predictive of work experiences or outcomes. We postulate 2 general types of work–life initiatives: work flexibility and nonwork support. Study 1 provides a systematic review of 385 research articles. Some research focused on specific work flexibility initiatives (e.g., flextime, telecommuting), but almost no research focused on specific nonwork support benefits (e.g., time off, dependent care). Most research confounded work flexibility and nonwork support by creating an aggregate index typically weighted toward nonwork support. This means that consulting psychologists and other practitioners may have difficulty applying research results to solve real organizational problems around work–life issues. Study 2 provides an exploratory assessment of our 2-factor model (N = 328). Results indicate initial internal validity for our 2-factor solution. Participation in work flexibility had direct associations with work-to-life conflict, work engagement, and life satisfaction, along with indirect associations with life satisfaction and psychological strain. Nonwork support possessed only a direct, negative association with life satisfaction. Implications for consulting psychologists, other practitioners, and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing the personal lives of psychotherapists and research psychologists.

Being a psychotherapist is a complex challenge. Research has suggested that therapists are changed by their work, but it has not been clear whether these changes are the same for research psychologists and practitioners. 276 representatives of these 2 groups were surveyed. Although therapists reported more anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion than did researchers, they were also more satisfied with their lives and more likely than researchers to feel that their work had influenced them in positive ways. Therapists' work as practitioners may be emotionally stressful but it may also enrich their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental Validity and the Assessment of Psychopathology in Adults.

Results from studies on incremental validity are described for (a) interviews, (b) personality inventories, (c) projective techniques, and (d) brief self-rated and clinician-rated measures. In some of the studies (clinical judgment studies), psychologists were given increasing amounts of information. In other studies (statistical prediction studies), increasing amounts of assessment information were entered into a statistical prediction rule. Although relatively little research has been conducted on incremental validity, results that have been obtained tend to favor the use of interviews, personality inventories, and brief self-rated measures. Results are generally less encouraging for projective techniques. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits across cultures: A neo-Allportian perspective.

Since the inception of the psychology of personality, psychologists have been trying to account for regularities in behavior. The preferred construct has been the personality trait as an inner disposition that directs conduct and which is common to all people. Although found lacking during the 1970s, the search for sources of direction from within has been resurrected in the form of the five-factor theory. According to this approach there are five underling structural factors common to all people and independent of cultural influences—an asocial, ahistorical, biologically based conception. Examination of the theory finds it to be dealing with traits of temperament rather than personality and judges it insufficient on that basis. Rather than conceiving of personality as fixed and universal, it is argued that personality is an adaptation worked out in the cultural and historical context of the individual life. It is further contended that a reconsideration of the personality theory of Gordon Allport will provide a better basis for understanding personality and personality traits specifically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "disease-prone personality": A meta-analytic view of the construct.

This article examines the notion that personality plays a causal role in the development of disease. In particular, this article develops the heuristic strategy of simultaneously comparing several emotional aspects of personality and several diseases, with close attention to the strength of the links between personality and disease. The published literature on personality correlates of five diseases with so-called "psychosomatic" components—asthma, arthritis, ulcers, headaches, and coronary heart disease—is reviewed and discussed, with a focus on construct validity. The statistical technique of meta-analysis is used to provide an easily viewed comparative summary. The results point to the probable existence of a generic "disease-prone" personality that involves depression, anger/hostility, anxiety, and possibly other aspects of personality. However, except in the case of coronary heart disease, the evidence is weak. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence to argue for a key role for psychological research on the prevention and treatment of disease. Specific directions for future research are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive personality: Reliability, validity, and relation to dysthymia.

The reliability and validity of K. Schneider's (1958) construct of depressive personality was evaluated in a sample of 177 outpatients, who were administered structured diagnostic and family history interviews, an extensive battery of inventories, and a 6-mo follow-up assessment. The criteria for depressive personality had moderate to good interrater reliability, internal consistency, and test–retest stability, and the assessment of depressive personality traits was not influenced by patients' clinical states. In addition, preliminary support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the depressive personality construct was obtained. Although there were significant relations between the depressive personality and diagnoses of dysthymia from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) and DSM-III—Revised (DSM-III—R), the depressive personality was not entirely subsumed by existing mood disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is nomothetic about “nomothetic” personality research?

Were it one's purpose to set rolling in scornful impatience the eyes of those who currently animate the discipline of personality psychology, one could scarcely do better than to initiate some discussion of the so-called "nomothetic vs. idiographic" controversy, a dispute that has nagged the field for at least the past 50 years. The author has been persuaded that the need for such an analysis will prevail for just so long as it takes the legion but, alas, ersatz "nomotheticists' of personality psychology to finally get it right: The knowledge yielded by conventional' 'nomothetic' personality research has never been, is not now, and will never be nomothetic in any sense of the term to which a personality theorist would be compelled to bow. When all is said and done, it is only this dogma, as fallacious as it is resilient, that has nourished some six decades of "nomothetic" hegemony and, in the process, served repeatedly as the grounds for summarily banishing to their collective corner dispirited critics such as Allport (cf. Allport, 1966). But while the intimidating hubris of psychometric sophisticates may heretofore have muted many who, in their alleged "romanticism" (Holt, 1962) dared to challenge conventional "nomothetic" wisdom, such browbeating does not dispel ghosts—Teutonic or otherwise. There are certain essentially epistemological problems with which apologists for traditional "nomotheticism" simply must come to grips, and if prior critics of the dominant paradigm failed to articulate those problems adequately (and I believe that this is the case, cf. Lamiell, 1985), then the struggle must be joined anew, because the problems are genuine and they are not just going to evaporate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of combining psychological tests on clinical inferences.

The study was designed to determine whether the reliability and validity of interpretations based on 3 frequently used psychological tests—Rorschach, TAT, MMPI—increased as a function of number of tests employed. 30 clinical psychologists completed personality questionnaires describing 5 Ss on the basis of identifying data alone, each test individually, pairs of tests, and all 3 combined. Reliability and validity did not increase as a function of number of tests, nor were there any differences between tests or pairs of tests. The validity scores for test data ranged from 66% to 73%, with a Mean of 68%. The reliability scores ranged from 56% to 72%, with a Mean of 64%. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and complementary and alternative medicine.

Can the fields of complementary and alternative medicine provide psychologists with new career opportunities in practice, education, and research? With 42% of Americans estimated to be seeking unconventional treatments, collectively spending $21.2 billion annually, it is recommended that psychologists become informed about alternative medical practices, possible benefits and risks of such practices, and relevant licensing laws and education required for complementary medical practitioners. This article introduces psychologists to the emerging new health fields of complementary and alternative medicine; outlines the theoretical perspectives of 4 disciplines—Chinese medicine, Indian Ayurvedic medicine, naturopathy, and homeopathy; presents a brief sample of research literature; and discusses expanded career opportunities and roles for psychologists in interaction with alternative medicine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Index of Drug Involvement: a partial validation

Social workers often need a wider range of assessment scales that can be used in education, research, and practice. The Index of Drug Involvement (IDI) is a short-form assessment scale that may be of use to social work educators, researchers, and practitioners who work with clients with drug abuse or chemical dependency problems. This article describes the IDI; provides information about its administration, scoring, and interpretation; and describes the initial research conducted to validate the instrument. This article provides information about the reliability of the IDI; reports the standard error of measurement; and presents findings concerning the content, construct, and criterion validity of the instrument. Also presented is initial information about the development and use of a clinical cutting score that will help practitioners evaluate the clinical significance of a drug abuse problem and that can be a guide for establishing initial and final treatment goals.     

Temporal stability and validity of two personality disorder inventories.

The 3-mo temporal stability of self-report personality disorder scores from the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire—Revised (PDQ—R; S. Hyler and R. Rieder, 1987) and the MMPI-Personality Disorder scales (MMPI-PD; L. Morey, M. Waugh, and R. Blashfield, 1985) was examined in a sample of 51 psychiatric outpatients. In addition, the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales from the PDQ—R and MMPI-PD were also assessed. Results indicate that PDQ—R and MMPI-PD scores were relatively stable over time, but support was obtained for the validity of only several of the personality disorder scales. Issues concerning the overlap of personality disorders as well as the lack of a "gold standard" to be used for establishing the validity of personality disorder instruments are discussed. Future research aimed at combining multiple forms of Axis II assessment (e.g., self-report, interview, informant) is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality measurement and employment decisions: Questions and answers.

The invisible college of psychologists who do research with measures of normal personality now largely agrees about the structure of personality; this group also agrees that competently developed personality measures are valid predictors of real world performance. Outside that college, however, there is still considerable skepticism regarding the meaning and validity of these measures. This article attempts to summarize the data needed to answer the most frequent questions about the use of personality measures in applied contexts. Our major conclusions are that (a) well-constructed measures of normal personality are valid predictors of performance in virtually all occupations, (b) they do not result in adverse impact for job applicants from minority groups, and (c) using well-developed personality measures for preemployment screening is a way to promote social justice and increase organizational productivity. (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)     

Psychological help for victims of crime.

In interventions to help victims, service providers should be guided by theory and research and anticipate that multiple actors will influence the way in which victims cope with their experience. Careful and deliberate intervention initiated early by persons first in contact with a victim, followed in some cases by later professional corrective intervention, are parts of an overall system of potential interventions. As service providers, educators, and researchers, psychologists can demonstrate leadership in developing theory, creating new knowledge, and designing and evaluating interventions. To be effective, psychologists must collaborate with practitioners in the health, mental health, and criminal justice systems to demonstrate the value of research and evaluation for improving services to victims. Theory-based field trials of victim services should supplement other forms of research to develop better ways of helping victims of crime. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)