Zoos as settings for psychological research: A preliminary survey.

Presents survey results that support D. B. Miller's (see record 1977-28610-001) proposal that US zoological parks are appropriate environments for naturalistic comparative psychological research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation research: A psychological perspective.

Presents a model for evaluation research from a psychological perspective that incorporates various concepts and methods, and indicates the roles in which psychologists trained in more traditional areas can contribute to evaluation research. Analysis reveals evaluation research to be a complex set of feedback processes monitoring various aspects of social change processes. These feedback mechanisms vary greatly in their level of precision and pose numerous challenges and opportunities for psychologists trained in more traditional areas. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A center for research on psychological practice.

A center for research on psychological practice was developed in order to train practitioner psychologists to do applied mental health research and provide a research resource to the provider community. The center's organization, funding, practice experiences, research opportunities, and results dissemination are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prison rape and psychological sequelae: A call for research.

Prison rape is a pervasive and serious problem affecting many male inmates in U.S. prisons. We review the literature on prison rape prevalence, victimization risk factors, and the psychological and nonpsychological sequelae of prison rape. We address several areas of inquiry needed to guide research and facilitate solutions to the problem of prison rape, especially given the context and intent of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) passed in 2003 by the U.S. Congress. Mental health correlates remain to be studied; for example, the complex postrape symptoms of prison rape survivors do not appear to be captured by current diagnostic nomenclature. To date, psychology has been largely silent on the issue of prison rape but may have much to offer in terms of describing and treating the psychological impact of victimization, documenting the personal and situational risk and protective factors associated with prison rape, and in designing programs and policy to reduce prison rape. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of important psychological books.

80 of 100 psychologists who possessed PhDs and were staff members of colleges or universities were randomly selected from the "American Psychological Association 1958 Directory." In order, the highest rated authors were: Freud, James, Hull, Pavlov, Watson, Boring, Skinner, Thorndike, Woodworth, Tolman, Kohler, Lewin, Darwin, Ebbinghaus, Koffka, and Wundt. Books rated with the largest number of points include: James' "Principles of Psychology"; Hull, "Principles of Behavior"; Pavlov, "Conditioned Reflexes"; Freud, "Interpretation of Dreams"; Boring, "History of Experimental Psychology"; and Watson, "Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2AI92W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental toxins and behavioral development: A new role for psychological research.

Presents a new multiple-effects model that emphasizes subtle behavioral alteration as an early sign of toxicity and as evidence that a particular chemical agent may produce long-term impairment in susceptible individuals. The permeability of the placenta to a variety of chemical agents and the special sensitivity of the fetus to some of these agents draws attention to prenatal exposure and the need for prospective longitudinal studies of affective, social, and cognitive development in exposed individuals. The multiple-effects model provides a role for the psychologist in teratological diagnosis and research since the measurement of behavioral variation has developed primarily in psychology. Limitations inherent in both experimental animal research and correlational human studies of toxic effects make it necessary for these methodologies to be used in a complementary fashion. The implications of behavioral teratology for the study of human development and the design of protective social policies are discussed. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deception in psychological research: A reply to Seeman.

Suggests safeguards in response to J. Seeman's (see record 1970-07542-001) condemnation of the use of deception in psychological research with human Ss. Such research can be both ethical and therapeutic if the proposed study is reviewed by an interdisciplinary committee, Ss are free to terminate their participation at any time, informed consent is obtained, and debriefing is used as a therapeutic interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Replication studies: A neglected aspect of psychological research.

A survey of the literature on replication and cross-validation research has revealed that psychologists have tended to ignore replication research. A review of the functions of and deterrents to replication studies is presented. Consideration of the factors influencing replication research suggests that the experimental method, as adopted from physics and chemistry, is invalid for investigating human behavior. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "general acceptance" of psychological research on eyewitness testimony: A survey of the experts.

63 experts on eyewitness testimony were surveyed about their courtroom experiences and opinions on various issues. There was a strong consensus indicated by an agreement rate of at least 80% that the data on the following topics are reliable enough to present in court: the wording of questions, lineup instructions, misleading postevent information, the accuracy–confidence correlation, attitudes and expectations, exposure time, unconscious transference, showups, and the forgetting curve. Over 70% of the experts also endorsed lineup fairness, the cross-race identification bias among White witnesses, and the tendency to overestimate the duration of events. Although most eyewitness experts who have testified have done so on behalf of criminal defendants, they were just as likely to consent for the prosecution as for the defense; moreover, they were more likely to agree to testify in civil cases than in criminal. Concerning their role in court, most respondents indicated that their main objective is to educate the jury, and that juries are more competent with the aid of experts than without. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical support for psychological assessment in clinical health care settings.

Psychologists in health care settings today find it increasingly difficult to obtain authorization and appropriate reimbursement for psychological assessments from 3rd party payers. Authorization and reimbursement denials often are based on allegations that empirical support for the utility and validity of psychological tests is nonexistent or limited. This article reviews a sample of the considerable empirical support that exists for the utility and validity of a variety of psychological tests for a wide range of clinical health care applications. Informed by data such as these, psychologists should become more effective in their abilities to seek authorization and reimbursement for assessment and overturning denials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues to consider in conducting nonsexist psychological research: A guide for researchers.

Discusses the operation of sexism in all areas of psychological research, from broad conceptual issues to narrow methodological concerns. It is argued that sexism, in the form of unexamined assumptions about the sexes and unequal treatment of males and females may enter psychological research at any phase of a research project. Three major types of barriers to sex-fair research are identified: excessive confidence in traditional methods of research, bias in explanatory systems, and inappropriate conceptualization and operationalization. A series of recommendations are offered to eliminate some of the most common forms of sexist bias in research and to stimulate critical discussion of practices within psychology that encourage or fail to challenge sexist bias. (103 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A worldwide survey of tomato yellow leaf curl viruses

The name tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) has been given to several whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses affecting tomato cultures in many tropical and subtropical regions. Hybridization tests with two DNA probes derived from a cloned isolate of TYLCV from Israel (TYLCV-ISR) were used to assess the affinities of viruses in naturally infected tomato plants with yellow leaf curl or leaf curl symptoms from 25 countries. Probe A which included most of the intergenic region was expected to detect only isolates closely related to TYLCV-ISR, especially after high stringency washes. In contrast probe B, which included the full-length genome, was expected to detect a wide range of whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses. Tomato samples from six countries in the Middle East, from Cuba or the Dominican Republic proved to be closely related to TYLCV-ISR and probably were infected by strains of the same virus. Samples from Senegal and Cape Verde Islands were also related to the Middle Eastern virus. Samples from nine other countries in the western Mediterranean area, Africa, or South-East Asia were more distantly related and probably represent one or more additional geminivirus species. Samples from five countries in Africa, Central or South America gave hybridization signals with the full-length viral genome, only after low stringency wash, indicating that these samples were infected by remote viruses. These results were supported by DNA and protein sequence comparison, which indicate that tomato geminiviruses fall into three main clusters representing viruses from 1) the Mediterranean/Middle East/African region, 2) India, the Far East and Australia, and 3) the Americans. Within the first cluster, two sub-clusters of viruses from the western Mediterranean or from the Middle East/Caribbean Islands were distinguished. The incidence of tomato yellow leaf curl diseases has increased considerably between 1990 and 1996.     

Experimentation: A misunderstood methodology in psychological and social-psychological research.

Attempts to place experimental methodology in its proper perspective in psychological and social psychological research. Deficiencies in traditional definitions of experimentation are examined, and an alternative conceptualization is proposed that more closely satisfies the fact of continuity between all scientific investigative procedures. A typology of experimentation is also proposed based on the functions of experimentation vis-a-vis the theory construction process. Results of the narrow conceptualization of experimental methodology extant in present research is discussed. Finally, a strategy of research is proposed that will be fundamental to the eventual development of psychological and social psychological theory. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model and a metalanguage for research on psychological counseling.

A model of 2-person interaction in psychological counseling, which is derived from A. Schutz's (1967) phenomenological theory of social relations, and a computer-assisted metalanguage based on case-grammar theory are presented, and their applicability to the analysis of natural language in counseling is argued. The model specifies that counselor and client work to make each other's natural-language displays informative by tacitly expecting that any display of talk or other conduct will have as its context of interpretation the counselor or client's prior knowledge of (a) typical relationships of social interaction, and (b) methods of speaking that provide a recognizable structure to an utterance. Some preliminary findings are presented from a metalanguage analysis of the patterns of verb usage by a counselor and client in an actual series of counseling interviews. Findings are discussed in terms of the model and are treated as initial evidence of concerted action and of how the informative display of recognizable linguistic structures may act to bring about such coordinating actions. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A 1970 overview of sources of support for psychological research.

Provides information on funding sources for research activities. Grant and contract programs sponsored by various federal agencies are described, including those of the National Science Foundation, various branches of Health, Education and Welfare (the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Office of Education, and the Social and Rehabilitation Service), and the Departments of Labor, Transportation, Defense, State, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and the National Aeronautics and Space Program. Programs of 31 private foundations are also listed, including the foundation name and address, and the purposes and activities of the respective support programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical standards as an independent variable in psychological research.

Discusses recent proposals concerning ethical standards for psychological research. An experiment was conducted using a simple, typical verbal conditioning task in which the E said "good" when the S began a sentence with either "I" or "we." The nonethical group of 14 male undergraduates was selected and run under current procedures: they were informed only that the experiment involved "sentence construction." The ethical group of 14 Ss was selected and run under conditions of full disclosure of the experiment's purpose and hypotheses. Ss were allowed to participate or not under complete informed consent. Ss in the nonethical group significantly conditioned in a positive direction, while those in the ethical group conditioned in a negative direction (p     

Opinions and use of psychological tests: A survey of clinical psychologists.

Conducted a survey of clinical psychologists, selected from Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, about their use and opinions of psychological tests. 500 psychologists were mailed questionnaires; the return rate was 50.1%. Results show that both objective and projective tests are used by clinical psychologists of all major therapeutic orientations with substantial percentages of clients. Clinicians indicated that personal clinical experience with a test was more important in their test-use decisions than pragmatic or psychometric considerations. In fact, clinicians repeatedly emphasized the subjective, insightful, and experiential nature of the testing process. Although the psychometric limitations of tests were recognized, tests were considered more valuable than suggested by reliability and validity studies, which were typically considered flawed or inaccurate. It is concluded that clinicians are probably unaffected by negative testing research because (a) there are strong needs to assess, (b) clinicians accord personal clinical experience greater weight than experimental evidence, and (c) there are few practical alternatives to tests. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student veterans: A national survey exploring psychological symptoms and suicide risk.

The current study explored psychological symptoms, symptom severity, and suicide risk in a national sample (N = 628) of student veterans. We hypothesized that the rates, types, and severity of problems experienced by student veterans on campus would in many ways mirror those reported by active duty service members as well as the Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom veteran population. Almost 35% of the sample experienced “severe anxiety,” 24% experienced “severe depression,” and almost 46% experienced significant symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Of particular concern, there were significant numbers of participants thinking about suicide (46%), with 20% having a plan, 10.4% thinking about suicide “often or very often,” 7.7% making an attempt, and 3.8% believing that suicide is either “likely” or “very likely.” Implications of the findings are discussed, with a particular focus on college and university campuses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)