Ridicule in Psychological Literature.

Discusses the seemingly increasing use of ridicule and sarcasm in the official psychological literature. It seems to the author that the use of ridicule and sarcasm in scientific publications proves nothing except the scientific immaturity and irresponsibility of the user. The author believes that psychology as a science would advance more rapidly if psychologists sought their amusement in movies, radio, and television rather than in scientific meetings and publications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Back Issues of Psychological Journals.

Each issue of the American Psychologist informs us of the death of one or more of our fellow psychologists. No doubt, many of these subscribed to one or more of the many psychological journals. Upon their death, I am wondering what happens to such journals. I imagine that in many cases they "collect dust" until they are given away to some "rubbish collection." This seems like a waste of good material which is not entirely necessary. The current author would like to see a plan for saving and redistributing these back issues of psychological journals. The author presents his own plan to accomplish this. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Publication trends in psychology: 1894-1954.

"Based upon a random sample of entries from each fifth volume of the Psychological Index and the Psychological Abstracts, trends in the area of subject interest, journal sources of psychological literature, and language have been analyzed. Of the 12 subject fields, those including general, physiological, perceptual and motor material have declined, while applied literature has increased. Citations from psychological and educational journals have increased; from other fields have remained steady or declined. German shows a spectacular decline, while English has increased at a similar rate." Graphic representations of the data for successive decades beginning with 1894 are presented. A check of the trends based upon content analysis of Ladd's Elements of Physiological Psychology in 1887, the revision by Ladd and Woodworth in 1911, Woodworth's Experimental Psychology in 1938, and Woodworth and Schlosberg's Experimental Psychology in 1954 provides an independent source of data which verify the general trends indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Letter to an Editor.

Expresses concern that reports of studies which were submitted to various psychological journals were rejected on the grounds that (a) the experimental designs showed a lack of sophistication, (b) the experimenter did not use an adequate number of subjects, and (c) the data obtained are not readily amenable to treatment with analysis of variance. The experiments described in this hypothetical letter to the editor are Pavlov's studies of the development of conditional salivation reflexes in dogs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to the names "Counseling Center" and "Psychological Center."

A questionnaire administered to 376 college students on 3 campuses found consistent differences in Ss' reactions to the names counseling center (CC) and psychological center (PC). CC was associated with the treatment of minor problems and PC with more serious problems. PC was also seen as more medical, expensive, professional, embarrassing to go to, and competent than CC. The CC-PC differences are related to issues in clinical and counseling psychology. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the Use of "Relationship" and "Among" in Psychological Writing.

Comments on the expression "relationships among (several) variables" occurring frequently in contemporary psychological writing. The author states that while this expression is acceptable enough, there is nothing so commendable about it that it should be preferred to the more nearly correct "relations between (several) variables." The author states that after picking a journal at random and reading through the summaries of all the papers and notes, there appears to be a growing tendency to use the term relationship in preference to relation and the term among (several) in preference to between (several). He then states what he believes to be the proper use of these terms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additions to psychological necrology: Japan, 1928-1952.

It is suggested that 13 prominent Japanese psychologists be added to Bennett and Boring's necrology (see 28: 6839). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suggestions to the American Psychological Association.

The Peace Corps was one of the first to employ psychological tests in choosing volunteers for overseas duty. The Peace Corps feels that the success of its selection system is largely due to the use of these tests along with other procedures. The American Psychological Association played a significant role in helping the Peace Corps man its Selection Division. Perhaps the best evidence of the success of psychological tests for selection is the low rate of Peace Corps volunteers who return before completing their service. But quite obviously this success has been only relative. Whatever the number of volunteers who do not complete their service, it is too high. The author urges the American Psychological to continue with new research in order to improve selection procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological thrillers revisited: A tentative list of "master thrillers."

Suggests a supplemental reading list for graduate psychology students consisting of "master thrillers" embodying psychologically based character development. Selection criteria involved reader acceptance, simplicity of expression, brevity, reinforcement, and demand. An annotated bibliography of 31 titles was presented, and all students in the final 5-wk section of the course read and rated 1 book/wk. Since this part of the course dealt with abnormal psychology, all except 2 of the books were concerned with one or another aspect of this topic. The 9 books read most often and rated highest are listed and briefly described. Tentative conclusions are that such low-pressure readings are welcome to graduate students and may be useful in complementing the hard core of scientific material in a psychology course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A volume-year check list of psychological journals.

"A volume-year check list for 125 of the major psychological journals has been compiled by the writers. The data are presented in tabular form, providing information regarding the volumes published through 1954 under a journal title and the year in which each volume appeared. Thus, with either volume number or date known to the user, the other figure can be determined from the table. Also included in the list are indications of the title changes, dates of cessation, and periods of suspended publication." Mimeographed copies of the check list are available from the Department of Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sleeping Beauties in Psychology: Comparisons of "Hits" and "Missed Signals" in Psychological Journals.

Scientific publications tend to be forgotten quickly. A few works, however, are still cited 100 years and more after their publication. The author used bibliometric methods to compare "hits" (works noticed by the scientific community soon after their publication) with "missed signals" (works that went unnoticed until much later) by investigating 2 psychological journals founded in the 1890s: Zeitschrift für Psychologie and Psychological Review. All articles that were published in either of these journals up to 1920 and cited more than 25 times in the Web of Science up to the year 2000 were considered for inclusion in the analysis. It emerged that hits corresponded more closely to the focus of scientific attention at the time of publication than missed signals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The Problem of Validity in Field Studies of Psychological Disorder": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Bruce P. Dohrenwend and Barbara Snell Dohrenwend (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1965, 70[1], 52-69). The footnote identification in Table 6 (page 62) in the original article is incorrec. The correct version is given here. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1965-08281-001.) Results of over 25 attempts to count untreated cases of psychological disorder in community populations are reviewed, and the problem of validity in the measures of disorder is analyzed. Evidence of validity is found to be scant. The position is taken that, with no generally accepted criteria available, and no universe of content agreed upon, construct validity takes on added importance. A lead to 1 possible nomological net for the construct of psychological disorder is the consistent finding that the lowest socioeconomic stratum has the highest rate of symptomatology. This lead is developed with reference to the transcience of symptomatology found in extreme situations, in contrast to the persistence of symptomatology observed in patients and in studies of experimental neurosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological problems relevant to business and industry.

Psychologists' interest in problems related to industry has grown phenomenally over the past 10 years. Within the area of industrial psychology 3 subfields are distinguished: personnel psychology, developing out of the tradition of individual differences; human engineering, developing out of applied experimental psychology; industrial social psychology, developing from social-psychological theory. Each of these subareas are examined in the light of their conceptual history and the research problems they have raised. 98 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guidebooks to psychological literature.

Calls attention to bibliographical problems of psychology and the value of certain reference books in the solution of them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Stress Situations, Birth Order, and Psychological Symptoms": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Barbara Snell Dohrenwend and Bruce P. Dohrenwend (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1966 [6], 71(3) 215-223). The first sentence of the first paragraph on page 222 is incorrect. The correct version is printed here. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1966-08886-001.) Recent conflicting findings raise the issue of whether observed differences in levels of psychological distress of 1st and later borns are a function of their contemporary social situation, or of basic personality defect in 1 or the other group. Hypotheses which might explain conflicting findings are derived from Schachter's work: among Ss exposed to stressors, 1st borns will show more symptoms when social isolation is enforced, and later borns when social interaction is enforced. These hypotheses are tested in a socially isolating sensory deprivation study, and in a community sample including crowded slum dwellers. Both hypotheses are supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Psychological methodology: Should it differ from that of natural science?": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Psychological Methodology: Should it Differ from that of Natural Science" by Lawrence La Fave (Canadian Psychologist/Psychologie Canadienne, 1971[Oct], Vol 12[4], 513-525). The sentence beginning on line 30, p. 514 should read: Such value judgments include: falsifiability of a scientific theory is indispensable; as is logical consistency and (by implication) precise definition of technical terms; comprehensiveness; and parsimony. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-02143-006.) By the methodology of a science is intended its mathematical-logical base, its axiomatic foundations or philosophical commitments -- not its techniques. Whether psychological methodology differs from that of the natural sciences is considered obliquely by raising the question as to whether value judgments enter psychology in any way unknown to natural science. Six ways values enter psychology are found. Although only one of these does not also intrude upon natural science, this one suffices to require for psychology a new mathematical logic or methodology. The present approach seeks to help disambiguate such phenomenological approaches as Verstehen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Book reviewing in American psychological journals.

Data are presented on the reviews of books published in 1950 and the book reviews published in 1953 regardless of the year in which the books themselves were published. Implications are drawn from these data regarding the advisability of establishing a book review journal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles of Instruments in Psychological Research.

What roles have instruments played in psychology and related disciplines? How have instruments affected the dynamics of psychological research, with what possibilities and limits? What is a psychological instrument? This article provides a conceptual foundation for specific case studies concerning such questions. The discussion begins by challenging widely accepted assumptions about the subject and analyzing the general relations between scientific experimentation and the uses of instruments in psychology. Building on this analysis, a deliberately inclusive definition of what constitutes a psychological instrument is proposed. The discussion then takes up the relation between instrumentation and theories and differentiates in greater detail the roles instruments have had over the course of psychology's history. Finally, the authors offer an approach to evaluating the possibilities and limitations of instruments in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)