The need for theoretical and methodological integrations in family research.

Comments on the article by Carlson and Grotevant (see record 1989-00066-001) who have provided a welcome and thorough evaluation of the adequacy of eight family rating systems, with detailed discussions of optimal scale properties, rater competence and training issues, psychometric reliability, and validity. The present author realizes that it may be unfair to comment on issues that are not part of Carlson and Grotevant's central concerns, but after reading their article, focused entirely on method, he began to worry about the pervasive lack of integration between theory and method in family research. He also notes as worrying, the tendency of family researchers to focus on one perspective and to ignore the possible gains to be derived from integrating theoretical and methodological points of view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The clinical interpretation of the Thematic Apperception Test, Rorschach, and other clinical data: A reexamination of statistical versus clinical prediction.

Discusses the validity of statistical vs clinical prediction via interpretation of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach, and other clinical data. It is frequently (falsely) stated as axiomatic that statistical prediction is more accurate than clinical prediction. This belief is sometimes used as the rationale for not valuing the understanding of complex conscious and unconscious personality functioning. Thus, H. N. Garb's (see record 1998-11734-018) discussion of the recommendations of E. D. Rossini and R. J. Moretti (see record 1997-04849-016) for clinical training in the TAT (H. A. Murray; see record 1944-01759-000) in graduate programs correctly asserts that "to integrate science and practice, a course on the TAT should should clarify which interpretation techniques are supported by empirical research" (p.622). The believed statement that actuarial (or statistical) prediction methods have almost always been more accurate than clinicians' is true only for a specific subset of studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychobiology of dissociation and identification.

In response to K. S. Bowers's (see record 1988-16849-001) discussion of the unconscious, the present author suggests new research directions for the issues Bowers raises. The present author also notes that recent research data support the hypothesis that the common everyday trance has its psychobiological basis in the natural 90-min ultradian rhythms that alter such behaviors as cerebral hemispheric dominance and fantasy activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rejoinder to Robinson's "Ethics and advocacy."

Questions D. N. Robinson's (see record 1985-12952-001) argument that the American Psychological Association should not be an advocate for moral or ethical positions in important social issues because it lacks the appropriate moral authority. The present author stresses the importance of involvement in issues of social responsibilities and ethics and notes that such involvement has opened up new areas of investigation and sources of funding. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Discovering imago relationship therapy": Reply.

Replies to the comments of E. S. Slate (see record 2000-03557-011) on the original article by J. J. Zielinski (see record 1999-03629-009) regarding imago relationship therapy. The author addresses each of the points made by Slate including replies to issues of therapist training, the openness of the imago relationship therapy system, the therapy process, and the current availability of research on imago relationship therapy. The author notes that imago relationship therapy attempts to make use of research within its own theoretical camp, as well as general research on couples therapy. Zielinski notes that imago relationship therapy attempts to grow itself and modify itself to be both successful and available to couples at large. The author also suggests that creativity is encouraged in imago relationship therapy, that adaptation of technique continually occurs, and that critical thinking about its tenets keeps this type of therapy vibrant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment.

Comments on an article by Robert L. Ebel (see record 1962-05654-001). According to the commentator, the author has not given a new code to the profession, but rather provided a scholarly rationalization for things as they too frequently exist at present. The commentator continues to discuss the issues of test validity throughout the article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Valid inferences from invalid tests?

Comments on an article by R. J. Silver (American Psychologist, 2001, Vol 56, 1008-1014) which delineated Silver's approach to the practice of professional psychology, a perspective that combined an appreciation for actuarial prediction and empirical data with a sensitivity to the many instances when a practitioner must act without the benefit of empirical support. While commending Silver for his integration of science and practice, the present author takes issue with an apparent contradiction in Silver's article. While Silver emphasizes the importance of accurate diagnosis and the use of empirically validated psychological tests, he continues by saying that he uses psychological tests whose validity is in question, such as the Draw-A-Person Test. Silver says that he makes specific predictions for this test, and otherwise would not use the test because of the weak support for his validity. The present author questions Silver's rationale for making specific predictions for an invalid test, and gives an example to demonstrate how this approach does not help lead to a more accurate diagnostic assessment than simply using an invalid test alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ipsative behavioral variability and the quality of thematic apperceptive measurement of the achievement motive.

Ipsative behavioral variability is defined as change in the behavior of an individual in a constant environment. Through computer simulation of the dynamics of action (J. W. Atkinson and D. Birch; 1970, 1978), one may deduce that increases in ipsative variability in the expression of motivational imagery written in response to equally cued TAT pictures will increase the construct validity of that imagery regardless of the internal consistency reliability that remains. Empirical support for this hypothesis is offered by the finding that TAT need for achievement (nAch), measured in 4 stories written in response to weakly cued pictures, showed improved construct validity for 61 male undergraduates who were high rather than low in ipsative variability. TAT nAch showed significant construct validity for the high-variability group even though the internal consistency of this group's motive measure was –2.229. Findings disconfirm the general applicability of classical reliability theory to thematic apperceptive measures. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information Retrieval.

The present author notes that G. J. Hornik describes, in the May issue of the American Psychologist (1963, 18, 260-261), a variation on the method of retrieval of references using 10- column cards, which was described in an article by the author in March 1962. Instead of stamping the index number of the reference on the Uniterm cards as the present author does, Hornik prefers to use punched cards with holes located in predetermined positions according to the reference number. The author discusses the problems seen with using Hornik's method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Psychologists and Civil Liberties": Comment.

Comments on the article by G. Murphy (Amer. Psychologist, 8, 745-747) on psychologists and civil liberties. The author notes that it was pleasing to find again someone aroused by the present dangers confronting academic freedom and personal liberty. He also notes, though, that Murphy's suggestion that investigation be more thorough seems to lead to conformity in its worst sense. The author suggests that baring one's private life (no matter how exemplary that life may be) under the coercion of McCarthyism is no victory for civil liberty, and agrees with Murphy's idea of "sticking to simple civil liberties; nothing more, nothing less." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Thematic Apperception Test and the Children's Apperception Test in clinical use.

Reviews the book, The Thematic Apperception Test and the Children's Apperception Test in Clinical Use by Leopold Bellak (see record 1955-04032-000). More than anything else this book gives evidence of the extensivity and maturity of the author's clinical experience. Both in the expository sections of the volume, in which the author elucidates his thinking about such items as theoretical foundations for projective testing and the use of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in psychotherapy, as well as in the case illustration sections in which sample TAT and Children's Apperception Test (CAT) stories are analyzed and interpreted, there is a richness in clinical wisdom and an erudition in psychoanalytic personality theory. However, there are shortcomings of the book as a manual for TAT and CAT interpretation, unless one wishes to accept the author's interpretive procedure "lock, stock, and barrel." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Has Resilience to Severe Trauma Been Underestimated?

Comments on George Bonanno's article entitles Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? (see record 2004-10043-003). The author notes that Bonanno articulated a model of loss and trauma-related resilience cogently and evocatively. In the trauma field, there is a new focus on risk and resilience factors across the life span (e.g., King, Vogt, & King, 2004), and the article by Bonanno will serve as a herald for this new way of thinking about adjustment to trauma and loss. Because the author believes that the most important function of Bonanno's article should be to stimulate theory development and research in this burgeoning area, he raises three issues in service of that goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the validity of the achievement motive in the presence of random measurement error.

The presence of random measurement error in indicators of theoretical constructs biases observed estimates of relations among those constructs. Correcting for this bias is particularly important when random measurement error is substantial or is substantially different for indicators of distinct constructs included in a theoretical model. Validity assessment in the case of thematic apperceptive measures of the achievement motive (TAT n Achievement) has been vulnerable to interpretive errors because these indicators of the achievement motive are typically much less reliable than indicators of other constructs to which the motive may be related, and no correction has been made for the bias introduced by such differential measurement error. A causal modeling approach to validity assessment for TAT n Achievement is presented that incorporates explicit true-score measurement models of theoretical constructs. Data from J. Veroff et al (1981) on 413 adult US males confirm the hypothesis that the achievement motive construct is positively related to work satisfaction. Evidence for the discriminant validity of story content as opposed to story length, an issue raised in the literature on the TAT, is also presented in this nomological network. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Rorschach and TAT indices of homosexuality in overt homosexuals, neurotics, and normal males": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Anthony Davids, Mark Joelson, and Charles McArthur (Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 1956[Sept], 53, 161-172). In the section on TAT results, under the heading of Signs suggested for further confirmation (p. 168), it states incorrectly (line 15) that the sign of a strong unresolved attachment to a father or father figure was scored in stories composed for Card 8. The sign was in fact scored in stories composed for TAT Card 7. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1958-02891-001). Rorschach and TAT protocols of 20 male overt homosexuals, 20 male neurotics, and 20 normal male students were compared in order to determine whether proposed homosexual signs were discriminative. The homosexual group gave a significantly greater mean number of the Rorschach and TAT signs than did either nonhomosexual group. "Within the homosexual group, correlation between the number of Rorschach signs and number of TAT signs produced by each S proved significant, serving as a check on the validity of both schemes and indicating the consistency of these 2 diverse measures of homosexuality." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational induction and the behavior correlates of the achievement and affiliation motives.

The present study derives from previous work in this area with which the author was involved (see 33: 7674). Herein, the effects of picture cues, picture order, individual vs. group administration, measures of performance on certain tasks, and varying kinds of instructions on TAT stories were investigated. "Motivating" instructions and high ACE Q scores were significantly correlated with high performance on the problems; predictions in regard to characteristics of motive and performance were made but not supported by the data of the TAT stories. The study is related to others in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clarifying and Extending the Construct of Adult Resilience.

In this article the author responds to comments made in this issue (see records 2005-03019-010; 2005-03019-011; 2005-03019-012; 2005-03019-013; and 2005-03019-014) responding to his original article entitled Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? (see record 2004-10043-003). The author notes that in his original article he focused on three crucial points: Resilience among adults represents a distinct and empirically separable outcome trajectory from that normally associated with recovery from trauma; resilience is more prevalent than generally accepted in either the lay or professional literature; and there are multiple and sometimes unexpected factors that inform adult resilience. Owing to the brevity of the article, the author could only touch briefly on many of the more nuanced and complex issues suggested by the resilience construct; this left plenty of room for critique. Fortunately, the comments are generous and insightful and for the most part compatible with the driving goal of the article. As might be expected, of course, there were statements peppered throughout the comments that the author deemed worthy of rebuttal or correction. He considers four points that seemed to beg most urgently for response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Insufficient evidence.

Comments on the article by F. Rothbaum et al (see record 2000-02781-001), which highlighted evidence of cultural variations in, and noted ways in which attachment theory is laden with Western values and meaning in comparisons of the US and Japan. According to the present author, the Rothbaum et al study is particularly important to Japanese investigators, as the validity of attachment theory has sometimes been taken for granted too easily in Japan. Unfortunately, however, Rothbaum et al overlooked important empirical results that clarify the validity of attachment theory in Japanese samples. The present author contends that Rothbaum et al misunderstood or distorted the meanings of measures that are usually applied in attachment studies, and thus the arguments offered by Rothbaum et al resulted in a superficial critique of the cross-cultural validity of attachment theory. As a result of their failure to present empirical evidence to refute cross-cultural validity in attachment theory, Rothbaum et al did not provide any important challenge to researchers in Japan. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scholarly debate or ideological brawl? Reactions to comments on the special section.

Replies to comments on the Special Section in Psychoanalytic Psychology, Vol 12(1), "Contemporary structural psychoanalysis and relational psychoanalysis" written by J. Benjamin, A. Christiansen, K. Marshall, S. A. Mitchell, and C. Spezzano (see records 83-14390, 83-14392, 83-14401, 83-14402, and 83-14404, respectively). The author notes the tendency toward insult, vagueness, and indignation over scholarly investigation of the issues but reemphasizes the conviction that structural and relational psychoanalysis differ in their theories of pathogenesis, differences that need to be examined to arrive at an integrative theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On worthwhile icons: Reply to Di Lollo and Haber.

Responds to R. N. Haber's (see record 1986-11000-001) and V. Di Lollo's (see record 1986-10993-001) comments on the study of a procedure to estimate the worth of an icon conducted by the present author et al (see record 1986-00309-001). In response to Haber, the author maintains that icons can be spatiotopic as well as retinotopic, knowledge of icons is necessary for designing video-display systems, and ecological validity should not be a criterion for the scientific investigation of some topics. Responding to Di Lollo, the author argues that this general model does not account for several salient aspects of data by the present author et al. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing reliability: Critical corrections for a critical examination of the Rorschach Comprehensive System.

J. M. Wood et al (see records 84-17678 and 84-17679) argued that the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS) lacked many essential pieces of reliability data and that the available evidence indicated that scoring reliability may be little better than chance. Contrary to their assertions, the author suggests why rater agreement should focus on responses rather than summary scores, how field reliability moves away from testing CS scoring principles, and how no psychometric distinction exists between a percentage correct and a percentage agreement index. Also, after reviewing problematic qualities of kappa, a meta-analysis of published data is presented indicating that the CS has excellent chance-corrected interrater reliability (Estimated κ, M?=?.86, range?=?.72–.96). Finally, the author notes that Wood et al ignored at least 17 CS studies of test-retest reliability that contain many of the important data they said were missing. The author concluded that Wood et al's erroneous assertions about the more elementary topic of reliability make suspect their assertions about the more complex topic of validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)