Review of A theory of psychological scaling.

Reviews the book, "A theory of psychological scaling," by C. H. Coombs (see record 1953-03879-001). The reviewer notes that this book is packed from cover to cover with non-superfluous material. It is to the author's credit that he has said so much in so short a space; nevertheless, persons lacking expertness in scaling theory will not digest the contents properly. On the other hand, scaling theorists will accept this tidbit as a juicy morsel and will soon be looking for more. The author openly states that the presented theory is not in final form. By implication, it is his hope that this publication will initiate interest resulting in a wider range of development for the theory in both its abstract and real aspects. To this end, the monograph represents a good start. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Principles of industrial psychology.

Reviews the book, Principles of Industrial Psychology (see record 1955-01700-000). Although "the book is designed as an introductory survey of the entire field of industrial psychology," the reviewer notes that the authors omit many topics. The book presents in substantial fashion those aspects of industrial psychology as the authors perceive it to be. The style of presentation is characterized by critically evaluating research studies reported in the literature and emphasizing the necessary statistical concepts and techniques related to selection of employees. The heavy statistical involvement may make this book a little too difficult for the typical undergraduate student who is not a psychology or statistics major. The reviewer concludes that Principles of Industrial Psychology is an interesting book for a sophisticated audience. It may be misunderstood by typical undergraduates and it may not be too appealing to the man in industry who wishes to apply some principles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Distribution-Free Statistical Tests.

Reviews the book, Distribution-Free Statistical Tests by James V. Bradley (1968). This book provides a comprehensive analysis of non-parametric and distribution-free tests. It includes thirteen chapters with fourteen tables added in the Appendix. This reviewer is in general agreement with the author that the classical tests all often misused and not as "robust" as some distribution-free tests. However, the reviewer cannot agree that the derivations and rationale are all that simple for the distribution-free tests. One merely has to read this book to demonstrate this fact. Perhaps the major disadvantage in using this book is its inadequacy of proper introduction to probability theory and hypothesis testing. The advantages, however, perhaps exceed the disadvantages. The comprehensiveness and structure of the book is admirable. The procedure followed in discussing each test is excellent. Altogether this book can be considered an essential reference for anyone engaged in using or teaching distribution-free tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Dynamic and abnormal psychology.

Reviews the book, Dynamic and abnormal psychology by W. S. Taylor(see record 1955-01101-000). According to the reviewer, the standards set up for this book by the publishers include system, comprehensiveness, and readability. The first and second are readily conceded; the third calls for more scrutiny. The reviewer states that Professor Taylor offers this book explicitly as a text for courses in its field, for supplementary and reference use in related fields, and as a "survey for independent readers." These objectives are somewhat disparate, and a reviewer can only hope to be reasonably clear about the one for which he is from time to time trying to evaluate. According to the reviewer, for the "independent reader" let this counsel suffice. Do not try to read this book as you would a story, or even the work of an essayist. Take it in small doses. You can open it at random and within two minutes should find something rewarding--which ought to be justification for any book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social psychology, an interdisciplinary approach.

Reviews the book, Social psychology, an interdisciplinary approach by Hubert Bonner (1953). According to the reviewer, it has been argued that most textbooks in the social sciences are really written from other textbooks in the same area. Bonner's text seems singularly invulnerable to this complaint. The author has brought together materials from an unusually wide variety of sources and organized them into a book which shows definite signs of some original thinking about how a text in social psychology should be put together, and what should go into it. The reviewer states that in general, Bonner's theoretical position is, for today, not an especially distinctive one. The extent of his concern with the social and cultural context within which behavior occurs, however, is unusual and can be conveyed only in part by the headings of the three main divisions of his book: Social Interaction, the social matrix of behavior; Culture and Behavior, cultural values and personal-social adjustment; Group Dynamics, social change and collective behavior. The reviewer states that this book is particularly useful for students who are interested in getting an understanding of social behavior within the scope of a single course, and who do not intend to do advanced work in the social sciences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Ethnicity and family therapy.

Reviews the book, Ethnicity and family therapy edited by Monica McGoldrick, Joe Giordano, and John Pearce (see record 1996-98534-000). This book addresses the subject of ethnicity and how it affects one's perceptions and lifestyle as a patient and a therapist. It offers therapists comprehensive tools and information to utilize when thinking about their own ethnicity and the backgrounds of their patients. The cultural histories and views of 19 different European groups and Latino, Asian, African, and Arab cultures are explored. In addition, population statistics are offered and cultural migration histories are explored. In sum, Ethnicity and Family Therapy explores how different cultures view and utilize psychotherapy. The reviewer found this book to be clearly written and well organized and recommends that therapists read this book and then keep it as a reference to explore ethnicity in a thorough manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The psychology of successful selling.

Reviews the book, "The psychology of successful selling," by Richard W. Husband (see record 1954-03433-000). The reviewer notes that this book is directed to all salesmen to aid them in their daily work. Its emphasis is on sales tactics, from finding your prospects through approaching him and overcoming his resistance to closing the sale. There is also a short section concerning the selection of salesmen, helping him to compare his traits with those of successful salesmen. This book is not intended to be a professional book for psychologists; rather it is deliberately designed to be easy, informal reading without technical language or reference to experiments or statistics. In general, there is little in the book to recommend it even to sales managers or salesmen over the many other volumes written in this field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Work motivation: History, theory, research, and practice.

Reviews the book, Work motivation: History, theory, research, and practice by Gary Latham (see record 2006-11764-000). The reviewer commends Latham for writing an empirically comprehensive and "personal" book on work motivation. Included is a history of work motivation studies throughout the last 100 years, directions for future research, and the author's reflections on what he has learned about the field on his own professional and personal journey through life. The reviewer praises the author's style highly, and recommends this book to all. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Intensive group psychotherapy.

Reviews the book, Intensive group psychotherapy by George R. Bach (1954). According to the reviewer, as a new addition to the rapidly increasing body of literature on group psychotherapy, this volume contains a number of unique features that will certainly command the attention of clinical and social psychologists. It is first of all a concrete and highly practical presentation of group psychotherapy as practiced privately with neurotic patients. The reviewer states that in this respect, it should fill a growing need for work dealing with private group treatment, a field that seems to have some interesting social implications. In addition to this more practical feature, this book is unusual because it is one of the first in this area which includes an attempt to apply the technical developments in group dynamics evolved by the social psychologists directly to the therapeutic treatment of character disorders, hysterics, and other neurotic patients frequently encountered in private practice. The reviewer states that the greatest direct appeal of this book will certainly be the clearly written first half which deals with practical problems of group therapy. The second half of the book opens with an extensive and interesting discussion of a theory of "contact psychology" and group life. In this reviewer's opinion, this book will be of interest both to group therapists and to students seeking material that bridges the gap between clinical and social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Hypnotism: an objective study in suggestibility.

Reviews the book, Hypnotism: an objective study in suggestibility, by A. M. Weitzenhofer (see record 1954-05565-000). It has been said that there is a resurgence of interest in hypnosis with a periodicity of about 30 years. This book among many others is partly the result of the present climb toward the crest of the wave. After reviewing the experimental literature Weitzenhofer surveys critically the theories of hypnosis. He rejects all of these theories either in whole or part because of inadequacies and then formulates one of his own. To the reviewer none of these theories, including that of the author, is very enlightening. They all lack predictive power, which in the reviewer's opinion is one of the principal functions of a scientific theory. The reviewer believes, though, that this book will be profitable reading for all who have even the slightest scientific interest in hypnosis, and for others it may generate interest if they can but find time to study it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Individuality in Pain and Suffering.

Reviews the book, Individuality in Pain and Suffering by Asenath Petrie (see record 1968-13362-000). One might expect from the title of this book that the author was going to supply the reader with new insights, or new theories, or new findings, or new ways of looking at the problems of pain and suffering. Instead it became increasingly obvious to the reviewer that the author is merely supplying us with new words for talking about the way people react to painful stimuli. Petrie's book is little involved (except for the reader) in pain and suffering. Her discussion of pain would probably require less than ten pages altogether. What the author appears to have done is written a book advocating her particular personality theory and reviewing all of the research that has been done relevant to that theory. This reviewer feels that, as far as any contribution to the literature on pain and suffering is concerned, the signal to noise ratio of this book does not match the price to usefulness ratio. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Methods of research.

Reviews the book, Methods of Research (see record 1955-00057-000). The book is a lengthy volume addressed to "field workers, graduate students and members of the senior division of the undergraduate college who would evaluate the quality of conclusions, either as producers or consumers of research." The book has a number of collateral values which make it a useful reference work, including extensive bibliographies. The reviewer notes, though, that the work carries implications which will trouble many readers. It implies the primacy of data collection and treatment over the process of reflection from whence come the theories and hypotheses which direct the choice of data to be collected. It carries implications that all kinds of data collection are equally respectable, from an intellectual point of view, as indeed they are where only procedural questions arise. It implies that the student can be trained to "evaluate the quality of conclusions" on the basis of acquaintanceship and reference knowledge, i.e., knowledge of where to go in order to acquire the competency which will make one capable of asking the significant questions in the evaluation of the quality of conclusions. All of this seems to the reviewer to be likely to produce bystanders rather than participants in scientific work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Left and right tracks in reading.

Reviews the book, The Psychology of Reading by I. Taylor and M. M. Taylor (1983). The reviewer provides an overview of the authors' Bilateral Cooperative Model of Reading (BLC), which is an attempt to integrate the divergent perspectives of wholistic and analytic theory. The BLC model serves as a framework for the 16 chapters of the book. The reviewer commends the authors for their detailed discussion of orthographies, perceptual and cognitive processes in reading, higher-order language processing, and developmental dyslexia. While the reviewer warns that the authors need to clarify the relevance of data from studies not specifically concerned with hemispheric differences, he believes that the book is worth reading because it develops the perspectives on reading within the context of cognitive psychology--an important step in the construction of a comprehensive theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Readings in social psychology: Classic and Canadian contributions.

Reviews the book, Readings in social psychology: Classic and Canadian contributions edited by Brian Earn and Shelagh Towson (1986). Earn and Towson argue that students should know that social psychology is an active discipline with significant contributions from their own nation, that there are areas of research of particular relevance to the Canadian context, and that they should be able to gain from incidental learning about their own society. The format of the book is rather conventional. Readings are grouped into content areas: social motives (aggression and altruism), social influence, attitudes, social interactions (attraction and loneliness), attribution and cognition, ethnic relations, prejudice, and applications (TV influence, social support, law). It includes contributions by many of the most prominent social psychologists in Canada, and several "classic" papers by U.S. social psychologists. As one who has long regretted the fact that we are compelled to teach social psychology with only foreign materials, the reviewer welcomes the publication of this book. The reviewer hopes that in the second edition the editors take more seriously the purpose of a book of readings, and set out to communicate to undergraduate students what social psychological research is all about. The reviewer also hopes that the publisher is able to produce a volume that looks more professional and is easier to read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Strategic management of technostress in an information society.

Reviews the book, Strategic Management of technostress in an information society edited by Amarjit S. Sethi, Denis H. J. Caro, and Randall S. Schuler (1987). According to the editors, the contents of this book would not only provide managers with a "set of useful and practical strategies for managing technostress by organizations and their members" (p.xi), but would also serve as a reference for other stress coping (sic) scholars and practitioners, as well as a textbook for students in university management and executive development programs. A second attraction of this book was that its editors had played an unusually active role in writing it, thereby presumably avoiding the uneveness and lack of integration that plagues edited books. The reviewer does not have hands-on experience in developing organizational strategies for handling technological innovation and consequently am not as confident in criticizing the chapters devoted to this topic. But in reading these chapters the reviewer began to question whether their authors had any more experience than than the reviewer did. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Realms of value: A critique of human civilization.

Reviews the book, Realms of value: A critique of human civilization by Ralph Barton Perry (1954). According to the reviewer, of all the many philosophical treatises on the subject, it is doubtful that any could possibly be more clarifying to the psychologist or more congenial to this author's taste. The author's pivotal concept is interest: "A thing--any thing--has value when it is the object of an interest--any interest" (p.3). Interest is anchored in the solid soil of motivation, cognition, and organization of personality, and conceptually is a close cousin of what most psychologists call attitude. The reviewer states that to a large degree, this author is forced to write his own psychology, since he finds relatively little illumination of "the architecture of interests" in current texts. He reviews what he calls "motoraffective psychology" (not a very happy label) in search of an adequate theory of interest, and finds the outcome mostly negative. The reviewer recommends this book for graduate instruction in psychology because the author's system lies close to the silent presuppositions with while psychologists ordinarily work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Statistical reflections of researchers and their subjects.

Reviews the book, Cognition as intuitive statistics by Gerd Gigerenzer and David J. Murray (1987). The main thesis of the work is that the statistical tools that we use as researchers to evaluate the data that we collect have become projected into our subjects as models of their minds. The authors take an historical perspective to evaluate this hypothesis. They trace the development of inferential statistical methods as well as their use by experimental psychologists and concurrently trace the development of theories of how the subject's mind uses these same inferential statistical procedures to make decisions. The authors find that the latter theories supervene on the development of the earlier tools. Overall, this book provides psychologists with an opportunity to view their own irrationalities in a self-critical way not typically available in our profession. The book provides a fine critical, historical survey of how one tool--statistics--came to dominate our thinking so that it biases our theoretical perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The nature of prejudice.

Reviews the book, The nature of prejudice by Gordon W. Allport (1954). According to the reviewer, appearing almost simultaneously with the historic Supreme Court decision that ruled educational segregation unconstitutional, Allport's new book is a fitting synthesis of the voluminous research that has played no small part in the changing climate of informed opinion, now reflected in the judgment of the highest court. The reviewer states that readers' expectations of an Allport book will not be disappointed: it is lucid, scholarly yet simply stated, and a pleasure to read. It should communicate almost equally well to undergraduates, to concerned laymen, and to specialists. Prejudice is the main focus, although the work is not limited to the topic of prejudice so defined. The facts about group differences, including the repercussions of prejudice on its targets, are sifted. Due attention is given to discrimination and how it may be combated. And the causes of prejudice are explored from the successive standpoints of perceptual and cognitive theory, sociocultural and historical factors, acquisition and development, psychodynamics, and character structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive vulnerability to depression.

Reviews the book, Cognitive vulnerability to depression by Rick E. Ingram, Jeanne Miranda, and Zindel V. Segal (see record 1998-07219-000). This book addresses conceptual issues related to the idea that the way in which individuals think makes them vulnerable to either the onset or maintenance of depression. Methodological considerations for testing cognitive models of depression are also extensively discussed. According to the reviewer, this book achieves its goals well. The literature is meaningfully reviewed, with clear ideas about what may be areas for fruitful future work, and areas that are likely not to be as productive. The reviewer does point out several flaws in the text, including some unevenness due to multiple authors. Despite these flaws, the book is highly recommended to students and researchers working in the area as required reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)