Further comments toward a dimensional classification of personality disorder.

Responds to the comments by H. N. Garb (see record 2007-19520-012) and A. M. Ruscio (see record 2007-19520-013) on the current authors' original article "Plate tectonics in the classification of personality disorder: Shifting to a dimensional model" (see record 2007-01685-001). Unable to respond to all of Garb's and Ruscio's concerns given space limitations, the current authors attempt to respond to key points regarding their article on integrating the classification of personality disorder with a dimensional model of general personality structure. These points include: clinical judgments; feasibility; communication; thresholds; and validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender similarities still rule.

Replies to comments made by Archer (see record 2006-11202-012), Lippa (see record 2006-11202-013), and Davies and Shackelford (see record 2006-11202-014) on the current author's original article (see record 2005-11115-001). The current author addresses the criticisms put forth by each of these commenting authors, and concludes that the best available scientific evidence continues to support the gender similarities hypothesis, that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amplifying issues related to psychological testing and assessment.

Responds to comments by D. A. Smith (see record 2002-10716-011), H. N. Garb et al (see record 2002-10716-012), R. Fernández-Ballesteros (see record 2002-10716-013), J. Hunsley (see record 2002-10716-014) regarding the G. J. Meyer et al (see record 2001-00159-003) summary of evidence and issues associated with psychological assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the Merits of Clinical Judgment: Comment.

Comments on the article by D. Westen and J. Weinberger (see record 2004-19091-002), which criticized academic clinical psychologists for being cynical about clinical judgment and clinical practice. In our view, it seems unlikely that more than a few academic clinical psychologists believe that they have little to learn from clinical practice or experience. In this comment, we examine the arguments about clinical judgment made by Westen and Weinberger (2004). Westen and Weinberger (2004) conflate the effect of training with the effect of experience. Westen and Weinberger (2004) do not mention that the value of training in psychology has been well-supported by research. While Westen and Weinberger (2004) make positive comments about the types of feedback that clinicians receive, for a number of reasons, including the Barnum effect, psychologists can be misled by feedback. Westen and Weinberger (2004) also argue that "psychotherapists tend to have much more direct and immediate feedback than most other medical practitioners, who may prescribe a medication or perform a procedure and not see the patient again for a year" (p. 603). But when psychologists make a diagnosis or describe a personality trait, they frequently do not receive "direct and immediate feedback" on whether they are right or wrong. In contrast, physicians often receive highly valid feedback. Finally, in discussing the value of ratings made by clinicians, Westen and Weinberger (2004) observe that "empirically, we have found surprisingly little evidence of theory-driven observational bias in using clinician-report methods" (p. 601). The issue is important because Westen and Weinberger argue in favor of using clinician ratings to construct diagnostic criteria. If clinicians' ratings are biased, then the criteria will be biased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Research on human judgment and its application to clinical practice": Response to Garb.

In response to the comment by H. N. Garb (see record 1988-18224-001) on the article by the present author (see record 1987-05373-001) concerning research on human judgment and its application, the present author refutes Garb's criticisms and maintains that many core aspects of the original argument remain untouched. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A proposal to unite two different worlds of children's mental health.

Responds to comments made by Holden and Blau (see record 2006-11202-017) on the current authors' original article (see record 2005-11115-005). The current authors suggest combining the complementary strengths of the community-based approaches identified by Holden and Blau (2006) and the evidence-based approaches discussed in their original article, rather than argue about the comparative limitations of each approach. Given that the contents of both systems of care and wraparound are free to vary with available services in the community, they suggest ensuring that those specific services are, in fact, interventions that have been tested and shown to work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

That's not my dog: A reply to Patton and Wampold.

Responds to the comments of M. J. Patton and B. E. Wampold (see record 1983-11132-001) concerning the present authors' article (see record 1983-11141-001). Issues addressed are (1) the use of a clinical model of prediction and elements of judgment considered, (2) questions relating to the statistical analysis, and (3) issues concerning modeling the counselor judgment process and directions for research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Once again, the origins of sex differences.

Responds to comments by B. X. Friedman et al (see record 2000-05933-013), D. T. Kenrick and N. Li (see record 2000-05933-014), and E. Kleyman (see record 2000-05933-015) on the article by A. H. Eagly and W. Wood (see record 1999-05337-002) which examined the origins of sex differences in human behavior. Eagly and Wood argued that social structural theory can explain the origin of psychological sex differences. In the present article, Eagly and Wood defend their original article against criticism made by the aforementioned authors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgments of similarity are psychological: The importance of importance.

Comments on the article by J. S. Hyde (see record 2005-11115-001), which concluded that males and females are similar on most psychological variables. Zuriff suggests that Hyde missed the fact judgments of similarity and difference are psychological, not scientific, and that Hyde was dismissive of dismissal of any gender difference that is dependent on context or is consistent with social-role theory. Zuriff argues that the important fact is that in a wide variety of important contexts, males and females behave, think, and feel very differently, and this observation yields the psychological judgment that males and females are vastly different. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opinions or Data?

Replies to comments by W. Wood (1962) to the original article by M. R. Feinberg and J. Lefkowitz (see record 1963-02029-001), which assessed the image of industrial psychology among corporate executives. The author discusses five points made by Wood, including issues regarding opinion vs. research findings and original study's methodology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What are the fundamental facts of a comparison of two treatments' outcomes?

Responds to comments by Stefan G. Hofmann (see record 2011-19228-003), Edward A. Wise (see record 2011-19228-004), Michael J. Lambert (see record 2011-19228-005), and William H. Gottdiener (see record 2011-19228-006) on the authors original article "Statistical significance testing and clinical trials" (see record 2011-19228-002). The original article is one very narrowly focused effort at studying the implications of relying on the null hypothesis significance test (NHST) for determining which psychotherapy randomized clinical trial (RCT) findings to take seriously for clinical purposes. Although there are several approaches for faulting the NHST, the matter is important and complicated enough to justify dealing, in detail, with one approach at a time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supports crisis phone services: Lester replies.

Replies to comments by Paul Schoenfeld (see record 2005-09886-003) on Lester's "Role of psychologists in crisis telephone services" (see record 1990-57067-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An expanded perspective on children's mental health.

Comments on three articles (see records 2005-11115-003, 2005-11115-004, and 2005-11115-005) on the status of children's mental health services in the United States, which appeared in the September 2005 issue of the American Psychologist. The current authors suggest that, although this series of articles provides important information, the articles fall short in meeting the mark of comprehensively describing the solutions necessary to effectively address the crisis facing children's mental health in this country. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On grandiosity in personality psychology.

Responds to the comments by A. Wood and S. Joseph (see record 2006-23492-015); S. R. Maddi (see record 2006-23492-016); and S. Epstein (see record 2006-23492-017) on the current author's original article (see record 2006-03947-002) "A New Big Five: Fundamental Principles for an Integrative Science of Personality" (McAdams & Pals, April 2006). Here, McAdams responds to the objections raised in the three commentaries to his and Pals' characterization of the grand theories of personality provided by Freud, Jung, Rogers, and other luminaries from the first half of the 20th century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ethics of asking about abuse and the harm of "don't ask, don't tell."

Replies to comments by J. Read (see record 2007-07130-012), D. Gleaves et al (see record 2007-07130-013), V. Edwards et al (see record 2007-07130-014), M. Black and R. Black (see record 2007-07130-015), and S. Ullman (see record 2007-07130-016), which raised important points about the authors' original article (see record 2006-03947-003). Those comments extend our thinking about how to ask participants about abuse in an ethical way. Together, the comments point to the importance of researchers examining our own reasons for asking--or not asking--about abuse and of paying attention to how we respond when we ask. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abilities, motives, and personal styles: Reply.

Responds to the comments of P. L. Ackerman (see record 2006-12925-012), D. Y. Dai (see record 2006-12925-013), and M. C. Gridley (see record 2006-12925-014) on E. S. Spelke's original article "Sex differences in intrinsic aptitude for mathematics and science? A critical review" (see record 2005-15840-001). Here, the current authors first consider Ackerman's criticism of IQ measures of cognitive sex differences, as well as his suggestion that Advanced Placement tests be used as a second measure. Next, the authors discuss Dai's suggestion that cognition and motivation, abilities and strategies, are inseparably bound in any meaningful measure of aptitude for mathematics and science. Finally, the authors address Gridley's suggestion that differences in men's and women's thinking styles and preferences explain gender disparities in math and science fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

'The structure of phenotypic personality traits": Author's reactions to the six comments.

L. R. Goldberg replies to the comments by R. O. Kroger and L. A. Wood (see record 1994-17497-001), S. Guastello (see record 1994-17488-001), D. R. Comer (see record 1994-17481-001), H. J. Eysenck (see record 1994-17486-001), W. D. Shadel and D. Cervone (see record 1994-17520-001), and H. E. Cattell (see record 1994-17479-001) on Goldberg's (PA, Vol 80:17546) article on the Big Five personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fixed versus flexible MMPI diagnostic rules.

The question of whether fixed (i.e., conventional) or flexible (i.e., Bayesian) rules should be used in diagnosis has received much attention in the clinical literature. Recently, Grove (1985) presented empirical evidence suggesting that flexible rules may not be "worth the expense of their use" (p. 263). The present article attempts to demonstrate the consequences on total misdiagnosis rates of using conventional rather than flexible rules when the MMPI is used as the diagnostic instrument. The principal conclusion is that when the base rate and separation of distributions of normal and abnormal scores are in the ranges of values examined in Grove's (1985) Monte Carlo study, Grove's comments about the negligibility of misdiagnosis rate differences for fixed versus flexible rules appear to be applicable to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) but that, as the base rate increases and as the separation of distributions of normal and abnormal scores decreases outside of these ranges, the difference in the misdiagnosis rates for Bayesian versus conventional rules becomes increasingly nonnegligible. Furthermore, these total misdiagnosis rate differences appear to be particularly large when the separations of normal and abnormal groups' MMPI T-score distributions are in the ranges most often encountered in the clinical literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constructivism and socially sensitive research.

Replies to comments on multicultural perspectives and researcher bias made by F. A. Ibrahim (see record 1989-25694-001) and M. Gergen (see record 1989-25689-001) regarding the present author's (see record 1988-15683-001) discussion of ethical issues in research on "underrepresented groups" such as women and minorities. Inherent limitations of the individual researcher are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)