Psychological differentiation: Current status.

Examined the status of the differentiation hypothesis, derived from differentiation theory, in light of accumulated evidence since the hypothesis was proposed by H. A. Witkin et al (see PA, Vol 37:819). Assuming that greater or less differentiation is an organismic attribute, the hypothesis postulated that behaviors reflecting extent of differentiation are likely to be interrelated, resulting in self-consistency in individual functioning across domains. The newer evidence confirmed the linkages among the behaviors examined in earlier research. The hypothesis was also useful in generating predictions about linkages to behaviors in new domains (cognitive restructuring, interpersonal competencies, and cerebral lateralization); these predictions were tested and generally confirmed. The differentiation construct accounted for phenomena that could not be accommodated by other lower order constructs, such as field dependence–independence. Whereas the differentiation hypothesis dealt only with the interrelatedness among components of a cluster of behaviors subsumed under differentiation, the newer evidence carried suggestions for a hierarchical ordering of these components and for the nature of causal connections among them. (4? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological rehabilitation: A concept in need of a method.

Research indicates that the field of mental health is not doing an adequate job of rehabilitating psychiatric patients back into the community. The inefficacy of psychological rehabilitation appears to be a function of several variables: (a) the failure of mental health professionals to understand the pressing necessity for a psychological-rehabilitation approach within the mental health system; (b) the mistaken assumption that psychological rehabilitation and psychological prevention are separate and distinct functions (as opposed to the realization that rehabilitation, at the present state of our knowledge, is possibly the best use of our preventive energies); and (c) the inability to develop a psychological-rehabilitation model. As an alternative to the present practice of psychological rehabilitation, a skills-training approach is suggested. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Animal hypnosis: Factual status of a fictional concept.

Notes that animal hypnosis, or tonic immobility, is an easily induced and readily quantifiable phenomenon found in many different species. Recent findings on the behavioral, ecological, chemical, neurological, genetic, and ontogenetic aspects of animal hypnosis are reviewd in light of current and historical interpretations. The response seems to be quite sensitive to manipulations designed to affect fear. In terms of adaptive significance, the reaction can be modified through selective breeding, and both naturalistic as well as laboratory investigations bolster the thesis that tonic immobility may participate in the ecology of predator-prey relationships. (93 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the concept of concept.

This commentary is in two parts: 1) a short review of problems with representational theories of mind, and 2) a critique and diagnosis of what I claim are fundamental problems with Wittgensteinian notions of grammatical analysis. These problems turn on an incomplete characterization of normativity in Wittgenstein's (and others') work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological deficit in schizophrenia: I. Affect, reinforcement, concept attainment.

This, the 1st of 2 papers reviewing laboratory studies of psychological deficit in schizophrenia, considers the effects of social censure, affective stimuli, cooperation, urging, and verbal and nonverbal reinforcers on performance on a variety of tasks. Disturbance i concept formation is evaluated in terms of: loss of abstract attitude, communication disturbance, regression, and the consequence of erratic attention. Finally, various theories of schizophrenia deficit are evaluated. Although motivational constructs cannot be wholly dismissed, interference theory is generally more comprehensive and parsimonious. Many specific hypotheses of interference theory still need to be substantiated by experiment, however. (130 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genius: Present-day status of the concept and its implications for the study of creativity and giftedness.

Investigated the literature regarding genius, creativity, and giftedness as this appears in the Psychological Abstracts and the Cummulated Subject Index 1927-1965. Changes in the frequency of articles in these 3 areas are noted and the major topics investigated in each of the areas. The concepts appear to be complimentary in terms of the period in which their major work was undertaken and in the topics dealt with. Findings are discussed as they relate to an understanding of the conditions underlying the attainment of eminence. A 2nd point discussed is the need to distinguish among different levels of intellectual giftedness. (76 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Excesses of the normalization concept.

Comments on S. Landesman and E. C. Butterfield's (see record 1988-01920-001) review of the normalization/deinstitutionalization controversy in the mental retardation field. It is argued that by basing their position on the rules of evidence, the published literature, and rational inference, the authors were unable to give a full account of the ideologues who currently dominate the extremes of the controversy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological distress among Mexican-American and Mexican women as related to status on the new immigration law.

Psychological distress in relation to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was examined among 90 Mexican-American and Mexican women divided into three groups (n?=?30 each): undocumented immigrants who did not qualify for amnesty, undocumented immigrants who qualified for amnesty, and legal residents of the United States of Mexican descent. Results indicate that the undocumented immigrants who did not qualify for amnesty obtained significantly higher scores on hostility. Contrary to prediction, undocumented immigrants who qualified for amnesty obtained lower scores in anxiety (a statistical trend) than did the other two groups. No differences in global psychological distress were found between the undocumented immigrants and the legal residents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the concept of truth-functional negation.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 22(1) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2008-10957-001). In the article, several key words were omitted from the last sentence of the Method section on page 464, column 2, third paragraph. The corrected sentence is included in the erratum.] Studied the development of the concept of truth-functional negation in 2 experiments, using 36 English-speaking children (aged 3–6 yrs) and 10 Korean-speaking children (aged 4–5 yrs) as Ss. In Exp I, English-speaking Ss were given a sentence-variation task in which the following 4 sentence types were used to describe 36 pictures of common items: true affirmative, false affirmative, true negative (TN), and false negative. The results show that a majority of Ss under 5 yrs had difficulty with negative sentences, particularly TN sentences, indicating a lack of explicit understanding of truth-functional negation as defined in logic. In Exp II, a cross-linguistic replication of Exp I was attempted with Korean-speaking Ss. Despite some cross-linguistic differences in the negation system, the Korean-speaking Ss showed essentially the same pattern of results, suggesting that the development in question proceeds within the general limit set by the general cognitive development. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)