Gender schema theory and self-schema theory compared: A comment on Markus, Crane, Bernstein, and Siladi's 'Self-schemas and gender."

Notes that the present author's (see record 1982-23588-001) gender schema theory proposes that sex-typed individuals are schematic with respect to gender (masculinity and femininity), while the self-schema theory of H. Markus et al (see record 1981-25685-001) proposes that sex-typed individuals are schematic with respect to either masculinity or femininity, but not both. It is maintained, however, that the 2 theories do not share a common conceptual definition of what it means to be schematic and, therefore, are not in direct opposition. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Canadian feminism and psychology: The first decade.

The history of the Canadian Psychological Association's recognition of the validity of a feminist perspective in psychology is outlined, and the current status of women psychologists in the nation is discussed. Documenting the development of a "psychology of women" speciality, a selected review is presented of the research conducted by psychologists in Canada dealing with sex roles, sex differences, achievement, feminism, and psychobiology. In the applied areas of the discipline, analogous developments have occurred in terms of the establishment of a link between sex roles and psychopathology, the critical appraisal of traditional therapies, the creation of alternative therapy approaches, and the generation of ethical standards pertinent to the provision of psychological services to women. The interdisciplinary quality of the psychology of women is discussed and an overview of this new field is provided. (French abstract) (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory and experimental roles: Comment on Danziger.

Refutes K. Danziger's (see record 1986-00068-001) suggestion that the temptation to engage in fruitless speculation about the "chicken and egg" problem of the priority of theoretical orientation and the social practices involved in investigation must be resisted and expands Danziger's notion that psychologists should study individuals. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of Graduate Study in Psychology as a data source.

Comments on an article by C. M. Stoup and L. T. Benjamin, Jr. (see record 1983-24200-001), in which they used various editions of Graduate Study in Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), to report the GPAs and Graduate Record Examination scores of master's and doctoral students across various areas of psychology. It is cautioned that the use of Graduate Study in Psychology as a data source calls for skepticism, as there is sufficient reason to question some of the data that are submitted to the APA by psychology departments. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct systems and the definition of social situations.

Studied the relationship between 2 construct subsystems, one for construing people and one for defining a concrete social situation. Using a variant of G. Kelly's grid methodology, 20 college students rated 12 personal acquaintances on 12 constructs of bipolar concepts. They were then presented with 1 of 2 problematic social situations and asked to rate the same acquaintances on 10 dimensions relevant to the situation. Principal-components analysis was used to derive 1 central and 2 secondary patterns of construing (centrality being defined by the amount of variance the component accounts for on a grid), as well as 1 central and 2 secondary dimensions defining the social situation. Cross-correlations between the orderings of people on these 2 sets of components were used to determine the extent to which "implicit personality theory" influenced the definition of a situation. Findings show that central construing related strongly to the central definition of a situation, whereas secondary construing related more weakly to secondary definitions. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructional set, interview context, and the incidence of "don't know" responses.

Examined a hypothesis formulated by E. J. Webb, D. T. Campbell, R. D. Schwartz, and L. Sechrest (see PA, Vol. 40:6543) that instructions emphasizing a respondent's importance to an attitude survey would result in a reduced number of "don't know" responses to the items. A 20-item questionnaire was administered to 180 undergraduates under 3 contexts: face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and group administration. Contrary to the hypothesis, in both the telephone and group administration contexts, there were significantly more "don't knows" under the instructions emphasizing the respondents' importance than with the control instructions. There was no difference between instructional sets in the face-to-face context. Results are discussed in terms of the social environments within which the questionnaires were administered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comments on Finley's "Critique of rational-emotive philosophy."

Reply to Finley's (1987; see record 1988-00015-001) critique of rational-emotive philosophy, which claims that Ellis's (1981) response to Sharkey's (1981) criticisms of rational-emotive psychology reveals logical and philosophical confusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Errors in Seligman's "The effectiveness of psychotherapy: The Consumer Reports study."

Contends that there are 3 methodological errors and an inconsistency in M. E. P. Seligman's (see record 1996-13324-001) reanalysis of the 1995 Consumer Reports survey of the effectiveness of psychotherapy. These errors are directly relevant to the cost-effectiveness of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A re-reading of Studies on Hysteria: the Freud-Breuer break revisited.

Argues that the commonly accepted view that J. Breuer and Freud ended their relationship simply because the former objected to the latter's claim as to the sexual etiology of the psychoneuroses is a myth (propounded by Freud and E. Jones) that masked an ongoing polemic in Studies on Hysteria. Breuer objected to Freud's claim that symbolic processes unconsciously determine symptoms. What disturbed both Freud and Breuer was Freud's vision of an interpenetration of intelligence and sexuality operating according to the laws of language completely out of the ego's awareness. The unconscious link between sexuality and intellection remains as problematic today. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effectiveness of medication: The Consumer Reports study.

Comments on M. E. P. Seligman's (see record 1996-13324-001) reanalysis of the 1995 Consumer Reports survey of the effectiveness of psychotherapy. The author asserts that Seligman did not sufficiently emphasize the lack of difference between the psychotherapy group and the psychotherapy plus medication group. This finding suggests more than a lack of effectiveness for medication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical Psychology: Reprint of Witmer's 1907 article.

Reprints L. Witmer 's (1907) original article which describes the development of the "psychological clinic" at the University of Pennsylvania . Describes the function of the clinic in providing conjoint physical and mental examinations. Illustrates, using case examples of a 10 yr old & 14 yr old male, the operation of the clinic. Outlines a proposed plan of organization for practical work in psychology delivered before the APA in 1896. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologist at city hall: A problem of identity.

Describes personal experiences as a representative of the Mayor of Boston. Psychological knowledge was secondary to the understanding of the political situation. The most important role change was to be concerned with the political welfare of the Mayor, rather than for the welfare of an individual or a community. Some psychological knowledge could be communicated usefully at policy meetings, but there was a limit to being helpful in social-political situations. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological arousal, dissonance, and attitude change: Evidence for a dissonance-arousal link and a "Don't remind me" effect.

Two experiments, with 80 undergraduates, replicated and extended research by R. T. Croyle and J. Cooper (see record 1984-11595-001) indicating that cognitive dissonance involves physiological arousal. In Exp I, Ss wrote counterattitudinal essays under conditions of high or low choice and, to assess arousal effects owing to effort, with or without a list of arguments provided by the experimenter. In high-choice conditions only and regardless of effort, Ss showed both arousal (heightened galvanic skin response) and attitude change. Arousal, however, did not decline following attitude change. The more effortful task (no arguments provided) produced increased arousal but not greater attitude change. In Exp II, the opportunity to change one's attitude following a freely chosen counterattitudinal essay was manipulated. As in Exp I, arousal increased following the essay but did not decline following a postessay attitude change opportunity. When Ss were not given an attitude change opportunity, however, arousal did decline. It is suggested that if dissonance is a drive state, drive reduction typically may be accomplished through gradual cognitive change or forgetting. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Consumer Reports study of psychotherapy: Invalid is invalid.

Contends that M. E. P. Seligman's (see record 1996-13324-001) reanalysis of the Consumer Reports survey does not warrant any new conclusions about the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Several methodological flaws are also noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "hidden observer" phenomenon in hypnosis: Some additional findings.

23 highly hypnotizable undergraduates (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) underwent 2 specially constructed 7-item hypnotic inductions. Over the 14 items, the main finding was of a relationship between E. R. Hilgard's (1973, 1977, 1979) "hidden observer" effect and 2 aspects of hypnotic age regression. Ss reporting a hidden observer experienced duality during regression to age 5, in which they were aware of being both adult and child. When asked to write a complex sentence, most did so, usually without spelling errors. The Ss not reporting this effect experienced quasi-lateral age regression in which they had the exclusive feeling of being 5 yrs old, with no sense of an adult identity. Most of these Ss were unable to write the same complex sentence when requested to during age regression. The study replicated Hilgard's finding of the hidden observer phenomenon in terms of its incidence and obtained similar verbal reports from Ss experiencing it. At the same time, the results suggest that a neodissociation account of hypnosis may need some modifications to accommodate these additional findings. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Day After: The impact of a media event.

Discusses the extent and nature of public reaction to the TV film, The Day After, which presented a fictional account of the aftermath of nuclear attack. Events preceding the broadcast, factors contributing to the conclusion that the film had no impact, the film's impact on certain types of attitudes and behaviors, and implications for the activist psychologist are discussed. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Show versus no show: A comparison of referral calls to a suicide prevention and crisis service.

Conducted an exploratory content analysis of 20 pairs of taped telephone calls to a suicide prevention and crisis service. Variables that might differentiate between referrals resulting in "show" and those resulting in "no show," were studied. A show and a no show call for each of 20 telephone therapists were coded. It is concluded that a scale based on 6 indexes would differentiate between the 2 groups. Motivation of the caller for getting help and the concreteness of the therapist emerged as most important factors in the 6-item scale. The relationship between this research and a crisis intervention model is discussed. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The perils of outperformance: Sensitivity about being the target of a threatening upward comparison.

Outperforming others, although privately satisfying, can be a source of interpersonal strain. This article presents the framework of a major form of outperformance-related distress, which we label sensitivity about being the target of a threatening upward comparison (STTUC). To become STTUC, an individual must believe that another person is making an upward comparison against the self and feels threatened by the contrast in status. The outperformer must also experience concern about some facet of the other's response, and this concern may be focused on the other, the self, or the relationship. In addition to offering new predictions about outperformance-related distress, the STTUC framework unites many previously disconnected findings on topics such as fear of success, envy, self-presentation, and self-evaluation maintenance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The role of reinforcement symmetry and stimulus modality in successive delayed matching to sample in the rat": Correction.

Reports an error in "The role of reinforcement symmetry and stimulus modality in successive delayed matching to sample in the rat" by J. S. Cohen, M. Escott and P. Ricciardi (Canadian Journal of Psychology Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, 1984[Mar], Vol 38[1], 63-79). The last six words of the legend for Figure 1 should read "in the replication of Experiment 1." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-05863-001.) 20 male Wister albino rats were trained and tested in asymmetrically and symmetrically reinforced successive delayed matching to sample (DMTS) tasks. The only difference between these discrimination problems was that correct omission of a leverpress to the test stimulus (S?), differing from the sample stimulus (S?), was reinforced in the symmetrically reinforced DMTS. Response biases during tests for retention of S? were reduced in the symmetrically reinforced DMTS. Greater losses in retention occurred to the visual than to the auditory S?. For the auditory S?, reduced response biases in the symmetrically reinforced DMTS led to reduced losses in S? retention scores over increased retention intervals. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed in terms of the theory of signal detection. (French abstract) (28 ref). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)