Werner's relevance for contemporary developmental psychology.

Heinz Werner's contributions to contemporary developmental psychology are considered in terms of 3 major books that form the cornerstones of his enterprise. The fit or lack of it between Werner's theory and current practices of developmental psychologists is evaluated, and the tensions between his theory and those practices are identified. The core issue explored is the relation between what Werner identified as a developmental "topic" and the means by which topics are studied in practice. The mismatch between the Wernerian topic and the topics in the field is then used as a way of clarifying the relevance of Werner's theory to contemporary developmental issues and as a way of identifying some of the misinterpretations of his works. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Premature conclusions regarding Black and White suicide attempters: A reply to Steele.

The conclusion reached by R. E. Steele (see record 1978-27665-001) that his samples of Black and White suicide attempters were clinically similar is questioned, as is his inference that his results require a reexamination of the supposed need for separate Black and White psychologies. Specific criticisms are raised regarding some of the variables chosen by Steele for his comparisons, and the manner in which he chose to interpret his data. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In defense of Piaget's theory: A reply to 10 common criticisms.

The developmental theory of Jean Piaget has been criticized on the grounds that it is conceptually limited, empirically false, or philosophically and epistemologically untenable. This study attempts to rebut these criticisms by showing that most of them (a) derive from widespread misinterpretations of the work of Piaget; (b) fail to appreciate the 2 central issues of his thinking—how new forms of thinking emerge during ontogenesis and how they become psychologically necessary; (c) incorrectly assume that many controversies concerning his theory can be settled empirically or methodologically before they are clarified conceptually; (d) ignore various modifications of Piagetian theory, particularly those advanced after 1970; and (e) forget the dialectical, constructivist, and developmental nature of Piaget's unique approach to human development. Although the authors do not claim there is a "true" Piaget to be discovered, or that the problems with his theory vanish when it is better understood, they do claim that important aspects of Piaget's work have not been assimilated by developmental psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on Banks's "White preference in Blacks: A paradigm in search of a phenomenon."

A review by W. C. Banks (see record 1977-21037-001) concluded that the evaluative preference and self-identification responses of Afro-American children toward stimulus alternatives representing light- and dark-skinned persons conformed to simple chance rather than indicating a "White preference in Blacks." This interpretation is challenged as misleading because of Banks's dismissal of the importance of comparisons by race in the literature cited and because of his failure to cite a number of relevant studies of race and color bias, the results of which are inconsistent with his conclusion. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: Hardy Culver Wilcoxon (1921–1996).

Memorializes Hardy Culver Wilcoxon, who constituted a significant link to the early history of experimental psychology. He worked as a research assistant to both C. L. Hull and C. I. Hovland, developing early and lasting interests in learning theory and in comparative psychology. This combination of scientific interests is reflected in his first 2 publications: "Spatial Orientation in the White Rat," which he published with Roland Waters (1948) and "A Preliminary Determination of the Functional Relationship of Effective Reaction Potential to the Ordinal Number of Vincentized Extinction Reactions," published with R. Hays and Hull (1950). He continued to pursue work in comparative psychology and learning for the remainder of his career. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The other Alfred Binet.

Alfred Binet is famous as the author of the IQ test that bears his name. He is almost unknown, however, as the investigator who generated numerous fascinating investigations into developmental, experimental, educational, and social psychology. This "other" Binet generated tasks, findings, and interpretations that foreshadowed current work on children's understanding of number conservation, validity of children's eyewitness testimony, the constructive nature of memory, effects of group pressure on conformity, and individual differences in cognitive styles. This article reviews Binet's major contributions, considers why the fame of his intelligence scale was so lasting and why that of his other contributions was so fleeting, and discusses implications of his contributions for current efforts to formulate unified theories of cognition and cognitive development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Female homosexuality: Choice without volition--A psychoanalytic study.

Reviews the book, Female homosexuality: Choice without volition--A psychoanalytic study by Elaine V. Siegel (see record 1988-97461-000). In Female Homosexuality: Choice Without Volition, Elaine Siegel makes her theoretical lineage and clinical goals explicit from the outset; she dedicates the book to Charles Socarides, MD, and credits her "immersal in and application of" his work with the fact that "some of [her] patients were able to become heterosexual." Socarides is best known for his theories about developmental deficits in male homosexuals and for his ardent work in the 1970s to persuade the American Psychiatric Association to maintain homosexuality as a psychiatric diagnosis. Siegel applies his schematization of male homosexuality to female homosexuals, with a twist. She argues that whereas male homosexuals tend to overvalue their genitals, female homosexuals have failed to "take full possession of their vaginas", a failure that both she and Theodore L. Dorpat in his introduction refer to as a "calamity." The bulk of the book consists of elaborate case presentations of eight of Siegel's analysands, preceded and followed by several theoretical chapters, one of which describes Siegel's "psychoanalytic armamentarium." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual meaning and increasing complexity: Contributions of Sigmund Freud and René Spitz to developmental psychology.

Contributions of Freud and R. Spitz to developmental psychology are presented in terms of today's research. The work of each of these pioneers draws attention to the need for increasing knowledge about the meaning of individual experience and increasing complexity in the course of development. Freud's contribution to today's developmental thinking is reviewed in terms of his observations of play, his schematic perspectives on developmental processes, and his innovative theoretical approaches involving nonconscious mental activity in the context of constructivism. Spitz's contribution to today's thinking is reviewed according to a similar array of topics. These include his observational assessments of infants, his schematic perspectives on developmental processes, and his innovative theoretical approaches involving affective communication in the context of caregiving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Impossible projects": Men's illusory solutions to the problem of work.

Describes a specific type of work disturbance encountered in clinical practice with male patients. The "impossible project" is characterized by grandiose, boundary-less content, intense absorption in solitary activity, and difficulty formulating and sustaining goal-directed work. It is the man's attempt to "patch over" significant ego deficits without fundamentally reworking the traumatic identification with his mother and the emotional absence of his father. The project is fantasized as providing a hitherto elusive masculine identity but also partakes of feelings of fraudulence and impossibility. The cases of 3 men (aged 14, 41, and 40 yrs) exemplify the impossible project and highlight the typical family constellations and developmental deficits of these men. How best to respond to the patient's work strivings as well as common transference paradigms are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of cognitive development in children's explanations and preferences for skin color.

One Black and 1 White female examiner assessed 72 White 2.5–10.5 yr old children to investigate children's understanding of the origins of race and explore the developmental concomitants of skin color preferences. Ss' understanding of the origins of race followed a developmental hierarchy and correlated significantly with performance on previously researched measures of physical conservation, physical causality, and social identity. Both physical conservation and physical causality appeared to be developmental prerequisites to understanding the origins of race. Significant Race?×?Cognitive Developmental Level interactions indicated that pro-White bias was significantly lower for higher levels of cognitive development when the examiner was Black. The possibility that skin color preference is influenced by social desirability is discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of René A. Spitz: Dialogues from Infancy--Selected Papers.

These selected writings of René Spitz (1887-1974) about "dialogue" from infancy may serve comprehensively to encompass the major new trends in clinical psychoanalysis and developmental theory. This volume includes Spitz's papers from 1945-1972. Most famous are his early studies on deprivation and mothering; his later formulations, beyond both traditional object relations theory and primary narcissism, yield a fresh perspective and a possible framework for the current polarization of psychoanalytic concerns. His final hypotheses address the nature-nurture controversy and the question of an original self, a human soul. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gilbert Gottlieb (1929-2006).

Presents an obituary for Gilbert Gottlieb. Developmental science lost an outstanding, innovative investigator and theoretician on July 13, 2006, with the passing of Gilbert Gottlieb at his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Gilbert considered his most important empirical contribution to developmental science to be his research on the effects of nonlinear, prenatal experience on the development of species-typical postnatal behavior-research that was greatly influenced by the writings of Zing-Yang Kuo and T. C. Schneirla, both of whom supported his self-proclaimed "off-the- beaten-track" ideas. Gilbert's passion for scientific excellence was matched only by the passion he had for his loving family who survive him--his wife, Nora Lee Willis Gottlieb, and their sons, Jonathan B. Gottlieb, Aaron L. Gottlieb, and Marc S. Gottlieb. He was predeceased by his son David H. Gottlieb. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

White children's attitudes toward Blacks and the physically handicapped: A developmental study.

Children's behavior toward adults who differed from them along 2 dimensions was examined from a developmental perspective. A total of 80 White kindergartners and 4th graders were tested individually by either a Black or a White female adult who either was or was not seated in a wheelchair. Three kinds of behavior toward the adult were measured: physical distancing, imitation, and helping. On the basis of previous findings, it was predicted that children at both age levels would show more physical avoidance, less imitation, and less helping in the presence of other-race and handicap cues, as compared with own-race and nonhandicap cues. On all 3 types of behavior, the White E was favored over the Black E in both the wheelchair and nonwheelchair conditions. In addition, there were interaction effects involving race, handicap, age, and sex that suggest the operation of complex developmental processes in the formation of attitudes toward different types of stigmatized individuals. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

American = White?

Six studies investigated the extent to which American ethnic groups (African, Asian, and White) are associated with the category "American." Although strong explicit commitments to egalitarian principles were expressed in Study 1, Studies 2-6 consistently revealed that both African and Asian Americans as groups are less associated with the national category "American" than are White Americans. Under some circumstances, a dissociation between mean levels of explicit beliefs and implicit responses emerged such that an ethnic minority was explicitly regarded to be more American than were White Americans, but implicit measures showed the reverse pattern (Studies 3 and 4). In addition, Asian American participants themselves showed the American = White effect, although African Americans did not (Study 5). The American = White association was positively correlated with the strength of national identity in White Americans. Together, these studies provide evidence that to be American is implicitly synonymous with being White. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L. S. Vygotsky and contemporary developmental psychology.

Central themes from L. S. Vygotsky's writings that have particular relevance for contemporary developmental psychology are outlined, and these ideas are extended in light of recent theoretical advances in the social sciences and humanities. The discussion focuses primarily on Vygotsky's claims about the social origins and social nature of higher (i.e., uniquely human) mental functioning and on his understanding of culture. His claims about the social origins of individual mental functioning have implications for the definition of terms such as "cognition" and "memory" as well as for how empirical research on these processes can be pursued. His understanding of culture is shown to be derivative of his account of the "psychological tools" that mediate human mental functioning. It is argued that efforts need to be made to elaborate a notion of culture within a Vygotskian framework that takes into account contemporary ideas and findings in the social sciences and humanities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral education and domains in the classroom: Is nothing as practical as a good theory?

Reviews the book, Education in the moral domain by L. P. Nucci (see record 2001-06857-000). In his book Education in the Moral Domain, Nucci summarizes more than two decades of developmental research indicating that it is impossible to ignore children's active understanding of sociomoral rules in search of simple "habit formation." Instead, he argues, children routinely form complex conceptions of both sociomoral events and adults' legitimate roles in those events and if adults ignore these conceptions it will only undermine their attempts at moral education. In the past, ideas like these were seen as damaging because they suggested that children should "question authority." By contrast, the recent developmental research reviewed in this book indicates that, although children and adolescents do sometimes "question authority," there is a surprising amount of consensus in children's and adults' sociomoral understanding and behavior. This book provides an intellectually compelling summary of recent developmental research on children's sociomoral development with a clear eye on the implications of that work for classroom moral education and the larger moral climate of schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: Howard S. Hoffman (1925-2006).

Presents an obituary for Howard S. Hoffman. Although he made many contributions to the field of psychology, Hoffman is probably best known for his role in bringing the study of the startle reflex into psychology and for "rediscovering" prepulse inhibition. Prepulse inhibition was first described in 1862 by Sechenov and was rediscovered at least twice before Hoffman discovered it again in 1963. Hoffman was the first to use the term prepulse. He continued his work on startle into the 1980s. His many papers on the reflex and its modification laid the groundwork for the widespread use of prepulse inhibition today in studies of schizophrenia and other disorders. In addition, Hoffman made important contributions to developmental psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No more than skin deep: Ethnic and racial similarity in developmental process.

Many studies adduce evidence of ethnic or racial dissimilarities in developmental outcomes (e.g., delinquency and achievement). Many researchers fail to distinguish between group average levels and developmental processes (correlations). Evidence is reviewed that developmental processes are nearly identical for US Black, Hispanic, White, and Asian ethnic and racial groups. Using diverse and representative data sources, covariance matrices were computed for these ethnic groups and then compared by using a LISREL goodness-of-fit test. Not only were these matrices nearly identical but they also were no less alike than covariance matrices computed from random halves within 1 ethnic or racial group. This article documents the importance of accepting ethnic and racial similarity of developmental processes. Thus, group average level differences may result from different levels of developmental antecedents working through common developmental pathways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Albee's charges are unsupported.

Challenges G. W. Albee (see record 1971-08263-001) to prove his assertions that White Protestant men hold a disproportionate share of wealth, power, and influence in the US and that any one religious group, race, or sex is more prejudiced than others. A reply follows in which Albee cites supporting evidence for his allegations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)