Les implications éthiques des définitions de problèmes.

This article is a synopsis of the presidential address titled "The Ethics of Problem Definition" by Patrick O'Neill. While the synopsis of the address is in French the original article was written in English and can be found the same issue of Canadian Psychology (see record 2005-04705-002). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences and disagreement as factors in creative group problem solving.

"This experiment was designed to test the following hypothesis: conflict generated by increasing the resistance of subordinate members of a group to a solution offered by member in an authority position increases the frequency of high quality solutions. The supplementary hypothesis that mixed-sex composition in interaction with such conflict further enhances the production of high quality solutions was also tested… . The results support the major hypothesis." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The New York University conference on human problem solving.

"A conference of about 40 psychologists to explore the present status of research in the field of human problem solving was held at New York University… " in April 1954. "The program consisted of general papers and discussions in the mornings and brief reports of current research in the afternoons." Areas of agreement and disagreement and points of view of the conference discussants are cited. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The discrimination of sequences in stimulus events and the transmission of information.

Indicates the importance to psychologists of the communication model in analyzing behavior as a time series. Uses illustrations from the areas of clinical diagnosis, trouble shooting, and problem solving behavior to show how a time series analysis of behavior may be useful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Lewis M. Terman: Pioneer in psychological testing.

Reviews the book, Lewis M. Terman: Pioneer in psychological testing by Henry L. Minton (see record 1988-98726-000). Lewis Terman was one of the leading pioneers in the development of clinical tools and studies of individual differences. In the Preface to his book, Minton acknowledges that Terman was as controversial as he was influential and states that his biography seeks to provide a balanced view of Terman's life and works. As readers of this comprehensive volume will quickly find, Minton has been eminently successful in achieving this goal: His book not only highlights Terman's accomplishments, which were many, but also describes his shortcomings which, though fewer, were not nonexistent. Overall, Minton provides an extremely interesting, well-written, and probing account of the positive and the less-positive facets of his subject, both as a scientist and as a man. The book contains 11 chapters, describing Terman's life from his early years through his illustrious career at Stanford, up to his death in 1956, a month short of his 80th birthday. Throughout, Minton shows how Terman's upbringing, education, and the times and society in which he was raised contributed to shaping the person he was to become. Minton's biography of Terman, based primarily on an exhaustive reading of Terman's professional and personal papers and supplemented with interviews with former students and colleagues such as Nancy Bayley, Lee Cronback, Ernest Hilgard, and Robert Sears, and with members of Terman's family, provides a detailed and fascinating portrait of one of the major figures in psychology. The book's strengths are its consistently objective appraisal of its sometimes controversial subject, the scope of its coverage, the extensive documentation of its sources, and Minton's ability to set or to describe each of Terman's activities and the events in his life in their appropriate professional or social context. Readers from many walks will find this book interesting, informative, and well worth reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating the Readiness of Pre-Referral Intervention Teams for Use in a Problem Solving Model.

Scholars have suggested that school psychologists should implement a problem solving approach to practice (Reschly & Ysseldyke, 2002). Pre-referral intervention teams (PITs) are a frequently used model in education and are a preferred service option among school psychologists. Thus, the PIT model could be expanded to more effectively function within a problem solving approach, but research is needed to examine the use of PITs in this format. Ellis (2001) suggested that educational innovations require research that demonstrates sound theoretical basis, proven effectiveness, and consistent widespread implementation. The current article reviewed research and concluded that the PIT model was developed from a solid theoretic base and data exist to support its effectiveness. However, consistent implementation has not been achieved and remains a significant barrier to moving toward a problem solving approach. Research is needed regarding team format, assignment of staff, training, and treatment fidelity to better assure consistency through recommendations for practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple Causes of Difficulty in Insight: The Case of the Nine-Dot Problem.

Theories of insight problems are often tested by formulating hypotheses about the particular difficulties of individual insight problems. Such evaluations often implicitly assume that there is a single difficulty. We argue that the quantitatively small effects of many studies arise because the difficulty of many insight problems is determined by multiple factors, so the removal of 1 factor has limited effect on the solution rate. Difficulties can reside either in problem perception, in prior knowledge, or in the processing of the problem information. We support this multiple factors perspective through 3 experiments on the 9-dot problem (N.R.F. Maier, 1930). Our results lead to a significant reformulation of the classical hypothesis as to why this problem is difficult. The results have general implications for our understanding of insight problem solving and for the interpretation of data from studies that aim to evaluate hypotheses about the sources of difficulty of particular insight problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology for Sale: The Ethics of Advertising Professional Services.

Policies regarding advertising of professional services by psychologists have become somewhat less restrictive over time; however, there remains a tradition within the discipline to avoid any semblance of competitive advertising practices. This paper presents an historic review of policies concerning self-advertising by psychologists in the United States and Canada. Although not currently prohibited by Canadian guidelines, three advertising practices are still generally regarded as failing to meet expectations of professional integrity: 1) claims of unique abilities; 2) claims of comparative desirability; and 3) appeals to a client's fear and anxiety. The position is taken that psychologists can stay within their ethical boundaries using these types of advertising practices while promoting the welfare of clients and maintaining the profession's ethical standards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protecting confidentiality rights: The need for an ethical practice model.

All psychologists must uphold the same ethical standards about confidentiality even though each state imposes different legal limits on their ability to protect clients' confidences. The resulting ethical-legal confusion is exacerbated by legally based confidentiality training that treats legal exceptions as if they were the rule and fosters the impression that attorneys are now the only real experts about this aspect of practice. This article provides an ethics-based confidentiality practice model that clarifies the ethical rule and puts its legal exceptions into ethical perspective. Like the Confidentiality section of the American Psychological Association's (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, this outline would apply to all psychologists regardless of state laws, but the details of its implementation would vary according to role and setting. It can be used as a universal training outline, a consultation and supervision tool, a guide to professional practice, and a basis for clearer ongoing conversation about the ethics of "conditional confidentiality." Psychologists can use this practice model to regain their status as experts about the confidentiality ethics of their own profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Problem of Definition of Mental Disease.

The author questions the assumption made in an an official statement of the American Psychiatric Association dated March 7, 1954, that the treatment of mental disease can readily be differentiated from the treatment of minor emotional problems by reference to standard medical nomenclature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Consistency in Social Behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 2).

Reviews the book, Consistency in Social Behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 2), edited by Mark P. Zanna, E. Tory Higgins, and C. Peter Herman (1982). The volume has two major foci: the consistency of the individual's behaviour in different situations, and the consistency between people's attitudes and their behaviour. These issues have been classic concerns, respectively, of personality and social psychologists. Once upon a time, we as psychologists naively assumed the existence of both forms of consistency. But in the last two decades our faith has been shaken. For the most part, the participants in the Second Ontario Symposium help to restore our faith. But, in doing so, they provide a more sophisticated, qualified view of consistency. In conclusion, this set of papers is a record of, and a testimonial to, the success of the Second Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology. It is the present reviewer's hope that this biannual event will be continued in the years ahead. Clearly, the Second Symposium was worth the effort involved! (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the Personal-Professional Distinction: Ethics Codes and the Difficulty of Drawing a Boundary.

The Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association (APA) applies to the professional role behaviors of members and not to their personal behavior. This article discusses some of the difficulties inherent in drawing distinctions between the personal and the professional. Consideration is given to the importance of clarifying public statements. Four ethics codes other than the APA Ethics Code are examined for how they treat the personal-professional distinction. A number of questions are posed to assist in determining the tilt a behavior takes. A concluding recommendation suggests that APA Ethical Standards be applied only to professional role behaviors, whereas aspirational principles might be applied to personal behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competency Training in Ethics Education and Practice.

This article provides an overview of issues, including identification of core competencies and strategies for training and assessment, related to ethics education and training for psychologists. It summarizes the products emerging from the ethics working group at the November 2002 Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology, held in Scottsdale, Arizona. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schema Induction in Problem Solving: A Multidimensional Analysis.

The present research examined the processes of schema formation in problem solving. In 4 experiments, participants experienced a series of tasks analogous to A. S. Luchins' (1942) water jar problems before attempting to solve isomorphic target problems. Juxtaposing illustrative source instances varying in procedural features along multiple dimensions promoted the construction of a general schema that facilitated solving an isomorphic problem requiring a novel procedure. Exposure to less variant problems led to faster initial learning, but narrower and fixed schemas (mental set), whereas exposure to variant procedures led to slower initial learning, but broader and more flexible schemas. The findings support the dimensional specificity hypothesis: Generalization along 1 dimension facilitates transfer to a target problem differing from the source problems in that dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gambling, gambling activities, and problem gambling.

This research examined similarities and differences between gambling activities, with a particular focus on differences in gambling frequency and rates of problem gambling. The data were from population-based surveys conducted in Canada between 2001 and 2005. Adult respondents completed various versions of the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI), including the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). A factor analysis of the frequency with which different gambling activities were played documented the existence of two clear underlying factors. One factor was comprised of Internet gambling and betting on sports and horse races, and the other factor was comprised of lotteries, raffles, slots/Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs), and bingo. Factor one respondents were largely men; factor two respondents were more likely to be women and scored significantly lower on a measure of problem gambling. Additional analyses indicated that (1) frequency of play was significantly and positively related to problem gambling scores for all activities except raffles, (2) the relationship between problem gambling scores and frequency of play was particularly pronounced for slots/VLTs, (3) problem gambling scores were associated with playing a larger number of games, and (4) Internet and sports gambling had the highest conversion rates (proportion who have tried an activity who frequently play that activity). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of studies contrasting the quality of group performance and individual performance, 1920-1957.

Research contrasting the quality of group performance with individual performance in each of the following general topic areas has been examined in this paper: judgment, learning, social facilitation, problem solving, memory, size of group, problem solving in more realistic situations, and productivity. Recent theoretical and methodological considerations as well as discussions of group types are included. Research weakness and theoretical problems are discussed. 74 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences, sex composition, and group problem solving.

Males and females solved Maier's (1952) horse trading problem while working alone or in groups. Men tended to solve the problem better individually but also to profit from group discussion. Women in mixed groups seemed better motivated to solve the problem than those in groups composed of all females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Having the Memory of an Elephant: Long-Term Retrieval and the Use of Analogues in Problem Solving.

The authors report 4 experiments exploring long-term analogical transfer from problem solutions in folk tales participants heard during childhood, many years before encountering the target problems. Substantial culture-specific analogical transfer was found when American and Chinese participants' performance was compared on isomorphs of problems solved in European versus Chinese folk tales. There was evidence of transfer even among participants who did not report being reminded of the source tale while solving the target problem. Comparisons of different versions of a target problem indicated that similarity of solution tool affected accessing, mapping, and executing components of problem solving, whereas similarity of goal object had only a moderate effect on accessing. High school students also evidenced greater transfer than did middle school students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Certification of psychologists.

During the past year, in discussions of the question of certification of psychologists, I have found that many are not familiar with two important problems associated with the trend of certification of the whole title. One consequence of such certification is that an academic psychologist cannot consult as a psychologist for a fee in his own specialty, however remote from contact with individual patients, without being certified or without in some way circumventing the law. This is a restriction that does not exist for nuclear physicists, physiologists, chemists, or others in any academic area. It stands, as such, as a limitation on traditional academic privileges. A second consequence is that restriction of the whole title creates a situation in which misunderstandings arise with sister disciplines that share subject matter or titles. For example, sociologists have trained persons in and claim competence in social psychology. It is concluded that aside from the issues involved and whether or not there have indeed been blunders, the implication is that the profession would not want to change, right or wrong; it would not be possible to rouse any action that would imply an alteration rather than a compromise with the current situation. What is disturbing is that considering the self-conscious concern with ethics in psychology, this seems to be a rather cynical view of the profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethics and the Advertising of Professional Services: Blame Canada.

Shead and Dobson (see record 2004-14467-001) provide an excellent historical review of policies concerning self-advertising by psychologists in the United States and Canada. They conclude that psychologists can become considerably more aggressive in their professional advertising practices, while still adhering to appropriate ethical constraints. Whether such practices will truly benefit either consumers or psychologists remains an open question. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)