The origins of confusion.

Repeats previous criticism of the work of S. Dinitz, H. Goldman, H. E. Allen, and L. A. Lindner as resting on an inadequate data base. A series of published reports by the group are ostensibly independent but seem to be derived from a single study, a 1969 dissertation by Allen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hebb's confusion about heritability.

Comments that the example given by D. O. Hebb (1970) to illustrate the concept of heritability is confusing to readers who do not already understand the concept. Hebb misapplies heritability and arrives at a nonsensical conclusion by estimating heritability in one population and then generalizing it to a quite different population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chi-square can engender confusion.

Comments on J. S. Hyde and E. A. Plant's (see record 1995-21144-001) comment on A. H. Eagly's (see record 1995-21141-001) discussion comparing the sexes in scientific research. The author points out that if Hyde and Plant's purpose is to determine if gender effect sizes tend to be smaller than other effects then chi-square is insensitive to the ordinal nature of the dependent variable and to such trends in the data. The author suggests using the Mann-Whitney U test because it is more appropriate and generally a more powerful test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stability of confusion: A reply to Mischel and Peake.

Argues that W. Mischel and P. K. Peake (see record 1983-05642-001) distorted the present author's (see record 1980-32524-001) views and findings on the cross-situational consistency and stability of behavior and misrepresented the purpose of the article, which was to examine the effects of aggregation on reliability and validity. It is noted that there is sufficient cross-situational consistency in behavior that when items are appropriately chosen by standard psychometric procedures and aggregated across situations, there is unequivocal evidence for the existence of broad, cross-situational dispositions. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement scales and statistics: A confusion which refuses to die.

Notes that the controversy concerning the question as to whether scale properties enter into statistical analyses began with Stevens (1946) and has had a long and lively history. The controversy should have been resolved in the negative by Lord (1953) or Kaiser (1960), or at least with Gaito (1980). However, it seems to persist unabated. In discussions with a number of individuals in various settings, I have noted various arguments which still are proposed by proponents of Stevens's view. The purpose of this note is to attempt a separation of the various phases of the research effort in a simple fashion and to ask the question, "Are measurement aspects involved in this phase?" This approach has been used successfully by the author in a graduate course in statistics and in other discussions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clarifying critical confusion in the Hawthorne hysteria.

Suggests that the article by D. Bramel and R. Friend (see record 1982-08638-001), which purports to be a Marxist critique of the studies performed at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric, has merely repackaged 5 decades of repetitive disciplinary rivalry. Five mistakes are presented that were made by earlier ideological critics and repeated by Bramel and Friend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Whose confusion?

Challenges A. R. Jensen's (1969) view concerning the heritability of IQ, especially with regard to whether or not the mean IQ of the Black population can be raised by changing conditions that are known to have a deleterious effect on intellectual development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interventions for confusion and dementia. 3: Reminiscence

The aims of reality orientation, which was discussed in the previous article of this series (Vol 7(17): 1018-20), are to achieve behavioural improvements. The aims of reminiscence, however, are empowerment and the provision of pleasure and it is therefore more associated with quality of life and quality of care. Reminiscence can be an enjoyable activity. Used in a structured way, it can achieve a sense of wellbeing, and increase empathy between healthcare workers and clients. This article discusses the benefits and problems of reminiscence, and suggests means to develop reminiscence skills and materials.     

Interventions for confusion and dementia. 4: Alternative approaches

While reality orientation and reminiscence are useful therapies, recent years have been a growing awareness of other approaches to caring for people with dementia. This article discusses some of the less established, but potentially valuable, approaches--validation therapy, resolution therapy and multisensory environments. Validation therapy seeks to help care givers understand the thoughts and feelings of care receivers. In contrast to the confrontational approach of reality orientation, it encourages empathy between giver and receiver. Resolution therapy develops aspects of validation therapy, adopting a less structured, more psychodynamic and individualistic approach. Multisensory environments use sensory stimulation to achieve pleasure for the individual. All three approaches have a limited knowledge base, but share a humanistic philosophy that enables them to contribute to a person's quality of life.     

Coping with temptations to smoke.

Explored the effectiveness of coping responses reported to a hotline by ex-smokers dealing with temptations to smoke. Earlier findings on the effectiveness of cognitive and behavioral responses for 183 smokers were cross-validated on 75 new Ss. The number of coping responses had no effect, but combining cognitive and behavioral responses enhanced effectiveness. Formal smoking cessation treatment resulted in more behavioral coping, especially relaxation and physical activity, but had no effect on coping effectiveness. Seven types of behavioral coping were equally effective: Each was significantly more effective than no coping response and equal to other behavioral responses in preventing relapse. A similar pattern held for 8 types of cognitive coping, except that the use of willpower was significantly inferior to other cognitive responses, and self-punitive thoughts were entirely ineffective. The implications of these findings for the coping skill model of self-control and for clinical practice are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clustering, seriation, and subset extraction of confusion data.

The study of confusion data is a well established practice in psychology. Although many types of analytical approaches for confusion data are available, among the most common methods are the extraction of 1 or more subsets of stimuli, the partitioning of the complete stimulus set into distinct groups, and the ordering of the stimulus set. Although standard commercial software packages can sometimes facilitate these types of analyses, they are not guaranteed to produce optimal solutions. The authors present a MATLAB *.m file for preprocessing confusion matrices, which includes fitting of the similarity-choice model. Two additional MATLAB programs are available for optimally clustering stimuli on the basis of confusion data. The authors also developed programs for optimally ordering stimuli and extracting subsets of stimuli using information from confusion matrices. Together, these programs provide several pragmatic alternatives for the applied researcher when analyzing confusion data. Although the programs are described within the context of confusion data, they are also amenable to other types of proximity data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temptations to smoke after quitting: A comparison of lapsers and maintainers.

This study addresses whether characteristics of temptations to smoke differ for participants who quit smoking and maintain abstinence compared to those who quit and then lapse. Participants used hand-held computers to record temptations and were beeped at random for base-rate assessments. We used generalized estimating equations to compare 1,851 temptation episodes and 5,192 random assessments recorded by 151 participants (116 lapsers, 35 maintainers) over 1–23 days of abstinence. Compared to randomly sampled occasions, temptations were marked by greater negative affect, restlessness, attention disturbance, and exposure to smoking cues; participants were also more likely to be eating or drinking during temptations. Temptations reported by lapsers and maintainers did not differ in any respect, including their reported coping. The results highlight situational variance over individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological reactions of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.

Comments on the article by Gibson (see record 1995-13278-001), which examined the psychological aspects of smoker-nonsmoker interaction. The current author adds two comments that he hopes will strengthen the positive impact of Gibson's papers. First, it is unlikely that laws and policies that provide for "nonsmoking" sections in public places will solve the problem by themselves. Second, the literature on the psychological reactions of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke reviewed by Gibson understates the psychological effects, including anger felt toward nearby smokers that is equal to the anger that anyone would feel against a person who assaults them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separating group supervision from group therapy: Avoiding epistemological confusion.

Comments on M. T. Riva and J. A. Erickson's (see record 1996-09446-001) article examining group supervision practices in psychology predoctoral internships. The author argues that extant research in the area of group supervision has already provided evidence that suggests therapy-based group supervision environments or processes are likely not effective approaches to use with trainees. It is concluded that approaching group supervision primarily as a process of learning that is best informed by pedagogy, rather than as an activity similar to group therapy in its processes and goals, may assist supervisors and researchers in finding effective and ethical methods to train psychology students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)