The reaction of a participant observer.

Comments on an article by Conway about clinical psychology training in Canada (see record 1985-10567-001). The current author addresses issues regarding accreditation standards for applied psychology training programs in Canada. He firmly believes that the Canadian Psychological Association should develop a set of criteria for applied rather than clinical programs, in order to remain competitive with programs in the United States. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental study of reinforcement and participant satisfaction.

The Es attempted to condition each S to accept a "relayer role" (see 35: 743). The relayer in a 5-man circle net collects information from the participant on one side and then passes that information plus his own to the participant on the other side. He has no opportunity to solve the problem himself. Ss were encouraged to perform the "relayer role" and were told that the group had succeeded only when they performed this role. For the questionnaire administered at the end of Trial 4, all of the satisfaction questions except task interest were interrelated in an essentially unidimensional or single-factored fashion and were significantly corelated with the number of rewards on Trials 1-4. At the end of 10 trials, however, these same items had separated into 2 independent factors. 1 factor repreesnted an evaluation of group performance and was correlated with rewards on Trials 1-10. The 2nd factor represented an evaluation of personal performance and was not related to rewards on Trials 1-10. This latter finding is not surprising in light of the fact that the Ss never did solve the problem themselves and many did not seem to understand who was solving it. The Ss with an understanding of the reward contingencies were more "satisfied" than those who did not believe their productivity was instrumental to reinforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-reinforcement, gender-role, and sex of participant in prediction of life satisfaction

There have been conflicting results regarding sex differences and gender role in predicting life satisfaction and no research assessing the relationship between life satisfaction and self-reinforcement. These relationships were evaluated by administering to 182 undergraduates the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Frequency of Self-reinforcement Questionnaire. A regression analysis showed significant effects for self-reinforcement and gender role in the prediction of life satisfaction. No main effect was found for sex of participant and there were no significant interactions. Scores on measures of self-reinforcement and life satisfaction were moderately correlated.     

Modeling the adversary and success in competition.

Competition has been studied as something to be averted, yet rarely has it been asked what processes may be involved in successful competition. The authors tested whether more accurate modeling of an adversary can assist competitive success. Pairs played a zero-sum game with no specific skill component over 40 trials. The authors measured the relative accuracy of the players' second-order model (i.e., what I think about my opponent: R2MA) and third-order model (i.e., what I think my opponent thinks of me: R3MA), using responses to adjectives indicating personality traits. Performance correlated with both R3MA and having a better strategy (i.e., a better distribution of responses), but these variables contributed separately to performance variance. However, R2MA did not correlate with performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethics education and adjudication within psychology.

Provides an overview of the formal ethics system within psychology. The structure of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the state ethics systems, the functions of the APA Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics and Conduct, and the process for handling complaints, from initial inquiry to final adjudication (and appeal, if any), are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Needs, perceived need satisfaction opportunities and satisfaction with occupation.

If major motives are satisfied in the context of work and career, then satisfaction with occupation should be a function of the discrepancy between personal needs and perceived potential of occupation for satisfying needs, particularly among those for whom occupation constitutes a major source of satisfaction (e.g., men rather than women), and in the instance of occupationally relevant needs, such as need achievement. The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, a special rating scale, and a questionnaire were administered to 108 men and 95 women teachers. As predicted, discrepancy scores correlated .25 (p     

Scientific method and the adversary model: Some preliminary thoughts.

Criticizes the use of the basic experimental method in an effort to demonstrate that it fails to yield certainty because of its application to the complex social human being. Limitations of the "experiment as science" concept include the impossibility of creating a social vacuum, difficulties in generalization from laboratory conditions, problems in specifying certain areas of study, and problems with imprecise human observers. Scientific methodology is related to 4 basic assumptions of the scientific enterprise: that human events occur in social and historical contexts; that intelligence attempts to make sense out of what it observes; that science is a social enterprise seeking to predict, understand, and manipulate behavior; and that the scientific enterprise adheres to an adversary model. Based on an analogy drawn between the features of this model and those of the legal model (e.g., proceedings, arguments, lines of evidence, and decision criterion), some suggestions for a stronger adversary model are proposed: (a) inclusion of an independent "adversary" on research teams to "cross-examine" evidence; (b) evaluation of an investigator's characteristic emotions, distortions, and fantasies by an independent person; and (c) compilation and classification of various types of evidence and possible inferences by an interdisciplinary research team. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting satisfaction and marital satisfaction in mothers and fathers with young children.

This study examined parenting satisfaction (PS) and marital satisfaction (MS) in married couples over 4 yrs (ns ranged from 59 to 87). There was little evidence of interdomain spillover in that, for both husbands and wives, PS and MS were generally unrelated at each assessment and change in PS was unrelated to change in MS. With regard to interparent spillover, the link between spouses' MS tended to be stronger than the link between spouses' PS at each assessment, and the link between spouses' change in MS was stronger than the link between spouses' change in PS. A typology of satisfaction with family life is proposed as one way of integrating the study of marital relationships and parent–child relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some comments on "Scientific method and the adversary model": Reply.

Replies to comments by R. P. Youtz (see record 1990-57141-001) on the original article by M. Levine (see record 1977-09339-001) advocating the adversary model of research. The author responds to several specific statements by Youtz, including issues regarding scientific investigation and operationalism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: The adjudication of research grant applications.

Describes the policies and procedures currently used by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in processing and adjudicating applications from psychologists for support from its research grants division. The structural organization of the Council and proposed procedural changes are also described. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelationships among measures of job satisfaction and general satisfaction.

For a sample of 41 male and 52 female civil service employees, correlations were determined among 2 measures of job satisfaction (SRA Employee Inventory and Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Index) and 2 measures of attitudes toward life in general (Weitz General Satisfaction Test and Rundquist-Sletto Morale Scale). All the intercorrelations were moderately positive and significant for the males, but only the intercorrelation between the two general satisfaction measures was significant for the females. 15 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of participant modeling on information acquisition and skill utilization.

Assessed the contribution of active participant modeling in coping skills training by evaluating 2 critical process variables: the retention of information about the threatening events and how to cope with them, and the visceral component of imaginal rehearsal. 38 8–13 yr old children, highly fearful of dentists (the Dental subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule), were shown a videotape of 2 children practicing controlled respiration and imagery techniques while undergoing dental treatment. The participant modeling group was encouraged to practice these as they watched the film, whereas the symbolic modeling group was told that this might help them during their own dental treatment, which immediately followed videotape preparation. Ss who had the active participant instructions obtained more information from the videotape, reported greater reduction in dental anxiety, and showed lower respiratory rates as they watched the videotape. They reported greater use of imagery techniques and enhanced self-control. The degree of disruptiveness was significantly lower during subsequent actual dental treatment in Ss from the active practice group. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consumer satisfaction with mental health treatment.

Reviews literature on the evaluation of consumer satisfaction with mental health treatment. The methods of assessing consumer satisfaction, methodological issues in studies assessing satisfaction, results of the studies, and the value of consumer evaluation are discussed. Consumer evaluation is found to be a useful though flawed method of assessing services. It is concluded that consumer evaluation should be included in a multimethod treatment evaluation. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative benefits of meta-analysis conducted with individual participant data versus aggregated data.

The authors describe the relative benefits of conducting meta-analyses with (a) individual participant data (IPD) gathered from the constituent studies and (b) aggregated data (AD), or the group-level statistics (in particular, effect sizes) that appear in reports of a study’s results. Given that both IPD and AD are equally available, meta-analysis of IPD is superior to meta-analysis of AD. IPD meta-analysis permits synthesists to perform subgroup analyses not conducted by the original collectors of the data, to check the data and analyses in the original studies, to add new information to the data sets, and to use different statistical methods. However, the cost of IPD meta-analysis and the lack of available IPD data sets suggest that the best strategy currently available is to use both approaches in a complementary fashion such that the first step in conducting an IPD meta-analysis would be to conduct an AD meta-analysis. Regardless of whether a meta-analysis is conducted with IPD or AD, synthesists must remain vigilant in how they interpret their results. They must avoid ecological fallacies, Simpson’s paradox, and interpretation of synthesis-generated evidence as supporting causal inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring member satisfaction with the Church.

Developed and validated the Congregation Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), a set of scales measuring member satisfaction with the church and synagogue. The CSQ was administered to 353 members (mean age 44 yrs) of Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. The scales had high internal consistency reliabilities and adequate test–retest reliability. Significant evidence of convergent validity and moderate evidence of discriminant validity was also demonstrated. The CSQ is appended. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in satisfaction with grandparenting.

177 grandmothers and 105 grandfathers completed mail questionnaires that consisted of 51 Likert-scale items covering demographic and family background and grandparenting satisfaction and perceived responsibilities (disciplining, caretaking, helping, advising). Ss were White and aged 45–90 yrs. Findings show that grandmothers' satisfaction scores significantly exceeded those of grandfathers and that perceived responsibilities for grandchildren's care and for helping grandchildren contributed to the satisfaction of both grandmothers and grandfathers. Results also indicate, however, that family and individual characteristics contributed to men's but not to women's satisfaction with grandparenting and different variables predicted men's and women's satisfaction scores. Possible sources of these gender differences are discussed. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

File review consultation in the adjudication of mental health and chronic pain disability claims.

The role of the psychological file review consultant in assisting disability insurance carriers to adjudicate chronic pain and mental health claims is discussed. The authors advocate an empirical basis for the practice and outline the relevant professional issues and procedural steps to be taken in this consulting role. They examine the role of the consultant in evaluating the quality of assessment, whether empirically evaluated treatments have been applied, and what factors can be used in estimating return to work dates. Specific problems that a file review consultant might encounter and suggested solutions are described as are potential biases and ethical dilemmas that may occur when psychologists take on this emerging consulting role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-disclosure and marital satisfaction.

Examined the effect of self-disclosure on marital satisfaction in couples and also introduced attitude similarity as a possible predictor of marital satisfaction. 51 couples (mean age 30.6 yrs) completed 5 test instruments, including a self-disclosure scale, 2 marriage satisfaction scales, an attitude survey, and a demographic questionnaire. Results (1) revealed high reciprocity between spouses on most measures, (2) found a consistent positive relationship between self-disclosure and marital satisfaction, (3) substantiated self-disclosure as a significant predictor of marital satisfaction, and (4) demonstrated that attitude similarity had a strong positive relationship to marital satisfaction. Findings provide a firm basis for self-disclosure and attitude similarity as important predictors of marital satisfaction. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self as actor, active observer, and passive observer: Implications for causal attributions.

D. T. Miller et al (see record 1975-21040-001) distinguished between active observers (those on the receiving end of an actor's behavior) and passive observers (onlookers of an event involving an actor and an active observer). Following the concept of hedonic relevance, it was hypothesized that active observers would attribute the actor's behavior to personal dispositions of the actor more strongly than passive observers. In a series of hypothetical emotional events, 24 male undergraduates were depicted either as actors ("You like Ted"), active observers ("Ted likes you"), or passive observers ("Ted likes Paul"). They then rated the degree to which the actor, active observer, or some "other reason" had caused the given event. Although the actor–observer effect was obtained overall, an interaction between S role and positivity of verb indicated that it occurred much more strongly in negative-verb than positive-verb events. That is, Ss, either as actors or active observers, tended to deny their responsibility for negative events but did not claim praise for positive events. Implications for the effects of egotism on attribution are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment process factors and satisfaction with drug abuse treatment.

Examined treatment satisfaction (TS) in relation to treatment outcomes (i.e., tenure and relapse for opioid use) and client and treatment variables in 532 methadone maintenance clients in a data system by M. Allison et al (1982). Satisfaction data were limited to the 1st 3 mo in treatment. Most Ss stated that the treatment had helped them to some degree with their drug problem or that they were at least somewhat satisfied with treatment. About three-quarters of the clients felt that the treatment had helped them at least somewhat with other nondrug problems. Overall, results suggested that TS measured early in treatment does not have strong direct effects on during-treatment-outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)