Toward a concept of personality integration.

A central idea in thinking about effective behavior is "organismic integration" which suggests an inclusive phenomenon and suggests also "some form of interaction which takes place among subsystems of the organism—more specifically, an interaction which is adaptive or self-enhancing." Personality integration "is a many vectored thing, that is defined by events which go on within a variety of specific behavioral planes within the organism." Systems are grouped "on a continuum ranging from microcosmic to macrocosmic, or from molecular to molar, or even from the inside of the organism out… . The model covers events from a single heartbeat to the behavior of peoples… . The variables tentatively identified as relevant to personality integration include stability, high environmental contact, high internal communication, and affective complexity." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Three theoretical interpretations of order effects in persuasive communications.

The "set," "reinforcement," and "sensory variation" hypotheses are reviewed in terms of their ability to predict the results of order effects in the persuasive situation where opposed arguments on the same topic are utilized. The set hypothesis is most successful when the communicative materials presented are unfamiliar to the S. The sensory variation hypothesis is most successful when the topics of the cummunications are concerned with familiar social issues. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy integration in Portugal.

In answering five questions regarding the status of psychotherapy in Portugal, predominant theoretical orientations, standing of psychotherapy integration, and cultural issues, the author draws a brief sketch of the situation of psychotherapy in Portugal. It is stressed the increasing number of patients seeking therapy as well as the increasing number of professionals providing it, and a growing dialogue between psychologists and psychiatrists. In terms of theoretical orientations, the dominant ones are the analytic/dynamic and the cognitive-behavioral with an increasing number of therapists leaning towards integration. In terms of cultural issues relevant to psychotherapy, it could be said that a significant number of patients deal with issues related to the question of balancing "cooperation/proximity" and "agency/competitiveness," as well as matters of unassertiveness. From the standpoint of the author, major lessons learned from being in Sepi are flexibility, humility, sharing, and something close to the "bearable lightness of being..." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinforcement today.

The discovery of facts and practices concerning reinforcement in the past 25 years "have increased our power to predict and control behavior and in so doing have left no doubt of their reality and importance." In the acquisition of a bowling response in pigeons 3 points are relevant: (a) The temporal relationships between behavior and reinforcement are very important. (b) Behavior was set up through successive approximations. (c) Behavior gradual "shapes up" by "reinforcing crude approximations of the final topography instead of waiting for the complete response." The maintenance of behavior through various schedules of reinforcement is discussed. "The world in which man lives may be regarded as an extraordinarily complex set of positive and negative reinforcing contingencies… . In any social situation we must discover who is reinforcing whom with what and to what effect." The modern study of reinforcement is: (a) difficult and relatively expensive; (b) usually single-organism research, in which a statistical program is "unnecessary" and "wrong"; (c) not theoretical. "The new principles and methods of analysis which are emerging from the study of reinforcement may prove to be among the most productive social instruments of the twentieth century." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The utility of measuring the skillfulness of therapeutic techniques.

Discusses the attempts made by researchers to measure the extent to which a given psychotherapeutic technique is carried out and applied skillfully in evaluating the efficacy of a given type of psychotherapy. Such measures are objective and are used in research designs that have generalizability. They also provide an opportunity to test theories of how psychotherapy helps patients. It is asserted that conceptualizing therapist behavior in terms of the specific factors has less of a tendency to perpetuate the therapist "uniformity myth" than conceptualizing therapist behavior in terms of nonspecific factors. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting preschoolers' peer behavior and status from their interpersonal strategies: A comparison of verbal and enactive responses to hypothetical social dilemmas.

The purposes of this study were (a) to compare a verbal and an enactive procedure for assessing preschool children's social strategies in hypothetical situations in terms of their ability to predict social behavior with peers and peer acceptance and (b) to examine some of the psychometric properties of the two assessment methods. Children's responses to a set of hypothetical social situations were elicited both with puppets and props (enactive assessment) and with a set of pictures (verbal assessment). The responses were rated in terms of their friendliness and assertiveness. Enactive friendliness ratings contributed significantly to regression equations predicting teacher and observer ratings of prosocial and aggressive behavior but not to peer group acceptance, whereas the verbal method contributed little predictive power beyond that provided by the enactive ratings. Implications for social skill assessment and intervention with children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blurry words and fuzzy deeds: The attribution of obscure behavior.

When people attempt to infer the existence of traits from another's behavior, they categorize the behavior, characterize the actor in trait terms, and then correct that inference with information about situational constraints. The 1st 2 stages require fewer attentional resources than does the 3rd. However, when behavior is obscure (i.e., difficult to categorize because its features are not easily apprehended), the 1st stage should consume resources on which the 3rd stage depends, and undercorrected inferences should result. In 2 experiments, behavior was made obscure by distorting its visual or acoustical parameters. Although the obscure behaviors could logically have been attributed to the constraining situations in which they occurred, Ss who observed such behaviors were especially unlikely to correct their trait characterizations of the actors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of metal- ceramic bonding by frettage

Metal-ceramic bonds have been produced by sintering a metallic hollow cold-pressed cylinder (iron-based powder) around a ceramic insert (silicon nitride). Pushout tests were carried out to characterize the bond strength. An analytical model considering a strain-hardening plastic matrix was developed and used to analyze the pushout tests in terms of residual stresses. Dilatometry and tensile tests were also carried out on the matrix materials in order to characterize phase transformations and mechanical behavior. These data are then used in the model to calculate a friction coefficient between the steel and the ceramic at different temperatures. The validity of the model is checked by comparing measured and calculated hoop deformations of the metal ring during pushout. formerly Undergraduate Student, Ecole des Mines de Paris. formerly Research Engineer with the Metafram Company.     

Review of Normality and the life cycle: A critical integration.

Reviews the book, Normality and the life cycle: A critical integration by Daniel Offer and Melvin Sabshin (1984). In 1966 and 1974, Basic Books published the first and second editions of Offer and Sabshin's Normality: Theoretical and Clinical Concepts of Mental Health. These volumes generated the proposal that a new field, called normatology, be established. It would focus on normality, normal behavior, and normal development. This still more recent volume develops the proposal and is an attempt to fill the need to "examine concepts of normality and definitions of normal behavior through time and across cultures". Both of the editors (and most of the contributors) are medically trained, and their professional orientation is apparent throughout the book. Although claims are made that the approach to normatology should be interdisciplinary, and four different concepts of normality are offered, the main concern of most of the chapters seem to be that of differentiating the healthy from the unhealthy. The editors even note that the terms "normality" and "mental health" are used interchangeably. Several chapters have a developmental orientation, but these too are typically concerned with distinguishing normal from abnormal developmental processes. Individual papers are scholarly, but in some cases seem directionless. The most seminal ideas in the book are presented by Mandell and Salk, whose chapter proposes a theory of emergent patterns that could have implications in the future both for general developmental theory and for specific theories of learning that might influence rehabilitation psychology. A previous reviewer has judged that this chapter alone is worth the price of the book, and this judgment may well be correct. Those who purchase this book should do so primarily for its reviews of the literature, which are generally complete and competent. Purchasers will probably be disappointed if they expect to find much that is of direct value to rehabilitation or that contributes in a substantive to the founding of a new science of normality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compartments and cohesions in adaptive behavior.

A problem fundamental to the study of comparative behavior is when to treat underlying events as separate and when to treat them as part of a cohesive unit. However we define behavioral systems, they appear to be both intrinsically ordered and also interactive with their surround. The degree to which these systems operate in isolation from one another may also change through time. The question then is how we deal with the organization of behavior in terms that are appropriately relational, dynamic, and multileveled. Although this question is not new, novel perspectives are still worth exploring. One suggestion offered in this article is that both integrative and developmental events in adaptive behavior may reveal similar subtleties for certain aspects of their organization. Our explorations of this possibility may make it possible to join studies of behavioral integration and development, within a comparative framework, more adequately than we have done in the past. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of behavioural outcome goals, learning goals, and urging people to do their best on an individual's teamwork behaviour in a group problem-solving task.

States that research has shown that learning goals are superior to outcome goals on complex tasks. The effectiveness of behavioral outcome goals (set using behavioral observation scales), learning goals, and urging people to do their best was examined in the context of a training program designed to improve an individual's teamwork behavior in a group problem-solving task. 50 participants (mean age 25.3 yrs) who set behavioral or learning goals had higher self-efficacy relative to those urged to "do their best". Self-efficacy correlated positively with teamwork behavior and goal commitment. Behavioral goals were superior to learning goals and being urged to "do your best" in bringing about teamwork behavior. These findings suggest that behavioral outcome goals may mitigate the need for learning goals on complex tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward the use of self-control in behavior modification.

Analyzes the concept of self-control in terms of a 2-stage process: general cognitive set and specific self-controlling responses. The incorporation of the cognitive set into a fuller understanding of behavior modification is emphasized. The set labeled commitment to change is viewed as an important motivational and mediating component in self-directed or therapist-guided therapy programs. A number of characteristics of this set are posited, and the problems of measuring such a commitment are discussed. Several programs describing techniques oriented to commitment are briefly reviewed. The cognitive set analysis seems especially important for discovering factors contributing to the frequent relapse following treatment for addictions. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferences of personal characteristics on the basis of information retrieved from one's memory.

Conducted 4 experiments with a total of 331 undergraduates to investigate inferences about another person's attributes (e.g., his or her political attitudes) on the basis of information (e.g., the person's voting behavior) retrieved by Ss from their own memory. The inference task required integration of 2 kinds of uncertainty: uncertainty generated by imperfect diagnosticity of the information regarding the attributes under consideration. Results show that Ss relied almost exclusively on the diagnosticity of the information retrieved. The reliability with which the information was retrieved had a small and inconsistent effect on judgment. As a result, the inferences were considerably more extreme than those justified by normative considerations. Findings are interpreted in terms of D. Kahneman and A. Tversky's (see record 1974-02325-001) "representativeness heuristic," and implications of the results with regard to overconfidence in attributing personality traits are discussed. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a general theory for the behavioral sciences.

Since 1949 specialists in various social and biological sciences including "… history, anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, social psychology, psychology, psychiatry, medicine, physiology, and mathematical biology" have met in the attempt to develop a theory "… embracing all aspects of behavior." A number of terms useful in the consideration of theory including "system," "boundary," "subsystems," and "coding" are discussed. Formal models of behavior and homologies with electronic systems are considered. The paper is concerned with specifying and elaborating 19 propositions "… each empirically testable at the levels of cell, organ, individual, small group, and society… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Of models and men.

"Although already too complicated for the average psychologist to handle… [theories of learning] are not yet adequate to account for the behavior of a rodent on a runway." A mathematical model is proposed and considered in terms of certain empirical data. Game theory is also considered. A mathematical model emerges which then has a guiding role in the planning and interpretation of further experiments. Correspondences between properties of the model and properties of human behavior are sought as both model and man are "confronted with a series of increasingly novel and complex learning situations." The writer has "found that the steepest obstacle to theory construction in psychology is not the complexity of behavior." Rather it is a combination of centuries of prescientific stereotypes and "the pronouncements of the academicians who have always known in advance, apparently by divine inspiration, exactly what kind of theory is possible and proper for psychology." Experimental subjects will indicate through their behavior to what kind of theory psychology is entitled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Agreeableness and activeness as components of conflict behaviors.

Handling social conflict is usually described in terms of 2 dimensions that either cause the behavior (concern for one's own and others' goals) or that result from it (integration and distribution). In contrast, agreeableness and activeness are common factors of modes and taxonomies of conflict behavior that do not confound independent and dependent variables. This article specifies the extent to which avoiding, accommodating, compromising, problem solving, indirect fighting, and 2 forms of direct fighting—issue fighting and outcome fighting—each positively or negatively relate to agreeableness and activeness. Systematic observations of videotaped simulations by 82 male police sergeants handling a standardized conflict with either a subordinate or a superior supported and refined this metataxonomy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hyperactivity and learning disabilities as independent dimensions of child behavior problems.

Definitional problems surrounding the terms "hyperactivity" and "learning disabilities" cannot be fully resolved unless dimensions of behavior (intercorrelated core characteristics) can be independently identified that correspond in some way with these terms. Previous factor-analytic studies, however, argue against the existence of such dimensions of behavior. Methodological differences, particularly in the nature of the item pool subjected to factor analysis, between the few studies that extracted hyperactivity or learning disabilities factors and those that failed to identify such factors may account for the difference in results. The present study utilized a broad item pool containing many items putatively related to learning disabilities and hyperactivity and extracted independent factors that might be given these labels. 19 teachers generated 404 ratings of 4th–8th graders from 2 schools that included both regular and special education classes. Results of a principal-components analysis and a variance-maximizing rotation procedure suggest that independent dimensions of problem behavior that correspond to the terms "hyperactivity" and "learning disabilities" may be identifiable. If so, the identification of such factors may allow more meaningful selection of Ss and dependent variables in studies of etiology and treatment methods. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecological moral realism: An alternative theoretical framework for studying moral psychology.

The authors propose that the empirical study of human moral behavior as undertaken by positive psychologists, psychologists interested in the study of values, and experimental ethicists can be normative at its core, yet also remain truly scientific. To do this, those interested in the empirical study of human moral behavior should consider the concept of affordances, which is central to the Gibsonian ecological psychology tradition, as an approach to studying virtues and strengths. From this perspective, virtues can be better defined as part of moral analogues of affordances (MAAs). Just as the affordance "being-climbable" is a relation between climbing ability and height, so one can similarly define a MAA as an opportunity for moral behavior. Virtues, on this account, would be defined as abilities to behave appropriately in morally relevant situations. If one studies virtues as components of MAAs, virtues are only comprehensible in terms of morally relevant situations. Similarly, morally relevant situations are comprehensible only in terms of abilities to behave appropriately in them, that is, in terms of virtues. We believe that such an approach holds many advantages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)