A note on Thorndike's preference blank for psychologists.

The 50 items comprising the 5 Thorndike clusters were rated by 2 experienced job analysts in terms of the Methods Groups and Worker Functions factors. It was discovered that the ratings grouped themselves into functional areas. "It is suggested that the judgment of trained job analysts working within a conceptual framework of the world of work… can arrive at such decisions of classification and clustering without the involved and prolonged statistical treatment used by Thorndike. Moreover, it provides a device for generating and presenting this type of item in a meaningful manner." Four stages in the application of the "functional technique" are indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructional set, interview context, and the incidence of "don't know" responses.

Examined a hypothesis formulated by E. J. Webb, D. T. Campbell, R. D. Schwartz, and L. Sechrest (see PA, Vol. 40:6543) that instructions emphasizing a respondent's importance to an attitude survey would result in a reduced number of "don't know" responses to the items. A 20-item questionnaire was administered to 180 undergraduates under 3 contexts: face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and group administration. Contrary to the hypothesis, in both the telephone and group administration contexts, there were significantly more "don't knows" under the instructions emphasizing the respondents' importance than with the control instructions. There was no difference between instructional sets in the face-to-face context. Results are discussed in terms of the social environments within which the questionnaires were administered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responses to "neutral" pronoun presentations and the development of sex-biased responding.

Investigated whether 36 kindergarten and 36 1st-grade children, like college students, would give male-biased responses to a "he" presentation and examined how Ss would respond to the use of "they" and "he or she" pronoun presentations. The effects of pronoun use on memory were also investigated, as were possible sex differences in responding. Each S was assigned to 1 of 3 pronoun presentation groups, each of which contained an equal number of girls and boys. Ss in the different groups listened to the exact same story except that Group I Ss heard the pronoun "they" used throughout the story, Group 2 Ss heard "she" or "he" used throughout the story, and Group 3 Ss heard the pronoun "he" throughout the story. Ss were then asked to retell the story and were shown pictures of a boy and a girl and asked to indicate which one the story was about. Results support the pronomial dominance theory of pronoun functioning for young children. Results also support the hypothesis that boys initially use a self-imaging response to neutral presentations. The time of transition away from this response was identified as the 1st-grade level. There was no indication that kindergarten or 1st-grade girls use the self-imagining approach. The "they" presentation appeared to be the most neutral. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From laws of learning to a science of values: Efficiency and morality in Thorndike's educational psychology.

Edward L. Thorndike's educational psychology was the beginning of an American behavioristic tradition that sought efficient, scientific solutions to educational, moral, and social problems. Thorndike used empirical methodology to explain behavior, intellect, and character. After rejecting developmentalism, he combined laws of learning derived from his experiments on animals with quantitative measurement of individual differences in humans to construct a psychology of education. He applied this educational psychology commercially and developed many widely used tests and texts. Thorndike then proposed a science of values that he hoped might be used as a guide for moral assessment and social policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kamala of Midnapore and Arnold Gesell's Wolf Child and Human Child: Reconciling the extraordinary and the normal.

This article examines the reception of the story of Kamala, the "wolf girl" of Midnatore, in the Anglo-American scientific community. Two aspects of the case are analyzed in detail: the controversy regarding the authenticity of the reports and the meaning of the evidence, and Arnold Gesell's (1941) "psychological biography" of Kamala, Wolf Child and Human Child. Although most scientists interested in wild children approach them with the expectation that these children might furnish the key to human nature and development, Gesell turned to Kamala for confirmation of a knowledge he already had. Gesell's "obsession" with Kamala is connected to his conception of development: He advanced an alternative interpretation in maturational terms to counter the prevalent environmentalist interpretation of the wolf girl, and he integrated her radical difference into his theory to prove its claim to be a truly universal account of childhood and growth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream bashing by Jastrow.

Argues that the position of J. Jastrow (1928, 1932) presented in the article by L. T. Benjamin, Jr. and D. N. Dixon (see record 83-32709) incorrectly leads one to believe that Jastrow was not in favor of dream interpretation. However, when looking at Jastrow's comments in their context, a more accurate representation of his position emerges. Jastrow believed that misdirected use of dream interpretation could mislead the general public and could be potentially harmful, but his position did not condemn all dream interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Edward Thorndike: Revolutionary psychologist, ambiguous biologist.

Edward Thorndike's thesis can be considered the foundation document of modern comparative psychology. In it, Thorndike both rejected earlier anecdotal, anthropomorphic and introspectionist approaches to the study of animal behavior and provided novel methods for studying comparative psychology that, 100 years later, are still the basis of the field. Thorndike also introduced ways of thinking about the relationship between evolutionary biology and comparative psychology that were to bedevil comparative psychologists for decades to come. Here the author discusses, from a contemporary perspective, both Thorndike's lasting methodological and empirical contributions and his more problematic approach to the relationship between the study of phylogeny and comparative psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thorndike, Hunter, and the delayed reaction experiment.

"In his account of his life in Volume III of the History of Psychology in Autobiography, E. L. Thorndike states '… the idea of the delayed-reaction experiment (which has proved the most valuable of my methods of studying animal mentality) came to me after two years work with animals' (p. 269). This is a surprising statement, since it challenges the priority of Hunter, who uniformly is credited with the first published research employing the delayed-response method." Facts are cited which suggest that "… Thorndike does not seem to have been justified in referring in 1936, to the delayed-reaction experiment as 'the most valuable of my methods of studying animal mentality.' " (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body image boundaries and patterns of body perception.

4 studies were undertaken to test hypotheses concerning the relationship of the definitness of the body image boundary to patterns of sensation from exterior and interior body regions. The measure of boundary definiteness utilized was the barrier score which is derived from responses to inkblots. It was found that the more definite an S's body image boundary the more likely he is to assign prominence to body exterior as compared to body interior sensations. This was demonstrated in terms of reports of current and past body sensations and also partially in terms of reactions to placebo. Selective recall for verbal material referring to exterior and interior sensations was also found to be related to degree of boundary definiteness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Beliefs, Attitudes and Values.

Reviews the book, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values by Milton Rokeach (1968). I believe that Rokeach does not believe that his beliefs about beliefs, attitudes, and values are beliefs. The author seems to believe that he presents in this collection of previously published papers something other than his beliefs. Yet, from his presentation it would appear that there exists nothing but beliefs. Much of the confusion which appears in this book is due to the various ways in which the word "belief" is used. The author states that "the task for psychology is . . . to learn enough about the structure of belief systems to know how to form them, and how to modify them so that they will best increase the happiness and freedom of the individual and his society." As a result of the task the author sees for psychology he has undertaken a number of experiments presented in the papers which make up this volume. A detailed discussion of those experiments seems useless in the light of the fact that they are all based on Rokeach's confusing use of the word 'belief in terms of which he also defines "attitudes" and "values." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Quality of Psychotherapy Case Formulations: A Comparison of Expert, Experienced, and Novice Cognitive-Behavioral and Psychodynamic Therapists.

Sixty-five expert, experienced, and novice cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapists provided "think aloud" case formulations in response to 6 standardized patient vignettes varying in disorder and prototypicality. The 390 formulations were reliably transcribed, segmented into idea units, content coded, and rated on multiple dimensions of quality. As hypothesized, the formulations of experts were more comprehensive, elaborated, complex, and systematic. Judges did not rate them as more coherent or precise in the use of language. In addition, the treatment plans of experts were more elaborated and linked better to the formulations. Effect sizes for overall ratings of quality ranged from medium to large. Few differences based on therapy orientation were observed. Results are discussed in terms of therapist training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapists' liking of their psychotherapy patients: Some issues related to severity of disorder and treatability.

57 American and Israeli psychotherapists completed the MMPI and questionnaires on professional background and personal experience in psychotherapy. Ss each nominated 1 "easy" and 1 "difficult" patient, and MMPIs and personal information were obtained from these patients. Several factors appeared to differentiate easy from difficult psychotherapy patients. The general characteristics of easy as compared to difficult patients indicated significantly less pathology on the MMPI, a more favorable psychotherapy prognosis, greater physical attractiveness if female, and less of a tendency to be labeled "personality disorder." The positive "liking" ratings of therapists toward their easy patients appeared to override all ideological differences in therapeutic orientation. The impact of the therapist's affective response is discussed in terms of "nonspecific" treatment factors that may affect the outcome of therapy. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subgroup differences in predictor and criterion variances and differential validity.

Investigated whether findings of differential validity could be explained by taking account of subgroup differences in predictor and/or criterion variances. The Thorndike equations for restriction in range were used to "correct" subgroup validities for both predictor and criterion for all race and sex subgroup data sets in which subgroup validities and standard deviations were available. The data indicate that corrections for differences in predictor variances had little effect on differences in subgroup validities. Equating criterion variances in those cases in which female validities exceeded male validities had the effect of virtually eliminating the difference in validity. It is suggested that findings of differential validity may be due to methodological problems associated with the criteria used, although in the data reported here corrections for differences in variances would increase the difference in male and female validities. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional attitudes of former Soviet citizens, as studied by the technique of projective questions.

The Russian Ss included 39 men and 9 women who were selected for a clinical study from a much larger number of former Soviet citizens interviewed in Munich in 1950-51 by the Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System. The American Ss were paired with the Russian group in terms of age, sex, education, and occupation. The projective questions used in the California studies of authoritarianism were administered and the responses coded according to content. "The findings are discussed in terms of the emotional and evaluative attitudes prevalent in each group, and their implications for the theory of authoritarian personality are pointed out." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived attributes of the terms client, patient, and typical person..

Helping professionals most commonly refer to seekers of counseling services as clients or as patients. However, little has been known of the implied meanings of each of those labels. 74 undergraduates compared, "client," "patient," and "typical person" using semantic differential-type scales and the Personal Attribute Inventory. Although "client" and "patient" were each evaluated more negatively than was "typical person," no significant differences were found between "client" and "patient." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resolution of approach-approach and avoidance-avoidance conflicts.

Forty male and 40 female college students served as subjects; conflicts were created by using two kinds of items—one set of items (pairings) in which he was required to designate the alternative he would rather have in greater degree than he had at present (approach-approach conflict) and another set of items in which he was required to designate the alternative he would rather have in lesser degree than he had at present (avoidance-avoidance conflict). "Approach-approach conflicts required significantly less time to resolve than did avoidance-avoidance conflicts and significantly more approach-approach conflicts were judged easier to resolve than were avoidance-avoidance conflicts. Males and females did not appear to differ in the conflict behavior except that in judging the difficulty of conflicts, males proved to be significantly more variable than females." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of important psychological books.

80 of 100 psychologists who possessed PhDs and were staff members of colleges or universities were randomly selected from the "American Psychological Association 1958 Directory." In order, the highest rated authors were: Freud, James, Hull, Pavlov, Watson, Boring, Skinner, Thorndike, Woodworth, Tolman, Kohler, Lewin, Darwin, Ebbinghaus, Koffka, and Wundt. Books rated with the largest number of points include: James' "Principles of Psychology"; Hull, "Principles of Behavior"; Pavlov, "Conditioned Reflexes"; Freud, "Interpretation of Dreams"; Boring, "History of Experimental Psychology"; and Watson, "Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2AI92W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)