Psychology as an ambiguous attitude stimulus.

College freshmen and their parents applied each of 3 methods for assessing public image (a naturalistic approach, a listing of adjectives, and a Likert scale) to 6 professions. A rank ordering was obtained and ranks were compared across methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative validity of two projective and two structured attitude tests in a prison population.

Which is better for assessing personality—structured or projective devices? "Attitude toward Home & Parents and Attitude toward Law & Justice of 79 prison inmates were each measured by a sentence completion test and a structured attitude test. As examined through a multitrait-multimethod matrix, these tests were found to validate each other quite satisfactorily. Insofar as the two measurement approaches differed at all in the efficacy with which they differentiated crime groups among the prisoners, the structured tests were slightly the better." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehabilitation Psychology, Medical Psychology, Health Psychology, and Behavioral Medicine.

In their recent article, "The Distinctiveness of Rehabilitation Psychology," Shontz and Wright (see record 1981-26520-001) attempt to differentiate rehabilitation psychology from other areas of applied and professional psychology in health settings. Although the authors' historical recounting of early research and theory in rehabilitation psychology is informative, too little emphasis is placed on the relationship between rehabilitation psychology and "mainstream" professional psychology, particularly with regard to its health-setting applications. There appear to be more similarities than differences. The authors' argument runs full circle, namely, that rehabilitation psychology is distinct because of its philosophy, but its philosophy and "principles are valuable to psychologists in many specialties" (p. 919). The notion of involving a patient in his/her care and treatment planning also is not unique to rehabilitation psychology. Shontz and Wright state that rehabilitation psychology is not medical psychology; however, instead of defining medical psychology, they go on to talk about medical care. Medical care is not medical psychology. Further confusion is added by the statement that medical psychology should be a component of rehabilitation psychology. The authors are using medical psychology, health psychology, and behavioral medicine as if they are synonymous, when they are not. Each discipline is made distinct here. Shontz and Wright do not address what the majority of psychologists in rehabilitation do, that is, provide services. In short, although the authors complain about the unfamiliarity of rehabilitation psychology relative to the profession as a whole, their article does little to promote rehabilitation psychology as an area of interest important to professional psychologists in health care and/or rehabilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and the limits to prison pain: Confronting the coming crisis in Eighth Amendment law.

This article examines the nexus between modern psychological theory (especially contextual or situational models of behavior), contemporary prison policy, and the legal concept of cruel and unusual punishment. It briefly reviews the history of imprisonment in the United States and the role of psychology in the development of prison punishment. An analysis of research on the psychological effects of imprisonment is presented, followed by a discussion of contemporary 8th Amendment law. Finally, modern psychological theory is used as the basis for a series of proposed correctional and legal reforms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, time, and culture.

Comments on the article by L. L. Carstensen et al (see records 1999-10334-001) which argues that time perception is integral to human motivation. The present author argues that the question of time and how people view it is not merely about cognitive or emotional behavior; rather, it is more existential, spiritual, and philosophical in nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, psychiatry, and legislation.

'The APA Committee on Relations with Psychiatry and the Psychiatric Committee on Relations with Psychology held a joint meeting on January 22 and 23 for the purpose of clarifying the earlier proposal for a joint agreement, on some legislative and other matters, between the two APA's… Each committee produced a statement." The two statements are incorporated as the main portions of this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotropics, Consultation, and Psychology.

The status of psychology in national health insurance is clouded in the minds of some Washington planners because the independent practice of psychology is identified with fee-for-service payment mechanisms, active treatment is identified with drug therapy rather than psychotherapy, and planners are unfamiliar with the nature and the scope of the practice of psychologists. Also, some feel that psychology is not equivalent in practice to psychiatry because psychologists are not integrated into the medical community and because psychologists do not prescribe drugs. These criticisms seem unfounded, since physicians and psychologists have regular consultations and psychologists see many patients who have previously been treated with psychotropic medications. Further, clinical experience indicates frequent therapeutic success by reducing or discontinuing medication rather than placing patients on psychotropics. Accordingly, a questionnaire was sent to the 87 members of the Cleveland Academy of Consulting Psychologists (CACP), requesting information concerning the prescribing of psychotropics and records of interprofessional consultations. The results are provided here. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Embodiment, agency, and attitude change.

Attitude embodiment effects occur when the position or movement of a person’s physical body changes the way the person evaluates an object. The present research investigated whether attitude embodiment effects depend more on biomechanical factors or on inferential cues to causal agency. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that actual movements of the physical body are not necessary to create attitude embodiment effects when inferential cues imply agency for another person’s physical movements. Experiment 3 showed that actual movements of the physical body are not sufficient to create attitude embodiment effects when inferential cues imply nonagency for those movements. In all 3 experiments, inferential cues to agency played a more important role in attitude embodiment effects than did actual agency, suggesting that theories of embodiment and attitude embodiment need to consider inferential cues to agency alongside biomechanical mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alienation, distancing, externalizing, and sensation seeking in prison inmates.

Administered the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale for Measuring Intellectual Impairment, Vocabulary scale, the Manifest Alienation Measure (L. Gould), the Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS), and the Internal-External Control Scale to 76 male county jail prisoners and 15 male staff members. In a 2nd session Ss' interpersonal distance was assessed with J. Kuethe's social schemata method. Inmates scored higher on alienation and SSS Experience Seeking than the staff (p     

Psychology, population, and reproductive behavior.

This special section on international perspectives in psychology focuses on population issues and reproductive behavior across national and cultural boundaries, emphasizing the responsibility of psychologists and colleagues in related disciplines to generate and communicate culturally mindful findings likely to shape public health policy and improve human well-being. After considering the historical and policy context, it highlights internationally collaborative research projects in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Mexico, and the United States that address reproductive behavior, women's roles and status, responsible parenthood, and abortion legislation in terms of cultural context, gender equity, the needs of adolescents, and public health policy. The articles illustrate the importance of the cultural context within which psychological research is conducted and how psychology can be informed by international perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, technology, and professional service.

The author discusses his career in relation to an observed shift in the philosophical basis of scientific psychology from logical positivism toward realism, a shift that seems to supply a logical basis for integrating the data from scientific, technological, and professional efforts. Psychology as a technology is illustrated by reference to the author's involvement in the development of the technology of training, and the proper content of training for the practice of psychology is considered. It is suggested that psychology has broadened its scope as a science, a technology, and a practice insofar as psychologists have recognized that a human event, like any other natural event, is determined by the simultaneous action of many factors at various levels. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem, communicator characteristics, and attitude change.

Characteristic defenses were predicted to cause different Ss to resist influence from different kinds of persuasive communications. In a 3-way factorial design, 88 Ss representing high and low self-esteem were exposed to optimistic and pessimistic communications from communicators who were portrayed as "copers" or "noncopers." Optimism-pessimism unexpectedly produced no effect. However, characteristics of the communicator interacted with characteristics of Ss in producing attitude change. High-esteem Ss were influenced more by the coper and low-esteem Ss by the noncoper, even though all Ss evaluated the noncoper unfavorably. Further investigation indicated that Ss high and low in self-esteem were themselves copers and noncopers, respectively. Ss appeared to accept persuasive influence from the communicator more comparable to themselves, regardless of how they consciously felt toward him. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, religion, and world loyalty.

This article provides a critical commentary on Slife and Reber’s (2009) article, “Is There a Pervasive Implicit Bias Against Theism in Psychology?” Drawing on A.N. Whitehead’s (1926/2005, 1928/1985) process philosophy, I challenge the bifurcation between naturalism and theism and suggest that religion is better conceived as world loyalty than as supernaturalism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, research, and social policy.

Contends that although it is important and timely for psychologists to be concerned with the interface between psychological research and social policy, academic and research psychologists may encounter problems in relating or adapting their research to matters of policy. For some researchers, there are few problems because their focus of research has both theoretical and policy relevance (e.g., those exploring the scientific question at hand with relevant populations or in policy-connected settings). However, it is suggested that the larger group of behavioral scientists are engaged in research that is more removed from immediate practicality or policy relatedness. It is argued that the ideal solution is not to promote the wholesale conversion of research scientists to redirect their scientific inquiry so that it deals directly with issues of policy. Rather, suggestions are tendered for the melding of policy concerns into research that maintains its relevance to the discipline and to issues of psychological theory or practice while touching also on issues of relevance to social policy. A classification model of social scientists involved with policy is included. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attitude polarization phenomenon: Role of response measure, attitude extremity, and behavioral consequences of reported attitude change.

Four studies examined the generality of attitude polarization (C. G. Lord et al, 1979). Biased assimilation of essays on 2 controversial issues was substantial and correlated with reported attitude change. Polarization was observed for reported attitude change on capital punishment and generally stronger in Ss with extreme than moderate attitudes. Polarization was not indicated in a pre–post measurement design. For affirmative action, reported polarization was not observed. The hypothesis that Ss reporting polarization would subsequently write particularly strong essays was not supported, although those reporting depolarization wrote relatively weak essays. The results suggest the relevance of individual differences in reported attitude change but do not confirm the powerful inferences frequently drawn regarding the pervasive, undesirable consequences of self-reported attitude polarization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology, law, and the expert witness.

Stresses for the psychologist called on for expert testimony stem from (1) the general nature of court procedure and (2) the "special stresses which inhere in the present position of psychologists as experts and their uncertain status relative to physicians… . The general responsibility of psychologists to society entails efforts to bring legal practice into line with facts derived from the scientific investigation of behavior—normal, criminal, and insane. These efforts should be direct and continuous." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reference groups, membership groups, and attitude change.

"The present study is an examination of the attitude changes which occur over time when reference groups and membership groups are identical and when they are disparate… . The Ss were women students at a large private coeducational university… . In the social context of the lives of the subjects, and in a natural social experiment which provided randomization of the relevant condition effects, the influence of both membership and reference groups on attitude change was assessed. All subjects shared a common reference group at the start of the period of the study. When divergent membership groups with disparate attitude norms were socially imposed on the basis of a random event, attitude change in the subjects over time was a function of the normative attitudes of both imposed membership groups and the individuals' reference groups. The greatest attitude change occurred in subjects who came to take the imposed initially nonpreferred, membership group as their reference group." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Level of initial attitude, active rehearsal, and instructional set as factors in attitude change.

2experiments are reported in which Ss having extremely favorable, favorable, and neutral attitudes toward the church were induced to read an antichurch essay to 6 listeners of their choice outside the laboratory. ? of the Ss in each predisposition group were told that their own attitudes might be influenced as a result of the experience. Both those Ss who were "favorable" toward the church and those who were "neutral" became significantly less prochurch as measured by posttesting with the attitude scale. The extremely prochurch Ss were not significantly influenced by this mode of persuasion. Instructional set did not produce any significant differences in susceptibility of Ss in any of the groups to the compliance experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narratology, Cultural Psychology, and Counseling Research.

Narratological research is defined in relation to narrative theory and a cultural psychology perspective. Narrative concepts and methodology are explained, including the configural mode of understanding and principles of narrative analysis. Examples of application in psychological and counseling research are presented, with a discussion of issues of validity and voice. Suggestions are made on how narrative studies are to be evaluated. It is concluded that narratological research, with its focus on meanings and the storied nature of human life, can be especially useful in discovery research on identity development and the experience of counseling and life transitions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)