The philosophical underpinnings of peer review.

The current impetus for peer review had its origin in issues of cost containment, bolstered by intentions to improve quality of service. Peer review is usually conceived of as a way to either police a profession by ridding it of the few "bad actors" or to assure that services delivered meet minimum standards. The present article argues, however, that a more useful philosophy of peer review is to assume that it is at the heart of the definition of a profession. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Membership opinions about APA: A recent snapshot.

A 1986 survey of 2,100 American Psychological Association (APA) members, to which 78% responded, showed that members belonged to APA for varied reasons and that scientists, scientist-practitioners, and practitioners shared few common rationales for maintaining their membership. Most members belonged to other organizations in addition to APA, and less than 50% of those chose APA as their most important organizational membership. Whereas the APA Monitor and APA journals received a strong endorsement from respondents, the publication of Psychology Today was clearly controversial. The cost and size of the convention also were sources of dissatisfaction. Recommended changes in convention format included scheduling more keynote addresses and establishing area-specific conventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cover slip external cavity diode laser

A 671 nm diode laser with a mode-hop-free tuning range of 40 GHz is described. This long tuning range is achieved by simultaneously ramping the external cavity length with the laser injection current. The laser output pointing remains fixed, independent of its frequency because of the cover slip cavity design. This system is simple, economical, robust, and easy to use for spectroscopy, as we demonstrate with lithium vapor and lithium atom beam experiments.     

The past future of clinical psychology: A reflection on Woodworth (1937).

Many of the predictions about the field of clinical psychology made by R. S. Woodworth in 1937 have gone awry. This article examines what went wrong with these predictions. It is noted that progress in the field has been uneven, with the professional claims made by the expanding number of clinical psychologists far outstripping the availability of sound scientific support for these contentions. Woodworth's optimistic view that the field would be characterized by increasing competence that would set it apart from medicine and result in scientific credibility, sad to say, has not materialized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in recognition of emotion in lexical stimuli and facial expressions.

Age differences in emotion recognition from lexical stimuli and facial expressions were examined in a cross-sectional sample of adults aged 18 to 85 (N = 357). Emotion-specific response biases differed by age: Older adults were disproportionately more likely to incorrectly label lexical stimuli as happiness, sadness, and surprise and to incorrectly label facial stimuli as disgust and fear. After these biases were controlled, findings suggested that older adults were less accurate at identifying emotions than were young adults, but the pattern differed across emotions and task types. The lexical task showed stronger age differences than the facial task, and for lexical stimuli, age groups differed in accuracy for all emotional states except fear. For facial stimuli, in contrast, age groups differed only in accuracy for anger, disgust, fear, and happiness. Implications for age-related changes in different types of emotional processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proceedings of the Eightieth Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association: September 2-8, 1972.

Presents the program from the Eightieth Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate training in statistics, methodology, and measurement in psychology: A survey of PhD programs in North America.

A survey of all PhD programs in psychology in the US and Canada assessed the extent to which advances in statistics, measurement, and methodology have been incorporated into doctoral training. In all, 84% of the 222 departments responded. The statistical and methodological curriculum has advanced little in 20 yrs; measurement has experienced a substantial decline. Typical 1st-yr courses serve well only those students who undertake traditional laboratory research. Training in top-ranked schools differs little from that in other schools. New PhDs are judged to be competent to handle traditional techniques, but not newer and often more useful procedures, in their own research. Proposed remedies for these deficiencies include revamping the basic required quantitative and methodological curriculum, culling available training opportunities across campus, and training students in more informal settings, along with providing retraining opportunities for faculty. These strategies require attention to the human capital needs that support high-quality quantitative and methodological training and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educating health psychologists in traditional graduate training programs.

Discusses potential resources to enhance subspecialty training in health psychology. These include resources within the psychology department, the university, and the community, and also those beyond the geographical area where training is based. Suggestions are offered for assisting students who choose to work toward a subspecialty in health psychology. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using Rasch modeling to measure acculturation in youth

Ethnic differences in health outcomes are assumed to reflect levels of acculturation, among other factors. Health surveys frequently include language and social interaction items taken from existing acculturation instruments. This study evaluated the dimensionality of responses to typical bilinear items in Latino youth using Rasch modeling. Two seven-item scales measuring Anglo-Hispanic orientation were adapted from Marin and Gamba (1996) and Cuellar, Arnold, and Maldonado (1995). Most of the items fit the Rasch model. However, there were gaps in both the Hispanic and Anglo scales. The Anglo items were not well targeted for the sample because most students reported they always spoke English. The lack of variability found in a heterogeneous sample of Latino youth has negative implications for the common practice of relying on language as a measure of acculturation. Acculturation instruments for youth probably need more sensitive items to discriminate linguistic differences, or to measure other factors.