Journal of Consulting Psychology

Helper, Malcolm M.; Wilcott, R. C.; Garfield, Sol L.

doi: 10.1037/h0044323pmid: 13953554

39 children in a psychiatric hospital were tested on 2 types of learning tasks and several performance tasks before, during, and after a 4-week period on chlorpromazine or placebo, the types of medication being assigned randomly in a double-blind design. Medication was controlled according to clinical criteria. Paired-associate learning was less effective under chlorpromazine, especially on later learning trials and among initially slower learning Ss. Serial learning and tapping rate showed less consistent trends. Porteus Maze Mental Age scores declined under chlorpromazine, while Q scores on the same test tended to improve. No drug effect was noted on remote or immediate memory. The results were tentativly interpreted in terms of impairment of attention span by chlorpromazine.

McNair, Douglas M.; Lorr, Maurice; Callahan, Daniel M.

doi: 10.1037/h0039857pmid: 13932213

Groups of 106 early therapy Terminators and 176 Remainers differed significantly on 10-patient characteristics. Best predictors of duration were a Terminator-Remainer test battery plus rated motivation for psychotherapy. Therapists with marked interest in the patients' problems held significantly higher proportions of both predicted Terminators and Remainers in treatment. 7 other therapist characteristics did not substantially influence termination rates. Hiler's contention that predicted Terminators and Remainers respond differently to the same therapist attributes was not supported, but it was found that some therapists react differently to the 2 types of patients. The results indicate that Terminators and Remainders form distinguishable outpatient populations. The former reject psychotherapy, perhaps because they lack the behavioral repertoire required for participation. (16 ref.)

Allison, Roger B.

doi: 10.1037/h0041750pmid: 14012188

A "pathology score" summarized the distances of 28 stimulus words from a psychological origin for a modified semantic differential. Several groups of control Ss and psychiatric patients were used to assess various properties of the pathology scores. The scores had internal reliabilities of .77 for control Ss and .88 for psychiatric patients. Test-retest correlations were in the low .60s for control Ss and .45 for patients. Group differences showed a systematic increase in mean pathology scores as the severity of the mental illness increased. The factorial composition was related to clinical diagnosis and inversely to scores on perceptual closure tasks. Further refinement was recommended.

Lebow, Kenneth E.; Epstein, Seymour

doi: 10.1037/h0044032pmid: 13928927

21 good premorbid schizophrenics and 21 matched controls were tested with pictures of mother, father, and peer figures represented in nurturant, ambiguous, and rejecting interaction with a boy-hero. The schizophrenics were found to have elevated reaction times to peer pictures following mother pictures (.01 level), obtained relatively low scores of p Nurturance (.05 level), produced flat gradients of p Nurturance as a function of cues varying from rejection to nurturance (.01 level), described mother figures as particularly rejecting (.05 level) and tended (.01 level) to produce their poorest responses to nurturant cues and their best responses to ambiguous scenes. It was suggested that good premorbids deny emotion and prejudge others as rejecting as a defense against emotional involvement. Rather than a specific "censure-cue deficit," schizophrenics exhibit deficit for cues of emotional involvement, in general.

Mintz, Elizabeth E.

doi: 10.1037/h0039997pmid: N/A

Literature on co-therapy groups, led jointly by male and female therapists, is discussed. Their advantages, against groups led by 2 like-sexed therapists, include: (a) reproduction of the original family situation, (b) opportunity for patients of both sexes to identify with a like-sexed therapist, and (c) opportunity to work out anxieties with a therapist of the more-dreaded sex. Case histories describe a Don-Juan type of man whose adjustment improved after working through defenses against Odipal feelings in co-therapy, and an immature boderline woman who overcame panic reactions to both sexes when reassured by the simultaneous presence of 2 parent-figures. Special transference phenomena, research possibilities, and possible problems in co-therapy are discussed.

Norman, Russell P.

doi: 10.1037/h0048970pmid: 13938945

The relationship between response to social desirability (SD) and level of aspiration behavior (LA) was studied in a chronic schizophrenic population. 107 hospitalized schizophrenics were given a modified form of the Edwards SD scale and were rated as to mental health (MH) status. 4 experimental groups of 12 Ss each were formed representing the high and low extremes on each variable. All Ss were given 10 trials on a letter-digit substitution task and their LA was obtained after each trial. Results indicated that the performances of the high SD Ss were superior (p <.05), and discrepancy scores (LA minus performance) were significantly related to the MH variable (p <.01), with low MH groups having negative and high MH groups positive discrepancy scores. The use of MH in combination with SD was valuable in demonstrating the existence of several major behavioral variations in a group of chronic schizophrenics. (22 ref.)

Scott, Thomas R.; Bragg, Robert A.; Smarr, Roy G.

doi: 10.1037/h0048974pmid: 13992587

A method for measuring the speed of the spiral aftereffect is described. Results of measurements on a group of 51 brain damaged and 37 control Ss are presented. Both binocular and interocular transfer conditions were used. It was found that brain damaged Ss varied over a much greater range than did controls. Also, the brain damaged S's aftereffect varied more from time to time. Among controls, interocular transfer aftereffect was found to be as great, if not greater, than the binocular aftereffect. Among brain damaged Ss, the interocular transfer and the binocular aftereffect displayed a patterning which was significantly different from that of controls. Measurement of aftereffect rate by the method described (metamegethograph) shows promise as an indicator of presence or absence of brain damage. (28 ref.)

Fishbein, Gerald M.

doi: 10.1037/h0042466pmid: 13958529

The problem of tying personality formulations described by Witkin to behavioral correlates was investigated. The Rod and Frame Test and Embedded Figures Test were administered to 60 chronic asthmatic children who had been removed from their home environment. Rate of symptom alleviation following environment change and mode of perception were identified. Results indicated that rate of alleviation and length of time in a therapeutic milieu varied independently from perceptual mode. Also, asthmatic Ss tended to be more field dependent than the nonasthmatic standard. The negative results supported the contention that mode of perception may be an artifact of the experimental situation. The trend toward greater perceptual dependency of the asthmatics does lend some credence to both the description of the asthma personality and to Witkin's hypotheses.

Adams, Henry E.; Kirby, Albert C.

doi: 10.1037/h0046205pmid: 14010981

The present investigation tested Edwards' hypothesis that the SD scale is not confounded with response set and determined the extent that response set contaminates Taylor's MA scale. By reversing the items of these scales, true and false scales for each personality scale were obtained. Statistical procedures were then utilized to determine response set and content scores for each scale. The results indicate that the MA scale is relatively free of response set and that the SD scale is measuring both response set and social desirability. It should not be assumed automatically that a scale which has items stated in a single direction is measuring response set or that a scale with items stated in both directions is not.

Fisher, Seymour

doi: 10.1037/h0045848pmid: 13945296

A series of studies were reviewed which cross-validated and extended previous findings concerning the relationship of two measures of body image boundary definiteness (barrier and penetration scores) to various levels of behavior. Support was found for the view that the more definite an individual's boundaries the more likely he is to manifest relatively higher physiological reactivity in body exterior as contrasted to body interior sectors. There was substantial evidence too that with increasing boundary definiteness there is greater ability to adjust adequately to disablement of one's body, to maintain normal ego integration, and to be effectively communicative in small group settings. Finally, the rationale was discussed for interpreting the barrier and penetration scores within a body image framework. (46 ref.)