Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Love, Leonore R.; Kaswan, Jaques; Bugental, Daphne E.

doi: 10.1037/h0034041pmid: 4649430

Randomly assigned 91 children referred for emotional and behavioral problems from elementary schools representing a wide socioeconomic range to 1 of 3 forms of psychological intervention (child therapy, parent counseling, and an experimental method called "information feedback"). Outcomes were measured in terms of changes in school grades and Os' ratings of school behavior. All interventions resulted in slightly improved peer relations (as measured by Os). On school grades, there was an Intervention Method * Socioeconomic Level interaction: Information feedback resulted in improved grades for children in upper socioeconomic levels, parent counseling led to improved grades for lower levels, and child therapy (the only intervention in which clinical contacts centered on the child) resulted in lower grades for all levels. (39 ref.)

Kaufman, Alan S.

doi: 10.1037/h0033888pmid: N/A

Constructed a short form of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence based on data from 3 of the 6 normative age groups. The remaining 3 normative groups provided a cross-validation sample. The 4 selected tests were Arithmetic and Comprehension from the Verbal scale and Block Design and Picture Completion from the Performance scale. The short form had reliabilities of .91-94 at the various age levels, corrected short-form-Full Scale correlations of .89-92, and a standard error of estimate of 5 points. The technique of linear equating was used to estimate Full Scale IQs from the short-form scores. (18 ref.)

Meichenbaum, Donald H.

doi: 10.1037/h0033896pmid: 4649431

Assigned 15 male and 6 female test anxious 17-25 yr. olds (1 high school student and 20 undergraduates) to a group cognitive modification treatment, group desensitization, or a waiting list control group. The cognitive modification group combined an insight-oriented therapy which was designed to make test anxious Ss aware of their anxiety-engendering thoughts with a modified desensitization procedure which employed (a) coping imagery on how to handle anxiety and (b) self-instructional training to attend to the task and not ruminate about oneself. Results indicate that the cognitive modification group was most effective in significantly reducing test anxiety as assessed by (a) test performance obtained in an analog test situation, (b) self-reports given immediately after posttreatment and later at a 1-mo follow-up, and (c) GPA. Following treatment, the test anxious Ss in the cognitive modification group did not differ from a group of 10 low test anxious Ss, and in fact the cognitive modification Ss reported a significant increase in facilitative anxiety. (63 ref.)

Dunn, Thomas G.; Lushene, Robert E.; O'Neil, Harold F.

doi: 10.1037/h0033855pmid: 4405459

Examined the feasibility of computerizing the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the MMPI and comparing its response latencies with other MMPI item characteristics. 26 scales were successfully scored for 77 undergraduates, and an interpretive report was typed by the program. With respect to item response latency, stepwise regression analysis indicate that item length accounted for 48-58% of the variance, while item ambiguity, social desirability, and social desirability dispersion accounted for only 3-8%. For the 38 MMPI critical items, "deviant" response latencies were longer than "nondeviant" latencies. Replication results with 56 Ss were almost identical. Thus, excepting subtests of personality items, latency may not have the psychological significance often attributed to it. (26 ref.)

Berzins, Juris I.; Dove, John L.; Ross, Wesley F.

doi: 10.1037/h0033973pmid: 4649432

Notes that research with the A-B therapist "type" variable has included many analog studies in which A and B undergraduates have been assumed to be personologically similar to A and B professionals. To assess whether this "invariance assumption" is tenable across samples varying in vocational commitment/training, sex, education, and adjustment, the personality correlates of A-B status (identified in a prior study with the Personality Research Form) was cross-validated across 5 new samples. A and B Ss among 94 male professionals, 661 male undergraduates, 114 male college clinic patients, and 720 female undergraduates were compared. Univariate and multivariate analyses lent strong support to the invariance assumption: in every sample, B-type Ss exceeded A-type Ss on scales measuring risk taking, dominance, change, sentience, and "counterdependence." (32 ref.)

Murstein, Bernard I.; Beck, Gary D.

doi: 10.1037/h0033960pmid: 4649433

Extended B. Murstein's stimulus-value-role theory to account for the relationship of person perception scores to marital adjustment. The hypotheses predicted that (a) similarity, self-acceptance, accuracy of predicting other's responses, and role compatibility would be correlated with marital adjustment; (b) when the perceptual target was the man, the correlation with marital adjustment would be higher than when it was a woman; (c) women would show a higher self-acceptance-marital-adjustment correlation than men; and (d) intraperceptions would be more highly correlated with marital adjustment than interperceptions. 60 young married middle-class couples took a 20 adjective bipolar checklist under 8 different "sets" (self, ideal self, spouse, ideal spouse, and predictions of these 4 sets for the partner). Results generally support the hypotheses. (22 ref.)

Rappaport, Herbert

doi: 10.1037/h0034049pmid: 4649434

Evaluated the effects of manipulated cognitive expectancy on avoidance behavior in an experimental paradigm that simulated systematic desensitization. 72 female undergraduates with moderate fear of spiders were divided among 4 expectancy conditions ranging from a set to improve to a set that fear would increase. 2 measures of electrodermal activity were continuously recorded while the Ss, who relaxed in a reclining chair, were exposed to a preserved tarantula. Results indicate that both overt avoidance behavior and 2 verbal indexes were differentially affected by expectancy and that no relationship between avoidance behavior and autonomic reactivity was evident. It is concluded that the processes which mediate systematic desensitization can not adequately be explained by the counterconditioning model alone. (34 ref.)

Koscherak, Stephen; Masling, Joseph

doi: 10.1037/h0034037pmid: 4649435

Presented fabricated Rorschach responses and a case history suggesting lower- or middle-class status of the patient to 41 clinical psychology students and PhD psychologists. Ss rated the patient on 22 personality scales, indicated diagnosis and prognosis, and wrote a short summary of their impressions. Neither the clinician's sex nor experience affected the ratings, but the ascribed social class of the S did. Unexpectedly, the lower-class protocol was rated less severely than the middle-class protocol (p < .02) and was more frequently diagnosed as "normal" or as a "character disorder," while the middle-class protocol was called "neurotic" or "psychotic" (p < .05). The summaries of the middle-class protocol emphasized psychopathology more frequently than the lower-class protocol (p < .05).

Lanyon, Barbara J.

doi: 10.1037/h0033859pmid: 4649436

Rationally developed and refined through factor analysis criterion checklists for hostility, anxiety, and dependency behaviors in junior high school children. For each variable, preliminary sentence completion test stems were then written, tied closely to the criterion checklist behaviors. Sentence completion responses were obtained from 1,017 7th-9th graders from 4 schools, and criterion checklist teacher ratings for 228 Ss were used to identify high and low criterion groups on hostility, anxiety, and dependency. Sentence completion items were scored independently on a rational basis, and those items whose responses separated the appropriate criterion groups were retained. All 3 scales were cross-validated in 100 additional Ss though only the hostility scale showed discriminant validity. (15 ref.)

Martson, Albert R.; Feldman, Solomon E.

doi: 10.1037/h0034042pmid: 4649437

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.)