A note on Rokeach's theory of prejudice.

"Rokeach's hypothesis that prejudice can be accounted for by differences in the belief systems between two persons, or between a person and members of a racial or religious group, was tested and rejected. Rokeach's own experimental confirmation of his hypothesis is due to an artifact of his method of measuring prejudice. His position is re-evaluated in the light of the present findings." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GD84T. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irwin August Berg (1913-2001).

Memorializes I. A. Berg, a psychologist, educator, author, and administrator. Of particular importance to him was his work on the deviation hypothesis. Berg argued that it was necessary to go beyond the identification of major symptoms of psychopathology and to pay attention to a range of correlated symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial microaggression? How do you know?

Comments on article by Sue et al. (see record 2007-07130-001) on racial microaggression in clinical practice. In April 2007 during a paper presentation at the University of Florida, I encountered Derald Wing Sue's account of a "real-life incident" in which he argued that a racial microaggression was committed against him. The story involved Sue and his colleague being asked by the flight attendant to move from where they originally sat in the plane in order to balance the weight in what seemingly was a small (propeller) aircraft. I was left wondering whether Sue had considered this alternative hypothesis for the flight attendant's service behavior instead of what would otherwise confirm his racial microaggression claim. The dissemination of biases and self-interests would be a tragic twist to both multicultural psychology's mission and the American Psychological Association's expressed interest in advancing psychology as an evidence-based science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leo Rangell and I: Where do we differ?

Leo Rangell (see record 2006-05420-002), in his article on the evolution of psychoanalytic theory, indicates where he feels that I have a differing view, both of present circumstances and of projected directions. Our perspectives do indeed differ, but I feel that his presentation seriously misunderstands and misrepresents my views. I do not feel, as he contends, that all theoretical perspectives have "equal valence and validity." Rather, I have stated that they all claim complete explanatory comprehensiveness on a theoretical level and at least comparable effectiveness on a clinical level, and I feel that we have no scientific warrant at this time for claiming the established greater validity of any one approach over the others. This is not to say that all do have "equal valence and validity." Rangell feels that his preferred approach, which he calls "total composite psychoanalytic theory," is superior (more encompassing and more correct) to the others. I feel that we cannot make judgments about validity at this point in the evolving development of our discipline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Betrayed as boys: Psychodynamic treatment of sexually abused men.

Reviews the book, Betrayed as boys: Psychodynamic treatment of sexually abused men by Richard B. Gartner (see record 1999-02461-000). Dr. Gartner effectively helps the reader understand the impact of sexual activity with trusted adults (usually male, but sometimes female) upon the course of life development for some boys. He does not deal with perpetrators. He has judiciously thought through the difficult issues and presented his knowledge and clinical experience as a psychotherapist clearly. Even though I do not share his interpersonal psychoanalytic approach to treatment, I could easily recognize my patients in his cases, and I could learn much from seeing the way he handled their situations. For someone less knowledgeable in this area, the book provides a wonderful and accessible opportunity to learn about sexual abuse and betrayal of males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wendell Richard Garner (1921-2008).

Wendell Richard Garner was born on January 21, 1921, in Buffalo, New York, and died quietly on August 14, 2008, in Redding, Connecticut. He was an experimental psychologist who changed the way researchers study human perception and cognition. He provided new knowledge about how people process information and structure and about how to ask scientific questions. Three classes of his contributions are particularly noteworthy. His concept of converging operations, that outcomes of different studies converge on a common concept, paved the way to powerful analytic techniques, such as additive factors modeling. His information and structure ideas shaped research in perception and cognition and pattern recognition. His perceptual independence notions set the stage for hundreds of studies of dimensional independence and interaction, of perceptual integrality and separability, and of dimensional attention that are still actively pursued. Life for Tex was not all science and administration. He collaborated on Earnshaw Cook's Percentage Baseball (1964) and briefly consulted with the Baltimore Orioles baseball club. I asked why he did not similarly analyze football for the Baltimore Colts. He said it might spoil his love for that game. After his death, nonsolicited kudos circulating on the Internet included such comments as "I wish I had known him" and "I didn't know him, but I did know his elegant and insightful work." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity and friendship: A follow-up study.

This study repeated the procedures of an earlier study (see 35: 2117) that showed similarity of objectively measured (Edwards Personality Preference Schedule) personality characteristics to be a significant correlate of friendship. Experiment I tested the repeatability of this finding with a similar sample (college freshmen) and the results again supported the similarity principle. Experiment II tested the generalizability of the earlier finding. The procedures were applied to a different population (college seniors), and the results failed to confirm the similarity hypothesis. Personality differences between freshmen and seniors can be viewed as a function of increased social and emotional maturity on the part of seniors (Izard, 1962). Perhaps the more "mature" person has less need to see his personality characteristics reflected in his friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to cognitive science.

Reviews the book, A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to cognitive science by George Mandler (see record 2007-05052-000). George Mandler, a longtime researcher in the area of memory and cognition, has gathered together his notes and selected bits from previous publications to assemble a new book cast as a brief history of the emergence of cognitive psychology. Mandler draws us to the positive impact Behaviourism had on the development of Cognitive Psychology. Mandler's book stands as an outline of the past, not a history. Its value rests with the perspective that comes from someone who has been thinking, researching and writing about topics central to Cognitive Psychology for over 40 years. He has been a witness to change, someone who has even participated in them, so his insights are valuable and directive. I would have enjoyed Mandler's book to a greater extent if, rather than chronologically reporting events, he had attempted to provide a gestalt of the emergence of cognitive psychology, one that would have located the articulate in the inarticulate of research practise and concept development in societies caught in the rift of redefinition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Innate and universal facial expressions: Evidence from developmental and cross-cultural research.

The idea of innate and universal facial expressions that have links with human emotions was given the scientific hypothesis by Darwin (1872/1965). Substantial evidence, old and new, supports his hypothesis. Much of the evidence is independent of language, but J. A. Russell's (see record 1994-20274-001) criticisms of the hypothesis focus on language-dependent data. It is argued that Russell's critique was off target in that his arguments relate only to a hypothesis of the universality of semantic attributions and overstated in that he used questionable logic in designing studies to support his claims. It is also argued that Russell misinterpreted the relation between the universality hypothesis and differential emotions theory. Finally, new evidence is presented that supports the Darwinian hypothesis of the innateness and universitality of the facial expressions of a limited set of emotions and the efficacy of the most commonly used method of testing it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Popper's fundamental misdiagnosis of the scientific defects of Freudian psychoanalysis and of their bearing on the theory of demarcation.

The first impetus for my philosophical appraisal of Freudian psychoanalytic theory came from K. R. Popper's (1962) report that its edifice had played a pivotal role in his elevation of the empirical falsifiability of a hypothesis by potentially contrary evidence to be the linchpin of its scientific entertainability. Indeed, for Popper, psychoanalysis avowedly served as the centerpiece for the purported superiority of his own falsifiability criterion of demarcation between science and non(pseudo)science to the received inductivist standard for empirical theory validation. Popper fallaciously inferred the nonfalsifiability of Freudian and Adlerian psychology from his own declared inability to imagine logically possible contrary instances of human behavior. Moreover, he tried to buttress this thesis of irrefutability by the incorrect complaint that these 2 psychological theories were always inductively confirmed come what may. However, as I showed amply (A. Grünbaum, 1984, p. 280): "It is precisely Freud's theory that furnishes poignant evidence that Popper has caricatured the [Baconian] inductivist tradition by his thesis of easy inductive confirmability of nearly every theory.' Alas, Popper's treatment of psychoanalysis as the avowed anvil of his theory of scientific rationality will turn out to be an intellectual fiasco throughout. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex of first child as a prognostic factor for breast cancer in young women

A case of isolated alternans of the ST segment and T wave in a man with myocardial infarction is reported. Based on the previous experimental reports, the hypothesis is advanced that delayed and blocked (2:I) activity of the ischemic area may be responsible for the phenomenon observed.     

A reconsideration of the extinction hypothesis of warm up in motor behavior.

The extinction hypothesis derives from that part of Hullian theory which is concerned with inhibitory processes. It attributes a significant portion of postrest warm up (WU) to the extinction of conditioned inhibition (SIR) early in postrest practice. Experiments specifically designed to test the hypothesis provide supporting evidence. The boundary conditions of the hypothesis are sepcified. The few studies which satisfy these conditions tend to favor the extinction hypothesis, rather than the competing set and interference hypotheses. An outline is given of the experimental design suggested by the extinction hypothesis as most likely to lead to maximal SIR development. (35 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of aggressive cartoons on children's aggressive play.

"The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that exposure to aggressive fantasy in an animated cartoon may intensify children's impulses to aggression. Subjects were 36 first grade children, 18 girls and 18 boys, of middle class origin. The intensity of the child's aggressive impulses were inferred from his responses to questions concerning desire to 'play with' or 'pop' a large yellow balloon held by a tester. The experimental findings clearly supported the major prediction." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4FF61M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypothesis testing, theory building, and the philosophy of science.

During the last 3 decades, behavioral science research methodologies have been subjected to criticism, with emphasis placed on inappropriate sampling procedures, hypothesis-testing procedures, and atheoretical research. I discuss these criticisms and offer solutions that emphasize that it is only on the basis of theory that one can decide on an appropriate hypothesis to be tested, on a correct method of statistical analysis, and on whether the experimental results can be generalized to a population of interest. I describe the implications of these considerations for counseling psychology research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

John Peter Zubek.

One of Canada's most distinguished psychologists, Dr. John P. Zubek, died at Winnipeg on August 24, 1974. He was the recognized authority in his own field of research, sensory deprivation, and was admired and respected by his students and by his colleagues everywhere. He was author or editor of six books and he published over a hundred papers. He was an important influence in the development of psychology in Canada as an experimental science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hugo Münsterberg: Victim or visionary?

Historical treatments of Hugo Münsterberg have been less than adequate. Münsterberg was an early leader in the application of psychology in business and industry, was central to the development of psychology as a science in the US, and wrote and spoke on a broad range of issues. This article covers his contributions and examines possible reasons for his obscurity. Among those reasons are the various transitions occurring in psychology during his active period, his own personal characteristics, the tension between the US and Germany before World War I, and his untimely death. Although Münsterberg has name recognition among contemporary industrial–organizatonal psychologists, few are aware of his substantive contributions to the field. This article is intended to enhance that awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Split Personality or Research by Multiplication.

While perusing the literature on twin studies, I came across some references in a review the ramifications of which were thought amusing enough to be passed on to my fellow psychologists. In order to protect the innocent as well as avoid embarrassment for the guilty author (who has, perhaps, been painfully reminded of his error on more than one occasion), "all names have been changed," hence any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely intentional. In this column I comment on two articles by authors I call Clark and Morrison. I thought at once how fortunate that "Clark and Morrison" were reported as agreeing in their experimental conclusions. As it turned out, two different references were given for one paper by splitting a presumably respectable psychologist in half. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mutations in von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis: an hypothesis

Von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis or neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) is a relatively frequent (1/3,000 livebirths) autosomal dominant condition. Some unusual aspects are noted in this disorder: new mutations are frequent and almost all are of paternal origin without parental age effect. The recurrence of NF1 among children of healthy parents is rare as opposed to other dominant disorders. I propose that in NF1 (1) new mutations occur often in somatic cells or in late germinal cells, however, they occur very rarely in early germinal cells leading to germinal mosaicism and (2) the individual with somatic mosaicism presents symptoms of the disease. Therefore, an NF1 patient with an apparent new mutation is often a somatic mosaic for the mutation and if the mosaic is also present in germinal cells some of his children will be affected. This hypothesis may explain the unusual aspects of mutation in NF1.     

Dependence on external influence: Correlates in perception, attitudes, and judgment.

The hypothesis that people have a generalized tendency to accept or reject external influence is tested in perceptual and conformity situations, using 53 college males as S's. The results show that S's who are highly influenced by the field in one perceptual test perform similarly in other perceptual tests, conformity measures are not significantly interrelated, and field dependent perceptual behavior is associated with high conformity in other tests, particularly autokinetic and attitude change measures. It is suggested that while perceptual performance reflects central tendencies of the person, his performance in specific conformity situations is subject to greater fluctuation as a result of more peripheral factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)