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Showing papers in "American Psychologist in 1977"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a broader approach to research in human development is proposed that focuses on the pro- gressive accommodation, throughout the life span, between the growing human organism and the changing environments in which it actually lives and grows.
Abstract: A broader approach to research in hu- j man development is proposed that focuses on the pro- \ gressive accommodation, throughout the life span, between the growing human organism and the changing environments in which it actually lives and grows. \ The latter include not only the immediate settings containing the developing person but also the larger social contexts, both formal and informal, in which these settings are embedded. In terms of method, the approach emphasizes the use of rigorousj^d^igned exp_erjments, both naturalistic and contrived, beginning in the early stages of the research process. The chang- ing relation between person and environment is con- ceived in systems terms. These systems properties are set forth in a series of propositions, each illus- trated by concrete research examples.

7,980 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results of nearly 400 controlled evalua- tions of psychotherapy and counseling were coded and integrated statistically and provide convincing evidence of the efficacy of psych therapy.
Abstract: Results of nearly 400 controlled evalua- tions of psychotherapy and counseling were coded and integrated statistically. The findings provide convincing evidence of the efficacy of psychotherapy. On the average, the typical therapy client is better off than 75% of untreated individuals. Few important differ- ences in effectiveness could be established among many quite different types of psychotherapy . More generally, virtually no difference in effectiveness was observed be- tween the class of all behavioral therapies (systematic desensitization, behavior modification) and the nonbe- havioral therapies (Rogerian, psychodynamic, rational- emotive, transactional analysis, etc.).

2,091 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the problem of what constitutes a negative effect is inextricably interwoven with a definition of mental health, since a judgment of "worse" is always made in relation to a standard, which presupposes the definition of "better".
Abstract: Since a judgment of "worse" is always made in relation to a standard, which presupposes a definition of "better," it is clear that the problem of what constitutes a negative effect is inextricably interwoven with a definition of mental health. Any form of psychotherapy or behavior modification is designed to move the patient toward a particular ideal or norm; the techniques used in a given form of therapy are instruments for accomplishing that purpose. Only by considering multiple perspectives will it be possible to derive a comprehensive definition of mental health and meaningful evaluations of psychotherapy outcomes. Consider the following: If, following psychotherapy, a patient manifests increased self-assertion coupled with abrasiveness, is this a good or a poor therapy outcome? If, as a result of therapy, a patient obtains a divorce, is this to be regarded as a desirable or an undesirable change? A patient may turn from homosexuality to heterosexuality or he may become more accepting of either; an ambitious, striving person may abandon pre-

411 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Gall Gallup as discussed by the authors showed that the capacity for self-recognition in chimpanzees appears to be influenced by early social experience, and used a technique in which organisms are provided with extended exposure to mirrors and then given an explicit test of selfrecognition, achieving through the unobtrusive application of marks to facial features visually inaccessible without a mirror.
Abstract: A technique is described in which organisms are provided with extended exposure to mirrors and then given an explicit test of self-recognition (accomplished through the unobtrusive application of marks to facial features visually inaccessible without a mirror). Use of this procedure with chimpanzees and orangutans turns up striking evidence of self-recognition, with patterns of self-directed behavior emerging after only 2 or 3 days. In support of the widely held view that the self-concept may develop out of social interaction with others, the capacity for self-recognition in chimpanzees appears to be influenced by early social experience. To date, however, attempts to demonstrate self-recognition in all other species except man have failed. The phyletic limits of this capacity may have important implications for claims concerning the evolutionary continuity of mental experience. Consciousness has always been an elusive topic in psychology. As a working hypothesis, however, it seems reasonable to suppose that there can be at least two dimensions to conscious experience. The basic distinction is between having an experience and being aware of having an experience. In this sense, human consciousness is typically bidirectional. In effect, most people can direct their attention outward or inward. Not only can I be consciously aware of events in the world around me, but I can become the object of my own attention. I can contemplate my own death. My brain can think about my brain and even speculate about the mechanisms of its own functioning. This reflective dimension of consciousness is isomorphic with self-awareness. In other words, the bidirecThe author would like to thank R. E. Hicks, J. M. Suls, and L. Tornatore for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Requests for reprints should be sent to G. G. Gallup, Jr., Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York 12222. tional properties of consciousness translate into consciousness and self-consciousness. To be able to think about oneself presupposes a sense of identity, and for some time man has been held unique in his capacity to form a self-concept (e.g., Ardrey, 1961; Black, 1968; Buss, 1973; Kinget, 197S; Lorenz, 1971). By being able to contemplate his own existence, man is in the seemingly unique and certainly precarious position of being able, at least in principle, to take steps to modify that existence. In fact, one widely respected evolutionary biologist (Slobodkin, in press) sees the development of self-awareness as having emancipated man from some of the otherwise deterministic and unrelenting forces of evolution. The history of science, however, can be viewed in part as having brought about gradual changes in man's conception of man, and with such changes man may eventually have to relinquish, or at least temper, his claim to special status (e.g., Gallup, Boren, Gagliardi, & Wallnau, in press). Primate research poses one of the greatest contemporary threats to traditional notions about man.

364 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine a number of closely related issues in personality theory and assessment that have troubled the history of personality measurement and must be dealt with in its future, including the multiple determinism of behavior, the role of context, the multiple goals of the personality measurement, the subject as potential expert and colleague, the analysis of environments, and role of person variables.
Abstract: This article examines a number of closely related issues in personality theory and assessment that have troubled the history of personality measurement and must be dealt with in its future. These issues include the multiple determinism of behavior, the role of context, the multiple goals of personality measurement, the “subject” as potential expert and colleague, the analysis of environments, and the role of person variables. Finally, some close parallels developing between personality psychology and cognitive psychology and the emergence in psychology of a new image of the human being are considered.

340 citations






Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, this article argued that the theory of behavior based on conditioning processes can be reconciled with the new data, but only by revising certain tacit be- haviorist assumptions about the parameters of the con- ditioning processes, particularly instrumental or oper- ant conditioning.
Abstract: New data on conditioning processes favor an eclecticism between the traditional nativist and environmentalist extremes in the analysis of be- havior. It is suggested that the theory of behavior based on conditioning processes can be reconciled with the new data, but only by revising certain tacit be- haviorist assumptions about the parameters of the con- ditioning processes, particularly instrumental or oper- ant conditioning. Operant conditioning specifies how stimuli, responses, reinforcers, and drive states are woven into relationships that change and sustain an organism's behavior. The new data undermine tradi- tional assumptions about each of those elements rather than about the form of their interrelationship. Be- cause some of the assumptions fall under the heading of motivation, it is concluded that behaviorism is at last reflecting motivation's subtleties, after several decades of failing to do so. Thus refined, behaviorism appears to merge with the main lines of ethology as a more complete science of behavior than either one alone has been. Whether or not it has a future, the brand of be- haviorism known as Skinnerian theory has a past worth understanding. "Skinnerianism" is, to be sure, vague as psychological theory. Nevertheless, it stands for a movement dedicated to the study of behavior as behavior, to environmental ist)! as op- posed to nativism, and to the primacy of the law of effect in guiding the behavior of higher organisms, especially human beings. It is a movement whose controversiality has grown along with its influence. Breland and Breland's 1961 paper "The Misbe- havior of Organisms" marked an early point in the rising tide of anti-Skinnerj anism within American psychology. The Brelands were students of Skin- ner's who went into the commercial animal train- ing business. After more than a decade of training pigs, chickens, raccoons, and other animals for show business, they reported their fading enthusi- asm for the Skinnerian theory—a reflection of their troubles with the Skinnerian method. Fif- teen years later, the tide of criticism is still rising. Articles and books whose titles are variations on the theme of Biological Boundaries of Learning (Seligman & Hager, 1972) ought by now to be a separate entry in the index to the Psychological Abstracts. These works, and many others, seem to be finding holes in the fabric of Skinnerianism . Yet these last IS years also mark a rising tide of pro-Skinneria nism. By any measure of public recognition, Skinnerian psychology has flourished, crowding out of the American public eye other varieties of behaviorism. Behavior modification (which actually has Hullian and Pavlovian ante- cedents no less than Skinnerian) threatens to over- whelm a sizeable portion of traditional psycho- therapy; educators are increasingly willing to plan contingency management in classrooms; "skinner box," in lower case letters, is an entry in Webster's Third New International Dictionary. And my










Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsy- chological Test Battery, quantitative in approach, is presented and contrasted with the qualitative syn- drome-analysis scheme of clinical investigation used by Soviet neuropsychologists.
Abstract: Among that rapidly developing group of sciences of the nervous system that we now call the neurosciences, a special place is occupied by neuropsy- chology. Clinical neuropsychology differs from the other members of the group of neurological disciplines in that its concern lies with the role of individual brain systems in the organization of human psychological ac- tivity and how these systems are altered upon brain- behavior disturbance. Two current but differing ap- proaches, one American and one Soviet, are used in clinical neuropsychology for assessment of brain-be- havior disturbance. The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsy- chological Test Battery, quantitative in approach, is presented and contrasted with the qualitative syn- drome-analysis scheme of clinical investigation used by Soviet neuropsychologists. Both approaches are con- sidered in terms of their merits, clinical assets and limitations, influence on generating further scientific research questions, and contributions to the under- standing of" the functional organization of brain-be- havior activity. Fundamental differences in the above approaches as to principles of work, theoretical dif- ferences, practical importance for psychology and medicine, and prospects for clinical neuropsychology's future are summarized.