Showing papers in "Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1971"

Training impulsive children to talk to themselves: a means of developing self-control.

Abstract: A variety of tasks was employed to train the child to use self-instructions to control his nonverbal behavior. The tasks varied along a dimension from simple sensorimotor abilities to more complex problem-solving abilities. The difficulty level of the training tasks was increased over the four training sessions requiring more cognitively demanding activities. One can imagine a similar training sequence in the learning of a new motor skill such as driving a car. Initially the driver actively goes through a mental checklist, sometimes aloud, which includes verbal rehearsal, self-guidance, and sometimes appropriate self-reinforcement, especially when driving a stick-shift car. Three different psychometric tests were used to assess changes in behavioral and cognitive impulsivity during the pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up periods. The impulsive child was exposed to a model which demonstrated the strategy to search for differences that would allow him successively to eliminate as incorrect all variants but one.

High school yearbooks: A reply to Schwarz.

Abstract: Schwarz's criticism of the Barthell and Holmes study of preschizophrenics using archival data is examined. The traditional assumption that nuisance variables like social class should routinely be "controlled" by case-matching or statistical suppression is challenged. Whether, and how much, shared variance should be removed in archival studies is shown to hinge upon a prior causal framework. The nearly universal tendency among social scientists to view correlations uncorrected for social class as "spurious" is condemned, absent a showing that its causal role in the given situation is such as to render the uncorrected correlation artifactual. It is argued that in most archival studies this assumption is highly problematic, often no safer than the substantive theory of interest itself. It is further argued that statistical control of nuisance variables is not, contrary to the usual belief, "playing it safe," since under several plausible assumptions such control will generate misleading results (e.g., will pseudofalsify a good causal theory).

Mental illness and the impact of believing others know about it.

Abstract: Reports 2 studies measuring the impact upon 30 male inpatients and 29 male outpatients of believing others have become aware of their psychiatric history. Ss thought the interest was in determining if another person would behave the same toward mental patients and controls. 1/2 the Ss were told the

Therapeutic conditions and outcome.

Abstract: .Furthermore, while accurate empathy and warmth were significantly correlated in a positive direction, bpJjLJKexej^ajiyety_cjyxe]ated-^v4ih^gejiuineness. The three therapeutic conditions also were not significantly correlate] with measures of the therapists' personal characteristics secured from the Edwards Personal Preference Scale. The findings are discussed and questions arc raised concerning the meaningfulness and generality of the three therapeutic conditions.

Reliability and validity of three measures of functioning with "hard-core" chronic mental patients.

Abstract: Data on 14 descriptive variables and three measures of functioning were analyzed for 137 chronic psychotic patients who were functioning at such a low level that they were not acceptable for shelter-care placement. Measures of functioning included: the Minimal Social Behavior Scale, administered in a structured interview by professional s taff ; the Social Breakdown Syndrome Gradient Index, administered to aide-level personnel, modified to questionnaire format; and the Nurses Observational Scale of Inpatient Evaluation ratings obtained from aide-level staff. All three instruments were found to possess high interrater reliability. Intercorrelations among the three measures of functioning gave evidence of a common factor, supporting their validity, and indicated that additional information was added by each instrument. In combination, they provide a practical, reliable, valid battery for assessing global level of functioning in hard-core, chronically hospitalized patient groups. Normative data are provided on the sample for descriptive variables and for the three measures of functioning.