Showing papers on "Personality published in 1975"

Value of family background and clinical features as predictors of long-term outcome in anorexia nervosa: four-year follow-up study of 41 patients.

Abstract: This is a prognostic study on 41 patients with anorexia nervosa (including three males) who satisfied defined diagnostic criteria. The patients had all been admitted to a metabolic unit where the mainstay of treatment was nursing care aimed at rapid restoration of body weight. A follow-up was conducted after a minimum lapse of four years after each patient's discharge from hospital. The outcome of the patient's illness was expressed in terms of an 'average outcome score' and a 'general outcome'. The series included a relatively high proportion of patients with a long illness who had received previous psychiatric treatment. Their families tended to come from higher social classes; a disturbed relationship with the patient was frequent. Premorbid disturbances in personality development were also common. The immediate response to treatment was excellent, with the majority of the patients returning to a normal weight, but relapses after discharge were common and readmissions were necessary in half the patients. At follow-up, the patients fell into the following defined categories: 'good' (39%), 'intermediate' (27%), 'poor' (29%), died (5%). Most of the patients who failed to recover continued to display the clinical features characteristic of anorexia nervosa. Among predictors of an unfavourable outcome were found a relatively late age of onset, a longer duration of illness, previous admissions to psychiatric hospitals, a disturbed relationship between the patient and other members of the family, and premorbid personality difficulties. It is suggested according to the severity of their illness, rather than on the method of treatment itself. The illness may last several years before eventual improvement or recovery, and a follow-up study must be extended over at least four years to be meaningful. An accurate prediction of eventual outcome is almost impossible, but late recoveries justify an optimistic outlook and continued therapeutic endeavour.

The developing child

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Basic Issues in the Study of Development. Perspectives on Development. Theories of Development. Finding the Answers: Research Designs and Methods. II. THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 2. Prenatal Development. Conception and Genetics. Development from Conception to Birth. Problems in Prenatal Development. 3. Birth and Early Infancy. Birth. Behavior in Early Infancy. Health and Wellness in Early Infancy. III. THE PHYSICAL CHILD. 4. Physical Development. The Brain and Nervous System. The Endocrine and Reproductive Systems. Sexual Behavior in Adolescence. Other Body Systems. Health and Wellness. 5. Perceptual Development. Thinking About Perceptual Development. Sensory Skills. Perceptual Skills. The Object Concept. Perception of Social Signals. IV. THE THINKING CHILD. 6. Cognitive Development I: Structure and Process. Piaget's Basic Ideas. Infancy. The Preschool Years. The School-Aged Child. Adolescence. Development of Information-Processing Skills. 7. Cognitive Development II: Individual Differences in Cognitive Abilities. Measuring Intellectual Power. Explaining Individual Differences in IQ Scores. Explaining Group Differences in IQ Scores. Alternative Approaches to Intelligence. 8. The Development of Language. Before the First Word: The Prelinguistic Phase. Learning Words and Word Meanings. Learning the Rules: The Development of Grammar and Pragmatics. Explaining Language Development. Individual and Group Differences in Language Development. Learning to Read and Write. V. THE SOCIAL CHILD. 9. Personality Development: Alternate Views. Defining Personality. Genetic and Biological Explanations. Learning Explanations. Psychoanalytic Explanations. A Possible Synthesis. 10. Concepts of Self, Gender, and Sex Roles. The Concept of Self. Self-Esteem. The Development of Gender and Sex-Role Concepts. Cultures and Contexts: Sex Role Stereotypes Around the World. 11. The Development of Social Relationships. Relationships with Parents. Variations in the Quality of Attachments. Relationships with Peers. Behavior with Peers. 12. Thinking About Relationships: Social-Cognitive and Moral Development. The Development of Social Cognition. Moral Development. VI. THE WHOLE CHILD. 13. The Ecology of Development: The Child Within the Family System. Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Approach Dimensions of Family Interaction. Patterns of Child Rearing. Other Aspects of Family Dynamics. Family Structure, Divorce, and Parental Employment. 14. Beyond the Family: The Impact of the Broader Culture. Nonparental Care. The Impact of Schools. The Impact of the Entertainment Media. Macrosystem Effects: The Impact of the Larger Culture. 15. Atypical Development. Understanding Atypical Development. Attention Problems and Externalizing Problems. Internalizing Problems. Atypical Intellectual and Social Development. Schooling for Atypical Children. Epilogue. Putting It All Together: The Developing Child. Transitions, Consolidations, and Systems. From Birth to 18 Months. The Preschool Years. The Elementary School Years. Adolescence. A Return to Some Basic Questions.

Factors and factors of personality.

Abstract: An effort was made to account for the diverse sets of factors of personality found by the analysis of questionnaire items as reported by different investigators and to see what common ground there might be. Divergencies were attributed to certain insufficiencies in factor analysis and to the fundamental views of analysts with regard to emphasis upon data or upon personality theory. Some reconciliations were found by recognizing that factors of different levels of psychological generality can come out in a one-level analysis. A three-level model of factor traits, based upon 13 Guilford factors, was proposed as a frame of reference. Construct validities of factor traits from different sources were examined. Suggestions were made concerning how to deal with factors of different levels. As this was being written, 40 years had elapsed since the first factor-analytic attempt to isolate dimensions of personality (Guilford & Guilford, 1934). The possibility for this approach had been suggested 4 years earlier (Guilford & Braly, 1930). After all these years, there is today a highly confused situation with regard to what the "real" factors are. In this article, I deal only with nonaptitude traits and with measurement only by means of questionnaire items. We find that Cattell (1972) and Eysenck (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1969) claimed two very different sets of factors and piled evidence on evidence in attempts to gain support. Both claimed their factors are superior to those of others. On the other hand, Howarth and Browne (1971b, 1972) presented evidence that both Cattell and Eysenck factors are questionable. The situation is illustrated in a statement made by Eysenck and Eysenck (1969) after analyzing Cattell, Eysenck, and Guilford items together: "Eysenck factors are replicated reasonably well, the Guilford ones only partially, and the Cattell ones hardly at all" (p. 193). I try to clarify this confused situation, to bring some degree of order and coherence into the factorial picture, and to account for some of the conflicting assertions and conclusions. There is no intention here to present a thorough review of an area of re

The Concept of Disease and its Implications for Psychiatry

Abstract: I think, therefore, that my earlier conclusion is still justified: we have adequate evidence that schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness, and also some sexual disorders and some forms of drug dependence, carry with them an intrinsic biological disadvantage, and on these grounds are justifiably regarded as illness; but it is not yet clear whether the same is true of neurotic illness and the ill-defined territory of personality disorder. What is the significance of this conclusion? First, it is an answer to the argument that there is no such thing as mental illness. At least part of the territory regarded by psychiatrists as mental illness fulfils the same criteria as those required for physical illness. But only part of it does so. Many of the conditions which psychiatrists have come to regard as illness, and hence as requiring treatment, do not qualify, or rather there is little evidence at present that they do. This does not necessarily mean that psychiatrists have no right to meddle in these areas, or that people who are anxious or depressed should be dissuaded from visiting their doctors. For one thing, childbirth and family planning provide precedents for the involvement of medicine beyond the boundaries of disease. Even so, psychiatrists might be well advised to reconsider where their sphere of responsibility should end. A century ago they were concerned only with madness. But from that time onwards their concept of their proper role expanded steadily until the stage was reached, particularly in North America, at which some were claiming a mandate—and the ability—to treat anyone who was unhappy for whatever reason, and anyone whose behaviour was annoying or alarming to other people. It is worth reflecting whether the many attempts we have recently witnessed to discredit the concept of mental illness might not be a reaction to the equally absurd claims we have made that all unhappiness and all undesirable behaviour are manifestations of mental illness. The attempt to relieve suffering is medicine's oldest and noblest tradition, and I am not suggesting that psychiatrists should stop trying to help husbands and wives to live together in harmony, or aimless adolescents to find their feet. But if we are to venture into such areas let it be in full recognition of the fact that in doing so we may be straying outside our proper boundary, and that in the end it may turn out that other people can deal with such problems as well as or better than we can, and that in these areas their training and their concepts are more appropriate than ours. By all means let us insist that schizophrenia is an illness and that we are better equipped to understand and treat it than anyone else. But let us not try to do the same for all the woes of mankind.

The measurement and structure of psychosocial maturity

Abstract: The educational community lacks tools for assessing the nonacademic growth of students - their growth as persons and as social beings. This paper describes the development of an attitude inventory based on an interdisciplinary model of psychosocial maturity. The Psychosocial Maturity Inventory, a self-report instrument, is comprised of nine subscales and is suited for the assessment of youngsters in the approximate age range 11-18. Among the studies reviewed are ones which (1) specify at various age levels the internal consistency of the subscales, (2) report the association between the subscales and various measures of academic achievement, and (3) describe the relationship of the subscales to other measures of personality such as "faking good," anxiety, and self-esteem. Factor analyses of the Inventory provide an empirical base for testing the proposed theoretical structure of psychosocial maturity.

Interpersonal conflict-handling behavior as reflections of Jungian personality dimensions.

Abstract: This study has sought to investigate the Jungian psychological correlates of an individual's choice of different interpersonal conflict-handling modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoid...

How relevant is an individual difference theory of personality

Abstract: Doubts are raised as to the extent of "applicability of the conceptualization that "personality" consists "of more or less stable internal factors that make one person's behavior consistent from one time to another, and different from the behavior other people would manifest in comparable situations". This is done by demonstrating the questionable validity of much of the extant empirical support for the "personality" concept. Respondents on interpersonal checklists, personality inventories and questionnaire interviews are shown to unwittingly sub stitute a theory of conceptual likenesses for a description of behavioral co-occurrences. Considerations about similarity are confounded with judgments about probability to such an extent that items alike in concept are inferred to be behaviorally characteristic of the same person even when, as is typically the case, conceptual relationships among items do not correspond to the actual behavioral relationships among items. Examined are extant "personality theories" having to do with children's social behavior, adult behavior in small groups, maternal socialization practices, and psychopathology. These "theories" are shown to be no more than statements about how respondents (and psychologists) classify things as alike in meaning.

Reactions to male and female success and failure in sex-linked occupations: impressions of personality, causal attributions, and perceived likelihood of different consequences.

Abstract: Female subjects responded to three short verbal cues in which either a male or female character succeeded or failed in an examination qualifying the male (or female) for entry into an occupation. Three occupations were involved varying in masculine dominance (medicine, teaching, and nursing). In responding to each cue, subjects first rated the character in the cue on semantic differential scales to provide impressions of personality, then rated the importance of different possible causes of the outcome (causal attribution), and finally rated the likelihood that each of a set of possible consequences might follow the outcome. Results indicated a fairly pervasive tendency for the female subjects to upgrade successful males in relation to unsuccessful males but to downgrade successful females in relation to unsuccessful females. Results were discussed in relation to sex roles in society as they relate to permissible achievements for males and females.

Women alcoholics. A review of social and psychological studies.

Abstract: Research on social-history variables, personality characteristics, social roles and role confusion, and possible treatment methods for women alcoholics is reviewed. Suggestions for additional studies involving factors motivating drinking in women, theories of personality, new treatment methods, and differentiation between subgroups of women alcoholics are discussed.

An empirical classification of psychopathic personality.

Abstract: Personality profiles of 79 non-psychotic male offenders admitted to a security hospital were subjected to a cluster analysis. Four profile types were generated, classifying four-fifths of the sample, and differences were found between the types in previous antisocial behaviour. Two of the types were identifiable as primary and secondary psychopaths, while the remaining two showed little resemblance to the concept of the psychopathic personality. The primary psychopaths were extraverted but not neurotic, while the secondary psychopaths were neurotic, but not extraverted. Both were highly impulsive but distinguished by a dimension of sociability-withdrawal.

A Comparison of French and American Environmental Behaviors, Knowledge, and Attitudes

Abstract: Matched samples of French (N = 56) and American (N = 112) adults were administered surveys assessing environmental behavior (recycling), knowledge, and attitudes, as well as more general attitudes and personality traits. While minimal differences were observed in recycling, the relationships of this behavior with other variables indicated differing conceptions between cultures. The Americans environmental attitudes were more pro-ecological, were more internally consistent, and were more likely to be related to environmental behavior and knowledge and other attitudinal and personality variables. It was suggested that knowledge may act as a mediating variable between attitudes and behavior.

Personality research: components of variance attributable to the person and the situation.

Abstract: Studies involving personality and situational variables were surveyed. Studies permitting determination of main effects and interactions involving these variables have increased since 1950. In one comparison, situational main effects were significant in 65.5% of the cases, whereas the figure was 31% for individual difference variables and 59.9% for interactions. In another comparison, 35% of situational main effects accounted for more than 10% of the variance, compared with 29% for personality indexes; 19% of the situational variable effects accounted for more than 20% of the variance, compared with 14% of the personality main effects. Low percentages of variance were accounted for by all variables investigated: situational, personality, demographic, and interactions among these variables.

Relationships between Academic Achievement and Personality Characteristics: A Quasi-Longitudinal Study

Abstract: A conceptual model which relates patterns of academic achievement to the personality characteristics of learners was tested by a quasi-longitudinal study. The results of the study provide strong evidence for a model which emphasizes the influence of histories of successful academic achievement on personality characteristics. The findings suggest, additionally, that rewards for academic achievement provided by the home are related to both high achievement and positive personality characteristics. Instructional models such as Mastery Learning and the manipulation of time variables are discussed in terms of their potential for providing students the means both to achieve well and develop positive personality characteristics.

The case for person-situation interactions.

Abstract: The important and complex personality issue of cross-situational consistency (stability) versus situational specificity (change) was discussed. Personologists and clinicians have assumed that personality traits are the major source of behavioural variance, whereas social psychologists and sociologists have assumed that situations are the major source. There is little empirical evidence to support either the claim of the trait theorists or that of the situationists. It was pointed out that not enough attention has been paid to assessing the psychological significance of various types of situations, and the person-situation issue has been inappropriately phrased. Various research strategies were discussed, and the advantages of the interactionist approach, and supporting empirical data, were presented. Finally a person-situation interaction model for anxiety was proposed.

Are There Two Types of Unipolar Depression

Abstract: Personality traits and clinical characteristics in psychiatric outpatients with affective disorder were examined. Two groups of unipolar patients, divided on the basis of treatment response to tricyclic antidepressants, were compared to a bipolar group. While the unipolar-T (tricyclic responder) group showed premorbid personality traits of chronic anxiety and obsessiveness, neither the bipolar nor unipolar-L (tricyclic nonresponder, lithium carbonate responder) groups showed such findings. In fact, the unipolar-L and bipolar groups were similar not only with regard to personality variables, but also in terms of both drug response and certain family history features. These findings cast doubt on the homogeneity of unipolar depression and suggest the possibility of a subtype of unipolar depression with psychobiologic and personality features resembling bipolar affective disorder.

An attributional approach to moods and the menstrual cycle.

Abstract: Acceptance of an attribution pattern linking negative moods (depression, irritability) to the approach of menstruation and the likelihood of internal and external attributions were examined in a questionnaire study in which cycle phase (pre- versus postmenstrual), mood (positive versus negative), and environment (pleasant versus unpleasant) were varied Subjects' rating indicated that (a) biology was judged important for explaining negative moods occurring premenstrually: (b) inconsistency between mood and environment produced more internal (personality) attributions, while consistency enhanced external attributions; and (c) emotionally expressive behavior was thought to reflect underlying personality dispositions despite extenuating situational factors (assumed personal causation) The theoretical relevance of the findings to a new conceptualization of premenstrual emotionality and to an attributional chain relating female self-concept and premenstrual tension is discussed

A psychological study of patients undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Abstract: This is an investigative study of the personality of patients requesting cosmetic rhinoplasty. Analysis of data obtained from objective projective tests and psychological interviews indicated that patients seeking cosmetic surgery are not as psychologically disturbed as often described. Comparative studies showed certain personality characteristics to be associated with patients who seek cosmetic surgery. While evaluations 18 months after surgery showed no major personality change, self-concept was improved. Certain disturbing personality patterns indicative of psychological risk were identified. These fell more in the range of personality disorders, exemplified by the infantile-narcissistic and the manipulative controlling personalities rather than in the psychotic, psychoneurotic, or psychosomatic ranges. We recommend a simple interview question method of counseling designed to identify underlying psychological manifestations and to control the potential problem patient.

A comparative study of predictive criteria in the predisposition of homicidal adolescents.

Abstract: The authors evaluated the criteria that are cited in the literature as predictive of homicidal predisposition. They applied three categories of criteria--clinical, developmental, and environmental factors--to a study group of 10 adolescents who had committed homicide, 10 who had threatened or attempted homicide, and 10 hospitalized controls. Their findings did not support the presence of a well-crystallized predisposition for homicidal behavior in this population, but they did show that the adolescents who committed homicide were psychotic-regressive and those who threatened or attempted homicide were organic-impulsive. The study strongly suggests the importance of environmental factors in reinforcing homicidal behavior. VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study by Sendi et al was to examine and compare previous reports concerning homicidal adolescents in order to identify clinical, diagnostic, and prognostic features of murderers. METHODOLOGY: This was a quasi-experimental comparative study. Spanning a six-year period, ten adolescent patients who were accused of committing murder were admitted to the Child Psychiatry Division of Clinton Valley Center. The case histories of ten adolescents who were unsuccessful at an attempt to commit homicide or who threatened to murder were additionally available. All subjects were adolescent boys. Also, they were studied as two separate groups. A third group of ten adolescents, who were randomly selected, were utilized as control subjects. They were chosen from among hospitalized patients. These offenders had been hospitalized for various psychiatric problems such as schizophrenia, personality disorder, organic brain syndrome, and learning disability combined with emotional and behavior illnesses. Most of the subjects were clustered into three groups. The following predictive criteria were taken into consideration: factual clinical information, factors that were either environmental or personal that intervened with development, and environmental or psychodynamic factors that reinforced the child's tendency to act out violently. For one week the completed record in addition to the current behavior for each adolescent were analyzed by two independent raters. The statistical evaluation form was scored by each rater. Each criteria was scored independently based on either the absence or presence of these criteria. These data were subsequently cross-validated. The agreement among each of the four raters was almost at the ninety-five percent level. The distribution of the three categories among the three groups of adolescents was tested using the chi-square method obtained in order that the clusters of significant criteria among each of the three groups may be identified. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Most adolescent murderers under study were diagnosed as schizophrenic. Organic brain disorder was diagnosed to seventy percent of the group who either attempted or threatened homicide. An average or above-average IQ was present in eight of the boys in the group who committed homicide. A retarded or below-average IQ was present in sixty percent of the adolescents who either attempted or threatened homicide. In addition, abnormal EEGs were more prevalent among those who either threatened or attempted homicide. Also, only twenty percent of those who committed homicide displayed abnormal EEGs. Intentional homicides were present in ninety percent of the cases. Family members were chosen among four of the subjects; and six boys murdered either friends or strangers. Significant percentages of those who committed homicide and those who attempted or threatened homicide came from an unfavorable home environment when compared to the control group. An unfavorable home environment was defined as one in which "a considerable amount of stress was present, including parental neglect, abuse, or absence." The significant presence of five factors distinguished the adolescent murderers from the group who attempted or threatened to kill and the control group. Those factors included: sexual inhibition, exposure to murder or violence, seduction by a parent, and brutality by a parent. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Homicide Offender KW - Juvenile Male KW - Juvenile Offender KW - Juvenile Violence KW - Violence Causes KW - Violence Prediction KW - Homicide Causes KW - Homicide Prediction KW - Offender Characteristics KW - Male Offender KW - Male Violence Language: en

Know Your Own Personality

Abstract: In this book, the authors have indentified six key personality traits and have compiled for each a carefully researched questionnaire designed to build up a composite picture of the reader's personality This is a companion volume to "Know Your Own IQ" and "Check Your Own IQ"