Since fear of public speaking has been considered a good example of anxiety and an example that is correlated with behavioral and cognitive measures of anxiety levels, a study of Rogerian therapy, desensitization, and modeling techniques in reducing this anxiety seemed appropriate.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is whether relationships may exist between personality and type of offense in a felon population. The Eysenck Personality Inventory, which measures extraversion-introversion (E), neuroticism-stability (N), and includes a lie scale (L), was used to determine subject's personality traits. Offenses were divided into crimes against persons, crimes against property, and crimes against the morals of the state. Subjects consisted of 751 adult male felons. The product-moment correlation was computed for each offense-variable EPI pair. A negative association between E and crimes against persons, together with a positive association between L and crimes against persons, were found to be statistically significant at the 0.05 level, although quite low. It was concluded that results obtained should be guardedly interpreted in view of the minimal amount of variability accounted for, though of possible value in suggesting future research.

The purpose of this study was to assess content and concurrent validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The subjects were thirty-four art majors at North Texas State University between the ages of nineteen and thirty-nine. Content validity for the TTCT, as assessed by seven judges (art professors), was very high; concurrent validity was very low. Only one judge's ranking of the criterion was significantly intercorrelated with that of the other judges (p<.05). There were no significant rho correlations between the TTCT and the criterion (p<.05). The t-ratio differences between the males and females, for all tasks of the TTCT, were non-significant (p<.05). It was concluded that the TTCT were not appropriate for use with adult art majors.

The present study was designed to investigate whether a good reader, by the fifth grade, will have attained sufficient knowledge of the language structure to enable him to more exactly and more appropriately reconstruct mutilated texts than a poor reader, matched for verbal intelligence level. Four 250-word cloze-treated passages were administered to twelve deficient and twelve non-deficient sixth grade readers, matched according to sex and the verbal portion of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Analyses of variance failed to show any significant differences between good and poor readers except for a weak indication that good readers produced more exact replacements.

During the past 80 years, similar descriptions of a hyperactive behavior pattern in children have appeared in medical, educational, and psychological literature. Hyperactivity has been conceptualized as a character disorder, an organic disorder, and, most recently, as a behavior disorder. In this study, hyperactivity was explained in interactional terms, using Rotter's social learning theory of personality. Little consideration has been given in research to the influence of an abnormally high activity level upon personality development during childhood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the general influence of negative interactions associated with hyperactivity upon the organization of four personality constructs: locus of control, self-esteem, trait anxiety, and state anxiety.

In Texas, placement of educable mentally retarded (EMR) students has required three factors-- intellectual assessment, educational appraisal, and adaptive behavior. This study examined 28 reclassified EMR students to determine which assessment factor is least stable in defining EMR and to determine significance of change in assessment scores. Data were secured from school records. Type of intellectual assessment test used varied greatly and was found to be the most inconsistent placement factor. However, educational appraisal scores contributed to over half the reclassifications. Adaptive behavior did not contribute to any reclassification. Due to limited sampling and variety of assessment tests, significance of change in scores was not determined. Generally, on retest,performance IQ scores were elevated while verbal IQ scores remained the same.

The present study explored the possibility of applying Koppitz's developmental scoring techniques of mental maturity to retarded adults. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) that there is a significant correlation between the Koppitz HFD Test scores and the WAIS Full Scale scores; 2) that the correlation between the Koppitz HFD Test scores and the WAIS Performance Scale scores is also significant. Statistical computations did confirm the latter hypothesis but not the former one.

Recent conceptualizations of psychopathy are moving toward more inclusive, purely trait-based models. However, researchers continue to heavily rely on assessments of psychopathy that include categorical behavioral elements. The newly developed Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality – Institutional Rating Scale appears to be a promising interview-based measure of psychopathy, but research on its reliability and validity is in its infancy. As a second issue, the vast majority of research on psychopathy, particularly in offender populations, is conducted with male participants. Nonetheless, the growing body of literature involving incarcerated females suggests gender differences in the prevalence and manifestation of psychopathic traits. Reasons for these differences are unclear, but some have proposed socialized gender roles as a contributing factor. With a sample of 52 female 49 male offenders recruited from a large, metropolitan jail, this dissertation evaluated the construct validity of the CAPP-IRS and examined the effect of gender role conformity on the manifestation of psychopathic traits. Results indicated that a three-factor model of psychopathy represented by antagonistic interpersonal relations, restricted emotions, and disinhibited behavior best fit the data. Findings further suggested convergent and discriminant validity for the CAPP-IRS. Additionally, masculine and feminine gender role conformity differentially related to psychopathy, but generally accounted …

This study was an investigation of the relationship between the self-concepts of hearing-impaired children and the self-concepts of normal hearing children. Sixty-four hearing-impaired children and nineteen normal hearing children were given the Primary Self- Concept Inventory, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and were rated by a teacher using the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide. The differences between means were analyzed and tested for significance. It was concluded that there is no difference between the self concept of the hearing-impaired child and the self-concept of the normal hearing child. It was further concluded that the instruments currently available for measuring self-concept are poor and inadequate. Further research on the self-concept of the hearing impaired child was recommended.

Twenty-four psychiatric staff, 24 clinically depressed inpatients, and 24 nondepresssed schizophrenic patients at a state psychiatric facility completed five tasks under either reward or punishment conditions. Each task consisted of 30 trials of pressing or not pressing a button to make a light appear. Monetary reinforcement was contingent on light onset for the final ten trials of each task. Cash incentives for judgment of control accuracy were added for Tasks 3, 4, and 5. Cognitive functioning was evaluated on each task by measuring expectancy, judgment of control, evaluation of performance, and attribution. Mood and self- esteem were measured before and after the procedure. No significant differences were observed across mood groups for expectancy of control or judgment of control accuracy. Subject groups also did not differ in the attributions they made or in how successful they judged their performances to be. They set realistic, attainable criteria for success which were consistent with relevant conditional probabilities. Subjects in reward gave themselves more credit for task performance than subjects in punishment gave themselves blame for comparable performances. Punishment subjects demonstrated more stable, external attributions than those in reward. Across tasks, subjects overestimated when actual control was low and underestimated when actual control …

This study sought to determine if visual perceptual training could be effectively used to improve the school readiness skills of kindergarten children.

The results suggest that children's perceptions of parental child-rearing behavior are related to their tendencies to be dogmatic in their beliefs, and apparently perceptions of parents as loving has reinforcing properties for the child that may lead to the uncritical acceptance of the belief system of the parents.

The problem of this study was to determine the degree of relationship among parental attitudes as perceived by the child, and the child's psychological adjustment,self-concept, and sociometric status. In addition, the relationships between each of the experimental variables were examined.

This study examined symptoms of anxiety and depression in 99 children and adolescents following a residential fire. Children and their parents completed self-administered questionnaires regarding the fire and their current functioning. The most commonly experienced symptoms were worry/ oversensitivity, anhedonia, negative mood, and fear of failure and criticism. There were no significant ethnic differences across symptomology. Exposure was directly related to parental report of child internalizing behaviors, whereas loss was unrelated to symptoms. Level of support (general and fire related) and active coping were directly associated with positive child adjustment. The impact of negative life events was related to poorer functioning. Overall, a child's environment and coping strategy appear to be the best predictors of adjustment following a residential fire.

Internal-external locus of control was studied in relationship to the religious phenomena "glossolalia." Contrary to the main hypothesis formulated, glossolalics were found significantly more internal in locus of control than non-tongues speakers. Intercorrelations were studied between the variables of I-E, age, length of church membership, income level, educational level, and perceived control by God, for tongue-speaker and non-tongue-speaker groups. Chisquare comparisons were made between the groups on educational level, income level, and perceived control by God, with significant differences being found in educational level. Additional analysis was made between I-E and the variables of educational levels, income levels, and perceived control by God. Historical and current interpretations of the personality of glossolalics are challenged. The construct validity of the Rotter scale for use with religious populations is challenged.

The purpose of this investigation is to determine if the Polyfactor test can be used to predict the success or failure of marriage. The Polyfactor test is an indirect scale assessing the present marital adjustment of each spouse and the overall marital adjustment of the couple.

The study investigated the predictive validity of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) as a tool for sales selection. Two analyses were conducted. Study 1 consisted of 20 male home improvement representatives. The average net and gross closing ratios for a six month period were used as the criteria. The results indicted that none of the CPI scales differentiated between poor and good performers when correlated with the secondary criterion of gross closing ratios. These findings were contrary to a previous concurrent validity study. Study 2 investigated month to month retention/separation for 61 home improvement representatives, to determine if the CPI differentiated between short and long term success. Phi coefficients showed no statistical significance between retention/separation and the CPI profile score over time.

Although the Rorschach is one of the most widely used psychological assessment techniques, its empirical support has been equivocal. One possible explanation for this lack of empirical support is the tendency for researchers to study only the assessment tool with little regard for the clinician using it. The current study examined one clinician variable (empathy) and its relationship to accuracy of interpretation of the Rorschach. The literature regarding Rorschach theory and research and empathy theory and research was reviewed in an attempt to clarify the similarities between empathy as an important factor in psychotherapy and its importance in the assessment process. The present study measured empathy by using the Davis Empathy Questionnaire and a Taped Excerpt Response Measure.

Risk assessments for offenders often combine past records with current clinical findings from observations, interviews, and test data. Conclusions based on these risk assessments are highly consequential, sometimes resulting in increased criminal sentences or prolonged hospitalization. Offenders are therefore motivated to intentionally minimize their risk scores. Intentional minimization is especially likely to occur in offenders with high psychopathic traits because goal-directed deception is reflected in many of the core traits of the disorder, such as manipulativeness, glibness, and superficial charm. However, this connection appears to be based on the conceptual understanding of psychopathy, and it has rarely been examined empirically for either frequency or success. The current study examined the connection between psychopathic traits and the intentional minimization of risk factors using a sentenced jail sample. In general, offenders were able to effectively minimize risk on the HCR-20 and SAQ, while the PICTS, as a measure of cognitive styles, was more resistant to such minimization. Psychopathic traits, especially high interpersonal facet scores, led to greater minimization using a repeated measure, simulation design. Important differences in the willingness and ability to use deception were found based on (a) the content of subscales, and (b) the mode of administration (i.e., interview vs. …

To meet the need of making clinical evaluations in the most efficient way, many scales and short forms of the MMPI have been developed. A review of the literature indicated that the Mini-Mult devised by Kincannon (1967) and the Short Form by Hugo (1971a) were the best short forms of the MMPI which have been constructed. The purpose of this study was to determine which of these short forms would most accurately predict the standard MMPI in a clinical population.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the usefulness of an objectively scored self-rating sentence completion test in the development of objective prognostic statements regarding marital counseling.

Using a clinical sample of 63 girls aged 5 - 16 years, the Psychoanalytic Rorschach Profile (PRP; Burke et al., 1988), a measure of drive, ego, and object relations functioning, was examined for differences between sexual abuse (SA) victims and distressed but nonabused (NA) peers. The hypothesis that the SA group would evidence more pathological, less developed levels of drive, ego, and object relations functioning than the NA group was not supported. Limitations of the use of archival data are discussed. The effects of controlling for the number of responses (R) in Rorschach research were examined by comparing entire protocols of a clinical sample of girls from 5 - 16 years of age to shortened versions which included only the first one (N = 89; R = 10) or two (N = 17; R = 20) responses to each blot. Of 12 PRP scales compared, differences between the R = 10 and entire protocols were found on 5 variables, but when R was increased to 20, only 2 differences remained. Support was given for the notion of uniform Rorschach administration in which 2 responses per card are solicited.

The number of adults in the United States who are age 65 or older is rapidly increasing. With longer lifespan comes an increase in chronic diseases such as dementia, diabetes, and depression. This study used archival data from a larger study conducted at the Memory Clinic at John Peter Smith County Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas to examine several hypotheses and research questions related to the influence of type of dementia, presence of Type II diabetes, and presence of depression on neuropsychological test performance. First, this study attempted to identify specific patterns of performance on neuropsychological measures for those with Alzheimer's dementia (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The results indicated that those with MCI perform better than those with AD or VaD on all neuropsychological measures, and that those with VaD perform better than those with AD on a measure of verbal memory. Another purpose of the study was to determine how the presence of Type II diabetes affects this pattern of functioning; the overall finding in this study was that the presence or absence of diabetes did not affect performance on measures of cognitive functioning. Additionally, the study attempted to add to literature examining the …

A typology of marital dyads derived from Kelly's (1955) Personal Construct Psychology was used to investigate the communicative behaviors of married companions. Four groups based on Kelly's Commonality (dyadic similarity) and Sociality (dyadic understanding) corollaries were contrasted: similar-understanding, dissimilar-understanding, similar-misunderstanding, and dissimilar-misunderstanding couples. It was expected that dyadic understanding would contribute more to self-disclosure, cooperative involvement, and marital satisfaction than dyadic similarity. Furthermore, it was anticipated that couples high in understanding and low in similarity would represent optimally functioning couples, as evidenced by disclosure, satisfaction, and involvement with each other. Sixty-three married couples who had known each other at least two years completed questionnaire items assessing demographic variables, marital satisfaction (Dyadic Adjustment Scale) and self-reported communication behaviors (Partner Communication Inventory, Dyadic Disclosure Inventory). Each spouse also completed an 8 X 8 Repertory Grid and predicted the mate's responses on the Rep Grid. Subjects then participated in three different audio-taped discussion tasks (an informal conversation, a consensus decision-making task, and a role-played conflict-resolution scene) which were rated for avoidant, competitive, and cooperative responses, as well as overall self-disclosure. Although understanding facilitated disclosure in conflict situations and similarity fostered marital satisfaction, communicative behaviors generally reflected the joint influence of both similarity and …