Genetic psychology monographs最新文献

Several developing behaviors of a single infant are tracked via direct and continuous measurement through the period of acquisition and decay of these behaviors. Changes in frequency and duration are reported for four motor behaviors, and frequency changes for speech and nonspeech sounds. The relationship of changes in vocal behavior as motor skills are emerging is also explored.

Children at 5, 6, 7, and 8 years of age were told a story in which a doll traveled through a physical model of a house. The doll had a toy in one room and, then, three rooms after, discovered it to be missing. Tests were made of logical search (i.e., the tendency, when asked to find the toy, to restrict search to the critical area between the rooms). The presence of visual cues that marked the critical area was manipulated, and the visual scanning of these cues was monitored. Children in the two younger groups exhibited virtually no logical search either when cues were absent or present, 7-year-old children showed logical search only when cues were present, and 8-year-old children showed logical search both when cues were absent and present. In the cues-present conditions logical search was related to visual scanning of the cues.

Among the defense mechanisms, reaction formation is presented as the most stable, pervading the entire personality structure. The source of the defensive energy is explored within the context of drive theory, paralleling superego development and the processes of functional autonomy of other drive derivatives. The dynamics of balancing affect against behavior are analyzed with reference to the adaptive function of compulsion. Reaction formation is shown to relate closely to repression in its capacity for comprehensive impulse negation. the centrality of reaction formation within the constellation of anal characterology is underlined. Implications of the defense are discussed for empirical and clinical research in psychoanalysis.

An overview of the term hysterical personality is presented and existing measures of this construct are described. Statistical studies of hysterical personality are then reviewed, emphasizing the extent to which they support theory, clinical observation, description, and prediction. Evidence is still needed to bolster claims of empirical validity and it remains an open question whether hysterical personality should be viewed as a legitimate concept in its own right or as a form of extraversion. Empirical data are also needed on etiological determinants, psychological correlates, and response to experimental manipulations. However, empirically based findings to date indicate that a premorbid hysterical personality is not a necessary or sufficient factor in the development of conversion reactions. It is concluded that relative to other well known personality types there has been only a modest amount of empirical research on hysterical personality. Suggestions for future research directions are made.

An age-old belief links creativity with psychopathology. The present paper examines the degree of scientific support for this belief and proposes a scheme for interpretation of the evidence within a framework of multiple causation. First, three major theories are considered; these differ fundamentally regarding whether creative ability and/or motivation may be associated with psychopathology. Next, creativity research involving cognitive, personality, motivational, and environmental variables is examined in this theoretical context. Results do not emerge as definitive for any one type of position. It is suggested instead that the origins of creativity may be heterogeneous; separate explanations may be required for distinct S subgroups, to potentially include subgroups within traditional psychiatric diagnostic categories. Epidemiological research is then considered. Despite methodological shortcomings, this work as a whole appears to support elevated levels of psychopathology among recognized creators compared to the general population, and familial (and perhaps even genetic) patterns of creativity-psychopathology association. Affective psychosis is particularly prominent across studies although design features limit full consideration of other pathologies. Some etiological hypotheses are then indicated within the framework of a proposed, inclusive classification scheme. Finally, considerations for further research are discussed, and the potential importance of continued inquiry in this area is emphasized.

Tardive dyskinesia is a motor disorder, persistent, at times irreversible, a side effect of the antipsychotic medications which have been so helpful for schizophrenia; no adequate therapy for it has been developed. Research on this troublesome disorder was reviewed under the following headings: description, etiology, treatment, and prevention.

Designed and tested a home-based intervention program for low-income mothers with toddler and at least one other child under five. Sex of toddlers and race (black or white) about equally divided. Nine months of weekly home visits were specifically planned for each mother to enhance her effectiveness as an educational change agent. Treatment was planned to promote skills and understandings applicable over range of ages. Pretests, immediate posttests, and posttests one and two years later were administered to 27 experimental families and to a randomly assigned control group of 20. At .05 level of significance or beyond, experimentals excelled controls on receptive language test (toddler), on the Caldwell HOME (mother was indirectly rated as an educational change agent), and on a measure of teaching style (mother). They were also significantly superior on the Binet (toddler) at second posttest. No differences found with older siblings on Slosson Intelligence Test. Differences at third posttest were at least as great as earlier ones on mother measures. Relationships among child and mother measures are discussed.

Piaget's original work on egocentricity in language and thought and in the perception of space is reviewed, and various criticisms of his findings are summarized. It is argued that in these "experiments" children are often presented with unnatural problems, in situations of which they have had no prior experience. When deprived of customary cues they give poorly considered responses which are assessed as "egocentric." In everyday social interaction even very young children can give "decentered" responses, so the solution to Pigget's problem of egocentricity might be found in social awareness as much as in cognitive abilities and the processing of information.