Volume 2, Number 1, Spring

Intelligence, IQ, Public Opinion and Scientific Psychology
Alfred H. Shephard, University of Manitoba
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 1-26, ISSN 0271-0137
Many psychologists have made unjustifiable inferences from data by interpreting IQ as a causal variable when logically it is a non-causal variable. Attempts are made in this paper to understand how the confusion came about and to suggest initial strategies for eliminating it. Binet’s successful prediction of school performance from test scores did not encourage him to conclude that he had defined intelligence – both he and Boring accepted a co-variation model, but only on an interim basis. A failure to distinguish between differences in the logical structures of causal and non-causal explanations, together with Goddard’s misunderstanding of Binet’s view of intelligence test scores, led to a misuse as well as a misconception of IQ. After Boring calmed the public outcry over many psychologists’ interpretation of World War I test results, a causal view of test score in relation to school performance was encouraged, culminating in ideas expressed by Jensen (1969) on black-white differences in IQ. These views led to such uses of IQ as assigning black children to remedial programs, an activity which some law courts in the United States have ruled discriminatory and illegal. Causal and non-causal models are differentiated on the basis of identified and unidentified sources of variability in school achievement. Speculations are made on reasons for the continuing confusion between these two models, and suggestions are offered for a more discriminating use of the two types of concepts.

Requests for reprints should be sent to A.H. Shephard, St. John’s College, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N5.

Psychology’s Reliance on Linear Time: A Reformulation
Brent D. Slife, Purdue University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 27-46, ISSN 0271-0137
The linear advancement view of time is shown to be a very prevalent but relatively overlooked presupposition in psychological theorizing. The past is viewed as indispensable to, if not the determinant of, behavioral and cognitive forces operating in the present. Although some psychologists consider this to be axiomatic, history and physical science teach us that such an assumption is neither a requirement of thought, nor a desirable basis for theory construction. Parallels are drawn between the Newtonian conceptions of unidirectional time and causality and contemporary psychological views. Mach and Einstein’s criticism of these conceptions is outlined and their alternative presuppositional base, formal causation, proposed as a more flexible foundation for theorizing in psychology. The viability of this assumptive base is explored in a framework for learning and development, and several theories are cited as trends toward this framework.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Brent D. Slife, Department of Psychology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.

A Behavioral Approach to Eliminate Self-Mutilative Behavior in a Lesch-Nyhan Patient
Hilary P. Buzas and Teodoro Ayllon, Georgia State University, and Robert Collins, Georgia Institute of Technology
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 47-56, ISSN 0271-0137
Lesch-Nyhan disease is an inherited biochemical disorder characterized by the defective activity of the enzyme hypoxanthine quanine phosphoribosyl transferase. A striking feature of this disease is the unusual pattern of self-mutilation that appears in these patients. The present study attempted to assess the effects of applying a behavioral procedure to control self-mutilative behavior in a child diagnosed as having Lesch-Nyhan disease. The behavioral procedure, reinforcement (attention) for responses incompatible with mutilative behavior, was implemented by three individuals and in several different settings. The results demonstrated that the behavioral procedure was effective in eliminating the self-mutilative behavior of this Lesch-Nyhan child. The effects of the procedure successfully generalized across settings and therapists, and were maintained for at least a seven month period.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Hilary Buzas, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, University Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.

Toward a Reformulation of Editorial Policy
C. Raymond Millimet, University of Nebraska at Omaha
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 47-64, ISSN 0271-0137
Based on the understanding that an unacceptably large number of Type I errors enter the scientific literature, it was proposed that all manuscripts submitted for publication be accompanied by an independent replication supporting the initial findings. A replication that could provide an estimate of the generality of the phenomenon would be even more desirable. Furthermore, it was recommended that the editorial board of scientific journals contract to accept a study for publication solely on the basis of its soundness and importance to the scientific community independently of the statistical significance of the findings. That is, to evaluate the study prior to data collection, thereby insuring publication to all studies judged to be acceptable regardless of the ultimate probability of the effects.

Requests for reprints should be sent to C. Raymond Millimet, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, 68182.

Gergen’s Reappraisal of Experimentation in Social Psychology: A Critique
Paul D. Cherulnik, The College of Charleston
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 65-70, ISSN 0271-0137
Gergen (1973) was an early critic of the findings of social-psychological experimentation for their lack of stability over time. That early statement of his views was criticized, in turn, by some who claimed that Gergen had failed to distinguish between temporally unstable facts about social behavior and the basic processes underlying that behavior which remain constant over time. In a recent restatement of his views, Gergen (1978) has responded to those critics, and has extended and further refined his position. The present paper points out flaws in Gergen’s recent arguments, especially in those which appear to have been intended to answer his critics, and suggests that those critics appear to have been correct in pointing out limitations of Gergen’s position. In conclusion, a more moderate view than Gergen’s of the external validity problem in social-psychological experimentation is advocated.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Paul D. Cherulnik, Department of Psychology, The College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina 29401.

The Growth and Limits of Recipe Knowledge
Leigh S. Shaffer, West Chester State College
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 71-84, ISSN 0271-0137
This essay describes a form of thinking about the world that I have called “recipe knowledge,” (following the usage of Berger and Luckmann, 1966). The article elucidates the concept of recipe knowledge, traces the growth of its impact on United State culture, and state the limites of recipe knowledge. The thesis is that people have come to confuse recipe knowledge with the traditional knowledge of the sciences and the humanities, and that a clear distinction between these two forms is necessary to explain and resolve many contemporary problems in society including “anti-intellectualism”.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Leigh S. Shaffer, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, West Chester State College, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380.

Sensation Seeking as a Determinant of Interpersonal Attraction Toward Similar and Dissimilar Others
Billy Thornton, Richard M. Ruckman and Joel A. Gold, University of Maine at Orono
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 85-92, ISSN 0271-0137
While greater attraction is generally expressed toward individuals with similar rather than dissimilar beliefs, there are circumstances under which people are more attracted to dissimilar others. The present research was conducted to determine whether individual differences in sensation seeking would differentially influence judgments of attraction toward similar and dissimilar others within a social interaction context. It was predicted, and found, that high sensation seekers were more attracted to dissimilar others than were low sensation seekers, who instead showed greater relative attraction toward similar others. Further, high sensation seekers more frequently preferred discussing mutually disagreed upon topics with a prospective partner, whereas low sensation seekers preferred mutually agreed upon topics.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Billy Thornton, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469.

Book Reviews

Evaluation of Clinical Biofeedback
Book Author: W.J. Ray, J.M. Raczynski, T. Rogers, and W. Kimball. New York: Plenum Press, 1979
Reviewed by Michael Venturino, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 93-100, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available. This is one of three books, all reviewed simultaneously.] Never before has the laboratory and the clinic been so close as in the field of biofeedback. Born in the laboratory during the Zeitgeist of expanding consciousness, the findings and principles of biofeedback were rapidly applied to clinical settings. The attractive notion that one could exert control over “involuntary” bodily functioning intrigued the scientific community and gained enthusiastic acceptance among clinicians. In effect, the research laboratory had passed another milestone, and in the process given its counterpart, the applied psychologist, a clinical tool with which to “cure all ills.” The bandwagon had started: biofeedback was studied intensely, and was also popularized…. In Evaluation of Clinical Biofeedback , Ray, et al. focus on the effectiveness of biofeedback in the treatment of various types of clinical disorders. Birbaumer and Kimmel delineate the variables of biofeedback researched in the laboratory in their edited book, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation . Finally, results from both the laboratory and the clinic are highlighted in Peper, Ancoli, and Quinn’s Mind/Body Integration .

Biofeedback and Self-Regulation
Book Author: Niels Birbaumer and H.D. Kimmell (Editors). New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 1979
Reviewed by Michael Venturino, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 93-100, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available. This is one of three books, all reviewed simultaneously.] Never before has the laboratory and the clinic been so close as in the field of biofeedback. Born in the laboratory during the Zeitgeist of expanding consciousness, the findings and principles of biofeedback were rapidly applied to clinical settings. The attractive notion that one could exert control over “involuntary” bodily functioning intrigued the scientific community and gained enthusiastic acceptance among clinicians. In effect, the research laboratory had passed another milestone, and in the process given its counterpart, the applied psychologist, a clinical tool with which to “cure all ills.” The bandwagon had started: biofeedback was studied intensely, and was also popularized…. In Evaluation of Clinical Biofeedback , Ray, et al. focus on the effectiveness of biofeedback in the treatment of various types of clinical disorders. Birbaumer and Kimmel delineate the variables of biofeedback researched in the laboratory in their edited book, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation . Finally, results from both the laboratory and the clinic are highlighted in Peper, Ancoli, and Quinn’s Mind/Body Integration .

Mind/Body Integration: Essential Readings in Biofeedback
Book Author: Erik Peper, Sonia Ancoli, and Michele Quinn (Editors). New York: Plenum Press, 1979
Reviewed by Michael Venturino, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 93-100, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available. This is one of three books, all reviewed simultaneously.] Never before has the laboratory and the clinic been so close as in the field of biofeedback. Born in the laboratory during the Zeitgeist of expanding consciousness, the findings and principles of biofeedback were rapidly applied to clinical settings. The attractive notion that one could exert control over “involuntary” bodily functioning intrigued the scientific community and gained enthusiastic acceptance among clinicians. In effect, the research laboratory had passed another milestone, and in the process given its counterpart, the applied psychologist, a clinical tool with which to “cure all ills.” The bandwagon had started: biofeedback was studied intensely, and was also popularized…. In Evaluation of Clinical Biofeedback , Ray, et al. focus on the effectiveness of biofeedback in the treatment of various types of clinical disorders. Birbaumer and Kimmel delineate the variables of biofeedback researched in the laboratory in their edited book, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation . Finally, results from both the laboratory and the clinic are highlighted in Peper, Ancoli, and Quinn’s Mind/Body Integration .

Dominance Relations: An Ethological View of Human Conflict and Social Interaction
Book Author: D.R. Omark, F.F. Strayer, and D.G. Freedman (Editors). New York: Garland Press, 1980
Reviewed by Richard M. Ryckman, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 101-102, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This text reviews current research findings on dominance relationships at the primate and human levels from phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives. While historically research on social dominance focused narrowly on observations by ethologists of the outcomes of competitive behavior between animals in their natural habitats, the new, holistic ethological approach (started within the past five years) examines interactions between human beings, especially children and adolescents, at both verbal and nonverbal levels in a variety of ecological settings. In an interesting opening chapter, Omark outlines the goals of this new perspective. Omark seeks to convince investigators that dominance relationships can be more fruitfully studied by using a broader theoretical and methodological framework than has previously been the case. Within this framework, organisms would be treated as organized entities and their behavior examined at various levels of operation, including the chemical, structural, physiological, psychological, and anthropological. Such an approach also assumes that all levels of organization operate simultaneously and that increased understanding of dominance behavior can be expected if investigators rely on correlational rather than causal models in their conceptualization and analysis of phenomena in this area.

The Iceland Papers
Book Author: Andrija Puharich (Editor). Amherst, WI: Essentia Research Associates, 1979
Reviewed by Jack Keefe, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 103-104, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] The Iceland Papers is a collection of papers presented in Rejkavik, Iceland at a conference of psychical research and its relation to modern theoretical physics. It was the first conference of its type, and the excitement all but leaps off the page. The editor, exuberant throughout the introduction, trumpets that the theories presented “will resolve the matter-mind problem.” Few will agree with his pronouncement. The Iceland Papers is an unbalanced collection of important, intriguing findings, and incomplete, at times overly speculative, theoretical formulations.

Sources of Gravitational Radiation
Book Author: Larry Smarr (Editor). New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979
Reviewed by Gary W. Spetz, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 105-112, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Scientists have tried to understand the behavior of our universe by identifying four forces responsible for all interactions: gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, and strong. The strong force is short-ranged and responsible for the attraction between protons and neutrons in nuclei. The electromagnetic force is long-ranged, and accounts for electric and magnetic behavior. The 1979 Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow for “unifying” the electromagnetic and weak forces, showing them to have a common origin. There is also much work being done to try to include the strong force in this unification. But the gravitational force as the first to be understood, is the patriarch of this family of forces.

Controlling Stress and Tension: A Holistic Approach
Book Author: D. Girdano and G. Everly. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1979
Reviewed by Geoffrey L. Thorpe and Selene Marett, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 113-116, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] “Stress” has been implicated in the etiology of practically any physical or mental health problem. In the recent (1980) revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, The American Psychiatric Association has explicitly recognized this: first, by devoting one of the five diagnostic “axes” to a general rating of the severity of life stressors, and second, by allowing that psychgenic factors can potentially play a part in the etiology of any “non-mental” medical disorder. Largely because of the work of such figures as Hans Selye and Richard S. Lazarus, “stress” figures prominantly in contemporary accounts of health and illness, despite the fact that the concept of stress defies simple definition.

Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications
Book Author: John R. Anderson. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Co., 1980
Reviewed by Alan N. West, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pages 117-118, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications is an introduction to cognition, intended for undergraduates in their first course in cognitive psychology. Relative to other such texts, it is extremely readable and enjoyable. Furthermore, it is well-organized within a theoretical framework that should facilitate the long-term retention of many of the basic principles and findings in the field.

Mathematical Models in the Health Sciences: A Computer-Aided Approach
Book Author: Eugene Ackerman and Lael Cranmer Gatewood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1979
Reviewed by Dwight Hines, Ph.D., Bangor Mental Health Institute, Bangor, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Page 119, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Most books with impressive encompassing titles such as this one are multi-editored, multi-authored disappointments. Ackerman and Gatewood have written an excellent book that can be used as a core reference. It is difficult to pan this book. The material is up to date (the inclusion of Walsh as well as Fourier), the references are solid, and the style is sweet.

Calculator Calculus
Book Author: George McCarty. Laguna Beach, CA: EduCalc Publications, 1980
Reviewed by Dwight Hines, Ph.D., Bangor Mental Health Institute, Bangor, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Page 120-121, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available. This is one of two books, both reviewed simultaneously.] There are only two calculus books that I think are comparable to the books being reviewed. Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus Thompson (MacMillan, 1st Edition, 1910: the 3rd edition is now in the 10th printing) is the classic. Thompson based his book on the idea that “What one fool can do, another can.” Neither of these books [second book listed below] can compare with Thompson’s for coverage, style, and presentation. Indeed, the second book (Prof.) is more appropriate to psychedelic lights than to trasnferring knowledge. It is written in comic strip style with a senseless humor that may appeal to teenagers, though the content is so restricted that I think exposure to it may damage their mathematical growth. I found McSquared’s book to be repulsive.

Prof. E. McSquared’s Fantastic Original and Highly Edifying Calculus Primer
Book Author: Howard Swann and John Johnson. Los Altos, CA: William Kauffman, Inc., 1977
Reviewed by Dwight Hines, Ph.D., Bangor Mental Health Institute, Bangor, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Page 120-121, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available. This is one of two books, both reviewed simultaneously.] There are only two calculus books that I think are comparable to the books being reviewed. Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus Thompson (MacMillan, 1st Edition, 1910: the 3rd edition is now in the 10th printing) is the classic. Thompson based his book on the idea that “What one fool can do, another can.” Neither of these books [first book listed above] can compare with Thompson’s for coverage, style, and presentation. Indeed, the second book (Prof. ) is more appropriate to psychedelic lights than to trasnferring knowledge. It is written in comic strip style with a senseless humor that may appeal to teenagers, though the content is so restricted that I think exposure to it may damage their mathematical growth. I found McSquared’s book to be repulsive.

Methods of Behavioral Research
Book Author: E.A. Serafetinides (Editor). New York: Grune and Stratton, 1979
Reviewed by Dwight Hines, Ph.D., Bangor Mental Health Institute, Bangor, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1981, Vol. 2, No. 1, Page 121, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This book is not recommended for purchase. Some of the articles are published in similar form elsewhere; some of the topics are explained in greater detail in journals such as American Scientist, Scientific American or Psychology Today. One of the problems with articles may have been the editor’s request for the authors to present their formulations before a “live and critical audience before writing chapters for this book.” I wonder who was in the critical audience.

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