The Journal of Mind and Behavior

Volume 2, Number 3, Autumn

Inventing Psychology’s Past: E.G. Boring’s Historiography in Relation to the Psychology of his Time
Barry N. Kelly, University of Winnipeg
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 229-242, ISSN 0271-0137
Boring’s eminence as a historian of psychology has sometimes obscured the fact that he wrote his histories from a very specific historiographic view. This meant that both his interpretation of the past and his hopes for the psychology of the future were influenced by specific political and administrative and methodological purposes in the organization of the psychology of his time. This paper explores some of these issues by examining the relationship between Boring’s selective historiographic principles and the kinds of psychology he favored as being most truly scientific.

Requests for reprints should be sent to B.N. Kelly, Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 2E9.

The Psychodynamics of the Navajo Coyoteway Ceremonial
Daniel Merkur, York University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 243-258, ISSN 0271-0137
The traditional hunting ritualism of the Navajo Indians, as reconstructed from ethnological literature, uses symbolic lycanthropy to produce catharsis of the horror and guilt of the hunt. When the psychogenic function of the ritualism fails, hunting neurosis develops, taking a form described in myth as a transformation into Coyote. Religious lycanthropy inspires the symbolism of repetition-compulsions. The Coyoteway ceremonial addresses the neurosis by re-inducing lycanthropy before exorcising the possessing god, Coyote. This enactment of an ecstatic rite of initiation into hunting ritualism provides insights into the origin and artificial nature of the neurosis, channels guilt outward by exteriorizing Coyote (a symbol for guilt), and provides a format for working through these matters. The native psychotherapy of the Navajo Chanter provides a cure, rather than a remission of symptoms alone.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Daniel Merkur, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Hemispheric Asymmetry as Indexed by Differences in Direction of Initial Conjugate Lateral Eye-Movements (CLEMs) in Response to Verbal, Spatial, and Emotional Tasks
Kenneth Hugdahl and Horst E. Carlgren, University of Uppsala
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 259-270, ISSN 0271-0137
Following previous research showing frequency and direction of conjugate lateral eye-movements (CLEMs) to be a valid indicator of hemispheric asymmetry (Schwartz, Davidson, & Maer, 1975), the purpose of the present experiment was to investigate frequency and direction of CLEMs in relation to verbal, spatial, and emotional tasks. The basic design was a 4 x 2 factorial with four types of questions presented under two levels of stress. Results showed a significantly higher frequency of right movements to verbal non-emotional questions, indicating left hemisphere dominance, and a higher frequency of left movements to spatial and emotional questions indicating right hemisphere dominance. No effect of the stress manipulation was found. The results support previous findings of a functional relationship between hemispheric functioning in the intact brain and direction of lateral eye-movements.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Kenneth Hugdahl, Department of Psychology, University of Uppsala, Box 227, S-75104 Uppsala, Sweden.

Approaches to Consciousness in North American Academic Psychology
John Osborne, University of Alberta
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 271-292, ISSN 0271-0137
This paper argues that increased interest in consciousness, in North American academic psychology, has not been accompanied by an appreciation of the possible value in approaching such an inscrutable subject from several perspectives. Inadequacies of dialectics and materialism, as currently powerful influences upon approaches to consciousness, are discussed. Some of the difficulties of current approaches to consciousness within the field of cognitive psychology are also discussed. Subjective approaches to consciousness, often criticised as unscientific, are presented as viable alternatives. Recent speculations about reality, cosmology and brain processes, in the form of a holographic model, are presented as one new metaphor which may lead to an increased understanding of consciousness. A plea is made for keeping metaphysical and paradigmatic options open rather than fortifying current values.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. John Osborne, University of Alberta, Department of Educational Psychology, 6-102 Education North, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5.

Memory and Literary Structures
Eugene F. Timpe, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 293-308, ISSN 0271-0137
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that recent findings by psychologists in the realm of human memory can be useful in describing and explaining some of the elements of written literary expression; they even in fact may contribute to a new definition of the term “literary.” There are two general aspects of the subject. While many of the rhetorical devices of literary discourse are based upon STM, it is authorial use of LTM formats which can invest a literary work with credibility, structure, and emphases. STM limits the size of rhetorical elements, shows senstivity to uniqueness, processes via continuing circulation, and responds to acoustical stimuli – all of which form bases for a number of rhetorical techniques, including rhyme, parallelism, and subordination. Contemporary theories on the processes of LTM, on the other hand, provide explanations for the most common prose narrative schemata. For characterization and dialogue, use of the LTM mode for recall of the whole through one of the parts (external, integral, or contextual) lends credence to literary works. Additionally, dramatic emphases within narrational patterns can be sharpened when time is provided in the literary structure for memory trace consolidation in LTM.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Eugene Timpe, Ph.D., Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901.

Identity Status in Politically Active Pro and Anti ERA Women
Sandra Prince-Embury, Pennsylvania State University, Capitol Campus, and Iva E. Deutchman, University of Pennsylvania
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 309-322, ISSN 0271-0137
Interviews of twelve politically active, female proponents and opponents of the Equal Rights Amendment were content analyzed for differences in identity status as indicated by relative adherence to parental attitudes, idalization of parent figures, and absoluteness in thinking. Proponents gave more manifestation of Achievement identity status; opponents gave more manifestation of Foreclosure identity status. Theoretical implications of relating identity status to the Equal Rights Amendment are discussed.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Sandra Prince-Embury, Ph.D., Community Psychology Program, Pennsylvania State University, The Capitol Campus, Middletown, Pennsylvania 17057.

Role Playing and Personality Changes in House-Tree-Persons Drawings
Gertrude R. Schmeidler, City College of the City University of New York
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 323-330, ISSN 0271-0137
To examine needs for esteem or achievement versus safety, 50 psychology students were asked to assume an active (intrusive) and a quiet (incorporative) role for House-Tree-Persons drawings. Each subject made all three drawings in both roles. To find whether role behavior showed merely cognitive appraisal of appropriate reponses, i.e., simulation, or showed a mood shift as if subjects were “living their roles,” an unobtrusive measure was used. Subjects were told to write their names on the back of each drawing, ostensibly for identification. For 45 subjects not aware that their 6 signatures might be a reponse measure, signatures were significantly larger in the active than the quiet role. This indicates that they had an authentic mood change with the changed role enactment. Tree drawings werw a second unobtrusive measure. As hypothesized, they shifted significantly between open, erect trees in the active role and closed or drooping trees in the quiet role. This suggests that role playing can usefully supplement single personality tests to indicate the range of an individual’s reaction in different situations, and thus measure his or her flexibility.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler, The City College of the City University of New York, Department of Psychology, Convent Avenue at 138th Street, New York City, New York 10031.

The Reality of Operationism: A Rejoinder
Howard H. Kendler, University of California, Santa Barbara
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 331-342, ISSN 0271-0137
Leahey’s view of operationism (1980), offered with the framework of his conception of philosophy of science, ignores the merits of operational definitions in revealing the observational base of concepts and in facilitating communication. These merits are revealed in a methodological analysis of operationism from the viewpoint of the researcher. Brief operational analyses of the concepts of intelligence and self-actualization illustrate the positive contributions of operationism. Operational definitions do not, however, give the “full meaning” of concepts. It is necessary to distinguish between four kinds of meanings: operational, empirical, intuitive, and theoretical. Within this context operationism can contribute to the understanding of scientific concepts.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Howard H. Kendler, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106.

Operationism Still Isn’t Real: A Temporary Reply to Kendler
Thomas H. Leahey, Virginia Commonwealth University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 343-348, ISSN 0271-0137
Kendler’s defense of operationism is briefly rebutted, pending a fuller reply. After a few minor disagreements are dispensed with, problems with Kendler’s account are raised. It is argued that Kendler’s own examples of operational definition either demonstrate that when useful, they aren’t operational, or when operational, they aren’t useful. Nor does my critique depend on Kuhnian repudiation of “immaculate perception.” Most importantly, however, Kendler’s attempt to detach operationism from its philosophical context merely smuggles that context into psychology unexamined.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Tom Leahey, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 810 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23284.

Book Reviews

Psychobattery: A Chronicle of Psychotherapeutic Abuse
Book Author: Therese Spitzer. Clifton, New Jersey: The Humana Press, 1980
Reviewed by Raymond C. Russ, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 349-352, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Although a bit weighted in case studies, which hint at obvious self-selection of material with the author’s bias firmly in mind,Psychobattery is a well organized, competently written book. Ironically, the chapter this reviewer had the freatest difficulty with was Chapter Five, written from the medical viewpoint by the author’s husband, who is also a physician. Statements that are primed to convince the reader that the medical approach is not only the most logical approach that a practitioner must adopt in the treatment of mental disease, but also the most fundamental, leaves me shaking my head at a pedanticism that is a bit too obvious. For example, in Chapter Five the author writes: “No one, of course, suggests that people must keep their own diseased hearts, livers, kidneys, or gall bladders in line without pills” (p. 74). This statement may not only be a frighteningly predictable line for a physician to espouse, but it is also unequivocably false, as the popular Bateson-Pelletier experiments can attest to…

The Eagle’s Gift
Book Author: Carlos Castaneda. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981
Reviewed by Edward M. Covello, Pacific-Sierra Research Corporation, Santa Monica, California
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 353-356, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] The Eagle’s Gift is Castaneda’s sixth book in the don Juan series, and readers will find that it is similar in style and contents to The Second Ring of Power (Castaneda, 1977). Like the first five books in the series, The Eagle’s Gift can be loosely classified as anthropological fiction, but can be distinguished from the other books by Castaneda’s attempt at systematizing the religious underpinnings and cosmological significance of sorcery.

Agoraphobia: Multiform Behavioral Treatment
Book Author: S. Fishman. New York: BMA Audio Cassette Publications, 1980
Reviewed by Geoffrey L. Thorpe and Gary S. Barnes, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 357-362, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Agoraphobia is a complex and many-faceted syndrome that has presented a strong therapeutic challenge to clinicians of various theoretical orientations. Often misdefined as “fear of open spaces,” agoraphobia is in fact a cluster of problems centering on fear of the fear reaction itself. Common foci for concern in agoraphobia are (1) fear of traveling away from home or safety; (2) fear of crowded, public places; (3) fear of confinement, or of feeling trapped (for example, as involved in using an elevator, or even in making a commitment of some kind); and (4) fear of the panic reaction that may be experienced in any of these situations (Marks, 1970). It has been suggested that agoraphobics tend to be passive, dependent individuals who lack a sense of personal resourcefulness or effectiveness; that they tend also to have difficulties in identifying and classifying their emotional reactions, often making errors of attribution (regarding anxiety, for example, as emanating from current surroundings rather than from a recent painful conversation with a significant other person); and that their phobic problems develop in a climate of conflict, often interpersonal (Goldstein & Chamless, 1978). Other writers alert therapists to the likelihood that the agoraphobic client will need additional treatment for depression, unassertiveness, and marital maladjustment (for a review, see Thorpe, et al., in press). A controversial issue discussed recently by Hafner (1976) and other surrounds the agoraphobic’s marriage: resolution of the specific phobic complaints may lead to the emergence of marital crises, or even to “fresh sympton emergence.” Whereas there is evidence of a reciprocity between agoraphobia and overt marital conflict in some cases (Hand & Lamontagne, 1976), other writers fail to find such effects even in clients followed-up for four years or more (Emmelkamp & Kuipers, 1979).

Table of Isotopes
Book Authors: C. Michael Lederer and Virginia S. Shirley (Editors). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1978
Reviewed by C.T. Hess, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 363-364, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] The Table of Isoptopes, seventh edition, by C. Michael Leder and Virginia S. Shirley has changed a great deal since the Table of Isoptopes, sixth edition, by C. Michael Lederer, Jack M. Hollander, Isadore Perlman. The contents have changed from 448 pages of radioisotope data and level properties to 1523 pages of isotopes with a nine page isotope index, and halflife or abundance list. This is partly due to the increase in number of nuclides from under 1900 to more than 2600. I find the new lists more complete ub level information but also more difficult to use for finding a particular branching ration. This is compensated by the increase in the significant figures for the gamma decay energies. The mass chains are now reduced in size and the amount of information in lists on each page is very much increased. The density of levels has increased significantly for particular nuclides due to use of several experiments for each nuclide. A great many more high energy states are shown in the new edition, as well as more spins, parities and branching ratios. Comparisons are given for levels which may be observed by different reactions, a result which is useful in understanding the particle or hole nature of the state involved. The deformed shell model assignments are given for many deformed nuclei which is a change from the sixth edition. The references are now by journal and date rather than by author name for most cases although some retain the identity of authors in proceedings of conferences. The author name loss is somewhat compensated by the smaller size of the reference; but it is hard to remember the paper; for example, PR 97 1092 (55). With all its limitations, I would recommend this new “Table of Isotopes”; I have a hardbound copy for my office and a soft-bound copy for the lab.

The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design
Book Author: Urie Brofenbrenner. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979
Reviewed by Anne L. Hess, Student Health Center, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 365-370, ISSN 0271-0137
 [Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Dr. Brofenbrenner’s contributions to the field of psychology and to developmental psychology in particular have a very long and very fine history. This book seems to be the latest contribution and represents his thinking and synthesizing about the development of human beings probably over much of his professional life. The book has a tremendous appeal in reflecting some of the recent trends towards looking at humans not as entities onto themselves but as being only one part of a very large and complex system. To quote from his own introductory work, he says “The present work is motivated by my conviction that further advance in the scientific understanding of the basic intrapsychic and interpersonal processes of human development requires their investigation in the actual environments both immediate and remote in which human beings live. This task demands the construction of a theoretical schema that will permit the systematic description and analysis of these contexts, their interconnections and the processes through which these structures and linkages can affect the course of development both directly and indirectly.” Bronfenbrenner has taken on a very large task indeed. Overall, it seems that he has done an admirable job of attempting to develop such a system.

Clinical and Experimental Neurology: Proceedings of the Australian Association of Neurologists
John Tyre and Mervyn Eadie (Editors). Baltimore: Unversity Park Press, Volume 14 (1977), Volume 15 (1978), and Volume 16 (1979)
Reviewed by Anne L. Hess, Student Health Center, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 371-372, ISSN 0271-0137
 [Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This three volume series, the latest in a longer series, sets forth the papers presented by an extremely diverse group of researchers and practitioners. The papers range from epidemiological studies and cast studies to some basic and clinical research. So many authors and papers are presented that no attempt will be made to review them separately except when a paper illustrates a particularly interesting point.

UV-A: Biological Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation with Emphasis on Human Responses to Longware Ultraviolet
Book Authors: John A. Parrish, R. Rox Anderson, Frederich Urbach and Donald Pitts. New York: Plenum Press, 1978
Reviewed by James A. Rooney, Physics Department, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 1981, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 373-374, ISSN 0271-0137
 [Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This book provides a review of current knowledge about longwave ultraviolet radiation with particular emphasis on human biological responses and criteria for human exposure. The emphasis in the book is on effects from the longer wavelength UV-A (320-400 nm) while comparisons are made to effects of other wavelengths (UV-B and C) in order to place these in perspective. This emphasis is particularly important because of the need for greater understanding of effects from this spectral region. The amount of UV-A reaching the earth’s surface is much greater than that of shorter wavelengths – photosensitive reactions are mostly mediated by UV-A and it can potentiate effects of other wavelengths. In addition, UV-A is transmitted by most window glass and plastics that do not transmit the shorter wavelengths.

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