Albert I. Rabin

Research with the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Adults: 1965–1970

Research of the past 5 years with the adult Wechsler scales is critically reviewed. Most investigators used the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Topical coverage includes: comparative validity; short forms; special populations and applications; refinements and critiques; personality correlates; investigations of diagnostic value; special diagnostic groups; and scatter, patterns, and diagnosis. The 260 articles reviewed show that there is no diminution in the number of researches in the area. While the quality of the research has improved, too many investigators repeat the errors contained in earlier studies, despite the periodic publication of these critical reviews.

FAMILY AND COMMUNALLY RAISED (KIBBUTZ) CHILDREN 20 YEARS LATER: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA*

Abstract Two groups of individuals, one made up of persons raised in the kibbutz communal system, and the other of persons raised in traditional families, who had been first studied in 1955 as part of a comparative research project, were studied again twenty years later. The follow-up study included 146 individuals, amounting to 85% of the original groups, whose average age in 1975 was around 30. The two groups were compared on several aspects of psychosocial functioning, such as place of residence, work, marital status, military service and psychosomatic symptoms. The similarities and the differences between the two groups are discussed in the context of the two respective child rearing systems.

Concerning the Rationale of Diagnostic Testing

Early in the history of clinical psychology, the use of tests for the purposes of diagnosis and classification was self-evident. It was readily understood that the diagnostic enterprise was an indispensable part of the functioning of the clinical psychologist. In more recent years, the diagnostic function in general and that of testing in particular is no longer self-evident. Consequently, it has become necessary to review the reasons for the diagnostic activity and to present a convincing rationale for it.

Diagnostic Procedures in the Criminal Justice System

Discretion exists in determining whether an individual will be entered into the criminal justice system. Victims may refuse to file complaints or swear out arrest warrants, the police may fail to make arrests, or prosecutors may drop a case for one reason or another. However, once an individual has been entered into the criminal justice proceedings by criminal charges being brought against him, he is subject to a process in which there is a considerable amount of discretion that is used in the application of legal sanctions. Legal decisions to which an accused may be subjected include not only the enforcement of those sanctions defined by law but also the determination of whether the individual should be excused from the application of those sanctions. Legal determinations that are exclusionary in function are predominantly concerned with the mental or emotional makeup of the individual. When the defendant’s condition is such as to indicate the presence of a mental illness, an initial consideration for exclusion from the criminal proceedings is that of determining his competency to stand trial. Our legal system is designed to exclude those mentally ill individuals who are unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against them or to assist in their own defense. Mental illness may also be a determinant that excludes the application of legal sanctions as an excusing factor implied in the verdict of “not guilty by reason of insanity.” These decisions require the input of medical and psychological data on which the legal decisions may be based.