Donald R. Brown

Reciprocal Interaction and Similarity of Personality Attributes

In a study of the relationship between similarity of personality and interaction choices, 336 students gave up to ten choices within fifty person classes. Personality variables were measured two years before sociometric choices (before acquaintance) and at the time of the choices. Reciprocal interaction pairs were more similar on a derived authoritarianism scale of the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) than no-choice pairs at the time of the choices, but not more similar before they became acquainted. Religious items accounted for the increased similarity. A Guttman scale of religious items was identified and scores were related to sociometric spaces generated with Guttman-Lingoes smallest space analysis. Church affiliation did not explain reciprocal interaction choices, but church attendance was weakly related to choices, with reciprocal pairs being more similar than no-choice pairs on frequency of attendance. Reciprocal interaction pairs which persisted to the fourth year were more similar on intellectualism than persistent nochoice pairs and more similar than reciprocal interaction pairs which did not persist. These findings suggest that similarity leads to interaction and that interaction leads to increased similarity.

Professional identity and academic achievement—considerations for the admission process

No abstract available.

On becoming a physician: Perspectives of students in combined baccalaureate‐MD degree programs

Students entering the first year of nine combined baccalaureate‐MD degree (CD) programs were administered the Matriculating Student Questionnaire (MSQ) of the Association of American Medical Colleges. A profile of the CD students’ perspectives on becoming a physician was compared with the profile of traditional medical students who responded to the MSQ. CD students chose medicine as a career goal earlier in life than their traditional counterparts. They also had more positive perceptions of medicine. Their decisions regarding future career interests in medicine differed in some respects from those of traditional students. Larger percentages of CD students were female, had Asian backgrounds, and had physician fathers. The views of CD students were partly related to the type of CD program they attended and to demographic/background characteristics, including age, which was suggested by preliminary comparisons between premedical students and CD students.

A Life Span Study of Liberal Arts and Professional Groups on Personal and Intellective Growth

A 13-year longitudinal evaluational and research programme has been carried out on 13 classes of students and controls in a special integrated humanities, social science and medical programme resulting in a A.B. — and M.D. in six years (Inteflex).

Personality Change as a Validation of the Bereiter Differential-Change Scales

change measurement enterprise: (1) when the correlation between pretest and post test is high the range of differences between pairs of scores is small and therefore reliability is low, but when the correlation between the two tests is small they can not be said to be measuring the same thing; (2) since equal amounts of change along objective score continua may not represent equal psychological intervals (change and initial status being negatively correlated) the researcher is offered a choice between objective scales of measurement which are meaningless, or meaningful ones which are subjec-