James L. Carroll

VIEWING MUSIC-VIDEOTAPES BEFORE TAKING A TEST OF PREMARITAL SEXUAL ATTITUDES

Three groups of students (N = 151) were exposed to one of three conditions. Participants in two groups viewed either an Amy Grant or Madonna music videotape and completed an 18-item survey of sexual attitudes. A third group only received the survey. Chi-squared analysis identified many differences between the groups including gender differences in attitude. In general, viewers of the Madonna videotape expressed more liberal attitudes than either of the other two groups. Men tended to be more liberal than women, and the control group was less favorable toward premarital sexual relations than either of the video-viewing groups.

Correlation between Humorous Coping Style and Health

A significant correlation of −0.34 was found between scores on the Situational Humor Response Questionnaire and a measure of perceived physical health for 51 college students. Mean scores on the questionnaire were similar to those of the original standardization population.

Academic self-concept and teachers' perceptions of normal, mentally retarded, and learning disabled elementary students

The self-concepts of educable mentally impaired, learning disabled, and nonhandicapped children were assessed using the Student Self-Evaluation (SSE), Teacher Evaluation Scale (TES), and How I See Myself (HISM) test. A Groups × Age × Sex analysis of covariance, with IQ effects statistically controlled, was computed for each measure. On the SSE, the groups were significantly different, with nonhandicapped students having better self-concepts than learning disabled students, and learning disabled students having better self-concepts than educable mentally impaired students. Teacher estimates of self-concept (TES) indicated that nonhandicapped students have better self-concepts than have handicapped students. For the HISM scores, there was a Group × Sex interaction, but no significant main effects; there was no consistent pattern to the interactions. The results suggest that handicapped children, as a group, have a lower self-concept than have nonhandicapped children. Implications for educational programming and future research are offered.

USES OF HUMOR IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Given demonstrated usefulness in facilitating learning, aiding healing, and reducing stress, humor has gained recognition as a clinical tool. This article reviews some uses and potential misuses of humor in psychotherapy and suggests directions for practice and research.

The relationship between the millon clinical multiaxial inventory and the MMPI in a private outpatient mental health clinic population

The concurrent validity of the MCMI as compared to the MMPI was assessed by administering both tests to 106 newly admitted outpatients and calculating the intercorrelations between these two tests. Of the 20 MCMI scales, 12 were found to correlate with the MMPI in a manner that suggested that they do measure some degree of personality dysfunction, emotional disturbance, or specific psychological symptomatology. Eight of the MCMI scales failed to show correlations that would indicate that they effectively measure any of the pathological personality characteristics or clinically significant symptom patterns known to be measured by the MMPI.

CHANGES IN HUMOR APPRECIATION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

79 college students were administered the IPAT Humor Test of Personality. No differences were found between men and women in their humor appreciation. The sample was compared with the 1963 population norms and many changes were found for both sexes.

Visual-Motor Ability of Children with Articulation Disorders

The present study was done to assess differences between children with diagnosed functional articulation disorders and a control group on the variable of visual-motor ability. A group of 34 elementary children with articulation problems were matched with a control group of 34 for sex, age, and grade. Both groups were administered the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation and the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test—Revised. Analysis indicated that children with articulation problems performed significantly lower on visual-motor skills.

Comparison of nonpsychiatric blacks and whites on the MMPI

The literature indicates inconsistent results when MMPI differences between black Ss and white Ss were investigated. In general, most studies found that blacks responded in a more pathological direction. However, previous studies can be criticized because they have used students, prisoners, and hospital patients as Ss with variables that were controlled inconsistently and varied widely. In this study a comparison was made of MMPI scales for 56 black and 56 white males who were full-time employees of a large chemical company. Ss were matched for age, education, occupation, seniority, mental ability level, and socioeconomic level. The 10 standard clinical and 3 validity MMPI scales were recorded for each S as well as six experimental scales: Control (C), Dependency (DPD), Dominance (DOM), Ego Strength (ES), Anxiety Index (AI), and Internalization Ratio (IR). Using K corrected T-scores for the MMPI scales, a repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that subtests and group X subtests were significant. More specifically, blacks scored significantly higher than white Ss on the MA scale, and white Ss scored significantly higher than blacks on the PA, C, DOM, and Es scales. While the present study did find significant differences between black and white Ss on the MMPI, the scores were all well within the normal range (T less than 70), and all scales but two were less than 60.

Assessment of Short-Term Visual Memory and its Educational Implications

Short-term visual memory has attracted the attention of psychologists and educators for years. The present review examines some of the most widely used tests of short-term memory for visual form in relation to academic achievement. While a number of studies report significant relationships between short-term visual memory and reading ability, some data are equivocal. The paucity of hard data on the effectiveness of remediation is discussed; suggestions for testing memory functions in very young children are offered.

Giftedness and Creativity: Recent Attempts at Definition: A Literature Review.

Dr. Carroll and his colleague are in the department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 48859. The subject of giftedness has concerned philosophers, psychologists, and educators for thousands of years. Despite the efforts of numerous researchers, defining giftedness appears to be a timeless problem. Presently there is still no universally accepted definition of giftedness and a real need