Karl E. Scheibe

Prevalence and implications of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder among adolescents in treatment for substance abuse.

OBJECTIVE Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is overrepresented among adults and adolescents in treatment for substance abuse. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of ADHD and to elucidate differences among adolescent substance abusers relative to ADHD symptomatology. METHOD The Wender Utah Rating Scale and the Self-Evaluation (Teenagers) Self-Report were used to evaluate childhood history of ADHD and current symptoms, respectively, and the Child Attention Problems Scale was completed by treatment program clinicians. A quantitative substance use history and a subjective substance use interview were also administered. RESULTS A total of 50% of 14 females and 16 males, ranging in age from 14 to 19, met study criteria for ADHD. ADHD subjects began drug use at an earlier age, had more severe substance abuse, and had a more negative self-image prior to drug use and improved self-image with drug use. They experienced more negative affective responses related to substance use and more drug craving and attentional difficulties in treatment than control subjects. CONCLUSIONS The results support a substantial comorbidity of ADHD among adolescent substance abusers, with indications of drug use for self-medication. Counseling for ADHD and medication may be indicated to improve treatment outcome and future functioning.

Color association values and response interference on variants of the Stroop test

Abstract A simple mediation model is applied to the Stroop phenomenon of response interference on color word naming tasks. A prediction is educed that as the degree of color association value for sets of words vary, the extent of response interference will vary directly. Five different lists, including three distinct levels of color associativity, were used in a repeated measurement Latin Square design. Results indicate a close correspondence between color association value and response interference. Word frequency is discussed as an important antecedent variable for response interference, whose role remains to be defined. It is suggested that a highly precise model for predicting interference times is feasible.

Emotions as Narrative Emplotments

Over the past few years, I have asked more than 30 adults, most of them psychologists, to define the term “emotion.” After each respondent formulated a definition, I asked him or her to give me an instance, an illustration, of emotion drawn from observation of self or others. Little uniformity characterized the off-the-cuff definitions save for one feature. Almost all the respondents included in their definitions a locus for emotion: inside the body. The psychologists in my sample phrased their definitions with the language of psychophysiology, sometimes elegantly. The agreement on bodily locus is not surprising—all of us have been exposed to the writings of several generations of textbook authors who composed chapters on emotion with the vocabulary of psychophysiology. These authors were indebted to the work of earlier exponents of this paradigm. William James and Walter B. Cannon, each in his own way, focused research and theory on emotion as internal happenings. An examination of current textbooks shows no break with this tradition.

Disordered Eating in Female Alcohol-Dependent Inpatients: Prevalence and Associated Psychopathology

Abstract This studys aims were twofold: to examine the prevalence rate of eating disorders in women hospitalized for substance abuse treatment and to analyze differences in psychopathology of three patient groups: 25 alcohol-dependent women without comorbid eating disorders, 15 alcohol-dependent women with partial syndromes of eating disorders, and 41 eating-disordered women without comorbid psychoactive substance use disorders. A higher prevalence rate of eating disorder synptomatology (38%) was detected among inpatient alcohol-dependent women than is found in studies examining community samples. Subjects diagnosed with comorbid eating disorder symptoms and alcohol dependence scored signijicantly higher than those with alcohol dependence alone on scales measuring borderline personality disorder. Subjects with comorbidity also scored significantly higher on bonlerline, antisocial, and bbolar scales than those with single diagnoses of eating disorders. Results indicate that, for better assessment and trea...

Hypnotically induced deafness and delayed auditory feedback: A comparison of real and simulating subjects

Abstract Preliminary research indicates that hypnotically induced deafness may reduce the speech inhibiting effects of delayed auditory feedback (DAF). The present experiment was conducted to compare real and simulating hypnotic Ss with respect to the improvement in speech consequent to the suggestion of deafness. Results indicate very similar improvements of DAF speech for both real and simulating Ss. An incidental finding is that real Ss have longer simple reading times under hypnosis than do simulating Ss in this experiment.

The Narrative as the Root Metaphor for Contextualism

My goal in this essay is, first, to clarify the notion of root metaphor, and, second, to propose the narrative as the root metaphor for contextualism. The root metaphor method is indispensable to an understanding of worldviews, metaphysical systems, or scientific paradigms. For Pepper (1942), the root metaphor for contextualism is the historical act. It is my intention to unpack the historical act and to show that the subtext of the historical act is narrative. In the latter part of my paper I discuss some features of narrative that support my claim that it is an appropriate root metaphor for contextualism.

The Social Regulation of Responses to Moral Dilemmas among Brazilian Schoolchildren

Procedures developed by Bronfenbrenner for assessing the responses of children to moral dilemmas were applied to 234 brazilian children. Three forms of a questionnaire were administered under conditions in which responses were ostensibly to be reviewed by adults, by peers, or, in the base condition, by no group at all. Unlike the typical pattern of results when this technique has been applied in other countries, the Brazilian children were unaffected by the three experimental treatments. The general level of responses which corresponded to adult morality was quite high-higher than for any sample obtained in the Western Hemisphere. Sex differences for the Brazilian sample were atypical in that male responses tended to be more moralistic than female responses. Comparative data are presented on 19 previous applications of these procedures.

The effect of value on statements of expectancy under four experimental conditions

Two hypotheses were put forth with respect to the relationship of value to statements of expectancy. First, given a specific sequence and relative frequency of a set of outcomes, the perception that the outcomes are skill-influenced will result in expectancy statements biased in direct relationship to the values of the outcomes. Secondly, forcing a distinction in expectations regarding events which are equally likely introduces a bias directly related to the values of the outcomes. Four groups of 10 subjects each were run under four experimental conditions. These were, Skill-Forced rank-order; Skill-Equal rank option; Chance-Forced rank-order; and Chance-Equal rank option. Both major hypotheses were supported by the data. In the discussion it was emphasized that the Skill-Chance dimension must be taken into serious consideration in research on expectancies (subjective probabilities) and that it is advisable to liberalize the judgment categories provided for expectancies in order to minimize the danger of artifactual bias.

The Deconstruction of Stereotypes: Homosexuals and Military Policy

Four years ago, Captain Kenneth Karols and I submitted to the Department of Defense a draft report in which we recommended that research be undertaken, the results of which might facilitate the integration of gay men and lesbians into the armed forces. The recommendation followed from a historical and social psychological analysis, and also from the expectation that continuing pressures from civil rights advocates would influence the president, the Congress, or the Courts to rescind the discriminatory policy. On the basis of our conclusions that stereotypes, rather than empirically confirmed facts, provided the support for the resistance to changing the exclusionary policy, the recommended research would have focused on ways and means of deconstructing stereotypes (Sarbin & Karols, 1988). Our recommendation fell on deaf ears.

An Empirical Assault on the Predict Ability of Sequential Binary Choices

An experiment with two replications is reported in which subjects attempt to evade prediction by a computer over aseries of binary choices. The computer routines include a control condition of complete randomization and four routines that make predictions on the basis ofinformation obtained from individual subjects concerning conditional probabilities of event choice. Prediction routines use information from the last trial only (same or different, won or lost) or for the two previous trials (eight combinations of same or different, won or lost). Two routines maximize predictions and two match predictions with estimates of conditional probabilities. Results show a consistent effect of both main variables on gain in predictive efficiency and also a significant interaction.