Stephen P. Joy

Decoding digit symbol: speed, memory, and visual scanning.

The authors evaluated the relative contributions of speed, memory, and visual scanning to Digit Symbol score in a sample of young adults (N = 87). Speed (Symbol Copy) explained 35% of Digit Symbol variance; only half of this was attributable to graphomotor speed (Name Printing), implying a role for perceptual speed. Visual-scanning tests (e.g., Symbol Scan) explained (on average) 34% of Digit Symbol variance, much of which was independent of perceptual-motor speed, establishing an important role for visual-scanning efficiency in Digit Symbol performance. By contrast, memory tests (on average) explained only 4% to 5% of Digit Symbol variance: statistically significant but clearly subsidiary, although a visual memory composite correlated more strongly with Digit Symbol. The Digit Symbol incidental learning procedures did, however, correlate moderately with other memory measures, suggesting that they are valid memory screening devices.

Speed and memory in WAIS-R-NI Digit Symbol performance among healthy older adults.

Although roles have been proposed for both graphomotor speed and learning in the execution of Digit Symbol, few data have been available concerning performance across the adult lifespan on the Symbol Copy, paired associates, or free recall measures derived from Digit Symbol and recommended in the WAIS-R-NI. We report findings on 177 healthy older adults (ages 50-90), providing normative data by age group, education level, and gender. As previously reported, Digit Symbol scores decline steeply with age (r = -.64). Symbol Copy speed declines almost as steeply (r = -.58). Incidental learning, however, declines only modestly (r = -.26 on both measures). Symbol Copy is a far stronger correlate of Digit Symbol (r = .72) than are paired associates or free recall (r = .26 and r = .28, respectively). The 2 incidental learning measures do, however, offer valuable supplementary information as part of a comprehensive individual assessment. When low Digit Symbol scores are produced by slowing on Symbol Copy, further evaluation of perceptual and motor speed and dexterity are indicated. When low incidental learning scores are obtained, further evaluation of memory is warranted. Qualitative analysis of errors (e.g., rotations) made on the incidental learning procedures may also be valuable.

What Should I Be Doing, and Where Are They Doing It? Scholarly Productivity of Academic Psychologists:

Scholarly productivity is used to index faculty achievement, but normative data on publication rates among academic psychologists are scarce. This article presents the results of a study of 1,216 faculty members from 96 schools, ranging from elite research universities to minor undergraduate colleges. As expected, faculty members at research universities publish the most, followed by those at elite 4-year schools and other doctoral institutions. Institutional prestige has little effect on productivity, except that elite universities employ a greater proportion of truly eminent scholars than other schools do. The fact that many of these scholars are hired by elite schools after achieving eminence elsewhere suggests that financial prowess, rather than institutional climate, produces the latter effect. Academics at all of these types of schools tend to continue publishing throughout their careers; achieving tenure has little effect on their subsequent scholarship. Faculty members at masters universities and lesser 4-year schools publish less than others and tend to cease publication activity after about 10 years, presumably upon receiving tenure. Males tend to publish more than females during the initial push for tenure, but not thereafter; females, unlike males, tend to increase their publication rates as they mature professionally. A subset of highly productive males who are moving toward more prestigious types of schools accounts for much of the remaininggender difference. The number of predoctoral publications is a relatively weak predictor of postdoctoral scholarship.

Personality and Creativity in Art and Writing: Innovation Motivation, Psychoticism, and (Mal)Adjustment

Undergraduates (N = 68) completed inventories measuring innovation motivation (need to be different and innovation expectancy), psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism, and symptomatic distress, as well as a sentence completion measure of adjustment. They also wrote lyric poems using an associative procedure and completed house–tree–person drawings. Poems were scored for originality and arousal potential and independently judged for quality by two college writing instructors. Drawings were scored for original features and independently judged for quality by two art therapists. The need to be different and current adjustment problems correlated significantly with both originality scores and judged creativity on both tasks, often interacting to explain much of the variance in creativity. Innovation expectancy and psychoticism displayed significant correlations with some creativity measures. Originality scoring and expert judgment correlated well on both tasks. Originality and judged creativity correlated significantly across creative domains, supporting a domain-general view of creativity.

Digit Symbol-Incidental Learning in the WAIS-III: construct validity and clinical significance.

We analyzed WAIS-III/WMS-III standardization data for evidence of the construct validity and clinical utility of the Digit Symbol – Incidental Learning procedures (Pairing and Free Recall). Scores on both tests correlated moderately with WMS-III memory index scores (mean r = .38 for Pairing and .36 for Free Recall). Cutoff scores can be used to identify younger and older adults likely to suffer from memory impairment. In the standardization sample (which excludes neurological patients), these have moderate positive predictive power (averaging .56 if either test yields a positive finding), moderate negative predictive power (.76), and high specificity (.88), but low sensitivity (.35). In a clinical sample, the same cutoff scores were much more sensitive, correctly identifying 88% of a group of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. Examinees who obtain these low scores should receive follow-up memory testing. Very high scores are associated with a reduced risk of memory impairment.

The Need to Be Different: Primary Trait Structure and Impact on Projective Drawings

The value set on behavioral variation for its own sake (or the need to be different) is a personality variable nested within social learning theory; a strong need to be different should, in theory, predispose the individual toward originality (including creativity). A self-report inventory measuring this need value (the vDiffer scale; Joy, 1998) motive was administered to undergraduates who also completed the 16 Personality Factor inventory (16PF; Cattell, Cattell, & Cattell, 1993) and House-Tree-Person (H-T-P; Buck, 1948) drawings. Three advanced art therapy graduate students rated the H-T-P protocols for technical proficiency, creativity, and personal adjustment. The need to be different correlated strongly with four primary traits: positively with Q1 (Openness to Change) and M (Abstractedness) and negatively with G (Rule-Consciousness) and Q3 (Perfectionism). Several other moderate correlations also emerged. Judgments of the technical proficiency and creativity of H-T-P drawings correlated significantly with the vDiffer score. The need to be different significantly predicted the quality of these projective drawings even when the influence of intelligence (16PF Scale B) was controlled for. The need to be different is associated with a distinctive pattern of traits and higher quality artistic expression.

Recognizing Emotions: Testing an Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract A severely impaired capacity for social interaction is one of the characteristics of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Deficits in facial emotional recognition processing may be associated with this limitation. The Build-a-Face (BAF) art therapy intervention was developed to assist with emotional recognition through the viewing and manipulating of three-dimensional facial features on a mannequin-like bust. This pilot study tested the abilities of 19 children with ASD to identify emotions depicted in facial photographs before and after a single BAF intervention session. The results indicated no statistically significant difference between the treatment and control groups; however, the treatment group had greater improvement than the control. Future research involving multiple BAF sessions is needed to test the effectiveness of BAF for promoting emotion recognition.

Innovation Motivation, Divergent Thinking, and Creative Story Writing: Convergence and Divergence across the Torrance Tests and Tat

Undergraduates (N = 64) completed innovation motivation inventories measuring the need to be different and innovation expectancy, took the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking—Verbal (TTCT-V), and wrote stories in response to eight Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards. The TAT stories were rated for creativity by four judges, who achieved a high level of reliability. TTCT-V standard scores correlated significantly with both the need to be different and innovation expectancy. The judged creativity of the TAT stories also correlated significantly with the need to be different. Moderate to strong correlations between TTCT-V scores and TAT-based creativity ratings indicate that the divergent thinking and creative product approaches measure closely related processes.

Origins of Originality: Innovation Motivation and Intelligence in Poetry and Comics

Fifty undergraduates wrote associative poems, produced Draw-A-Story (DAS) comics using stimulus drawings, and completed self-report measures of the need to be different and innovation expectancies as well as the 16PF. The originality of the poems was scored based on variables such as use of unusual words. The originality of the DAS protocols was scored using variables such as unusual picture choices. Both creative works also were rated for creative merit by independent judges. The need to be different correlated with both approaches to evaluating both creative works. Innovation expectancies and certain 16PF scales, notably Factor I (“Sensitivity”) and Factor M (“Abstractedness” or “Imagination”) displayed similar, but weaker, patterns of correlation. Intelligence (16PF factor B) was also a noteworthy correlate of some aspects of creativity.