Vladimir Pishkin

Performance of type A (coronary-prone) men during and after exposure to uncontrollable noise and task failure.

The present study examined the effects of exposure to uncontrollable noise and task failure in Type A (coronary-prone) and Type B (nonprone) men. It was predicted that Type A subjects would initially react to such exposure with increased coping efforts, as indexed by improved task performance on pretreatment tasks, and that following exposure they would react with decreased coping, as measured by poor performance on a final task. Type Bs were predicted to perform consistently throughout. Instead, the Type B subjects showed initial coping attempts during exposure to uncontrollability and showed decrease coping following exposure, whereas As performed consistently throughout. It was concluded that Type A and B persons do indeed react differently to exposure to a threat to their control of a situation, but it was further concluded that this experimental paradigm may, at this time, lack the precision necessary to elucidate the psychological factors motivating the behavior of the coronary-prone individual.

Relationship between schizophrenic thinking and MMPI for process and reactive patients.

This study examined the relationship between Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST) and MMPI performance in 25 male Process and Reactive schizophrenic inpatients. The results demonstrated a correlation between the WIST index and the Sc scale of the MMPI (r = .54, p less than .05) for Process patients only. Other MMPI scales highly correlated with each other also correlated with WIST index for the Process group. The lack of association between WIST and MMPI scales for Reactive patients was interpreted as suggesting a high degree of behavioral disorganization in these patients. Other results, i.e., lack of correlation between time and error scores on the WIST and high variability of time scores on the WIST, suggest that part of this disorganization for the Reactive patients may be understood in terms of disrupted pacing of behavior with respect to time, a process that may be related to the intrusion of irrelevant event processing.

Differences between Essential and Reactive Alcoholics on Tests of Neuropsychological Functioning and Affect

This study tested the hypothesis that Essential Alcoholics (n = 15) develop a more severe form of alcoholism than Reactive Alcoholics (n = 12). VA alcoholic patients were classified as Essential or Reactive Alcoholics, using the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire, and tested on four neuropsychological tests, the Neuropsychological Impairment Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, Tarters Hyperactivity/Minimal Brain Dysfunction questionnaire, and Latchams Measure of Antisocial Behavior. While the two groups did not differ in age, education, or Family History of alcoholism, Essential Alcoholics had an earlier age of onset and a longer chronicity of alcoholism. After analysis of covariance was used to control for group differences in age of onset and chronicity, Essential Alcoholics were still significantly higher on depression and significantly more impaired on five subtests of the Neuropsychological Impairment Scale: global measure, total items, general, learning-verbal, and frustration. Nonsignificant group differences, in the expected direction, were found for the Shipley Mental Age and Tarters questionnaire. These results suggest that Essential Alcoholics have higher depression scores and greater impairments in neuropsychological functioning than Reactive Alcoholics.

Experimenter Variable in Concept Identification Feedback of Schizophrenics

This study replicated an earlier one but the mechanical condition was conducted without Es presence. Data show a significant positive influence on concept identification by Ss. Non-social feedback conditions can be more completely accomplished if E is absent. Previous findings were confirmed.

A factorial structure of the dimensions of femininity in alcoholic, schizophrenic and normal populations .

The Femininity Study was administered tl 31 alcoholic females, 146 college females, and 152 female schizophrenic patients. The data were factor analyzed: five major factors were identified: (1) heterosexual social role inadaptability; (2) parental role inadaptability; (3) homemaker role inadaptability; (4) general affective (neurotic) instability; and (5) maternal role inadaptability. The institutionalized women showed much greater incidence of all types of inadaptability.

Cognitive deficit in schizophrenia. Subvocal mediation, rigidity, and complexity parameters.

This study investigated the effects of problem complexity on cognitive performance of 96 schizophrenic and nonpsychiatric inpatients. Subvocal activity (mediation) and three rigidity parameters were examined in relation to performance. The major findings were: a) with increased problem complexity, schizophrenics demonstrated relatively greater difficulty in performance than controls; b) subvocal activity was greater in schizophrenics than controls and was positively related to both the complexity of the problem and the inability to respond correctly; c) motor-cognitive rigidity was higher in schizophrenics and positively correlated with cognitive errors, as well as with the subvocal activity—this was not so in controls, demonstrating the differential role of the rigidity dimension in the two populations.

Schizophrenic hypothesis behavior in concept identification

A concept identification (CI) task designed for analysis of hypothesis behavior was administered to a total of 100 chronic undifferentiated schizophrenic and nonpsychiatric control patients matched on age, IQ, and length of hospitalization. Major results were: (a) Controls were more efficient in utilizing relevant information as stimulus complexity increased; (b) focusing was adopted by controls as compared to random scanning strategy by schizophrenics; (c) analysis of hypothesis behavior was based on 10 strategy characteristics utilized in CI which demonstrated schizophrenic deficit in cognitive strategy.

Factored scales for the Personal Health Survey with schizophrenics, alcoholics, felons, unmarried mothers, and college students.

Employed the Personal Health Survey (PHS) to study patterns of symptomology related to physical and mental health in a population of 730 Ss, which consisted of five subgroups: felons, hospitalized alcoholics, unmarried mothers, college students and institutionalized schizophrenics. The factorial data were analyzed in terms of (a) size of item factor loadings; (b) base rates of responding True to each item; and (c) clinical judgments as to the specificity and meaning of the items and factor scale patterns. Five main factors were extracted: Factor I--General health status; Factor II--Sociopathic character disorders; Factor III--Mixed psychiatric symptoms; Factor IV--Anxiety state with psychosomatic symptoms and general nervousness; and Factor V--Schizophrenicity.

Psychophysiological activity and neuropsychological test performance in alcoholics

This study examined electromyogram (EMG) and skin conductance level (SCL) as mediators of neuropsychological test performance of alcoholics. Alcoholics and controls with high EMG performed less well than low EMG subjects on 12 measures of neuropsychological performance. For SCL, the alcoholics and controls in the Low Group did not differ from those in the High Group on any measure. Analyses that used information intake (Low EMG and High SCL) and rejection (High EMG and Low SCL) information postures (IPs) demonstrated that the intake group outperformed the rejection group on 10 neuropsychological measures. Subjects with intake IPs reported more stimulation, concentration, and interest during the tasks than did subjects with rejection IPs. Results suggest that IPs can be used to identify alcoholics with neuropsychological deficits.

The factorial structure of personal development mechanisms in unmarried mothers, college, alcoholic, and schizophrenic populations.

The Personal Development Study (PDS) was administered to four diagnostic groups, which included 89 hospitalized alcoholics, 336 unmarried mothers, 159 college students, and 387 chronic institutionalized schizophrenics. The PDS data from the four groups were factor analyzed separately by Varimax rotation of principal component factors. Cluster analysis methods were used to compare the separate diagnostic group factors with the overall factors previously reported by Pishkin and Thorne (1977). Only a few close fits of the diagnostic group factors showed large differences in item composition, order of emergence of factors and size of loadings between groups. Because many items and factors could be interpreted in terms of several alternative theoretical systems, interpretations were based on the clinical meanings of items and clusters in terms of integration theory (Thorne, 1976).