Wallace B. Hall

Personality consistency: Eminent architects 25 years later

Abstract: One hundred and twenty‐four American male architects representing three levels of eminence and creativity were studied by Donald W. MacKinnon and his collaborators in 1958–1960. The present report is based on a follow‐up of 70 of the 83 (78%) surviving architects (mean age 71 years, with a range of 62–88). The architects were individually interviewed at their place of residence between 1983–1984 and received several of the same tests they had received 25 years before, including the Adjective Check List (ACL) and the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). The present study offered the architects a chance to look back at lifelong careers, and it allowed the researchers to establish that the distinct personality characteristics of the three groups of architects remained remarkably stable, and were at least partially responsible for moderating longevity and achievement. Opportunities for full‐time practice were radically different for the three groups after age 65. The interview data suggested th...

The prediction of academic and clinical performance in medical school

Prior studies have suggested the importance of distinguishing between performance in the earlier and later years of medical education. Factor analysis of grades by year and faculty ratings of clinical and general medical competence for 661 medical students identified two uncorrelated factors clearly reflecting this distinction. The clinical performance factor, accounting for 48% of the communality of the matrix, was more or less unpredictable from aptitude and premedical academic achievement indices; it was marginally predictable from scales on the Adjective Check List. The academic performance factor, accounting for 31% of the variance among criteria, was forecast with acceptable accuracy (cross-validated R=0.43) by equations based on the Medical College Admission Test and premedical grade point average. Future study should stress the clinical performance factor; this criterion appears to be more important than academic attainment, and it is also less accurately predicted by current measures.

An Attempt to Predict Graduation from Medical School.

Although there is less attrition from medical school now than in prior years, 500 or more students can be expected to withdraw from American medical schools during each academic year. Continuing study of the problem is, therefore, warranted. Personality inventory, cognitive, and application data, all gathered at the time of admission, were examined for 1,014 graduates and 57 dropouts; separate analyses were conducted for the 17 who departed for academic reasons and the 40 whose attrition was attributable to other causes. Correlational analyses were also conducted in which graduates, nonacademic dropouts, and academic dropouts were scaled in a 4-3-1 continuum. The best predictor of this graduation versus dropout hierarchy was given by a six-variable combination, including scores on the Quantitative ability subtest of the Medical College Admission Test and premedical grades for the last two terms, with positive weightings; personality inventory scales for status potential, socialization, and communality, also with positive weightings; and a personality scale for conformist achievement drive, weighted negatively.

A Comparison of Medical Students from Medical and Nonmedical Families.

A total of 1,195 students from 11 classes at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine was studied. Of these, 162 were from medical and 1,033 from nonmedical families. Those from medical families were insignificantly different from their classmates on premedical scholastic achievement and Medical College Admission Test scores, but they were slightly younger and attended more prestigious undergraduate colleges. Academic and clinical performance in medical school was equivalent for the two groups. However, long-range consequences in regard to choice of specialty were observable. Psysicians from medical families were more likely than their peers to be in ophthalmology and otorhinolarngoloy, dermatology, and surgery and less likely to be in psychiatry, pediatrics, and obstericsgynecology.

Number of children wanted and expected by American physicians.

Seven hundred thrity-five male and 93 female physicians indicated the number of children they would like to have; 713 and 89 indicated the number they expected to have. These questionnaire responses were related to demographic, educational, and personality test data gathered while the physicians were in medical school. The strongest predictor of both number of children wanted and expected was the size of the physicians own family of origin. Specialists in obstetrics and gynecology wanted and expected more children than those in other specialties.

A prospective study of personality changes in students in medicine, dentistry, and nursing

Seventy male medical students from two classes took the California Psychological Inventory in years 1 and 4. Eight scales differentiated significantly in one class, 4 in the other. Analysis of all 140 CPI protocols in a Time-2 versus Time-1 regression identified 4 key variables: sociability, socialization, and good impression weighted negatively, and achievement via independence weighted positively. Of 168 students of nursing tested at entry and graduation, the equation produced a hit rate of 62.5 percent in classifying the 336 protocols; for 47 dental students tested twice (94 protocols), the hit rate was 56.4 percent. Chance both times would be 50.0 percent. Adjectival descriptions of 70 medical school applicants depicted Ss scoring higher on the equation as more reasonable, taciturn, and insightful, those scoring lower as more suggestible, conventional, and emotionally expressive.

PHYSICIANS' RETROSPECTIVE EVALUATIONS OF THEIR MEDICAL EDUCATION

Abstract903 physicians evaluated 10 aspects of their medical education for relevance and quality. Skill in diagnosis is an example of an educational goal judged to be important and for which training was rated as good. Knowing how to establish a professional practice was also seen as a proper goal of medical education, but training was viewed as less satisfactory. Individual differences among the physicians in retrospective satisfaction were then related to premedical, medical school, and personality factors. Doctors whose evaluations were more favorable tended to receive above average grades in medical school, but somewhat below average in premedical work. Personality variables such as persistence and self-confidence were associated with higher retrospective satisfaction among men; among women satisfaction was correlated with variables such as psychological-mindedness and sensitivity to others.

Selecting Statistical Clerks with the Minnesota Clerical Test

Summary Of 537 applicants for work as a statistical clerk over a 25-year period, 141 were employed (108 females, 33 males) and 396 were not. Job performance ratings were obtained for 109 of those hired; the estimated reliability of the ratings was .91. The Minnesota Clerical Test had been administered to all applicants and considered in the decision to hire or not to hire. As would be expected, large differences on both the “numbers” and “names” parts of the test were observed between the accepted and rejected applicants. For the 109 employed and rated clerks the numbers score correlated .23 with the criterion, and the names score correlated .29. A predictive equation derived by regression analysis was defined as follows: .51 names + .27 numbers - 53.19. Scores computed according to this equation correlated .31 with the performance ratings. When corrected for attenuation of range in the selected sample, this coefficient increased to .38.